SKU: PR.16400272S
UPC: 680160588442. 8.5 x 11 inches.
My third quartet is laid out in a three-movement structure, with each movement based on an early, middle, and late work of the great American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. Although the movements are separate, with full-stop endings, the music is connected by a common scale-form, derived from the name MARY CASSATT, and by a recurring theme that introduces all three movements. I see this theme as Mary's Theme, a personality that stays intact while undergoing gradual change. I The Bacchante (1876) [Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] The painting shows a young girl of Italian or Spanish origin, playing a small pair of cymbals. Since Cassatt was trying very hard to fit in at the French Academy at the time, she painted a lot of these subjects, which were considered typical and universal. The style of the painting doesn't yet show Cassatt's originality, except perhaps for certain details in the face. Accordingly the music for this movement is Spanish/Italian, in a similar period-style but using the musical signature described above. The music begins with Mary's Theme, ruminative and slow, then abruptly changes to an alla Spagnola-type fast 3/4 - 6/8 meter. It evokes the Spanish-influenced music of Ravel and Falla. Midway through, there's an accompanied recitative for the viola, which figures large in this particular movement, then back to a truncated recapitulation of the fast music. The overall feeling is of a well-made, rather conventional movement in a contemporary Spanish/Italian style. Cassatt's painting, too, is rather conventional. II At the Opera (1880) [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts] This painting is one of Cassatt's most well known works, and it hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The painting shows a woman alone in a box at the opera house, completely dressed (including gloves) and looking through opera glasses at someone or something that is NOT on the stage. Across the auditorium from her, but exactly at eye level, is a gentleman with opera glasses intently watching her - though it is not him that she's looking at. It's an intriguing picture. This movement is far less conventional than the first movement, as the painting is far less conventional. The music begins with a rapid, Shostakovich-type mini-overture lasting less than a minute, based on Mary's Theme. My conjecture is that the woman in the painting has arrived late to the opera, busily stumbling into her box. What happens next is a kind of collage, a kind of surrealistic overlaying of two different elements: the foreground music, at first is a direct quotation of Soldier's Chorus from Gounod's FAUST (an opera Cassatt would certainly have heard in the brand-new Paris Opera House at that time), played by Violin II, Viola, and Cello. This music is played sul ponticello in the melody and col legno in the marching accompaniment. On top of this, the first violin hovers at first on a high harmonic, then descends into a slow melody, completely separate from the Gounod. It's as if the woman in the painting is hearing the opera onstage but is not really interested in it. Then the cello joins the first violin in a kind of love-duet (just the two of them, at first). This music isn't at all Gounod-derived; it's entirely from the same scale patterns as the first movement and derives from Mary's Theme and its scale. The music stays in a kind of dichotomy feeling, usually three-against-one, until the end of the movement, when another Gounod melody, Valentin's aria Avant de quitter ce lieux reappears in a kind of coda for all four players. It ends atmospherically and emotionally disconnected, however. The overall feeling is a kind of schizophrenic, opera-inspired dream. III Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun (1909) [Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts] The painting, one of Cassatt's last, is very simple: just a figure, looking sideways out of the picture. The colors are pastel and yet bold - and the woman is likewise very self-assured and not in the least demure. It is eight minutes long, and is all about melody - three melodies, to be exact (Young Woman, Green, and Sunlight). No angst, no choppy rhythms, just ever-unfolding melody and lush harmonies. I quote one other French composer here, too: Debussy's song Green, from Ariettes Oubliees. 1909 would have been Debussy's heyday in Paris, and it makes perfect sense musically as well as visually to do this. Mary Cassatt lived her last several years in near-total blindness, and as she lost visual acuity, her work became less sharply defined - something akin to late water lilies of Monet, who suffered similar vision loss. My idea of making this movement entirely melodic was compounded by having each of the three melodies appear twice, once in a pure form, and the second time in a more diffuse setting. This makes an interesting two ways form: A-B-C-A1-B1-C1. String Quartet No.3 (Cassatt) is dedicated, with great affection and respect, to the Cassatt String Quartet, whose members have dedicated themselves in large measure to the furthering of the contemporary repertoire for quartet.
SKU: PR.164002720
UPC: 680160573042. 8.5 x 11 inches.
SKU: PR.114405050
UPC: 680160008377. 11 x 14 inches.
Although structurally it subdivides into five movements, the entire quartet emerges as one vast continuum. There are no formal breaks between movements. However, certain musical signposts can be discerned, associated with each of the movements' terminations and new beginnings. The opening movement, The Nostalgia of Clanging Bell Sonorities, begins floating on recurrent Bbs whose soft rhythmic flow slowly puts into motion strong undercurrents suggestive of the latent power of water... After several suggestions of tolling bells, the movement gradually fades into hushed tones of veiled and very distant sonorities. It uses a unique efffect, for the first time in a musical context, conveyed through the use of extra heavy practice mutes. The second movement, The Spill of Water , disengages itself from the first through its distinct contrast in tempo. Water moves fast, and when it splashes, it tends to run wildly. In this case, it happens to be bubbly water that gushes forth bodly... smashing across rocky shorlines. So, too, the music attempts to conjure such moods. At the end of this movement, a cello cadenza emerges, introducing an introspective type of melodicism. The third movement, The Poignancy of Memory, contains many silences as it tries to convey memory through fragmented remembrances much like often occur in our dream state. Progressing through several slowly building images, it gradually works itself into juxtaposition of musical images. Towards the movement's end, high harmonics are sounding in all four instruments while left hand pizzicato notes in the cello pluch the last remembrances of this central core. Almost imperceptibly, the viola assumes leadership as it dissolves into: The fourth movement, The Fluidity of Motion, which has mostly the viola, but also the cello, articulating lyrical statements against the sheets of sound conjured up by the two violins playing a flood of swirling figures, evokes a kind of static motion in spae. Here, the virtually imperceptible manner in which this hushed whisper continues incessantly, can suggest the potential fluidity with which movement may inch forward... Later into the fourth movement , two fairly extended solos by the second and then the first violins, lead to a kind of spontaneous dialogue among the four instrumentalists. Eventually, this musical conversation gets caught up in: The fifth movement's The Rush of Time, which opens with a hushed flurry of speed, precipitates the Finale. It generates, at first slowly, but then very swiftly, whole shifts of rhythmic fields that initially seem to conflict with one another. Ultimately, this use of 'psycho-rhythmics contributes to an on-rush of motion and time. Rhythmic changes are, at times, abruptly precipitated with but little or no preparation creating a kind of inevitability in forward thrust, while the movement rushes forward with a feeling of gradual and continuous acceleration. It gathers density as more and more notes are piled progressively upon successive beats. The attempt is to spark tension and ignite excitement by means of frenetic confrontations of dissimilitudes. Ultimately - with the help of time - these polarities centrifically spin out their own destinies with their accompanying fall-out and own inevitable resolutions.
SKU: PR.11440505S
UPC: 680160008391. 11 x 14 inches.
Although structurally it subdivides into five movements, the entire quartet emerges as one vast continuum. There are no formal breaks between movements. However, certain musical signposts can be discerned, associated with each of the movements' terminations and new beginnings. The opening movement, The Nostalgia of Clanging Bell Sonorities, begins floating on recurrent Bbs whose soft rhythmic flow slowly puts into motion strong undercurrents suggestive of the latent power of water... After several suggestions of tolling bells, the movement gradually fades into hushed tones of veiled and very distant sonorities. It uses a unique effect, for the first time in a musical context, conveyed through the use of extra heavy practice mutes. The second movement, The Spill of Water, disengages itself from the first through its distinct contrast in tempo. Water moves fast, and when it splashes, it tends to run wildly. In this case, it happens to be bubbly water that gushes forth bodly... smashing across rocky shorelines. So, too, the music attempts to conjure such moods. At the end of this movement, a cello cadenza emerges, introducing an introspective type of melodicism. The third movement, The Poignancy of Memory, contains many silences as it tries to convey memory through fragmented remembrances much like often occur in our dream state. Progressing through several slowly building images, it gradually works itself into juxtaposition of musical images. Towards the movement's end, high harmonics are sounding in all four instruments while left hand pizzicato notes in the cello pluck the last remembrances of this central core. Almost imperceptibly, the viola assumes leadership as it dissolves into: The fourth movement, The Fluidity of Motion, which has mostly the viola, but also the cello, articulating lyrical statements against sheets of sound conjured up by the two violins playing a flood of swirling figures, evokes a kind of static motion in space. Here , the virtually imperceptible manner in which this hushed whisper continues incessantly, can suggest the potential fluidity with which movement may inch forward... Later into the fourth movement, two fairly extended solos by the second and then the first violins, lead to a kind of spontaneous dialogue amont the four instrumentalists. Eventually, this musical conversation gets caught up in: The fifth movement's The Rush of Time, which opens with a hushed flurry of speed, precipitates the Finale. It generates, at first slowly, but then very swiftly, whole shifts of rhythmic fields that initially seem to conflict with one another. Ultimately, this use of psycho-rhythmics contributes to an on-rush seem of motion and time. Rhythmic changes are, at times, abruptly precipitated with but little or no preparation creating a kind of inevitability in forward thrust, while the movement rushes forward with a feeling of gradual and continuous acceleration. It gathers density as more and more notes are piled progressively upon successive beats. The attempt is to spark tension and ignite excitement by means of frenetic confrontations of dissimilitudes. Ultimately - with the help of time - these polarities centrifically spin out their own destinies with their accompanying fall-out and own inevitable resolutions.
SKU: PR.144407270
UPC: 680160681891. 9 x 12 inches.
My Eighth and Ninth String Quartets, begun in late 2017, are sonic cousins. Akin to real cousins, each piece exhibits differing natures. They were requested by two ensembles that have become asecond familiesa to me: The Jupiter Quartet of Urbana, Illinois and the Amernet Quartet based in Miami, Florida. Their collective dedication to, and care for, our art remains a personal and constant are-fuelinga for me. The quartets were commissioned by, and dedicated to, Margaret and Philip Verleger of Denver, Colorado. Additional financial support was provided by the School of Music at Stetson University, Timothy Peter, Dean. Quartet No.8 is laid out in a classical four-movement design. The work does break somewhat from conventional tradition by often placing quartet members into soloistic roles as the movement titles note. individual The opening piece presents at the outset a three-note motto which is turned over, tumbled, and energetically discussed, primarily by a violin duet. It is a duel. The two players part company only infrequently during the movement's progress, pausing briefly for other commentary by their alower cohortsa, the Viola and Cello do not argue, but abet their friends' aeffortsa. The piece's overall character is fairly bright and dancelike, closing in an unresolvedastandoffa. not Two principal asound-objectsa stitch the second movement scherzo together: sliding hands (glissandos) and a plucked ashufflea (pizzicato) - both instigated by the (solo) cellist. The others are influenced - or are not - by their aleadera, and follow - or interrupt - the cello throughout their four-voiced conversation. The third movement (longest of the set) is an elegy dedicated to the memory of a close personal friend, the American composer David Maslanka (1943 - 2017). Its' genesis is a simple 5-note melody derived from my own name (SaC/DaC/EaC/H). This line commences in the (solo) viola and is obsessively uttered without relief during the movement's lamentations. The closing movement revisits much of that opening three-note material, but now dressed up for the full quartet to view. It is a slowly accelerating romp which - twice - cannot avoid a nod to the Amernet and Jupiter performers by offering a humble bow to the 4th movement of Gustav Holst's PLANETS - Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity. My quartet serves as an honouring salute of thanks for the talent, respect, and friendship of these two young quartets. STRING QUARTET No. 8 is roughly 22 minutes in duration. It was written as an homage to Franz Joseph Haydn, my adesert-island-composera, and completed in Holly Hill, Florida in early April of 2019. S.H.
SKU: PR.14440727S
UPC: 680160681907. 9 x 12 inches.
SKU: BT.DHP-1135315-070
ISBN 9789043146814. 9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.
More Classical Highlights is the follow-up to Classical Highlights, a collection featuring arrangements of classical themes dating from the 17th century up to the19th century. The parts are quite easy and attractively written, but the arrangements stay as faithful as possible to the original works. Baroque music is represented with two highlights: the well-known Canon by Pachelbel may well be the most performed 17th century composition. The power of the piece lies in a bass line of only eight notes, above which the melodic line of the round itself develops. Réjouissance from Music for the Royal Fireworks is a very joyful composition bythe Anglo-German baroque composer Handel. The 18th century classical style gives us the refined minuet by Boccherini, the Italian composer who wrote a wealth of chamber music. The 19th century features in three famous works: the lively Marche Militaire No 1 by the Austrian composer Schubert originates from 3 Marches Militaires for four-handed piano. The Can Can from Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) is the best-known separately performed piece by the operetta composer Offenbach. Following this exciting dance music there is the beautiful, lofty Largo theme from the second movement of Czech composer Dvorákâ??s From the New World Symphony. In short: Six varying arrangements - challenging and very suitable for performances! More Classical Highlights is het vervolg op Classical Highlights, een verzameling arrangementen van klassieke thema´s die dateren uit de periode van de 17e eeuw tot en met de 19e eeuw. De partijen zijn eenvoudig en aantrekkelijk geschreven; tegelijkertijd blijven de arrangementen dicht bij het origineel. De barokmuziek is vertegenwoordigd met twee highlights. De bekende Canon van Pachelbel is wellicht de meest gespeelde 17e-eeuwse compositie. De kracht ervan ligt in een baslijn van slechts acht noten waarboven zich het lijnenspel van de canon ontspint. Réjouissance uit Music for the Royal Fireworks is een zeer opgewekte compositie van deDuits-Engelse barokcomponist Händel. De 18e-eeuwse klassieke stijl horen we terug in het verfijnde menuet van Boccherini, een Italiaanse componist die een schat aan kamermuziek schreef. De 19e eeuw komt naar voren in drie beroemde stukken. De uitbundige Marche militaire nr. 1 van de Oostenrijkse componist Schubert komt uit 3 Marches militaires voor vierhandig piano. De Can Can uit Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in de onderwereld) is het beroemdste afzonderlijk uitgevoerde stuk van de operettecomponist Offenbach. Na deze opzwepende dansmuziek volgt het prachtige, gedragen thema uit het tweede deel van de symfonie Uit de nieuwe wereld met de titel Largo, van de hand van de Tsjechische componist Dvorák. Kortom: zes zeer afwisselende arrangementen, uitdagend en uitermate geschikt voor uitvoeringen! More Classical Highlights ist die Fortsetzung von Classical Highlights, einer Sammlung von Arrangements klassischer Themen aus der Zeit vom 17. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert. Die Stimmen sind recht einfach gehalten und reizvoll ausgearbeitet; zugleich sind die Arrangements nah an den Originalstu cken. Der Barock ist mit zwei musikalischen Höhepunkten vertreten: Der bekannte Canon von Pachelbel ist vielleicht die meist gespielte Komposition aus dem 17. Jahrhundert. Die Kraft dieses Stu ckes liegt in einer Basslinie aus nur acht Noten, u ber der sich das eigentliche Gefu ge des Kanons entwickelt. Réjouissance aus der Feuerwerksmusik ist einesehr fröhliche Komposition des deutsch-englischen Barockkomponisten Händel. Ein Kleinod der Klassik aus dem 18. Jahrhundert ist das raffinierte Menuett von Boccherini, einem italienischen Komponisten, der einen groÃ?en Schatz an Kammermusik schrieb. Das 19. Jahrhundert ist mit drei beru hmten Werken vertreten: Der lebhafte Marche militaire No. 1 des Ã?sterreichers Schubert stammt aus 3 Marches militaires fu r Klavier zu vier Händen. Der Can-Can aus Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in der Unterwelt) ist das beru hmteste separat aufgefu hrte Stu ck des Operettenkomponisten Offenbach. Nach dieser mitreiÃ?enden Tanzmusik folgt ein schönes, erhabenes Thema aus dem zweiten Satz der Sinfonie Aus der Neuen Welt mit dem Titel Largo aus der Feder des tschechischen Komponisten Dvorák. More Classical Highlights, qui fait suite au recueil Classical Highlights, rassemble une collection dâ??arrangements de thèmes classiques couvrant une période de trois siècles, du XVIIe au XIXe siècle. Les diverses parties instrumentales sont faciles et agréables jouer, mais les arrangements restent néanmoins fidèles aux compositions originales. La musique baroque est représentée par deux oeuvres toujours appréciées. Parmi toutes les compositions du XVIIe siècle, le célèbre Canon de Pachelbel est peut-être celle que lâ??on entend le plus souvent. Sa puissance réside dans une simple ligne de basse de huit notes par-dessus laquelle se développe le motif ducanon lui-même. Réjouissance, tirée de Music for the Royal Fireworks, est une pièce très enjouée du compositeur baroque anglo-allemand Haendel. Le style classique du XVIIIe siècle est inclus sous la forme dâ??un élégant menuet de Boccherini, un compositeur italien qui a écrit une quantité de musique de chambre. Le XIXe siècle est évoqué par trois oeuvres célèbres. La dynamique Marche militaire n° 1, du compositeur autrichien Schubert, extrait des Trois marches militaires pour piano quatre mains. Le Cancan dâ??Orphée aux enfers est la plus connue des oeuvres dâ??Offenbach, célèbre pour ses opérettes. Cette danse endiablée est suivie du Largo, admirable thème du deuxième mouvement de la Symphonie du Nouveau Monde, du compositeur tchèque Dvorák. En résumé : six arrangements variés, stimulants et parfaits pour être interprétés en 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.
