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: AP.49006

ISBN 9781470645243. UPC: 038081563909. English.

Chris M. Bernotas has provided a fantastic arrangement of one of the most beautiful Tchaikovsky themes from Swan Lake, Op. 20a, No. 1 Scène. This arrangement will work perfectly for your string orchestra alone or with added winds and percussion up to a full orchestra. This hauntingly beautiful and powerful piece has many opportunities for students to develop their phrasing, tremolo, dynamic contrasts, and rhythmic understanding. (2:40) This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.

SKU: BR.PB-5581

ISBN 9790004213919. 10 x 12.5 inches.

A Programmatic Declaration of BeliefFelix Mendelssohn Bartholdy composed his Reformation Symphony for the celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the Confessio Augustana, the Protestant declaration of faith. Owing to various and only partially explained reasons, there was no performance in 1830, the year in question; it was only two years later that the composer conducted the premiere of his work, now heavily revised, in Berlin. There was only one more performance in Mendelssohn's lifetime, this one conducted by Julius Rietz in Dusseldorf; the composer had since distanced himself from his opus.Conceived for the concert hall, the symphony formulates its theological references through the integration of various motives. This occurs in the finale, for example, in which Mendelssohn quotes the Luther chorale Ein feste Burg in the flute, from where it builds up to a triumphant principal theme. The strong extra-musical aspect must have been one of the reasons for the composer's later avoidance of this score, especially since Mendelssohn was becoming increasingly skeptical about explicitly programmatic music in the instrumental domain. Next to the Dusseldorf performance material of 1837, two scribal copies have been examined for the first time; they transmit the main stages of the version of 1830.

SKU: BR.PB-4862-07

World premiere: Hannover, March 13, 1972

ISBN 9790004206591. 7 x 9.5 inches.

Variationen (Ouverture / Thema / Variation / Coda), Lyrisches Intermezzo (Sostenuto), Symphonische Nachklange (Allegro con moto).Immer wieder lassen sich Komponisten von Themen alterer oder auch zeitgenossischer Meister zu Variations-Zyklen anregen (Brahms: Handel- und Haydn-Variationen, Reger: Mozart-Variationen, Holler: Sweelinck-Variationen). Themen von Robert Schumann fanden bisher relativ selten Beachtung - (Regers Schumann-Variationen fur zwei Klaviere sind eine Ausnahme) - vielleicht, weil sie zu sehr in sich vollendet und abgeschlossen sind und deshalb kaum Moglichkeiten zur Veranderung enthalten. Dennoch beschaftigte mich schon langer die Idee, eine ,,Musik mit Schumann, Nachklange oder Erinnerungen an Schumann zu gestalten, mit der Absicht, ein heiteres, liebenswurdiges (und nachdenkliches) Werk zu schreiben, einmal ohne Experimente-, als ,,Divertimento fur den Normalhorer, gelegentlich behutsam verbunden mit modernen Techniken - nicht ohne hintergrundigen Humor. Der 1. Satz wurde inspiriert von den ,,Papillons (opus 2 fur Klavier); er gliedert sich in vier variationsahnliche Abschnitte. Die ,,Ouverture exponiert drei kurze Themen, die sich trotz ihres gegensatzlichen Charakters wie selbstverstandlich erganzen (Einleitungsgirlande und Schlussfanfare der Papillons und das bekannte Anfangsmotiv aus ,,Vogel als Prophet). Die Abschnitte ,,Thema, ,,Variationen und ,,Coda entwickeln und verandern das Hauptthema der ,,Papillons; dieses dominiert uber weite Strecken des Satzes und wird mit den Motiven der Ouverture kombiniert. Vielfaltig gegliedert ist das ,,Lyrische Intermezzo. Zu Beginn gewinnt ein Motiv aus den ,,Nachtstucken (fur Klavier) Bedeutung, taucht mehrere Male auf, von mehrtonigen b-a-c-h Clustern ,,gestort. Im Mittelpunkt stehen das Thema des 2. Satzes der g-moll Klavier-Sonate op. 22 (ein Mondnachtlied ohne Worte; Holzblaser) und ein Adagio-Gedanke aus dem Klavier-Zyklus ,,Kreisleriana (tiefe Streicher); beide Themen werden kontrapunktiert von zwolftonigen Strukturen und Klangbandern (Holzblaser). Die ,,Fruhlings-Symphonie-Fanfare eroffnet das Finale. Danach bilden sich uber rotierenden Klangflachen (Streicher) einzelne Tone und Intervalle, aleatorisch frei, verdichten sich, wie aus der Erinnerung auftauchend, zu Motiven aus Schumanns bekanntester Symphonie. Nach diesem zogernden Beginn entwickelt sich ein fast klassisch anmutender Sonaten-Durchfuhrungsteil mit mehreren melodischen Gedanken (Kopfmotiv der g-moll Klaviersonate, tanzerische und ostinate Themen aus der Fruhlings-Symphonie), die zum Teil in- und ubereinander geschichtet werden, bis auf dem Hohepunkt des Satzes das Schlussthema der Klavierfantasie op. 17, pathetisch-ironisch in den Blechblasern erklingt. Eine kurze Reprise mit dem Hauptgedanken fuhrt zur Anfangsfanfare zuruck; der Satz verklingt im pianissimo. Wollte man dem ganzen opus ein Motto voranstellen, dann die Schumann-Uberschrift (aus den Kinderszenen) : ,,Fast zu ernst - aber eben nur ,,fast. (Jurg Baur)CD:Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, cond. Hanns-Martin SchneidtCD Thorofon CTH 2270 Bibliography:Wallerang, Lars: Die Orchesterwerke Jurg Baurs als Dialog zwischen Tradition und Moderne, Koln: Dohr 2003.Nonnenmann, Rainer: Vergegenwartigungen. Umgang mit historischem Material bei Zimmermann, Baur, Killmayer, Schnebel und Zender, in: Jurg Baur, hrsg. von Ulrich Tadday (= Musik-Konzepte. Neue Folge, Heft 184/185), Munchen: Edition Text+Kritik 2019, S. 26-46.

SKU: BR.PB-4850-07

World premiere: Aachen, June 2, 1971

ISBN 9790004206485. 6.5 x 9 inches.

Dieses vierteilige Opus ist keine avantgardistische Musik, sondern fur den Normalhorer gedacht, obwohl darin verschiedene moderne Kompositionstechniken verwendet werden. Die vier Satze des Werkes sind Impressionen uber Gedichte des grossen italienischen Lyrikers G. Ungaretti, der 1970 82jahrig starb. Giorno per giorno (Tag fur Tag) ist der Titel des Zyklus auf den Tod eines seiner Kinder - in der Musik fur Orchester zugleich die Uberschrift fur das ganze Werk und den ersten Satz - und bedeutet inhaltlich: Schmerz ohne Trostung und ohne Ausweg ( es hat irgendeine Trostung notwendig, mein armes zerfallenes Herz). Auch die anderen Satzbezeichnungen stehen uber einzelnen Gedichten oder Gedichtgruppen von Ungaretti; so ist der zweite Satz uberschrieben Allegria di naufragi (Freude der Schiffbruche). Das Wagnis dieser Schiffbruche wird musikalisch durch aleatorische Strukturen symbolisiert (Und auf einmal nimmst du die Fahrt wieder auf). Der dritte Satz tragt die Uberschrift La terra promessa (Das verheissene Land'. Die Stille einer mediterranen Herbstlandschaft klingt an (Die Traube ist reif, das Feld ist bestellt). Das Finale mit dem Titel Soldati beginnt mit einer falschen Fanfare und steigert sich nach mehreren unruhigen Episoden zu einem aggressiven Schlussteil (Den Tod busst man lebend ab).(Jurg Baur).