SKU: HL.14005410

'Acquainted with Night', is a cycle of six songs, for alto and strings, harp and timpani. The texts are all concerned with different aspects of night. The first song, 'Lullaby' to a poem by Beaumont and Fletcher, seeks to evoke the 'care-charming' powers of sleep. The second, a setting of Robert Frost's 'Acquainted with the night', is concerned with the lonely world of a strange city at night and the music is characterised by an insistently repeated figure in the accompaniment. The third song contrasts the calmness of the night with the turbulence in a lover's mind - the poem is by the Earl of Surrey. 'Out in the dark' a poem by Edward Thomas, is the text of the fourth song. It is in the form of a scherzo and deals with the mystery and strangeness of night, and, as the poet puts it, the 'might' of night. It is, as the poet says, a hymn to night and the chordal nature of the accompaniment suggests this quality. This song leads directly into the last, which is in fact a reprise of the opening 'Lullaby' so completing the cycle.

SKU: BT.YKM570369270

A Hymn to the Thames was commissioned by James Turnbull and the Music Director of the St Paul’s Sinfonia, Andrew Morley. It was begun in 2019 and completed early in 2020. There are four movements played without a break, which follow the Thames from its Cotswold source to the North Sea. As the first performance took place in St ALfege’s Church, Greenwich, this seemed appropriate. The solo oboe represents both a wanderer along the river path and the spirit of the river. The pitch centres of the movements spell out the musical letters of the river (tHAmES—B natural, A, E and E flat) so that the river’s name is projected across the whole work. In addition, the musical letters found in James Turnbull, Andrew Morley and my wife, Teresa Cahill ( who was born in Maidenhead and brought up by the river in Rotherhithe) are entwined in various guises. The first movement grows from the depths, the soloist entering with fanfare-like gestures, followed by lyrical music and breaks into a dance as the river gathers momentum. The third movement is slow and sustained and geographically the Thames flows through Oxford. The music is based on the well-known In Nomine ‘head motif’ from the Gloria tibi Trinitas Mass by the early Tudor composer, John Taverner, who was the first Director of Music at Christ Church, Oxford. The orchestra provides a screen or veil above which the solo oboe dreams and ruminates. This leads directly into the fourth and final movement which begins in the depths once more, interrupting the oboe’s held note from the end of the third movement. The waters’ increasing intensity and power are represented throughout by a moto perpetuo of quick, steady semiquavers. Near the close, the woodwind play O Nata Lux by Thomas Tallis, the great Tudor composer who, with his wife Joan, is buried in St Alfege’s. Beneath this, the lower strings continue the fast semiquaver movement of the river and, above, the violins are heard as a halo of harmonics. At the close, the oboe rises, opening out to the future, and celebrating its voyage, while the orchestra fades as the river meets the sea. A Hymn to the Thames lasts approximately 17 minutes.

SKU: HL.14027993

ISBN 9788759811832. English.

Premiered at the festival 'Magma Berlin 2002' by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Robertson, 29th November 2002.

3 Flutes, 1st and 2nd also Alto Flutes in G, 3rd also Piccolo
3 Oboes, 3rd also Cor Anglais in F
3 Clarinets in Bb, 3rd also Bass Clarinet in Bb
3 Bassoons, 3rd also Contra Bassoon

4 Horn in F
3 Trumpets in Bb
3 Trombones
1 Tuba

Timpani

4 Percussion, four players
Player 1 - Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Water Chime, Bell Tree, Japanese Wood Blocks, Cymbal (Suspended), TamTam (Medium)
Player 2 - Triangle, Tubular Bells, Crotales, Marimba, Chinese Cymbal
Player 3 - TamTam (Large), Java Gong(Large, very low), Bell Lyra (Handheld), Sizzle Cymbal
Player 4 - Bass Drum, Glockenspiel, Xylophone

1 Harp

1 Piano, also Celesta

Strings - 16/14/12/10/8

All transposing instruments are notated in their relevant transpositions.
Any accidental apply only to the note that it immediately precedes, except tied notes.
Naturals appear occasionally 'for safety'.

'LISTENING EARTH' is a symphonic drama, a one- movement composition in four parts based on the work by two writers, Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and W.H.Auden (1907-1973). Joseph Addison is not particularly well known; he was English, a classical scholar, essayist, poet and politician, but one of his hymns was used by Benjamin Britten. in his setting of a Thomas Tallis canon.
The hymn is singularly beautiful and being a composer always inspired by extramusical stimuli such as poems, nature, paintings, I was immediately convinced when I carne across the Addison hymn, that here was exactly what I wanted to use as my major source of inspiration for this piece, commissioned by and written for The Berlin Philharmonic.
I don't refer to the hymn in its entirety, but have chosen the following 3 excerpts, all acting as mottos for the first three sections of the piece, thus turning the piece into a straightforward tonepoem in the classical.

SKU: LO.30-3220L

UPC: 000308142389.

Brimming with ancient Celtic flavor, Stars of Glory radiates the promise of the light of God’s salvation, fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ. Tom Fettke and Thomas Grassi have arranged a brilliant mix of eleven traditional carols for SATB choir, duet, optional solo, child’s solo, and women’s trio. Variously tender, introspective, joyous, and infectious, the selections in this work are connected by the common thread of their Celtic highlights, while Ken Bible’s readings beautifully illuminate the central theme—Jesus Christ, the Bright and Morning Star. Orchestration by Michael Lawrence for 2 Fl, Ob, 2 Cl, Bsn (sub Bass Cl), 2 Hn (sub 2 A Sax), 3 Tpt, 2 Tbn (sub 2 T Sax), Tuba, Perc, Timp, Harp, Pno, 2 Vln, Vla, Cello, Bass, Digital Strings.

SKU: SU.97020360

3,1 2,1 3,1 2,1; 5431; timp, 5 perc, pno/org, 2 hp; stgs Composed: 1986 Published by: Notevole Music Publishing Performance materials available on rental:.

SKU: AP.41238

UPC: 038081483689. English.

In keeping with the efforts of developing a curriculum that fosters Comprehensive Musicianship, this string orchestra arrangement of three of the most popular Renaissance madrigals, will provide your students with a peak into this period of music history that is frequently overlooked. Now Is the Month of Maying, Sing We and Chant It, both by Thomas Morley, and Fair Phyllis, by John Farmer, are basic choral repertoire found in most high school and college full SATB and madrigal ensembles. The string ensemble may perform the arrangement alone with the added Renaissance style percussion. Or, better yet, why not enhance the performance by adding an SATB chorus thereby sharing the stage with your school's most advanced choral ensemble? (5:00) 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.