SKU: HL.49019514
ISBN 9790220132575. 9.0x12.0x0.111 inches.
“All Stars Aligned was originally to be a set of variations on a theme that is almost hidden in the opening bars. However, the piece took on much more of a fantasia feel and shape as I wrote it and it could be argued that a second theme first heard in the violin of the ground (derived from material in bar 5) becomes more dominant than the first as the piece progresses. The piece is in one continuous movement but is in three distinct sections and tempi: medium, slow and fast. The material shares some similarities with my piano trio, Nightswimming, and in some ways can be seen as a companion piece (minus the cello of course). The title comes from a track on an album by the artist St. Vincent called Marry Me which I hope is appropriate for a piece commissioned to celebrate a wedding anniversary.†Joe Duddell 2010.
SKU: HL.1459743
ISBN 9798892703895. UPC: 196288210955. 9.0x12.0x0.183 inches.
The Scherzo is a movement by Felix Mendelssohn from the incidental music to the play by William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play inspired Mendelssohn to compose the music because it was a childhood favorite. There are two works by Mendelssohn called A Midsummer Night's Dream; the Overture composed in 1826 and the Incidental Music added in 1842. The Scherzo was originally scored for orchestra. The brilliant transcription for violin and piano is by Willy Burmester.
SKU: IS.VLP6394EM
ISBN 9790365063949.
François Glorieux was born in Belgium in 1932, and acclaimed throughout Europe, the USA, Latin America, Canada, Japan, China, the Middle East and Africa. He is one of the most widely accomplished and versatile musicians traveling the international circuit today: pianist composer conductor, commentator, entertainer, honorary professor of chamber music at the Royal Music Conservatory of Ghent and guest professor at Yale University (USA). His particular art was the rare one of improvisation presented in five languages. Glorieux practices all musical styles and has been highly considered by great artists such as André Cluytens, Arthur Rubinstein, Yves Nat, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Enrique Jorda, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, but also Michael Jackson, Stan Kenton, Stéphane Grappelli, Paul McCartney, Toots Thielemans, Jacky Collins, Annie Girardot, Dionne Warwick, A.C. Jobim, and so on.
SKU: HL.50600872
8.25x11.75x0.077 inches.
The operas of Marius Felix Lange, especially “Snow White,†“The Canterville Ghost,†“Die Schneekönigin,†“Das Opernschiff oder Am Südpol, denkt man, ist es heisse†have been incredibly successful. Many of his operas have also been performed on foreign stages, including those in Switzerland and France. Other points of emphasis in Lange's work include orchestral compositions and Lieder. The American violinist Hilary Hahn had an unusual yet very clever idea in 2012 when she requested encore pieces from present-day composers. The cycle “In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores†were consecutively premiered by the violinist until the end of the 2012/13 season and recorded on CD. Amongst the submissions selected by Hilary Hahn during the course of an online contest, Marius Felix Lange's violin piece “Nutcracker's Nightmare†immediately ended up amongst the ten best-placed works. The title “Nutcracker's Nightmare†recalls E.T.A. Hoffmann's famous fairytale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,†the gloomily imaginative story in which a wooden toy is awakened to life and has to fight against the powers of darkness.
SKU: PR.164002390
UPC: 680160038091.
I became interested in the work of Plato through my friend and collaborator, the writer and philosopher Paul Woodruff. Paul's new translation, with Alexander Nehamas, of the Symposium gave me insights into ancient Greek ways of thinking about Love, Beauty, and Wisdom -- and managed to keep the earthy, and often bawdy side of it all in full view. But their new translation of Plato's later dialogue Phaedrus went even further: the beauty of the speeches is breathtaking, and the discourse itself is enough to keep one awake at night. Basically the Great Speech of Socrates in the Phaedrus dialogue has to do with the place of Eros in the world, and with the conflict in the soul between fleshly pleasure and philosophic discovery. I will not attempt to encapsulate this brilliant discourse in a program note: suffice it to say that reading it gave rise to my two-sided work for clarinet, violin, and piano, Phaedrus. The first movement represents the Philosophic life, and is thus subtitled Apollo's Lyre (Invocation and Hymn). It begins with an unaccompanied melody for the clarinet, which (after a pair of harp-like flourishes for the piano, expands into an accompanied canon. The voices in the dialogue (clarinet and violin) follow each other by a prescribed number of beats, but the music is totally devoid of any meter at all. The piano, representing the lyre, accompanies this lyric love-feast with repeated strummed chords. The canon has three large sections, and ends with violin echoing the unaccompanied clarinet invocation as the sound of the lyre fades. The second movement, called Dionysus' Dream-Orgy (Ritual Dance) presents, after a brief introduction, another kind of unmetered music. Rather than long lyric flights of philosophic song, however, this time we hear a unison dance of unbridled energy and sensual transport. The piece soon forms itself into a loose arch form, with contrasting metered dance sections divided by the unison unmetered orgy tune. Midway through the movement, Apollo's melody returns from the first movement, but it is a temporary reminiscence. The orgiastic dance returns, reaches a climax, and ends with a stomping of feet. While Plato asserts that a proper balance between lust and reason is necessary in all men, he (naturally) gives the nod to Philosophy as the better choice in which to live. Not so in my music: the two sides are meant to coexist and to complement each other. No sides are taken. Phaedrus was commissioned of the Verdehr Trio by Michigan State University. It is dedicated to the Vedehr Trio with great affection and admiration.
SKU: BR.EB-9168
World premiere: Halle, February 16, 2002
ISBN 9790004184806. 9 x 12 inches.
Waldschrats Nachtlied is a concert piece that is practically guaranteed to make a major impact. In the dark of night, a hobgoblin and his companion are whisking about the forest. The tempo is brisk, and the permanent change of meter ensures productive turbulence. At the beginning, the roles of the two instruments are distributed rather traditionally; then the violins and the pianos upper part are briefly led in genuine parallel motion in the monolithic section. Afterwards, the virtuoso chase through the woods continues as before.World premiere: Halle, February 16, 2002.
SKU: HL.49045418
ISBN 9784890664856. 9.0x12.0x0.135 inches.
Four Imaginary Landscapes from Basho for violin and piano was commissioned by Concert Hall Shizouka. This work consists of four pices which can be performed independently. Three pieces: 2. Spring (Petal by petal fluttering down yellow mountain roses-, Sound of the rapids.) 3. Summer (The summer grass-, holding still the dreams of the stalwart warriors.), and 4. Autumn (Chrysanthemum scent..., in Nara Ancient statues of Momo Kodama (piano) in Shizouka on March 9th, 2007. 1 Winter (Sound of oar hitting waves in the dead of night, Freezing bowels..., tears.) was premiered by Keiko Urushibara (violin) and Shigeo Neriki (piano) in Shizouka on January 14th, 2011. Hisako Takahashi (violin) and Kyoko Sasaki (piano) performed all of the pieces on March 13th, 2011.
SKU: PR.114423360
UPC: 680160686285.
When the Newport Music Festival commissioned me for a piano trio in honor of their 2021 season, I looked for a topic that would celebrate an aspect of the Newport community. While researching the area, I was struck by the nine lighthouses situated around the island. The dual nature of lighthouses was particularly appealing to me: not only do they serve a vital role in the navigation of ships around rocks and land, but they are also a beautiful sight, particularly at night when their blinking beacons are clearly visible to the eye. It occurred to me that lighthouses link the past with the present, and will endure long into the future, with their beacons serving the same purpose for every generation.I became fascinated with the lighthouse on the property of Castle Hill Inn, located at the opening of the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay. This squat thirty-four foot granite structure was erected in 1890 on a very picturesque spot, right at the water’s edge. Its “characteristic,†the nautical term for each lighthouse’s unique light sequence that allows ships to identify the lighthouse, is to alternate on for three seconds, then off for three seconds. The lighthouse has also served as the starting and finish line for numerous high profile yacht races, as well as survived a massive hurricane in 1938, though the lighthouse keeper’s nearby residence wasn’t so lucky. American novelist Thornton Wilder wrote much of his 1973 novel Theophilus North while staying at the Castle Hill Inn; a passage from the book perfectly captures the dual nature of lighthouses:“At a later visit I was able to engage the pentagonal room in a turret above the house; from that magical room I could see at night the beacons of six lighthouses and hear the booming and chiming of as many sea buoys.â€In Beacon of the Bay, we first hear the lighthouse’s characteristic as its ruby light blinks on and off. This is followed by a simple theme that represents the lighthouse performing its solitary duty. As the piece progresses, we hear waves playfully lapping around its base, then yachts gracefully floating by; this is followed by a violent storm that churns the waves with so much force that they crash against the lighthouse’s granite body. But the steadfast lighthouse holds firm to the rocks, grandly blinking its ruby light. The music quiets back down to its simple theme, with yachts sailing by once more as the piece concludes.
SKU: PR.144407050
UPC: 680160655519. 9 x 12 inches.
Celebrating 30 years, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society commissioned a work of 20-25 minutes for violin and piano from James Primosch, University of Pennsylvania professor of music. Primosch had originally thought to create a new sonata, but what developed is more appropriately a set of five character pieces, two of which were directly inspired by poems. Five Poems was premiered in May, 2016, and Primosch's thoughts are recorded at his website: https://jamesprimosch.com/2016/05/10/five-poems-premiere/.Upon receiving a commission from the Philadelphia Chamber MusicSociety for a violin and piano piece in honor of its 30th anniversary, myplan was to write a sonata, a term suggesting a relatively abstractdiscourse. But as the piece developed, the movements struck me ascharacter pieces rather than music employing a more “symphonicâ€approach. When specific poems started to attach themselves in my mindwith two of the movements, the overall title Five Poems became clear.The title of the second movement is a line from Susan Stewart’s“Descentâ€, which deals with Aeneas’s visit to the underworld. The musicis alternately fiercely driving and quite still, though tense. RobertFrost’s Nothing Gold Can Stay summons fleet scale passages framinglyrical counterpoint. The remaining movements do not refer to specificpoems, but have titles reflecting their expressive tone. Dreamscape ismusing with an improvisatory violin line over shifting pairs of pianochords. Nightsong is a bluesy lullaby that turns highly dramatic.Vision begins with a closely argued struggle but breaks through tosomething spacious and clear.
SKU: HL.49044532
ISBN 9790001176071. UPC: 888680080570. 9.0x12.0x0.24 inches.
I wrote the first movement of my Sommersonate in the summer of 2010, and though a self-contained work, it called out for continuation or a companion piece. I imagine the first movement, marked moderato, to be bright, free, weightless, transparent, flooded in sunlight. In contrast, the newly composed second movement is nocturnal and cryptic, with a restrained glow. A Romance, a (summer) night piece. Jorg Widmann.
SKU: FL.FX072497
Instruments: Violin, Piano. Difficuly Level: Grade 3. Duration: 2'10. Musical Style: Classical, Educational. Category: Arrangement. Composer: MOZART Wolfgang Amadeus. Arranger: LABROUSSE-BAERT Sarah.
SKU: PR.14440516S
UPC: 680160667864. 9 x 12 inches.
In 1979, Martin produced a set of three quintets, in consideration of Gorky's piece Nighttime Enigma Nostalgia. Each is scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. As the title suggests, the music is in a state of perpetual questioning using a variety of approaches. For example, Enigma opens using ostinati (plural of ostinato) that do not match in length, like a staircase with each step a different height. Additionally, the music has sudden starts and stops, again unexplained. There are dramatic and powerful explosive passages that are interrupted. The technique, used to create this feeling of a perplexed music world where things seem often not to make sense and to be left unresolved, is called in poetry and literature, anticlimax. In Enigma, the music suggests one direction; then refuses to continue, striking out in another direction. Artists use approaches such as this to force themselves into creative circumstances that they otherwise might not have discovered. (From the performance notes.).