SKU: ST.Y296
ISBN 9790220223525.
Nature and landscape have been the dominant themes of much of Rhian Samuel's vocal music of the last ten years, projected chiefly through the poetry of Anne Stevenson, and in her most recent song-settings, the writings of the Pakistan-born Texas-based poet Zulfikar Ghose. His poem 'Conspiracy of the Clouds' describes how, the clouds having chosen to become invisible, 'Even the astronauts on the space shuttle / looked down on a cloudless America' as hurricanes ravage Louisiana and storms engulf Nebraska. An intriguing conceit in the tradition of magic realism, the text is presented as a scena lasting around 16 minutes, with interpolations from 'Haze' by the nineteenth-century New England transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. Thus modern fable and romantic nature-description are juxtaposed, and their interaction becomes the source of musical contrasts too. Thoreau's words are assigned predominantly to the vocalist's highest register, those of Ghose to her lower tessitura; and the suggestive and dramatic accompaniment builds tension steadily to the final ironic response of an incredulous American public: not one of awe and wonder, but the question 'Why weren't we told about it?
SKU: ST.Y279
ISBN 9790220223068.
Such is the character of the accordion that any work featuring its distinctive voice within an ensemble is likely to be a piece d'occasion. Written for the prizewinning young soloist Milos Milivojevic and performed with the Juritz String Quartet at the 2011 Machynlleth Festival in Wales, Rhian Samuel's Mist on the Hills is no exception. The composer has used the rare opportunity of writing for the instrument in combination with solo strings to exploit its illustrative powers and create a fourteen-minute score inspired by the changing weather over the hills around her Welsh home on the Dyfi Estuary. In particular, its three movements are suggestive of the appearance of mist in the landscape, 'settling', 'lingering' and 'swirling'. In the first movement, which is a gentle prelude, brief accordion motifs break through the timbre of strings like glints of sunshine through mist. The second movement, more song-like, presents three verses of a lament; in the first half of each verse the accordion sings as if from afar, while in the second half (led by the viola) the music intensifies greatly. In the dance-like and virtuosic last movement a short, constantly changing refrain alternates with two types of material: 'swirling' music and lighter, more rhythmical ideas. Finally, scale passages invade the texture, ceasing only as the accordion ascends to the top of its range in the closing bars.
SKU: PR.114416260
ISBN 9781491101070. UPC: 680160620043. 9 x 12 inches.
Adler's milestone String Quartet No. 10 was composed for the Cassatt String Quartet for performance at the Bowdoin International Music Festival's 50th Anniversary season in 2014. Built in a single movement of contrasting sections, Adler's 10th will continue to be featured in upcoming concerts by the Cassatt Quartet, including a performance in Beijing in July.The String Quartet No. 10 was written in 2013 for the 50th anniversary of the Bowdoin International Summer Music Festival and is dedicated to the Cassatt Quartet who premiered the work during the 50th anniversary celebration in July 2014.  The work was written with a generous grant from the Fromm Music Foundation.The 10th String Quartet is in one continuous movement but divided into four sections.  The first section is a slow introduction which presents the basic harmonic material of the entire work.  This is suddenly interrupted by a very agitated movement forming a great contrast to the calm of the beginning.  This rhythmic drive comes to a stop and is relieved by the third section which is a variation of the beginning, but is a bit longer and more developed.  This is followed by the final section which again captures the agitation of the second section and brings the work to a wild and most aggressive end.—Samuel Adler.
SKU: PR.114416530
UPC: 680160623884. 10.5 x 13 inches.
Commissioned by Justus and Elizabeth Schlichting for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts' chamber music series, the String Quartet was premiered in February 2014 by the St. Lawrence String Quartet at the Center's Samueli Theater. The String Quartet is included on the just-released all-Matheson CD on Yarlung Records, which includes the world premiere performance of his Violin Concerto along with his vocal cycle, Times Alone.
SKU: PR.11441653S
UPC: 680160623969.
SKU: PR.11441516S
UPC: 680160600915. 8.5 x 11 inches.
Adler's ninth turn at string quartet composition was written for the Esterhazy Quartet, who were pleased to perform the world premiere in April, 2009 with the composer in attendance. Violinist Susan Jensen described the work as energetic, spirited, humorous and celebratory. The premiere follows an all-Adler 80th birthday celebration by the Esterhazy in the previous year, so this new String Quartet No. 9 is a treat. Three of the four movements proceed at a fast pace, and the Quartet is for advanced performers.
SKU: PR.114415160
UPC: 680160600892. 8.5 x 11 inches.
SKU: HL.49044143
ISBN 9790001187237.
...called dusk II for string quartet draws its inspiration from a line in Samuel Beckett's short story Lessness: 'Figment dawn dispeller of figments and the other called dusk'.The work is a kind of double Chaconne, each part of which contains 26 chords based on specific permutations of fundamental notes and their harmonics. Each of the parts pass through alternating, harmonically contrasted planes, becoming entwined in the manner of a chimera through their rhythmic structure and dynamics. This intermittently produces a sort of 'inner voice' which runs through all four instruments. The fundamental notes and harmonics separate during the progress of the composition, becoming independent and then disintegrating. The consonant harmony resulting from the amalgamation of the two planes ultimately collapses into a rigid motor-like linearity. Detlev Muller-Siemens.
SKU: PR.144405590
UPC: 680160606474. 8.5 x 11 inches.
A virtuosic work for guitar and strings in two movements, Zyman's Quintet is exemplary for its integration of these forces. Enjoy a YouTube video of the intense 2nd movement, as performed by Roberto Limon and the Cuarteto Chavez. For advanced performers.
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