SKU: PE.EP72822
ISBN 9790577011769. 232 x 303mm inches. English.
I have only visited Damascus once, twenty years ago, on the way to Palmyra. I had a purpose (I was writing music for a play about Palmyra’s Queen Zenobia) but essentially I was a tourist. Like any visitor, I was thrilled to step out of the noisy modern city into the magical ancient world of the walled Old City, its vibrant souk leading to the magnificent mosque, and a labyrinth of winding, narrow streets filled with the smell of unleavened bread.
In Palmyra, I was met with extraordinary kindness everywhere. On one occasion, a little Bedouin boy noticed that I was risking sunstroke wandering bare-headed among the spectacular ruins: he showed me how to tie a turban, then took me to have tea with his family in their tent.
Since then, I have watched helplessly as these places of wonder have been devastated and their inhabitants scattered and killed. When the Sacconi Quartet suggested that I might choose a Syrian poet for our collaboration, I welcomed the idea.
I searched for a long time to find a contemporary poet whose work might gain from any music I could imagine. I felt it was important to find first-hand accounts of the Syrian experience – but, of course, I was always reading them in translation. In an anthology called Syria Speaks, I was astonished to read something that looked like prose, but was full of poetry. It was Anne-Marie McManus’s fine translation of Ali Safar’s A Black Cloud in a Leaden White Sky – an eloquent, thoughtful, contained yet vivid account of life in a war-torn country, all the more moving for its restraint.
In setting these words, I have not attempted to imitate Syrian music. However, there is what might be called a linguistic accommodation in my choice of scale, or mode. Several movements are in a mode that I first discovered while writing a cantata commemorating the First World War: it has a tuning that I associate with war, its violence and desolation. This eight-note mode is similar to scales found in Syrian music. I did not choose it in the abstract: it emerged from the harmonies I was exploring in the earlier work, and emerged again as I was looking for the right musical colours to set Ali Safar’s words. In this work, its Arabic aspect is more prominent. - Jonathan Dove
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: AP.36-M216291
UPC: 660355117718. English.
While the song text remains in Italian, loving translations of these songs have been created by Giovanna Jackson to aid in a singers interpretation.Three songs are included in this second set: Il mio bel foco (Marcello); Se tu m'ami, se sospiri (Pergolesi); Come raggio di sol (Caldara). Each song has been arranged by Albert C. Vinci and edited by Mary Sue Hyatt to be performed with a string quartet or string orchestra. Both the string quartet and string orchestra versions are available from the publisher.
These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.
SKU: AP.36-M213491
UPC: 660355072758. English.
While the song text remains in Italian, loving translations of these songs have been created by Giovanna Jackson to aid in a signers interpretation. Three songs are included in this first set: Caro Mio Ben (Giordani); Cangia, Cangia Tue Voglie (Fasolo); Danza, Danza, Fanciulla Gentile (Durante). Each song has been arranged by Albert C. Vinci and edited by Mary Sue Hyatt to be performed with a string quartet or string orchestra. Both the string quartet and string orchestra versions are available from the publisher.
SKU: AY.CM3224PM
ISBN 9790543573703.
The great American philosopher William James talks about a credit system of truth in which we take for granted the knowledge of the world around us. For instance as a child you learn what a car is, what it looks like, what it does, what its made of, etc. So, every time you see a car you do not need to re examine all these aspects,you use a credit of truth to know about all cars what you learned about the first. I found this fascinating and made it a challenge for myself to translate this sentiment into music. In my string quartet a melody is repeated many times but each time its reality is a bit different, you think you know this melody at one point but the music around it and its structure are always mutated a bit to challenge your credit system of truth. Gene Pritsker.
SKU: AY.CM3655PM
ISBN 9790803752435.
Composed in 2012, Musikphantome for string quartet was awarded first prize in the 2015 Malta International Composition Competition (Valletta, Malta). From the composer: Musikphantome is a term used by Christoph Ruths and can be translated as phantoms of music or musical ghosts. The germinal idea of the piece was to transfigure from psychic imagery to a musical language a recollection of memories which involuntarily kept appearing in my mind. These ghosts manifested themselves in groups conformed by individual abstract figures, each group with distinct characteristics, forms, colors, textures, and essences. Somehow, I managed to explore and ultimately externalize these ghosts by making way for them through a very intuitive compositional process..
SKU: KU.GM-976A
German. Jiménez, Ramon.
On 8 texts by Ramon Jiménez (translated by Hans-Leopold Davi).
SKU: KU.GM-976
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