SKU: HL.14028929

Written for Moray Welsh whilst still an undergraduate at York University. This piece was completed in mid-September. Inspired by Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. A solo 'cello seemed an appropriate medium for music which might explore the character of Harry Haller, with his desire for bourgeois comfort and his strong misanthropic and suicidal tendencies. The opening theme attempts to express this - melancholy, nostalgic, a bit Biedermeyer (cf. Brahms Intermezzi). The basic theme of the book, at its simplest, is that every human personality consists of hundred of different personalities - within every man there lurks a wolf. Accordingly the tendency of my piece is for all its musical material to become distorted, either by thematic transformation or by changes of timbre. There are three movements played without a break. The first is a character portrait of the Steppenwolf. The second is concerned in the most general sort of way with the dance elements in the novel - Harry's being taught to dance and appreciate low 'popular' music - a tango is recapitulated in a waltz and 'Yearning', a popular song of the time (1927) is hinted at. The third movement concerns the Masked Ball and the Magic Theatre. Mozart is one of Hesse's great loves and he is repeatedly mentioned in the book. Inevitably some Mozart quotes have been worked in, the most significant being a reference to The Magic Flute 'fire and water' flute theme in the middle of the second movement. Long before I finished the piece, I was disenchanted with the work of Hesse. Much of Steppenwolf I now find rather embarrassing and the claims currently made for Hesse's greatness seem to me exaggerated. Since my piece is in no important sense programmatically specific, this change of heart doesn't really matter. ~ David Blake.

SKU: HL.51483306

UPC: 196288206811. 9.25x12.0x0.071 inches.

The serenade flourished in Mozart's era, but with Brahms the genre experienced a new surge in popularity in the 19th century. Dvorák's cheerful and relaxed op. 22 came into being in 1875, during a very happy time for him both professionally and privately. Heput his personal stamp on the five-movement composition by incorporating stylized Slavonic dances. The spirited finale captivates by restating themes from the previous movements. Since its premiere in 1876 the work, with its melodic richness and particular harmonic modulations, has enjoyed great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Today it is among Dvorák's most popular and most frequently performed compositions. As well as the autograph and printed editions, the composer's copy of the printed score with autograph corrections and additions has been consulted for Henle's Urtext edition.

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