SKU: AP.FO9912C
UPC: 654979000365. English.
The world has waited years, and finally, last May, the motion picture event of the century exploded on the screen. Jerry Brubaker presents a highly creative mix of these great themes from the power-packed John Williams' score: Star Wars (Main Theme), Anakin's Theme, Augie's Great Municipal Band, Duel of the Fates, and the End Credits. Every orchestra in the world will be playing this one! (7:24).
SKU: PR.416415760
UPC: 680160636532. 9 x 12 inches.
The 1712 Overture stands out in P.D.Q. Bach's oeuvre for two reasons, among others: it is by far the most programmatic instrumental piece among those by the minimeister of Wein-am-Rhein so far unearthed, and 2) its discovery has led to a revelation about the composer's father, Johann Sebastian Bach, that has exploded like a bombshell on the usually serene musicological landscape. The overture is based on an anecdote told to P.D.Q. Bach by a cousin, Peter Ulrich. Since P.U. Bach lived in Dudeldorf, only a few miles down the road from Wein-am-Rhein, he was P.D.Q.'s closest relative, and he was, in fact, one of the few members of the family who was on speaking terms with P.D.Q. The story, related to P.D.Q. (fortunately for us posterity types) in a letter, may be summarized thus: The town of Dudeldorf was founded by two brothers, Rudi and Dieter Dudel, early in the 18th century. Rudi remained mayor of the newborn burg for the rest of his long life, but Dieter had a dream of starting a musicians' colony, an entire city devoted to music, which dream, he finally decided, could be realized only in the New World. In 1712, he and several other bagpipers sailed to Boston, never to return to Germany. (Henceforth, Rudi became known as der deutscher Dudel and Dieter as the Yankee Dudel). Unfortunately, the head of the Boston Musicians' Guild had gotten wind of Dudel's plans, and Wilhelm Wiesel (pron. VEE-zle), known none too affectionately around town as Wiesel the Weasel, was not about to share what few gigs there were in colonial America with more foreigners and outside agitators. He and his cronies were on hand to meet Dudel's boat when it pulled into Boston Harbor; they intended to prevent the newcomers' disembarkation, but Dudel and his companions managed to escape to the other side of the bay in a dinghy, landing with just enough time to rent a carriage and horses before hearing the sound of The Weasel and his men, who had had to come around the long way. The Germans headed West, with the Bostonians in furious pursuit. soon the city had been left far behind, and by midnight so had the pursuers; Dieter Dudel decided that it was safe for him and his men to stop and sleep until daybreak. When they awoke, they found that they were in a beautiful landscape of low, forested mountains and pleasant fields, warmed by the brilliant morning sun and serenaded by an entrancing variety of birds. Here, Dudel thought, her is where I will build my colony. The immigrants continued down the road at a leisurely pace until they came upon a little church, all by itself in the countryside, from which there suddenly emanated the sounds of a pipe organ. At this point, the temptation to quote from P.U. Bach's letter to P.D.Q. cannot be resisted: They went inside and, after listening to the glorious music for a while, introduced themselves to the organist. And who do you think it was? Are you ready for this -- it was your old man! Hey, no kidding -- you know, I'm sure, that your father was the guy to get when it came to testing new organs, and whoever had that one in Massachusetts built offered old Sebastian a tidy sum to go over there and check it out. The unexpected meeting with J.S. Bach and his sponsors was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves, as the dreaded Wiesel and his men thundered on to the scene. They had been riding all night, however, and they were no spring chickens to start with, and as soon as they reached the church they all dropped, exhausted, to the ground. The elated Germans rang the church bells and offered to buy everyone a beer at the nearest tavern. There they were taught, and joined in singing, what might be called the national anthem of the New World. The melody of this pre-revolutionary patriotic song is still remembered (P.D.Q. Bach quotes it, in the bass instruments, near the end of the overture), but is words are now all but forgotten: Freedom, of thee we sing, Freedom e'er is our goal; Death to the English King, Long live Rock and Ross. The striking paucity of biographical references to Johann Sebastian Bah during the year 1712 can now be explained: he was abroad for a significant part of that year, testing organs in the British Colonies. That this revelation has not been accepted as fact by the musicological establishment is no surprise, since it means that a lot of books would have to be rewritten. The members of that establishment haven't even accepted the existence of P.D.Q. Bach, one of whose major works the 1712 Overture certainly is. It is also a work that shows Tchaikowsky up as the shameless plagiarizer that some of us have always known he was. The discovery of this awesome opus was made possible by a Boston Pops Centennial Research Commission; the first modern performance took place at the opening concert of the 100th anniversary season of that orchestra, under the exciting but authentic direction of John Williams.
SKU: PR.41641576L
UPC: 680160636549. 11 x 17 inches.
SKU: HL.48024525
ISBN 9781784544072. UPC: 888680925680. 7.0x10.5x0.212 inches.
The Death of Oscar (2012) is a miniature tone poem drawing upon the legend of the bardic poet Ossian and the death of his son Oscar. In the legends of Ossian, Oscar challenged the High King Cairbre to single combat and, though victorious, died of his wounds and was mourned by his father and lover. These tales collected by James MacPherson in the 18th century have long been debated as regards their authenticity, but what is not in doubt is the massive influence they had on perceptions of Scottish and Celtic culture, particularly overseas - admired by political figures such as Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson and inspiring Romantic artists from Mendelssohn in Fingal's Cave to Goethe in Die Leiden des jungen Werther.
SKU: HL.14014795
ISBN 9781846091216.
Henze's Funf Botschafen Fur Die Konigin Von Saba was commissioned by Radio France. It received its premiere on 3rd February 2005 at the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees, Paris by the Orchestre National de France. The five short but complex pieces are presented here in full score.
SKU: HL.14023642
ISBN 9780711978119. 9.0x12.0x0.243 inches.
This work was written by Michael Nyman towards the end of 1997, commissioned by the English Sinfonia to celebrate the orchestra's taking up residence in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. The first performance was given by the English Sinfonia under Bramwell Toevy at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 14 April 1998. Duration c. 17mins. Instrumentation:; 2 FLUTES; 2 OBOES; 2 CLARINETS IN Bb; 2 BASSOONS; 2 HORNS IN F; 2 TRUMPETS IN Bb; TIMPANI; STRINGS.
SKU: HL.14023400
ISBN 9788759855904. UPC: 196288146018. 11.0x17.0x0.153 inches. International (more than one language).
Full score for this work for Orchestra dating from 1968-9.
SKU: BA.BA05822-01
ISBN 9790006567454. 33 x 26 cm inches. Preface: Brown, Bruce Alan.
To conclude Series II (Dance Dramas) from the Gluck Complete Edition (GGA), this volume of Christoph Willibald Gluck's earliest contributions to the genre comprises six ballet scores from 1759 (La Promenade, Les Jardiniers, Les Turcs, Les Savoiards, Les Amours de Flore et Zphire, and Le Suisse) as well as the ballet music for Les Vendanges, which dates from 1761. These works belong to the compositions â also called Krumau ballets because of their musical transmission â which Gluck created in Vienna between 1759 and 1765 for the court theatres in Laxenburg and Schönbrunn as well as the Kärntnertortheater, and which are to be attributed to him as a ballet composer around the middle of the 18th century in Viennese theatre life based on the considerations presented in the general preface.Together with volumes II/3 to II/5, ballet music by Gluck is available whose sources come from the former Schwarzenberg court archive in Ceský Krumlov, Czech Republic, and which until the Velvet Revolution of 1989, lay behind the Iron Curtain remaining largely inaccessible and unexplored by Western scholars. These volumes reflect two fundamental developments in Gluck research: on the one hand, they provide a significantly expanded, historically more accurate idea of what it meant to compose for the ballet in the 18th century; on the other hand, they bring to light an immense treasure trove of sources formerly of Viennese provenance.In addition to the detailed introduction by this volumeâs editor on the ballet choreographies of Gasparo Angiolini and Carlo Bernardi, on the formation of the ballet troupes of the Viennese theatres in Gluck's early years there, on ballet types and genres, as well as a detailed account of the individual titles, the volume includes a general preface to volumes II/3 through II/5 by Bruce Alan Brown, which discusses Gluck's ballet music in Vienna in general as well as the development of research into this genre. Extensive illustrations (partly from the so-called Durazzo Collection) with reference to the choreographies enrich the discussions. The ballet works, which have survived in only one source each, appear in print for the first time in this volume of the Gluck Complete Edition.
About Barenreiter Urtext
What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?
MUSICOLOGICALLY SOUND - A reliable musical text based on all available sources - A description of the sources - Information on the genesis and history of the work - Valuable notes on performance practice - Includes an introduction with critical commentary explaining source discrepancies and editorial decisions ... AND PRACTICAL - Page-turns, fold-out pages, and cues where you need them - A well-presented layout and a user-friendly format - Excellent print quality - Superior paper and binding
SKU: HL.14032192
ISBN 9788759858394. 12.0x16.5x0.78 inches. International (more than one language).
Symphony No. 6 for orchestra, 1997-99. Preface / Program Note:... with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day(New Testament, 2 Peter 3:8)My SYMPHONY NO. 6 was commissioned by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gteborg Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, to be premiered at the millenium 2000.The subtitle AT THE END OF THE DAY can be understood literally or it can mean when all is added up. However, in my opinion, nothing ever quite adds up, there is always something missing, any ending will be provisional ...This symphony appears to end only a few minutes into the first movement, the first passage, as the music fades away to almost-silence, after a start of flying colours. But then there is still something, a small motive (first heard in the initial sound-waves) which reappears, hesitant, but persistent, and this embryo is what leads on the musical progression. An agitated section of many instrumental voices comes next, until all the voices become obsessed with the same phrase, a see-saw motive based on thirds. This section evolves into almost martial ferocity, when broken off by a tutti descent into an extreme bass-world (a bass-world which actually permeates the whole symphony, emplyoing instruments that I have never used before: double-bass tuba, double-bass trombone, double-bass clarinet, and bass flute).The second movement, the second passage, apparently takes off where the first passage ended, but now the events are more ambiguous, and the same music may be perceived as fast-moving one moment and slow-moving the next. This section is a kind of passacaglia, the characteristic baroque bass-variation.Without a break follows the third and last passage, in a contrasting high register. The music is rhythmically knotty as well as freely flowing. As in the beginning of the symphony, a never-ending descent or fall breaks off the events, and at the very end a delta of new beginnings, of other worlds, is revealed ....The symphony is dedicated to Helle, my wife. - Per Norgard.
SKU: PE.EP67890
ISBN 9790300747613. 297 x 420mm inches. English.
Libretto by James Fenton
In a make-believe world, based loosely on Bombay and Kashmir, the story of Haroun is a tale of a fight between the free imagination and the powers that oppose it. Haroun's father, Rashid, the Shah of Blah, is a professional and gifted story-teller, a popular figure much in demand at public events. Feeling neglected, his wife is persuaded to leave him and run away with a neighbor. After this, Rashid loses confidence in his powers of story-tellling, haunted by his son's question: 'What's the use of stories that aren't even there?' Rashid is due to speak at a political rally to be held by the sinister politician, Snooty Buttoo. He is told that if he does not come up with his usual fund of tales, his tongue will be cut out. As Rashid despairs, Haroun determines to rescue his father's talent - a project in which he learns that the Ocean of the Sea of Stories, the source of all stories, is being polluted by the enemy of all stories, the evil Khattam Shud. In a series of brilliant imagined adventures, Haroun succeeds in defeating the powers of darkness, and restoring happiness to his family, and to the city where he lives.
Salman Ruishdie's children's book, written in the aftermath of the fatwa, has an effervescent style which is full of rhymes and wordplay. The libretto stays very close to the spirit of the original, conjuring up a fantasy world in which, nonetheless, one never loses sight of harsh political reality and the great issues of freedom of speech and imagination. -- James Fenton, 1998
SKU: HL.48025342
UPC: 196288176404.
New edition of Stravinsky's largest work, his only full-length work for the theatre, and his first major work in English. It also represents the culmination of his neoclassical years, after which he started to rethink his musical language. Inspired by an exhibition in Chicago in 1947 of a series of Hogarth prints, the depiction of the ironic progress of the spendthrift heir of a miser from wealth via debt to madness and death is, in essence, retained in the opera. Auden and Kallman's 'fable' wittily grafts onto Hogarth's quest narrative aspects of, among other sources, Classical pastoral, the Faust legend, fairy tale, circus, the Bible and opera in many different manifestations. This is brilliantly matched by Stravinsky's music, which takes as its source the whole of operatic history from Monteverdi to Verdi via Rossini and Donizetti and large doses of Mozart, yet it is neither parody nor pastiche. The RakeÂ’s Progress can be appreciated on many levels, which might explain why it is still one of only a handful of 20th-century operas never to have been out of the repertoire.
SKU: EC.RBM-253
Casey at the Bat was commissioned in 2001 by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as a part of their Americana concert series from that season. The work is a colorful and highly descriptive narrative setting of the famous poem, “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, first published in an 1885 edition of The San Francisco Chronicle.(The poetry has been slightly paraphrased from the original to replace some arcane terminology.)This composition was conceived in a distinctly cartoonish style – reminiscent of the orchestral music so masterfully created by Carl Stalling and other great film score writers during the Golden Age of the animated short. In addition to brief quotes from Till Eulenspiegel of Richard Strauss, the melody from Take Me Out to the Ballgame (Tilzer-Norworth) is interpolated throughout the fabric of the piece (although the lyrics are never sung).The first performance of this work took place during the Spring of 2001, under the baton of Richard Kaufman and featuring Pat Sajak as narrator of the well-known poem.Audio excerpts from a matchless narrative performance of this piece by Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi (with the National Symphony of London and the composer conducting) are included below for perusal purposes. The full performance may be purchased as an audio file from Kodanja Records of Dallas, TX. ( dur: 8’ )
SKU: AP.45817
UPC: 038081525501. English. Traditional Irish Tune.
All in first position with straightforward rhythms and thematic parts for everyone, this poignant song arranged by Sandra Dackow will be a wonderful addition to any concert. The Girl I Left Behind Me first appears in 18th century Ireland, often known as Brighton Camp. It emigrated to the United States along with many other Anglo/Scots/Irish folk tunes and became a popular marching song for soldiers. During the American Civil War, soldiers in both the Confederate and Union armies sang it. A number of cultures have embraced this song, adding their own local lyrics. (2:15) This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.
About Orchestra Expressions
Play great songs such as Over the Rainbow, Batman, This Land Is Your Land, and Star Wars (Main Title). Listen to and play a variety of styles of music: popular, traditional, classical, folk and patriotic. Read and write music; compose and improvise. Perform in a concert and play for your family and friends. Be a conductor of the orchestra. Learn about composers, such as Antonin Dvorak, Johann Pachelbel, Jacques Offenbach, Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, George M. Cohan, George Frideric Handel, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giacomo Puccini, Georges Bizet, Neal Hefti, and John Williams. Discover how music and art are related. Learn about a variety of musical ensembles including string orchestra, full orchestra, mariachi band, steel drum band, dixieland jazz band, rock band, and more. Play music from around the world, including North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
SKU: AP.45817S
UPC: 038081525518. English. Traditional Irish Tune.
