SKU: HL.234744

9.0x12.0x0.035 inches.

Composer's Note: The Lullaby from The Unicorns arose from an opera libretto I commissioned from John Heath-Stubbs (1918-2006) in the late 1960s. In his story two unicorns are discovered in a remote part of Africa. Both the East and West want to obtain them for research so they send out rival expeditions. The Western technique is to lure the unicorn with a young girl singing a lullaby. Both East and West capture unicorns but the mythical animals escape in the end. I never completed the opera but I made a six-movement suite from it called The Unicorns. There are three songs and three instrumental numbers and the first performance was given with Elisabeth Soderstrom and Solna Brass under Lars-Gunnar Bjorklund at Ekensbergskyrkan, Solna, Sweden on 31 October 1982. This version was recorded and my arrangement of the three songs for voice and piano was recorded by Marilyn Hill Smith. The career of the Lullaby continued with a version for clarinet and piano, which I premiered with Jack Brymer aboard the Sea Princess in the Mediterranean on 29 September 1986. The oboe version was for Sarah Francis, and Duke Dobing and I have recorded it for flute an piano. Lullaby can be played with a variety of solo instruments and is also available for piano left hand and piano solo.

SKU: FG.55011-554-5

ISBN 9790550115545.

Harri Wessman (b. 1949) is interested in all aspects of music that may be expressive, without in any way ignoring the possibilities of melody. He himself describes his harmonic method as a kind of contrapuntally treated jazz harmony. During recent years pedagogic music has become a more and more central area in his output with an emphasis on creating repertoire for budding musicians, from beginners to young professionals. I don't write children's music. Stylistically I write in the same way as for professionals; technically, the pieces just have to be easier to play. Concertino No. 2 for piano and chamber orchestra was commissioned by a Finnish press house Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet Oy for the inauguration of their new office building in 1987. According to the original plan the concertino was to be used in an advertising film of the company. A melody with wide arch which can be heard in the midpoint of the piece, first played by the orchestra and then repeated with the piano, was intended to be the theme song of the film. The 10 minutes duration and small orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet and strings) makes this one movement piece suitable also for young orchestra players.