SKU: HL.49046988

ISBN 9781705174333. UPC: 842819115281. 8.25x11.75x0.695 inches.

SYNOPSIS Aribert Reimann's 'Trilogie lyrique' is based on three plays by Maurice Maeterlinck: In L'Intruse, a family is sitting at the table with their blind grandfather. They are waiting for the doctor to arrive and tend to his daughter who is lying ill in bed after having given birth: her new-born son has not yet made a single sound. The old man senses that something is wrong due to the uneasy atmosphere in the room. Who is sitting in our midst? he asks. He is the only one who cansee the presence of death. Interieur: Once again a family is gathered round the table in the evening, but this time we observe the action from outside, looking through the window with the grandfather and a stranger: no sound can be heard. Outside the house, the stranger reports that the eldest daughter has drowned and that he has pulled her out of the river. Although the corpse is already being carried through the village to the family, the grandfather cannot bring himself to destroy this idyll. La Mort de Tintagiles: The young Tintagiles is told a story about a mysterious castle and the aged queen who has all potential heirsto the throne murdered. His siblings sense that Tintagiles has been summoned to the castle to be murdered, but nobody openly expresses this fact. It is the sinister messengers of death from the interludes, now visible as the queens servants, who ful?l her demand and snatch the sleeping boy from his sisters'arms. Commentary 'In comparison with his Medea for example with its stormy outbreaks of emotion and violence, Reimann's score is worked in an impressive refinement of sound. It begins with rumbling, hesitating and expressive music in the first section, demanding highly ingenious sound effects from the lower strings including tapping and faltering glissandos in its noisy expression of mortal fear. Inthe second part, the woodwind formation plays at times almost in chamber music fashion and is then suddenly painfully shrill. The third part luxuriates and rages in its rich, full orchestration. The manner in which Reimann displays his mastery in textural shading, the invention of sounds welling up and fading away, the rhythmic and melodic capacity of suffering and the music's inner violence are all utterly compelling.'(Wolfgang Schreiber, Opernwelt, November 2017).

SKU: HL.49047172

UPC: 196288143406.

When the 24-year-old Richard Strauss, assistant conductor in Munich, began the composition of his third tone poem in the summer of 1888, he saw himself close to the aspiration prescribed by his mentor Alexander Ritter: to become the successor of Richard Wagner as a musical dramatist. Strauss had already been working on the text of his first opera Guntram for a year and additionally devoted himself to programmatic orchestral works oriented to the musical language of Liszt and Wagner in order to prepare himself compositionally for his new task. With the aid of Strauss and other musicians including Ludwig Thuille and Friedrich Rösch who had been gathering for “Ritter's round table” in Munich between 1886 and 1889, Ritter’s intention was to achieve success on a broad front with the New German School following the death of its two protagonists Wagner and Liszt. We do not know whether Ritter and his supporters jointly planned Strauss's compositional path towards opera, determined the subjectsof his prospective tone poems and considered various strategies of their musical realization, but the influence of this group shouldnot be underestimated. It cannot be ruled out that the number of three tone poems was fixed, as was their sequence of composition, which would progressively achieve its zenith in an increasing orientation to Liszt and Wagner. The circle could possibly have also discussed initial links to literary subjects (Macbeth and Don Juan) and ultimately the abstention from this practice in the third and final tone poem. The subject of the work, or rather in Strauss’s formulation its “poetic model”, has occasionally been interpreted from an autobiographical aspect. Strauss however did not experience serious illness until May 1891 and once more in June 1892, long after Tod und Verklärung had been composed. Even without an external reason, the material would have been only too attractive for an admirer of Wagner and Liszt like Strauss, not to mention for his mentor Alexander Ritter. The concept of 'death and transfiguration' had already played a central role in Liszt’s symphonic poems Tasso and Prometheus.

SKU: AP.41195S

UPC: 038081471754. English.

One of 2013's biggest hits, this soulful and catchy tune contains many different textures and sounds. This solidly scored arrangement will be a hit with both students and audience alike! It contains easy optional parts for piano and tambourine, but the piece is totally playable by strings alone. This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.

SKU: LO.30-1687L

UPC: 000308057782.

Christmas is that wonderful time of the year when we sing, come, thou long-expected Jesus even though we know he has already come, and 'joy to the world' even though we know the world is not yet completely joyful. ôThese are the opening words of this thoughtful and expressive cantata-a beautiful combination of the meditative, as well as the joyful, feelings that remembering the events of Christmas brings. The congregation is asked to join in the singing of familiar carols, and the choir is given the opportunity to sing beautifully crafted, but never difficult, new music for the season. Performance time: 25-30 minutes. Flute 1 and 2, B-flat Clarinet, Horn in F, Trumpet 1, 2 and 3, Trombone 1, 2 and 3, Timpani, Percussion, Opt. Harp, Violin 1 and 2, Viola, Cello, Contrabass.

SKU: HL.50499334

SKU: HL.48024524

ISBN 9781784542566. UPC: 888680925741. 8.25x11.75x0.212 inches.

Composer's Notes: “In writing this work I wanted to compose something which was both timeless and contemporary, both sacred and secular. The title (Sacred Songs) is therefore slightly misleading as the three poems are concerned with political repression in Latin America and are deliberately coupled with traditional religious texts to emphasise a deeper solidarity with the poor of that sub-continent. It was my interest in Liberation Theology which made me combine the poems of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina with the texts of the Latin mass in Búsqueda (an earlier music-theatre work) and has now led me to attempt a similar synthesis of ideas in Cantos Sagrados. The voices in Ariel Dorfman's poems belong to those who suffer a particular type of political repression: the 'disappearance' of political prisoners. Ana Maria Mendoza's poem about the Virgin of Guadeloupe tackles the same problem by asking a more fundamental cultural and historical question.”.