SKU: HL.49033270
ISBN 9790001136860. 9.25x12.0x0.3 inches.
The Jagdquartett (Hunt Quartet), which Jorg Widmann wrote as his third string quartet in 2003, following the Choralquartett, also begins with a visible gesture. After a short signal cry from the performers, the piece starts by quoting Robert Schumann's Papillons op. 2, and for its full duration retains this gesture, these starting sounds. The degrees of recognizability do change continuously, to be sure, in the furious, racing organism of the score. The contours change into forms on another level, yet now and then the begining material returns clearly to the fore, initiated anew by a cry from the performers, and is then digested or mutated as a rhythmic study into a field of harmonic experimentation. On rare occasions, there are moments of pause - as though the musicians were testing the atmosphere, as though they were sensing the weather, so as ultimately to continue playing the quartet across the fields an forests of notes. A hunt after joyful performance, a chase, the whip cracking, after the thing to be shot, the sound, its performer, perhaps the composer himself? - A last shout, morendo, dal niente... - The victim is not the audience, at any rate.When comparing the output of string quartets from the 18th century to thetime of Schumann, it appears to have dropped considerably. Schumann composed only three complete quartets, all of them in the so-called 'chamber music year' 1842. Jorg Widmann, who counts Robert Schumann among his greatest inspirations, finished a series of five string quartets in 2005, at the same age as Schumann. The quartets in the cycle form in themselves the characters of the movements of the classical quartet. Jagdquartett represents the fast middle movement, the scherzo. Widmann's work appears rough and wild in the style of Schumann's alter ego Florestan. His hunt begins in the tempo of 'allegro vivace assai' with the final theme of Schumann's Papillons which often appears or is cited in many of Schumann's compositions. Widmann eventually dismantles the thematic material of his fierce quartet, thus skeletonising his prey.
SKU: HL.49018066
ISBN 9790220131592. UPC: 884088567309. 9.0x12.0x0.339 inches.
A virtuoso work for an increasingly popular instrumental combination, the title (after Van Gogh's visionary painting The Starry Night) gives a sense of the intensity of this music. Personal memories of Africa are recalled and in particular the sound of music and dancing both near and in the distance all taking place under the vivid starry night sky.Van Gogh's visionary painting The Starry Night provides the title, if not the stimulus, for this music. Rather, personal memories of Africa are recalled and in particular the sound of music and dancing both near and in the distance all taking place under the vivid starry night sky. So this music is dance music and maybe it tries to emulate the dancing of Van Gogh's gigantic stars. Steve Martland.
SKU: HL.49018033
ISBN 9790220131240. UPC: 884088567286. 9.0x12.0x0.266 inches.
Van Gogh's visionary painting The Starry Night provides the title, if not the stimulus, for this music. Rather, personal memories of Africa are recalled and in particular the sound of music and dancing both near and in the distance all taking place under the vivid starry night sky. So this music is dance music and maybe it tries to emulate the dancing of Van Gogh's gigantic stars. Steve Martland.
SKU: PR.16400222S
UPC: 680160037841.
This work follows my Quartet No. 1 by five years. In terms of style and aesthetic aim, however, it seems light years away. Where the first work, a 28-minute, four-movement piece, took aim at cosmic conflicts and heroic resolutions, the present work is intended as a kind of divertissment. Harbor Music lasts a mere eleven minutes, is cast in a single movement with six sections, and should leave both performers and listeners with a feeling of good humor and affection. The title comes from my experience as a guest in the magnificent city of Sydney, Australia. One of its most attractive features is its unique system of ferry boats: the city is laid out around a large, multi-channeled harbor, with destinations more easily approached by water than by land. Consequently, inhabitants of Sydney get around on small, people-friendly boats that come and go from the central docks at Circular Quay. During a week's visit in 1991, I must have boarded these boats at least a dozen times, always bound for a new location - the resort town of Manley, or the Zoo at Taronga Park, or the shopping district at Darling Harbour. In casting about for a form for my second string quartet, a kind of loose rondo came to mind. Each new destination would be approached from the same starting-out point (although there are subtle variations in the repeating theme; it's always in a new key, and the texture is never the same). The result, I hope, is a sense of constant new information presented with introductory frames of a more familiar nature. The embarkation theme, which begins the piece, is a sort of bi-tonal fanfare in which the violins are in G major and the viola and cello are in B-flat major. It is bold, eager, and forward-looking. The first voyage maintains this bi-tonality, beginning as a 9/8 due for second violin and viola in a kind of rocking motion -much as a boat produces when reaching the deeper water in the harbor. A sweet, nostalgic theme emerges over this rocking accompaniment. This music is developed somewhat, then transforms quickly into a much faster and lighter episode, filled with rising and falling scales (again, in differing keys). A scherzando interlude in short notes and changing meters provides contrast, and the episode ends with a reprise of the scales. The second embarkation follows, this time in A major/C major. It leads quickly into a very warm and slow theme, in wide-leaping intervals for the viola. This section is interrupted twice by solo cadenzas for the cello, suggesting distant boat-horns in major thirds. The end of the episode becomes a transition, with boat-horns leading into the final appearance of the embarkation music, this time in trills and tremolos instead of sharply accented chords. The nostalgic theme of the first episode makes a final appearance, serving now as a coda. The rocking motion continues, in a lullaby fashion, leaving us drowsy and satisfied on our homeward journey. Harbor Music was written for the Cavani Quartet, and is dedicated to Richard J. Bogomolny. Commissioned by his employees at First National Supermarkets as a gift, it represents a thank you from many of the people (including this composer) who have benefitted from his vision and generosity. An ardent advocate of chamber music (and a cellist himself), Mr. Bogomolny has for many years been Chairman of the Board of Chamber Music America. -- Dan Welcher.
SKU: BR.EB-6705
ISBN 9790004169063. 9 x 12 inches. German.
Though a piano can always be included, it is not an essential requirement for the performance of these settings: in some of the carols, two violins or two flutes are quite sufficient, especially if voices are used as well. The following combinations are particularly suitable for domestic music-making, whether or not voices are included as well:one violin and piano,two violins and piano,two or three violins,violins and recorders,two concert (C) flutes (and an alto flute) and - as the ideal combination for shepherds' songs - flutes, violins, cello and piano.Performing groups and music schools have the advantage of a wider choice of forces and the possibility of varying the instrumentation within the individual carols and verses. Thus large and small combinations can alternate, strings and flutes can play in turn, and finally the piano can be used by itself or to reinforce other instrumental combinations, in which case the cello can be added, too.The pieces are graded in increasing order of difficulty; the first carols are chosen so that they can be mastered by violinists after as little as 4 to 6 months of learning their instrument. The choise and sequence of the carols in this book, and also their keys, were determined, amongst other factors, by their suitability for the start of violin tuition, both in first and in third position, so that these carols make an especially good supplement of Christmas music to the violin method of Fritz and Gottfried Scharlach (with its principle of starting with the third position). The progressively increasing difficulty of the carols has resulted, for example, in the three Advent carols (nos. 23-25) being placed later in the collection.The editor hopes that these carols will be much played and sung, and thus help to fill the Christmas season with joy and splendour.Fritz Scharlach, Salzburg, December 1972Our beautiful Christmas carols, old and new, are presented here in settings, ranging from the easy to the more difficult, for various combinations of voices and instruments that may be available in domestic music-making or for a Christmas concert.
SKU: BO.B.3664
Cuarteto San Petersburgo (The Saint Petersburg Quartet) was written between January and March 2011. It owes its name to the fact that Saint Petersburg has been a very significant city for me. I was invited there in 1988 to take part in a big contemporary music festival, but my uninterrupted bond with the city started on 2002, thanks to the negotiations of my friend and pupil Albert Barbeta. Since then, I have constantly travelled there in order to record a considerable part of my repertoire: seventeen pieces. In addition to the concerts we went to, I took the opportunity during my trips to visit the well-known conservatoire where so many great personalities from the world of music composition once taught, and the place that launched the most important violin school in the whole of Russia: the school of Leopoldo Auer. Spending a long time in Auer's classroom writing my concert for violin and orchestra was an unforgettable experience for me. His large portrait motivated me even further.Cuarteto San Petersburgo evokes many of the most cherished and moving moments that I have had in this city. It is structured in four movements. The first one, Allegretto-Allegro, opens with an introduction that sets forth the two main themes, amid a soft and elastic atmosphere. The Allegro starts vigorously and in it we find changes in the tempo and moments of mystery, as well as certain seclusion, returning then to the emphatic theme where the counterpoint finds its place. The movement ends placidly.The Scherzo-marcato that follows is marked by a persistent rhythm of triplets that carries on from beginning to end. The tempo does not change, but brief and decided themes are introduced, as well as passages of counterpoint. Brief and dissonant chords are heard throughout the movement, which ends vigorously.The third movement, Ut, is a very special one. For a while already I had been playing with the idea of writing a movement that was to have the tonality C as a leitmotiv. This one is made up by two slow and static parts. In the first one, the first violin plays pizzicatti-glissandi. In the second, the first violin and particularly the violoncello settle on C while the other two instruments produce descending chromatic harmonies.Finally, the Introduccion-Presto (the Introduction-Presto). It starts with some bucolic passages which remind us of the introduction to the first movement. A fast and energetic Presto suddenly erupts. A kind of moto perpetuo which alternates with two expressive passages and, towards the end, a viola and violoncello tremolo, all of great mystery and expectation, make way for a resounding finale marcato.
SKU: HL.50603994
ISBN 9781705164679. UPC: 196288068310. 9.0x12.0 inches.
Quatuor No 2 was first performed by the Tana string quartet on April 14, 2013, at Radio France, Paris. I conceived a piece whose principal subject was going to consist in the description of a minuscule sonic element. The description of this tiny initial material would be so precise, so detailed that, deployed on a much larger scale than its original one, it would occupy the entire duration of the piece. At that point, I just had to choose a sound model as the starting point of the piece, the sound that would best characterize the string instruments themselves: the noisy sound produced by the bow barely coming in contact with one of the strings, getting ready to acquire speed, weight, acceleration, and producing a full sound of a violin, a viola or a cello... -Daniel D'Adamo.
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