SKU: PR.14440538S
UPC: 680160589456.
Leisner ponders life from nothingness, its force of presence, and its return to nothingness, using sustained strings and increasing/decreasing intensity as a basis upon which to build his impressions. The quartet progresses from near-silence to full-on life-force, before slowly dying away. For advanced performers. Duration: 9'.
SKU: BR.EB-9243
ISBN 9790004185438. 9 x 12 inches.
It was the practice of Khoomii (throat singing) - following several workshops with Michael Ormiston - that first attracted me to Tuvan music. Composing this Songbook, the first in a series commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, I took the chance to reflect on compositional questions around transcription and arrangement of existing music, and frequently found myself asking: where is the boundary between the source material and the new substance? Of course the relationship varies from piece to piece, and moment to moment: sometimes we seem to glimpse the pure source, but most of the time there are differing degrees of distance, working towards or away from it. This new version for string orchestra corresponds closely to the original quartet version, with an additional part for double basses.The traditional Tuvan songs that I have transcribed and recomposed are all known to me from the Ay Kherel CD The Music of Tuva: Throat Singing and Instruments from Central Asia (2004, Arc Music). According to the notes from that CD, this is what the songs are about:1. Dyngylday: If you have come on a horse in blue, it doesn't mean that you are the best. My heart tells me something else: my sweetheart doesn't have such a beautiful horse, but he is my darling.An alternative interpretation from Alash Ensemble (alashensemble.com): The word dyngylday is a nonsense term with no translation. The song makes good-humored fun of somebody for being a good-for-nothing.2. Eki Attar (The Best Steeds): The horse is the basis of our life. It is a magic creature. Even its step is full of music and rhythm. You may not be a horse rider, but when you hear this song you will always remember horses.3. Kuda Yry: This wedding song glorifies the strength of the groom and the beauty of his Horse.4. Ezir-Kara ('Black Eagle'): This was the name of a horse, who became a legend through his remarkable strength and speed.It is not just overtones that abound here: there are galloping rhythms aplenty, and though I am no horse rider I tried to keep the horses galloping in my imagination while composing these pieces.Christian Mason (with quotes from Ay Kherel and Alash Ensemble)World premiere of the original version: London/UK, May 10, 2016, World premiere of the string orchestra version: Clermont-Ferrand/France, October 8, 2020.
SKU: BR.EB-9244
ISBN 9790004185445. 9 x 12 inches.
SKU: HL.49018965
ISBN 9790001175791.
What do Beethoven and the children's song Fuchs Du hast die Gans gestohlen have in common? Nothing, strictly speaking. Although the song was written as early as 1824 (and theoretically, Beethoven could have known it), it has not left deep marks on his oeuvre. But what if he had known it? Wolfgang Birtel pursued this question and, in reply to it, conceived a symphony for string quartet: behind each movement is an original symphony by Beethoven (spiced with quotes from other works). The children's song appears as the main theme in the final movement of Symphony No. 1, in the famous funeral march of Eroica, fate knocks at the door (of the goose house) in remembrance of Symphony No. 5, and the work ends with Ode to the Roast Goose (Symphony No. 9). A funny and cleverly arranged collage, a performing and listening pleasure in the footsteps of Beethoven.
SKU: BO.B.3542
Staeliana was commissioned by the Fundacio Caixa de Catalunya in 2007 for the inauguration of an exposition of the work of Nicolas Staël at La Pedrera, Barcelona. In this work I wanted to compose homage to a painter who knew how to join together in his unique works both the traditions of the past along with the vanguard of his time. Beginning with figurative works which lead toward abstraction, his body of work can be defined as a contrast between these two concepts which, with extreme simplicity, define his entire artistic conception. Staeliana, an expressive chorale, at times both luminous and dramatic, dissolves into the most minimal expression. From the first joining together of the voices it concludes with utter simplicity of expression. The suicide of the artist in 1955 is representative of the dissolution of his existence as well as of his artistic works. This contrast between figurative and abstraction is reflected in the music by the contrast between stability and tension. I believe that this duality may be found both in his work and in his life, always oscillating between living a creative life or opting for death, which may be seen as a fusion in nothingness with the plenitude of purest simplicity.
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