William Walton Edition vol. 17 Hardback-This volume presents newly engraved scores of all Walton's shorter orchestral pieces including for the first time on sale scores of the full orchestral version of Orb and Sceptre March: A History of the English-speaking Peoples and the Title Music for the BBC TV Shakespeare Series.

Poul Ruders' Handel Variations for Orchestra (2009) -Ninety Symphonic Reflections on Eight Bars by Georg Friedrich Handel.Commissioned by and dedicated to the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in celebration of their 75th anniversary 2010. Premiered by The Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Andretta at the Aarhus Concert Hall 14 January 2010. Programme noteThe short feisty Bourrée from Handel´s famous Water Music (First Suite in F major) has for some years been hovering at the back of my mind as possessing the perfectpotential for a series of variations. Not unlike the short 'morsel' by Henry Purcell (the witches Ho-ho-ho-chorus from the opera Dido and Aeneas) which kicks off the ten variations of my orchestral work Concerto in Pieces the music per se is not particularly interesting but it nevertheless grows on you and is difficult to get rid of. It is merely a handful of sequences (a technique much used in the Baroque era - a method in which the same motif is being shifted up and down in a specified order). Actually it is only the first eight bars of the Bourrée which I haul through the wringer.It would be obvious to assume that Handel Variations make up a sequel to Concerto in Pieces but in spite of the similarity in character between the two chosen themes the Handel Variations are far more symphonically coherent. There are no less than ninety (!) variations and each variation (they are relatively short ranging from four up to forty-something bars) runs seamlessly into the next creating a huge symphonic body of constantly changing colours. I set out with the original theme without interfering but the 'erosion' begins to gnaw away at the theme already from the first variation. Imagine a vast gallery of Handel portraits in which Georg Friedrich appears at first fully recognizable but then the 'disfiguration' sets in and

Light Overture - A Symphonic Entertainment was composed by Poul Ruders in 2006. Commissioned by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Music Director and Principal Conductor Justin Brown for Alabama Power Company’s 100 Year Anniversary Concert. Light Overture subtitled A Symphonic Entertainment is a short piece for symphony orchestra lasting approximately eight minutes. Light Overture is focusing on two interpretations of the word light: ”light” as in the absence of darkness and “light” as in easily comprehensible; in other words a piece with few or no metaphysicalconnotations. It is just a piece setting a festive mood as is often the case with this sort of short “concert opener”. However the journey through Light Overture is not entirely happy-go-lucky. Once in a while slightly darker colours are introduced for the sake of variety and contrast. And formally the composition is quite strict: an outright Prelude and Fugue the former sliding seamlessly into the latter. The Fugue juggles not only its own tune but also picks up stuff from the Prelude. Poul Ruders May 2006

Herrmann wanted to write a musical portrait of his friend and colleague Alfred Hitchcok so choose motifs from the movie The Trouble With Harry one of Hitchcockâ??s more personal and humorous films. This single-movement work for Orchestra employs some of the more familiar elements of Herrmannâ??s compositional style: short musical phrases repeated and then repeated again in other positions sharp use of dynamics among them. From the first note the creepiness begins.Bernard Herrmann was among the very greatest of all composers of music for cinema and there are many who avow that he was the greatest of all. A very short list of the films for which this award-winning composercreated soundtracks includes Citizen Kane The Man Who Knew Too Much Vertigo Jason and Argonauts Fahrenheit 451 Obsession and Taxi Driver. He had a long and fertile association with Alfred Hitchcock during the most productive period of Hitchcockâ??s career and with Orson Welles from the time of the Mercury Theatre on the Air. In addition to his conducting and composing work for the entertainment world Herrmann wrote concert pieces including a symphony opera and cantata.

Based on the success of his best-selling warm-ups for strings Michael Allen has teamed up with respected conductor and teacher Don Hanna to bring us this invaluable resource for full orchestra. Similarly this daily regiment isdesigned to prepare the orchestra for rehearsal or performance through a carefully paced set of short examples. Focus on tuning ensemble playing technique phrasing and special needs for strings winds and percussion are alladdressed.

Full Score-The first feature film collaboration between Peter Greenaway and Michael Nyman made in 1983 following a major series of short/independent films they made together - including The Falls and A Walk throughH. A draughtsman is commissioned by a landowner in the late 17th century to make 12 drawings of his property. Every note of the score was derived from the music of Purcell and was written for the Michael NymanBand. This concert suite which was made in 2001 and first performed in Hanover was specially revised for an all-Nyman concert given by the composer and the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall Londonin June 2003. Written for Orchestra and Harpsichord the suite lasts approximately 16 minutes.

Kongen Af Himmeby-Demo/Utopiaville-Demofor Symphony Orchestra (2009). The Utopiaville-Demo is commissioned by Finn Schumacker for The Odense Symphony Orchestra. Repertoire operas occationally have orchestral suites: Bits and pieces of overture interlude etc. tied up in a bouquet of 'schönste Tränen'. Contemporary opera usually wither after the first season so the focus is on getting people to come and have a sniff before it's too late. Consequently it seemed obvious to me to start making orchestral excerpts from my operas that are meant to be played before the premiere (and after please); I call them 'operatrailers' when they're substantial enough to be considered independent works and 'opera demos' when they're relatively short and more appetizer-ish. The Utopiaville-Demo is a fast-and-furious cinemascope 3D THX-demo for my chamber opera 'The King ofUtopiaville' which is sort of a mix between a reversed revolutionary opera (reversed because it's about a revolutionthat flops) and a rhythm'n blues theatre concert. The opera takes place on the remote tropical island of Honga-Tonga where a mayor form Europe is taking a much needed holiday as far away as possible from his home town Utopiaville. The mayor desperately needs to get away:He has overstepped his authority blatantly and broken every rule of law he felt like in order to create a modern liberalistic society where sanitation medicare hospitals schools the police and all other public institutions are sold to private investors and then leased back by the public - that way noone will ever have to pay taxes because everything finances itself the mayor says and in order to keep reality at a safe distance he drinks massive amounts of insanely expensive french claret all in the best interest of the inhabitants of Utopiaville of course.Honga Tonga can't get any further away from Waikiki Beach: It looks something like the 1933 version of

Chorale (2001 02) for orchestra is a kind of musical meditation on the chorale Es ist genug from Bach?s cantata O Ewigkeit du Donnerwort itself a harmonisation of J R Ahle?s 1662 hymn. Nick Kimberley?s preface outlines the context of the Bach original and refers to Alban Berg?s use of the chorale in his Violin Concerto almost 300 years later. In contrast to both of these works Lindberg?s Chorale has no extra-musical agenda. The composer explains that he took the harmonic structure of the chorale and embedded it in his own harmonies. ?I make an analogy with the rise and fall of the tide. When the tide is in the sea-bed is invisible; but when the tidegoes out you see the rock formation on the sea-bed.?Tribute is a short show-piece for full orchestra composed in 2004 as a gift to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Esa-Pekka Salonen?s debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Ten Secret Doors - Suite For Orchestra was composed by Swedish composer Britta Byström in 2010. Commissioned by Västerås Sinfonietta and premiered by VS conducted by Johannes Gustavsson on April 14 2011. Programme note: Each of the ten movements in the orchestral suite Ten Secret Doors contains a transformation a stage-change in sound meant to give a feeling that the music 'slips away'. In the first movement this transformation is achieved by a sudden orchestral sound change from tutti to solo. There follow changes from muted sound to open sound from wind section to string section from bow play to pizzicato play. In the last movement there is a trumpet solo that is first played on stage then off stage - a transformation from close to distant. I pictured the ending of every movement as the opening rather than the closing of a door.In this work there is also a small musical quotation from 'Von fremden Ländern und Menschen' (from Robert Schumann's famous Kinderszenen). This phrase snuck into music as a greeting from another suite characterized by many short movements of flightiness and lightness.(Britta Byström)  

Two superb strikingly original works by one of the most gifted composers of the French School: Pelléas et Mélisande Op. 80 a suite for orchestra written after Fauré's incidental music for the drama by Maurice Maeterlinck; and the enormously popular Pavane Op. 50 one of the most performed short orchestral works in the repertoire.Reprint of the J. Hamelle & Cie. Paris n.d. editions.

Score and Parts-In honour of their 75th anniversary the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra commissioned a number of composers who had written major works for them in the past to write short musical 'postcards'. Morton Gould said of his:'Mypostcard is called Minute Plus Waltz Rag; it's a slight take-off on 'The Minute Waltz' but with the 'plus' that it's longer than a minute and combines a waltz with a rag pattern in 5/8 time. I wasn't consciously thinking of 1916when I wrote it but it does actually reflect a flavour of that time.' This is the Schirmer edition of the Score and Parts.

Hawkes Pocket Scores HPS 1528-Completed in short score in 2006 the composer played the symphony to his son Miko aj on the piano that summer commenting on many details. It fell to Miko aj to complete the orchestration following his father’s death in 2010.The impetus for the work came from the director of the Tansman Festival in ód birthplace of the naturalised French composer Alexandre Tansman. The work’s principal motives are based on letters taken from Tansman’s name. The 38-minute symphony is scored for large orchestra including quadruple woodwind and brass and prominent parts for piano organ and three bass drums.

A short piece for small orchestra written in 1989 when the composer heard of Michael Vyner's death. Premiered in October 1989 at Glyndebourne Sussex by the London Sinfonietta and conducted by the composer just six days afterVyman's death.Approximately six minutes in duration it is based on the plainsong ‘Cor meum et caro mea exultaverunt in Deum vivum’ and is scored for two oboes two bassoons two horns two trumpets timpani and strings.