SKU: CF.WF229
ISBN 9781491153789. UPC: 680160911288.
Introduction Gustave Vogt's Musical Paris Gustave Vogt (1781-1870) was born into the Age of Enlightenment, at the apex of the Enlightenment's outreach. During his lifetime he would observe its effect on the world. Over the course of his life he lived through many changes in musical style. When he was born, composers such as Mozart and Haydn were still writing masterworks revered today, and eighty-nine years later, as he departed the world, the new realm of Romanticism was beginning to emerge with Mahler, Richard Strauss and Debussy, who were soon to make their respective marks on the musical world. Vogt himself left a huge mark on the musical world, with critics referring to him as the grandfather of the modern oboe and the premier oboist of Europe. Through his eighty-nine years, Vogt would live through what was perhaps the most turbulent period of French history. He witnessed the French Revolution of 1789, followed by the many newly established governments, only to die just months before the establishment of the Third Republic in 1870, which would be the longest lasting government since the beginning of the revolution. He also witnessed the transformation of the French musical world from one in which opera reigned supreme, to one in which virtuosi, chamber music, and symphonic music ruled. Additionally, he experienced the development of the oboe right before his eyes. When he began playing in the late eighteenth century, the standard oboe had two keys (E and Eb) and at the time of his death in 1870, the System Six Triebert oboe (the instrument adopted by Conservatoire professor, Georges Gillet, in 1882) was only five years from being developed. Vogt was born March 18, 1781 in the ancient town of Strasbourg, part of the Alsace region along the German border. At the time of his birth, Strasbourg had been annexed by Louis XIV, and while heavily influenced by Germanic culture, had been loosely governed by the French for a hundred years. Although it is unclear when Vogt began studying the oboe and when his family made its move to the French capital, the Vogts may have fled Strasbourg in 1792 after much of the city was destroyed during the French Revolution. He was without question living in Paris by 1798, as he enrolled on June 8 at the newly established Conservatoire national de Musique to study oboe with the school's first oboe professor, Alexandre-Antoine Sallantin (1775-1830). Vogt's relationship with the Conservatoire would span over half a century, moving seamlessly from the role of student to professor. In 1799, just a year after enrolling, he was awarded the premier prix, becoming the fourth oboist to achieve this award. By 1802 he had been appointed repetiteur, which involved teaching the younger students and filling in for Sallantin in exchange for a free education. He maintained this rank until 1809, when he was promoted to professor adjoint and finally to professor titulaire in 1816 when Sallantin retired. This was a position he held for thirty-seven years, retiring in 1853, making him the longest serving oboe professor in the school's history. During his tenure, he became the most influential oboist in France, teaching eighty-nine students, plus sixteen he taught while he was professor adjoint and professor titulaire. Many of these students went on to be famous in their own right, such as Henri Brod (1799-1839), Apollon Marie-Rose Barret (1804-1879), Charles Triebert (1810-1867), Stanislas Verroust (1814-1863), and Charles Colin (1832-1881). His influence stretches from French to American oboe playing in a direct line from Charles Colin to Georges Gillet (1854-1920), and then to Marcel Tabuteau (1887-1966), the oboist Americans lovingly describe as the father of American oboe playing. Opera was an important part of Vogt's life. His first performing position was with the Theatre-Montansier while he was still studying at the Conservatoire. Shortly after, he moved to the Ambigu-Comique and, in 1801 was appointed as first oboist with the Theatre-Italien in Paris. He had been in this position for only a year, when he began playing first oboe at the Opera-Comique. He remained there until 1814, when he succeeded his teacher, Alexandre-Antoine Sallantin, as soloist with the Paris Opera, the top orchestra in Paris at the time. He played with the Paris Opera until 1834, all the while bringing in his current and past students to fill out the section. In this position, he began to make a name for himself; so much so that specific performances were immortalized in memoirs and letters. One comes from a young Hector Berlioz (1803-1865) after having just arrived in Paris in 1822 and attended the Paris Opera's performance of Mehul's Stratonice and Persuis' ballet Nina. It was in response to the song Quand le bien-amie reviendra that Berlioz wrote: I find it difficult to believe that that song as sung by her could ever have made as true and touching an effect as the combination of Vogt's instrument... Shortly after this, Berlioz gave up studying medicine and focused on music. Vogt frequently made solo and chamber appearances throughout Europe. His busiest period of solo work was during the 1820s. In 1825 and 1828 he went to London to perform as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Society. Vogt also traveled to Northern France in 1826 for concerts, and then in 1830 traveled to Munich and Stuttgart, visiting his hometown of Strasbourg on the way. While on tour, Vogt performed Luigi Cherubini's (1760-1842) Ave Maria, with soprano Anna (Nanette) Schechner (1806-1860), and a Concertino, presumably written by himself. As a virtuoso performer in pursuit of repertoire to play, Vogt found himself writing much of his own music. His catalog includes chamber music, variation sets, vocal music, concerted works, religious music, wind band arrangements, and pedagogical material. He most frequently performed his variation sets, which were largely based on themes from popular operas he had, presumably played while he was at the Opera. He made his final tour in 1839, traveling to Tours and Bordeaux. During this tour he appeared with the singer Caroline Naldi, Countess de Sparre, and the violinist Joseph Artot (1815-1845). This ended his active career as a soloist. His performance was described in the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris as having lost none of his superiority over the oboe.... It's always the same grace, the same sweetness. We made a trip to Switzerland, just by closing your eyes and listening to Vogt's oboe. Vogt was also active performing in Paris as a chamber and orchestral musician. He was one of the founding members of the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire, a group established in 1828 by violinist and conductor Francois-Antoine Habeneck (1781-1849). The group featured faculty and students performing alongside each other and works such as Beethoven symphonies, which had never been heard in France. He also premiered the groundbreaking woodwind quintets of Antonin Reicha (1770-1836). After his retirement from the Opera in 1834 and from the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1842, Vogt began to slow down. His final known performance was of Cherubini's Ave Maria on English horn with tenor Alexis Dupont (1796-1874) in 1843. He then began to reflect on his life and the people he had known. When he reached his 60s, he began gathering entries for his Musical Album of Autographs. Autograph Albums Vogt's Musical Album of Autographs is part of a larger practice of keeping autograph albums, also commonly known as Stammbuch or Album Amicorum (meaning book of friendship or friendship book), which date back to the time of the Reformation and the University of Wittenberg. It was during the mid-sixteenth century that students at the University of Wittenberg began passing around bibles for their fellow students and professors to sign, leaving messages to remember them by as they moved on to the next part of their lives. The things people wrote were mottos, quotes, and even drawings of their family coat of arms or some other scene that meant something to the owner. These albums became the way these young students remembered their school family once they had moved on to another school or town. It was also common for the entrants to comment on other entries and for the owner to amend entries when they learned of important life details such as marriage or death. As the practice continued, bibles were set aside for emblem books, which was a popular book genre that featured allegorical illustrations (emblems) in a tripartite form: image, motto, epigram. The first emblem book used for autographs was published in 1531 by Andrea Alciato (1492-1550), a collection of 212 Latin emblem poems. In 1558, the first book conceived for the purpose of the album amicorum was published by Lyon de Tournes (1504-1564) called the Thesaurus Amicorum. These books continued to evolve, and spread to wider circles away from universities. Albums could be found being kept by noblemen, physicians, lawyers, teachers, painters, musicians, and artisans. The albums eventually became more specialized, leading to Musical Autograph Albums (or Notestammbucher). Before this specialization, musicians contributed in one form or another, but our knowledge of them in these albums is mostly limited to individual people or events. Some would simply sign their name while others would insert a fragment of music, usually a canon (titled fuga) with text in Latin. Canons were popular because they displayed the craftsmanship of the composer in a limited space. Composers well-known today, including J. S. Bach, Telemann, Mozart, Beethoven, Dowland, and Brahms, all participated in the practice, with Beethoven being the first to indicate an interest in creating an album only of music. This interest came around 1815. In an 1845 letter from Johann Friedrich Naue to Heinrich Carl Breidenstein, Naue recalled an 1813 visit with Beethoven, who presented a book suggesting Naue to collect entries from celebrated musicians as he traveled. Shortly after we find Louis Spohr speaking about leaving on his grand tour through Europe in 1815 and of his desire to carry an album with entries from the many artists he would come across. He wrote in his autobiography that his most valuable contribution came from Beethoven in 1815. Spohr's Notenstammbuch, comprised only of musical entries, is groundbreaking because it was coupled with a concert tour, allowing him to reach beyond the Germanic world, where the creation of these books had been nearly exclusive. Spohr brought the practice of Notenstammbucher to France, and in turn indirectly inspired Vogt to create a book of his own some fifteen years later. Vogt's Musical Album of Autographs Vogt's Musical Album of Autographs acts as a form of a memoir, displaying mementos of musicians who held special meaning in his life as well as showing those with whom he was enamored from the younger generation. The anonymous Pie Jesu submitted to Vogt in 1831 marks the beginning of an album that would span nearly three decades by the time the final entry, an excerpt from Charles Gounod's (1818-1893) Faust, which premiered in 1859, was submitted. Within this album we find sixty-two entries from musicians whom he must have known very well because they were colleagues at the Conservatoire, or composers of opera whose works he was performing with the Paris Opera. Other entries came from performers with whom he had performed and some who were simply passing through Paris, such as Joseph Joachim (1831-1907). Of the sixty-three total entries, some are original, unpublished works, while others came from well-known existing works. Nineteen of these works are for solo piano, sixteen utilize the oboe or English horn, thirteen feature the voice (in many different combinations, including vocal solos with piano, and small choral settings up to one with double choir), two feature violin as a solo instrument, and one even features the now obscure ophicleide. The connections among the sixty-two contributors to Vogt's album are virtually never-ending. All were acquainted with Vogt in some capacity, from long-time friendships to relationships that were created when Vogt requested their entry. Thus, while Vogt is the person who is central to each of these musicians, the web can be greatly expanded. In general, the connections are centered around the Conservatoire, teacher lineages, the Opera, and performing circles. The relationships between all the contributors in the album parallel the current musical world, as many of these kinds of relationships still exist, and permit us to fantasize who might be found in an album created today by a musician of the same standing. Also important, is what sort of entries the contributors chose to pen. The sixty-three entries are varied, but can be divided into published and unpublished works. Within the published works, we find opera excerpts, symphony excerpts, mass excerpts, and canons, while the unpublished works include music for solo piano, oboe or English horn, string instruments (violin and cello), and voice (voice with piano and choral). The music for oboe and English horn works largely belong in the unpublished works of the album. These entries were most likely written to honor Vogt. Seven are for oboe and piano and were contributed by Joseph Joachim, Pauline Garcia Viardot (1821-1910), Joseph Artot, Anton Bohrer (1783-1852), Georges Onslow (1784-1853), Desire Beaulieu (1791-1863), and Narcisse Girard (1797-1860). The common thread between these entries is the simplicity of the melody and structure. Many are repetitive, especially Beaulieu's entry, which features a two-note ostinato throughout the work, which he even included in his signature. Two composers contributed pieces for English horn and piano, and like the previous oboe entries, are simple and repetitive. These were written by Michele Carafa (1787-1872) and Louis Clapisson (1808-1866). There are two other entries that were unpublished works and are chamber music. One is an oboe trio by Jacques Halevy (1799-1862) and the other is for oboe and strings (string trio) by J. B. Cramer (1771-1858). There are five published works in the album for oboe and English horn. There are three from operas and the other two from symphonic works. Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896) contributed an excerpt from the Entr'acte of his opera La Guerillero, and was likely chosen because the oboe was featured at this moment. Hippolyte Chelard (1789-1861) also chose to honor Vogt by writing for English horn. His entry, for English horn and piano, is taken from his biggest success, Macbeth. The English horn part was actually taken from Lady Macbeth's solo in the sleepwalking scene. Vogt's own entry also falls into this category, as he entered an excerpt from Donizetti's Maria di Rohan. The excerpt he chose is a duet between soprano and English horn. There are two entries featuring oboe that are excerpted from symphonic repertoire. One is a familiar oboe melody from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony entered by his first biographer, Anton Schindler (1796-1864). The other is an excerpt from Berlioz's choral symphony, Romeo et Juliette. He entered an oboe solo from the Grand Fete section of the piece. Pedagogical benefit All of these works are lovely, and fit within the album wonderfully, but these works also are great oboe and English horn music for young students. The common thread between these entries is the simplicity of the melody and structure. Many are repetitive, especially Beaulieu's entry, which features a two-note ostinato throughout the work in the piano. This repetitive structure is beneficial for young students for searching for a short solo to present at a studio recital, or simply to learn. They also work many technical issues a young player may encounter, such as mastering the rolling finger to uncover and recover the half hole. This is true of Bealieu's Pensee as well as Onslow's Andantino. Berlioz's entry from Romeo et Juliette features very long phrases, which helps with endurance and helps keep the air spinning through the oboe. Some of the pieces also use various levels of ornamentation, from trills to grace notes, and short cadenzas. This allows the student to learn appropriate ways to phrase with these added notes. The chamber music is a valuable way to start younger students with chamber music, especially the short quartet by Cramer for oboe and string trio. All of these pieces will not tax the student to learn a work that is more advanced, as well as give them a full piece that they can work on from beginning to end in a couple weeks, instead of months. Editorial Policy The works found in this edition are based on the manuscript housed at the Morgan Library in New York City (call number Cary 348, V886. A3). When possible, published scores were consulted and compared to clarify pitch and text. The general difficulties in creating an edition of these works stem from entries that appear to be hastily written, and thus omit complete articulations and dynamic indications for all passages and parts. The manuscript has been modernized into a performance edition. The score order from the manuscript has been retained. If an entry also exists in a published work, and this was not indicated on the manuscript, appropriate titles and subtitles have been added tacitly. For entries that were untitled, the beginning tempo marking or expressive directive has been added as its title tacitly. Part names have been changed from the original language to English. If no part name was present, it was added tacitly. All scores are transposing where applicable. Measure numbers have been added at the beginning of every system. Written directives have been retained in the original language and are placed relative to where they appear in the manuscript. Tempo markings from the manuscript have been retained, even if they were abbreviated, i.e., Andte. The barlines, braces, brackets, and clefs are modernized. The beaming and stem direction has been modernized. Key signatures have been modernized as some of the flats/sharps do not appear on the correct lines or spaces. Time signatures have been modernized. In a few cases, when a time signature was missing in the manuscript, it has been added tacitly. Triplet and rhythmic groupings have been modernized. Slurs, ties, and articulations (staccato and accent) have been modernized. Slurs, ties, and articulations have been added to parallel passages tacitly. Courtesy accidentals found in the manuscript have been removed, unless it appeared to be helpful to the performer. Dynamic indications from the manuscript have been retained, except where noted. --Kristin Leitterman.IntroductionGustave Vogt’s Musical ParisGustave Vogt (1781–1870) was born into the “Age of Enlightenment,†at the apex of the Enlightenment’s outreach. During his lifetime he would observe its effect on the world. Over the course of his life he lived through many changes in musical style. When he was born, composers such as Mozart and Haydn were still writing masterworks revered today, and eighty-nine years later, as he departed the world, the new realm of Romanticism was beginning to emerge with Mahler, Richard Strauss and Debussy, who were soon to make their respective marks on the musical world. Vogt himself left a huge mark on the musical world, with critics referring to him as the “grandfather of the modern oboe†and the “premier oboist of Europe.â€Through his eighty-nine years, Vogt would live through what was perhaps the most turbulent period of French history. He witnessed the French Revolution of 1789, followed by the many newly established governments, only to die just months before the establishment of the Third Republic in 1870, which would be the longest lasting government since the beginning of the revolution. He also witnessed the transformation of the French musical world from one in which opera reigned supreme, to one in which virtuosi, chamber music, and symphonic music ruled. Additionally, he experienced the development of the oboe right before his eyes. When he began playing in the late eighteenth century, the standard oboe had two keys (E and Eb) and at the time of his death in 1870, the “System Six†Triébert oboe (the instrument adopted by Conservatoire professor, Georges Gillet, in 1882) was only five years from being developed.Vogt was born March 18, 1781 in the ancient town of Strasbourg, part of the Alsace region along the German border. At the time of his birth, Strasbourg had been annexed by Louis XIV, and while heavily influenced by Germanic culture, had been loosely governed by the French for a hundred years. Although it is unclear when Vogt began studying the oboe and when his family made its move to the French capital, the Vogts may have fled Strasbourg in 1792 after much of the city was destroyed during the French Revolution. He was without question living in Paris by 1798, as he enrolled on June 8 at the newly established Conservatoire national de Musique to study oboe with the school’s first oboe professor, Alexandre-Antoine Sallantin (1775–1830).Vogt’s relationship with the Conservatoire would span over half a century, moving seamlessly from the role of student to professor. In 1799, just a year after enrolling, he was awarded the premier prix, becoming the fourth oboist to achieve this award. By 1802 he had been appointed répétiteur, which involved teaching the younger students and filling in for Sallantin in exchange for a free education. He maintained this rank until 1809, when he was promoted to professor adjoint and finally to professor titulaire in 1816 when Sallantin retired. This was a position he held for thirty-seven years, retiring in 1853, making him the longest serving oboe professor in the school’s history. During his tenure, he became the most influential oboist in France, teaching eighty-nine students, plus sixteen he taught while he was professor adjoint and professor titulaire. Many of these students went on to be famous in their own right, such as Henri Brod (1799–1839), Apollon Marie-Rose Barret (1804–1879), Charles Triebert (1810–1867), Stanislas Verroust (1814–1863), and Charles Colin (1832–1881). His influence stretches from French to American oboe playing in a direct line from Charles Colin to Georges Gillet (1854–1920), and then to Marcel Tabuteau (1887–1966), the oboist Americans lovingly describe as the “father of American oboe playing.â€Opera was an important part of Vogt’s life. His first performing position was with the Théâtre-Montansier while he was still studying at the Conservatoire. Shortly after, he moved to the Ambigu-Comique and, in 1801 was appointed as first oboist with the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. He had been in this position for only a year, when he began playing first oboe at the Opéra-Comique. He remained there until 1814, when he succeeded his teacher, Alexandre-Antoine Sallantin, as soloist with the Paris Opéra, the top orchestra in Paris at the time. He played with the Paris Opéra until 1834, all the while bringing in his current and past students to fill out the section. In this position, he began to make a name for himself; so much so that specific performances were immortalized in memoirs and letters. One comes from a young Hector Berlioz (1803–1865) after having just arrived in Paris in 1822 and attended the Paris Opéra’s performance of Mehul’s Stratonice and Persuis’ ballet Nina. It was in response to the song Quand le bien-amié reviendra that Berlioz wrote: “I find it difficult to believe that that song as sung by her could ever have made as true and touching an effect as the combination of Vogt’s instrument…†Shortly after this, Berlioz gave up studying medicine and focused on music.Vogt frequently made solo and chamber appearances throughout Europe. His busiest period of solo work was during the 1820s. In 1825 and 1828 he went to London to perform as a soloist with the London Philharmonic Society. Vogt also traveled to Northern France in 1826 for concerts, and then in 1830 traveled to Munich and Stuttgart, visiting his hometown of Strasbourg on the way. While on tour, Vogt performed Luigi Cherubini’s (1760–1842) Ave Maria, with soprano Anna (Nanette) Schechner (1806–1860), and a Concertino, presumably written by himself. As a virtuoso performer in pursuit of repertoire to play, Vogt found himself writing much of his own music. His catalog includes chamber music, variation sets, vocal music, concerted works, religious music, wind band arrangements, and pedagogical material. He most frequently performed his variation sets, which were largely based on themes from popular operas he had, presumably played while he was at the Opéra.He made his final tour in 1839, traveling to Tours and Bordeaux. During this tour he appeared with the singer Caroline Naldi, Countess de Sparre, and the violinist Joseph Artôt (1815–1845). This ended his active career as a soloist. His performance was described in the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris as having “lost none of his superiority over the oboe…. It’s always the same grace, the same sweetness. We made a trip to Switzerland, just by closing your eyes and listening to Vogt’s oboe.â€Vogt was also active performing in Paris as a chamber and orchestral musician. He was one of the founding members of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, a group established in 1828 by violinist and conductor François-Antoine Habeneck (1781–1849). The group featured faculty and students performing alongside each other and works such as Beethoven symphonies, which had never been heard in France. He also premiered the groundbreaking woodwind quintets of Antonin Reicha (1770–1836).After his retirement from the Opéra in 1834 and from the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1842, Vogt began to slow down. His final known performance was of Cherubini’s Ave Maria on English horn with tenor Alexis Dupont (1796–1874) in 1843. He then began to reflect on his life and the people he had known. When he reached his 60s, he began gathering entries for his Musical Album of Autographs.Autograph AlbumsVogt’s Musical Album of Autographs is part of a larger practice of keeping autograph albums, also commonly known as Stammbuch or Album Amicorum (meaning book of friendship or friendship book), which date back to the time of the Reformation and the University of Wittenberg. It was during the mid-sixteenth century that students at the University of Wittenberg began passing around bibles for their fellow students and professors to sign, leaving messages to remember them by as they moved on to the next part of their lives. The things people wrote were mottos, quotes, and even drawings of their family coat of arms or some other scene that meant something to the owner. These albums became the way these young students remembered their school family once they had moved on to another school or town. It was also common for the entrants to comment on other entries and for the owner to amend entries when they learned of important life details such as marriage or death.As the practice continued, bibles were set aside for emblem books, which was a popular book genre that featured allegorical illustrations (emblems) in a tripartite form: image, motto, epigram. The first emblem book used for autographs was published in 1531 by Andrea Alciato (1492–1550), a collection of 212 Latin emblem poems. In 1558, the first book conceived for the purpose of the album amicorum was published by Lyon de Tournes (1504–1564) called the Thesaurus Amicorum. These books continued to evolve, and spread to wider circles away from universities. Albums could be found being kept by noblemen, physicians, lawyers, teachers, painters, musicians, and artisans.The albums eventually became more specialized, leading to Musical Autograph Albums (or Notestammbücher). Before this specialization, musicians contributed in one form or another, but our knowledge of them in these albums is mostly limited to individual people or events. Some would simply sign their name while others would insert a fragment of music, usually a canon (titled fuga) with text in Latin. Canons were popular because they displayed the craftsmanship of the composer in a limited space. Composers well-known today, including J. S. Bach, Telemann, Mozart, Beethoven, Dowland, and Brahms, all participated in the practice, with Beethoven being the first to indicate an interest in creating an album only of music.This interest came around 1815. In an 1845 letter from Johann Friedrich Naue to Heinrich Carl Breidenstein, Naue recalled an 1813 visit with Beethoven, who presented a book suggesting Naue to collect entries from celebrated musicians as he traveled. Shortly after we find Louis Spohr speaking about leaving on his “grand tour†through Europe in 1815 and of his desire to carry an album with entries from the many artists he would come across. He wrote in his autobiography that his “most valuable contribution†came from Beethoven in 1815. Spohr’s Notenstammbuch, comprised only of musical entries, is groundbreaking because it was coupled with a concert tour, allowing him to reach beyond the Germanic world, where the creation of these books had been nearly exclusive. Spohr brought the practice of Notenstammbücher to France, and in turn indirectly inspired Vogt to create a book of his own some fifteen years later.Vogt’s Musical Album of AutographsVogt’s Musical Album of Autographs acts as a form of a memoir, displaying mementos of musicians who held special meaning in his life as well as showing those with whom he was enamored from the younger generation. The anonymous Pie Jesu submitted to Vogt in 1831 marks the beginning of an album that would span nearly three decades by the time the final entry, an excerpt from Charles Gounod’s (1818–1893) Faust, which premiered in 1859, was submitted.Within this album ...
SKU: PE.EP14445
ISBN 9790014135041. 297 x 420 mm inches. German.
ARKA stammt aus dem Sanskrit und bedeutet so viel wie Strahl, Blitz, Sonne, Licht, aber auch Lied, Feuer und Hymnus, und entwickelt in meiner Vorstellung sehr viele unterschiedliche Assoziationsfelder. In ARKA stecken auch die Worter arc (beten) und ka (Wasser), und es kann auch ubersetzt werden mit: ,,Das Wasser stromt aus dem heraus, der mehr weiss.
Mein neues Werk fur Pipa, Oboe, Pauke, Schlagzeug und Orchester entstand im Auftrag der Kammerakademie Neuss und auf Anregung des Oboisten Christian Wetzel. Es entstanden drei Rituale mit zum Teil szenischen Elementen fur die Solisten und das Orchester.
Inspirationsquelle in der Vorbeschaftigung waren zwei Quellen und Bucher. Das Daodejing von Laozi in der hervorragenden Neuubersetzung von Viktor Kalinke, eine der wichtigsten Quellen chinesischen Denkens und der Philosophie dieser grossen Kulturtradition und die chinesische Tradition der 5-Elementelehre und der Wandlungsphasen. Als zweites Buch hat mich ,,Die Glut von Roberto Calasso inspiriert, ein Buch uber die indischen Veden in Verbindung mit den Ursprungen des Buddhismus und den damit verbunden Ritualen.
In den letzten 20 Jahren habe ich mich intensiv mit ostasiatischer Musik, Kunst und Philosophie beschaftigt und habe das auch durch langere Studienreisen und kompositorische Projekte vertiefen konnen. U.a. wurde 2012 mein Chorwerk PRAN in Kolkata in Indien uraufgefuhrt (Goethe-Institut), ebenfalls 2012 ,,in between VI fur Sho und Sheng in Tokyo und 2013 ,,Mirror and Circle fur Pipa, Cello und chinesisches Orchester in Taipeh/Taiwan (Auftragswerk der taiwanesischen Regierung). Mit der chinesischen Pipa-Virtuosin Ya Dong arbeite ich seit 2000 zusammen und habe fur sie mehrfach komponiert (Urauffuhrungen u.a. in Hannover/EXPO 2000, Rottweil 2001, Taipeh 2013, Magdeburg 2016). Auch mit Christian Wetzel arbeite ich seit uber 20 Jahren zusammen und habe ebenfalls haufig fur ihn komponiert (UA u.a. in Bonn 1999, Hannover/EXPO 2000, Rottweil 2001, Darmstadt 2004 und etliche weitere Projekte).
Jedes dieser drei Rituale hat eine Lange von ca. 6-7 Minuten und stellt unterschiedliche Qualitaten und Besonderheiten der beiden Soloinstrumente heraus, immer in Verbindung mit der Interaktion zwischen Soli und Orchester. Die Besetzung war fur mich ausserst reizvoll, da beide Instrumente in dieser Kombination noch nie so erklungen sind. Die Pipa ist ein ungemein modernes und ungewohnliches Instrument, reich an Farben und vor allem an perkussiven Effekten. Das Tonmaterial wurde zum grossten Teil aus den Namen der beiden Solisten gewonnen und ergibt interessanter zwei gespiegelte Viertonmotive. In der asiatischen Kultur spielen der Spiegel und der Kreis eine wichtige Rolle, und so werden die Tone, Rhythmen und Formen eingewoben in diese drei Rituale, welche am Ende des dritten Satzes wieder kreisformig an den Anfang des ersten Rituals anknupfen. Ein von den Streichern und der Pauke erzeugtes Gerausch, verbunden mit dem Rhythmus der grossen Trommel, welcher einen Herzschlag symbolisieren soll. Die drei Untertitel der Rituale Himmel, Erde und (atmospharischer) Raum spielen im vedischen und chinesischen Denken eine grosse Rolle und war fur mich beim Komponieren ebenfalls eine sehr starke Inspirationsquelle. In vielen meiner Kompositionen gibt es Raumeffekte, Annaherungen an das Publikum, das Verschieben von Perspektiven, die Dekonstruktion und das Hinterfragen der ublichen Konzertsituation, so u.a in meinem Beuys-Zyklus oder in den Zyklen ,,CUT und ,,in between.
In ARKA geht es mir besonders um die Interaktion zwischen westlichem und ostlichem Denken, um das gegenseitige Durchdringen dieser auf den ersten Blick so unterschiedlichen Denk- und Lebensweisen, um eine Verschmelzung scheinbarer Gegensatze - um Annaherung!
Bernd Franke. Leipzig, 11.10.2019
for low voice and piano This beautiful collection of 14 songs for low voice offers Christmas settings by some of Oxford's best-loved composers. Suitable for solo singers and unison choirs alike, each song is presented with piano accompaniment, and high-quality, downloadable backing tracks are included on a companion website. With a wonderful selection of pieces, including favourites such as Bob Chilcott's 'The Shepherd's Carol' and John Rutter's 'Candlelight Carol', this is the perfect collection for use in carol services and Christmas concerts or for enjoying at home. Also available in a volume for high voice and piano.
AGNI is the Hindu god of fire; the elemental and transformative force inherent in everything:
Every flame, every fire, every light, every warmth is AGNI.
AGNI is omnipresent, establishing everything and ending everything.
AGNI is often depicted with seven tongues which represent different aspects of his being.
These include: creating, sustaining, cleansing, purifying, priestly, martial, devastating, destructive, and consuming.
Derived from Franke's concerto of the same name, this solo work for bass clarinet compositionally traces the transformative processes initiated by the divine fire. The solo takes seven pieces from the concerto, presenting vivid character pieces exploring the creative possibilities and wide tonal range offered by the bass clarinet.
This version of AGNI for bass clarinet solo was premiered on 4 December 2020 in Leipzig by Volker Hemken, the principal bass clarinetist of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. EP14437a convinces with its excellent and clear notation, making the piece a new standard for bass clarinet.
Ikons, commissioned by the Vancouver Cultural Olympiad 2010, exists in two forms. This 14-minute acoustic version, premiered by the Turning Point Ensemble, calls for an octet of live musicians to execute complex rhythms and quarter-tone harmonies.
The interactive, electronic version, created with visual artist Eric Metcalfe and designed to be presented separately, incorporates samples from this acoustic version into a sculptural environment of seven pyramidal structures that respond sonically to the viewer.
Roxanna Panufnik's Sonnets without Words is a contemporary piece for Horn in F and piano. Written for horn player Ben Goldscheider, Panufnik has reimagined the lyrical vocal lines from three of her previous settings of Shakespeare's sonnets (Mine eye, Music to hear and Sweet Love Remember'd for voice and piano) into a purely instrumental work.
Score and horn part.
Stephen McNeff's Trig is a short 7-minute contemporary work for solo cello, written to celebrate the bicentennial of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022 and in memorium cellist Mike Edwards 1948-2010.
Trig was premiered by Henry Hargreaves on 19 March 2021, livestreamed from the Royal Academy of Music.
to an utterance - study was commissioned by Klangforum Wien for the premiere commercial audio recording on a portrait CD in 2020 and first performed by Joonas Ahonen at the Berlin Philharmonie on 4th September 2020 at the Musikfest Berlin.
Roxanna Panufnik's Spirit Moves, for brass quintet, was commissioned by the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble. This 15-minute piece is scored for two trumpets in Bb (one doubling piccolo trumpet and the other doubling flugel horn), horn in F, trombone and tuba. This brass quintet is so called because the outer movements are highly spirited and the central one is spiritual.
This product consists of score and parts.
A gently flowing 3-minute arrangement by Roderick Williams for SATB (with divisi) with piano accompaniment that captures the beauty of this famous traditional Hebridean love song. The song text uses both old dialect and English, each verse ending with the words, 'Sad am I without thee'.
for high voice and piano This beautiful collection of 14 songs for high voice offers Christmas settings by some of Oxford's best-loved composers. Suitable for solo singers and unison choirs alike, each song is presented with piano accompaniment, and high-quality, downloadable backing tracks are included on a companion website. With a wonderful selection of pieces, including favourites such as Bob Chilcott's 'The Shepherd's Carol' and John Rutter's 'Candlelight Carol', this is the perfect collection for use in carol services and Christmas concerts or for enjoying at home. Also available in a volume for low voice and piano.
for SATB and organ This energetic setting of words by St Ambrose of Milan is a real showstopper. With pop-influences and a sparkling organ part, Young effortlessly fuses modern and traditional sound worlds, while changes in key and metre build up to an invigorating finish. Perfect for accomplished choirs looking for something different.
for SA unaccompanied This simple, charming two-part motet features long melismatic phrases that reflect the text (1 Corinthians 2: 9), such as the rising melodic line over three bars on the word 'ascended' (ascendit).
for SAATB unaccompanied. This glorious musical depiction of the honour, strength, power and authority of the Holy Trinity by Thomas Tallis is the third issue in the CMS's series of great English Responds from the 16th century, edited by Sally Dunkley. Scored for SAATB, it can be performed either as a motet or as a full Responsory with plainsong alternating with polyphony.
Based on a traditional Scottish/Irish 'farewell' song, this short piece is one of six works written to express my love of Scotland. After living there for nearly half my life, and raising a family, I moved back to England in 2018, and remarried in 2019.
Of course, there were many different emotions attached to the move south: especially the joy and excitement of new beginnings, and reconnection with friends from my youth.
But this piece expresses the wrench I experienced after a last family meal in Glasgow, and the realisation of all I was about to leave behind.
I have taken the melody of the original song, and expanded it, exploring the detail of its patterns, so that it becomes a timeless meditation.
The six pieces in the 'farewell' series are for 6 violas, string quintet, string quartet, trio, violin and clarinet duo, and solo clarinet.
The Parting Glass was composed in 2020 during the coronavirus lockdown, which intensified the feeling of separation from my Scottish family, as well as from other musicians.
It was commissioned by Vittorio Ceccanti for the ContempoArtEnsemble.
Maple arose from a commission to write a work for solo cello, to be performed alongside readings from artist John Newling's collection of letters entitled 'Dear Nature'; a poetic manifestation of our relationship with the natural world.
The piece is in eight short sections, to be interspersed with readings of groups of the poems. It may also be performed as a single movement. It begins with a seed - the seed of a maple tree, as it hangs on the mature tree, ready to drop. The seeds are like propellers, sometimes travelling more than a mile before landing on the ground. Maple follows the growth of the tree to maturity - which in reality would take at least a hundred years. 'Roots, shoots' grows downwards and upwards from a pedal note, and the dance-like 'Flowers' is followed by the stately 'Tree', and then the warm, cascading 'Autumn'. Maple is very often the wood of choice for the back of a stringed instrument, and the last section uses open strings to explore the full resonance of the cello.
The piece starts with a 'seed' of only five notes, which grows into different configurations. It is intended to be played in an improvisatory style.
Maple was co-commissioned by Brighton Festival, Ars et Terra Festival with SACEM and Ditchling Arts and Crafts Museum, to be performed by Margarita Balanas as part of the Brighton Festival's 'Dear Nature' project.
First performed by Noriko Kawai for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, in a broadcast from the Radio Theatre, BBC Broadcasting House, November 2020.
Full of beautifully crafted, delicate tintinnabulations - Richard Morrison, The Times
SKU: PR.114419030
ISBN 9781491114124. UPC: 680160669851. 9 x 12 inches.
A fascination with polycultural synergy between diverse literary textsdrives the inspiration for much of Mohammed Fairouz’s prodigiouscreative output, including instrumental music as well as vocal. Inhis profound and extensive essay preceding the score, Fairouz shedslight on how Edgar Allen Poe’s “Israfel” relates to the prophetsand prophesies of the Quran, Old Testament, and New Testament.The eight-movement quartet may be heard as a dramatic galleryof portraits and of story-telling, flourishing in a post-traditionallanguage that is at once vernacular and spiritual, Middle Easternand Western. The complete set of score and parts is included in thispublication.(See pages 2-3 of score for clear distinction of paragraphs, etc.)Prophesies, by Mohammed FairouzEdgar Allen Poe’s rendition of Israfel was the point of departure for the final movement of my previous stringquartet which is titled The Named Angels. At the opening of his poem, Poe evokes the Quran:“And the angel Israfel, whose heartstrings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God’s creatures.”This informs the first lines of the poem that, in turn, gave me the title for the final movement of The Named Angels,“Israfel’s Spell”:In Heaven a spirit doth dwell“Whose heartstrings are a lute”None sing so wildly wellAs the angel Israfel,And the giddy stars (so legends tell),Ceasing their hymns, attend the spellOf his voice, all mute.It is the end of that poem, however, that is the starting point for the current quartet, Prophesies, which concernsitself with mortal prophets rather than eternal Angelic spirits.If I could dwellWhere IsrafelHath dwelt, and he where I,He might not sing so wildly wellA mortal melody,While a bolder note than this might swellFrom my lyre within the sky.Islamic thought has asked us to look at the example of the prophets. That’s significant because of the fact thatJoseph and all the prophets were human beings with the flaws of human beings. No prophet was perfect, andIslamic tradition has never asked its followers to aspire to the example of the Angels, the perfected ones. Instead weare given the gift of our prophets. While The Named Angels drew on the motion and energy of everlasting spirits,Prophesies is a depiction of the movements within our own mortal coil.This quartet is a continuation of a long tradition of Muslim artists telling their stories and singing their songs.Many of these renditions are, in fact, figurative and (contrary to popular belief) the Quran contains no “Islamicedict” prohibiting figurative renditions of the figures described in the Old Testament, New Testament, or Quran.The majority of artists, however, have preferred eternal and abstract forms such as words and their calligraphicrepresentations, poems (Yusuf and Zuleikha or the Conference of Birds come immediately to mind), architecture,and many other non-figurative art forms to the representation of man. These cold, ancient, and everlasting shapesof unending time flourished, and the divine infinity of representing geometric forms gained favor over the placementof the explicit representation of mankind and our own likeness at the center of the universes.Adding the string quartet to these forms which express the recursive spheres of heavens and earth abstractly shouldexplain why I have chosen to render higher things through the use of music without the addition of words or anyother art-form. It is the abstract art of pure form, in which all is form and all is content, which compels me. Thisquartet should be seen as no more programmatic than the arches of the Great Mosque at Cordoba.The first movement, Yāqub (Jacob), is slow, quiet and prayerful. It evokes the patient sorrow of a slow choraledeveloping over time as it coaxes our pulse out of the ticking of a clock-like meter that defines our day-to-day livesand into a divine eternity.The second, Saleh, imagines the spirit of that desert-prophet through the use of a Liwa; the dance-sequence that hasbeen such a prevalent form of expression in the Arabian Peninsula for much of our recorded history.The third movement is titled Dawoōd, and it is emblematic of the beloved Prophet, King, and Psalmist, David.Though it has no lyrics, the movement functions as a dabkeh (an ancient dance native to the Levant) and also “sets”the opening of Psalm 100 (Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands). This line is never set to music or sung inthe quartet but is evoked through the rhythmic shape of the violin part which imitates the phonology and rhythmof my speaking the opening line in the Hebrew and develops the contours of that line incessantly throughout themovement.3The fourth movement is an ode to Yousef (Joseph) and relates to the first movement in tempo and tone just as Josephrelates to Jacob, his father. Together, the first and fourth movements provide a sort of Lamentation and relief.Joseph had the appearance of a noble angel, but he was very much a human being. And the story of this particularprophet had tragic beginnings many years before he found himself in a position of power in Egypt. Back in his youth,still among the Israelites, Joseph experienced a series of revelations through his dreams that spoke of his impendingcareer in prophecy. He confided his dreams to his father, the Prophet Jacob, who told his son of the greatness thatawaited him in his future only to have his brothers throw him into a well and leave him for dead. Joseph eventuallyfound his way from Israel to Egypt and rose out of slavery into a position of power. Meanwhile, famine engulfs Israel.Forty years pass, and back in the land of Jacob and Rachel, of Joseph’s brothers and Abraham’s tribe, Israel wasnot spared the effects of the famine. They sorely lacked Joseph’s prophecy and his vision. The Qur’an then tells usthat Jacob, sensing Joseph, sends the other brothers to Egypt instructing them to come back with food and grain.Arriving in Egypt, they unwittingly appear before Joseph. They don’t recognize their little brother who has risen toa position of might, dressed in his Egyptian regalia. They ask for the food and the grain.After some conversation, Joseph is no longer able to contain his emotion. Overcome, he reveals himself to his nowterrified brothers. He embraces them. He asks them eagerly, “How is our father?” Joseph gives them the gift of thefood and the grain that they came in search of. He relieves them from hunger and alleviates their fear. He sendsthem back with proof that he is alive, and it is this joyful proof from the miraculous hands of a prophet that bringsback the ancient Jacob’s vision after 40 years of blindness.In this story, I am struck by the fact that Joseph may not have made the decision to forgive his brothers on thespot, but that something inside the prophet’s soul found forgiveness and peace for the brothers who had so gravelywronged him at some point along his journey. I would suspect this point to have been present at Joseph’s inception,even before he had ever been wronged.This is proof, if we needed it, that Joseph’s angel-like beauty was not only physical and external, but also internalas well: Joseph possessed a profound loveliness of spirit that bound his appearance and his soul. In Joseph, formand soul are one.Time is to musicians what light is to a painter. In this way, the story of Joseph also shows us that time can affectour perception of even the most tragic wounds. In fact, the most common Arabic word for “human being” is insaan,which shares its roots with the word insaa, “to forget.” While our ability to remember is essential to how we learnabout ourselves, our capacity to “forgive and forget” may also be one of our great gifts as human beings.The fifth movement follows my ode to Joseph with a structural memory of Mūsa (Moses). The movement consistsentirely of descending motifs which I constructed as an indication of Moses’ descending movement as he emergedto his people from the heights of Mt. Sinai. The music is constructed in five phrases which function as a formalreference to the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch. The movement is placed as the fifth of the quartet for the samereason.While Joseph is always evoked as supremely beautiful in the Books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Suleiman(Solomon) is described as surpassing in his quicksilver intelligence. This movement is composed of a seven-partriddle which passes by in an instant but can be caught by the attentive listener. From Solomon, we work our wayback to Yishak (Isaac) in a seventh movement that evokes Isaac’s literal meaning in Arabic and Hebrew: laughter.The eighth and final movement of this quartet is named for the Patriarch of the entire Book: Ibrahim (Abraham). Itrelates to Isaac just as Joseph relates to Jacob; they are father and son. The lines are prayerful and contemplative;the form of the music evolves from a fugue joining together many different forms of prayer into a single tapestry ofcounterpoint, to the cyclical form of this entire quartet which is rendered through the motion of pilgrims circling theKaaba (cube) in Mecca — a structure which was built by Abraham for Hagaar and their son Ismail.These are just some of the figures that are cherished by all three of the Middle Eastern monotheisms (Judaism,Christianity, and Islam) that the Qur’an refers to collectively as Ahl Al-Kitab. This Arabic phrase is most commonlytranslated as “The People of the Book,” but here the most common translation is a flawed one: the Arabic word“ahl” means “family” and not just “people.” A better translation would be “Family of the Book.” Each of the eightmovements of Prophesies grows from a single musical cell.This quartet is a family album.—Mohammed Fairouz (2018.
SKU: CF.MXE219
ISBN 9781491157794. UPC: 680160916399. 9 x 12 inches.
Preface In 1990, during an intense rehearsal of a Mozart Quartet transcription for flute and strings by Franz Anton Hoffmeister, at the Marblehead Summer Music Festival, a disgruntled violist friend complained about HoffmeisterAs awkward string writing, suddenly daring me to create my own arrangement. I balked. But the following winterA3despite scruples about treading on hallowed groundA3I grew curious and began to experiment. Soon I was hooked on the challenge of learning to speak MozartAs language with conviction. This fascination, encouraged by pianist Richard Goode and other Mozarteans, would eventually generate a total of thirty-nine recreations of Mozart piano sonatas as works for flute and strings. With zero tolerance for alteration of melodic or harmonic materialA3MozartAs friend Hoffmeister had regrettably attempted such A!improvementsA(r)A3I always tried to envision what Mozart himself would have desired. Many of the sonatas can be heard as if they were MozartAs A!blueprintsA(r) of imagined chamber works. Hence my task was to A!flesh outA(r) the keyboard versions as Mozart might have done, had a commission or performance opportunity arisen. I spent hours pondering how Mozart might have set these sonatas in four- or five-part form, providing the needed textural or contrapuntal enhancements. With immersion in the composerAs dialect, various apt solutions presented themselves. The search for the A!rightA(r) one then became a most absorbing study. On the eve of releasing my BognerAs CafA recording of Mozart-Stallman New Quintets (2006), I discovered to my delight that a prominent scholar had long before endorsed such an effort. Eric Blom (1888A+-1959), author of Mozart (1935), had taken note of the four-hand piano works as A!a kind of keyboard chamber music.A(r) Regarding Sonata, K. 497, Mr. Blom had observed that Mozart is often dealing with, not the expected four voices (one to a hand), but five. Blom states: A!The F major Sonata (K. 497) removes us to another worldA3the world of the great chamber music, especially of the string quintets. Indeed an arrangement of some sort for a combination of instruments would make a magnificent concert work of this almost uncomfortably great piece of domestic music.A(r) That Mozart was in 1786 writing for piano duo from a quintet perspective makes sense, as we find him returning to the quintet form with keen interest in his last years, writing four String Quintets, the Clarinet Quintet, rearranging a wind serenade for String Quintet, and leaving several other quintets incomplete. My arrangement presented here is made for flute and strings but is also intended for string quintet. Quintet in F Major for Flute and Strings, K. 497, was completed in 1999 and performed with the Martin Quartet in the Czech Republic prior to recording it in 2004. Mozart had finished the original Sonata in F Major for Piano, Four-Hands, K. 497, on August 1, 1786. It shows the unmistakable influence of Figaro, completed and premiered exactly three months prior. As signaled by the imposing introductory Adagio, the conception is on a grand symphonic scale, all three movements being richly developed with contrapuntal episodes and an abundance of marvelously contrasting textures and themes throughout. Called A!the crowning work of its kindA(r) by Alfred Einstein, the Sonata is laden with examples of MozartAs mercurial originality. Here we have a perfect synthesis of concertante brilliance, operatic intensity and intimate dialogue. The work opens in unison with a probing, minor-tinged Adagio, whose question comes to a pause on the dominant, before being answered with jaunty certainty by the opening theme of the Allegro di moltoA3an F-major tune as sunny and confident as an aria from Figaro itself. This movementAs declamatory A!opera chorusA(r) persistently intones its rhythmic motto over a swirling scale figure. The amorous second theme (initially presented in the first viola) also seems to be plucked from Figaro. The Andante opens with a heavenly melody, which takes as its springboard the Romanza theme from the Horn Concerto in E Major, K. 495, written only five weeks before. The A!love duetA(r) between flute and first viola seems to anticipate the impassioned A!duettingA(r) between violin and viola in the Andante of the String Quintet in C Major, K. 515, written about nine months later. The ingenious stretto canon of the AndanteAs middle section requires the precision of a Swiss clock (which its chiming thirds recall). Affecting bucolic codettas close each of the main sections of the movement. In the final Allegro, a rondo in 6/8a time, the puckish, yet aristocratic character of the opening theme contrasts with the bumptious, popular tune used for the second theme (heard first in the violin and then the flute, over pizzicato cello). Lilting hymn-like episodes in three, four- and finally five-part counterpoint are repeatedly interrupted by startling scale figures that rise up in furioso episodes throughout the movement. As in the A!Swiss clockA(r) section of the Andante, Mozart uses a stretto imitation treatment with this tempest theme, thereby heightening both intensity and sense of instability. I am most grateful to the adventuresome Martin Quartet for their warm support and collaboration over the years with several of my arrangements, and to my friend Edwin Swanborn for the original typesetting of this score. Gratitude is also due Weekend Edition, Performance Today and innumerable classical stations across the United States for their enthusiastic and repeated airings of my A!newA(r) Mozart Quintet endeavorsA3and most of all, to violist Katherine Murdock for that dare in 1990. A3Compiled from the writings of Robert Stallman by Hannah Woods Stallman, February 2, 2020.Preface In 1990, during an intense rehearsal of a Mozart Quartet transcription for flute and strings by Franz Anton Hoffmeister, at the Marblehead Summer Music Festival, a disgruntled violist friend complained about Hoffmeisteris awkward string writing, suddenly daring me to create my own arrangement. I balked. But the following winterodespite scruples about treading on hallowed groundoI grew curious and began to experiment. Soon I was hooked on the challenge of learning to speak Mozartis language with conviction. This fascination, encouraged by pianist Richard Goode and other Mozarteans, would eventually generate a total of thirty-nine recreations of Mozart piano sonatas as works for flute and strings. With zero tolerance for alteration of melodic or harmonic materialoMozartis friend Hoffmeister had regrettably attempted such iimprovementsioI always tried to envision what Mozart himself would have desired. Many of the sonatas can be heard as if they were Mozartis iblueprintsi of imagined chamber works. Hence my task was to iflesh outi the keyboard versions as Mozart might have done, had a commission or performance opportunity arisen. I spent hours pondering how Mozart might have set these sonatas in four- or five-part form, providing the needed textural or contrapuntal enhancements. With immersion in the composeris dialect, various apt solutions presented themselves. The search for the irighti one then became a most absorbing study. On the eve of releasing my Bogneris CafE recording of Mozart-Stallman New Quintets (2006), I discovered to my delight that a prominent scholar had long before endorsed such an effort. Eric Blom (1888n1959), author of Mozart (1935), had taken note of the four-hand piano works as ia kind of keyboard chamber music.i Regarding Sonata, K. 497, Mr. Blom had observed that Mozart is often dealing with, not the expected four voices (one to a hand), but five. Blom states: iThe F major Sonata (K. 497) removes us to another worldothe world of the great chamber music, especially of the string quintets. Indeed an arrangement of some sort for a combination of instruments would make a magnificent concert work of this almost uncomfortably great piece of domestic music.i That Mozart was in 1786 writing for piano duo from a quintet perspective makes sense, as we find him returning to the quintet form with keen interest in his last years, writing four String Quintets, the Clarinet Quintet, rearranging a wind serenade for String Quintet, and leaving several other quintets incomplete. My arrangement presented here is made for flute and strings but is also intended for string quintet. Quintet in F Major for Flute and Strings, K. 497, was completed in 1999 and performed with the Martin Quartet in the Czech Republic prior to recording it in 2004. Mozart had finished the original Sonata in F Major for Piano, Four-Hands, K. 497, on August 1, 1786. It shows the unmistakable influence of Figaro, completed and premiered exactly three months prior. As signaled by the imposing introductory Adagio, the conception is on a grand symphonic scale, all three movements being richly developed with contrapuntal episodes and an abundance of marvelously contrasting textures and themes throughout. Called ithe crowning work of its kindi by Alfred Einstein, the Sonata is laden with examples of Mozartis mercurial originality. Here we have a perfect synthesis of concertante brilliance, operatic intensity and intimate dialogue. The work opens in unison with a probing, minor-tinged Adagio, whose question comes to a pause on the dominant, before being answered with jaunty certainty by the opening theme of the Allegro di moltooan F-major tune as sunny and confident as an aria from Figaro itself. This movementis declamatory iopera chorusi persistently intones its rhythmic motto over a swirling scale figure. The amorous second theme (initially presented in the first viola) also seems to be plucked from Figaro. The Andante opens with a heavenly melody, which takes as its springboard the Romanza theme from the Horn Concerto in E Major, K. 495, written only five weeks before. The ilove dueti between flute and first viola seems to anticipate the impassioned iduettingi between violin and viola in the Andante of the String Quintet in C Major, K. 515, written about nine months later. The ingenious stretto canon of the Andanteis middle section requires the precision of a Swiss clock (which its chiming thirds recall). Affecting bucolic codettas close each of the main sections of the movement. In the final Allegro, a rondo in 6/8+time, the puckish, yet aristocratic character of the opening theme contrasts with the bumptious, popular tune used for the second theme (heard first in the violin and then the flute, over pizzicato cello). Lilting hymn-like episodes in three, four- and finally five-part counterpoint are repeatedly interrupted by startling scale figures that rise up in furioso episodes throughout the movement. As in the iSwiss clocki section of the Andante, Mozart uses a stretto imitation treatment with this tempest theme, thereby heightening both intensity and sense of instability. I am most grateful to the adventuresome Martin Quartet for their warm support and collaboration over the years with several of my arrangements, and to my friend Edwin Swanborn for the original typesetting of this score. Gratitude is also due Weekend Edition, Performance Today and innumerable classical stations across the United States for their enthusiastic and repeated airings of my inewi Mozart Quintet endeavorsoand most of all, to violist Katherine Murdock for that dare in 1990. oCompiled from the writings of Robert Stallman by Hannah Woods Stallman, February 2, 2020.Preface In 1990, during an intense rehearsal of a Mozart Quartet transcription for flute and strings by Franz Anton Hoffmeister, at the Marblehead Summer Music Festival, a disgruntled violist friend complained about Hoffmeister's awkward string writing, suddenly daring me to create my own arrangement. I balked. But the following winter--despite scruples about treading on hallowed ground--I grew curious and began to experiment. Soon I was hooked on the challenge of learning to speak Mozart's language with conviction. This fascination, encouraged by pianist Richard Goode and other Mozarteans, would eventually generate a total of thirty-nine recreations of Mozart piano sonatas as works for flute and strings. With zero tolerance for alteration of melodic or harmonic material--Mozart's friend Hoffmeister had regrettably attempted such improvements--I always tried to envision what Mozart himself would have desired. Many of the sonatas can be heard as if they were Mozart's blueprints of imagined chamber works. Hence my task was to flesh out the keyboard versions as Mozart might have done, had a commission or performance opportunity arisen. I spent hours pondering how Mozart might have set these sonatas in four- or five-part form, providing the needed textural or contrapuntal enhancements. With immersion in the composer's dialect, various apt solutions presented themselves. The search for the right one then became a most absorbing study. On the eve of releasing my Bogner's Cafe recording of Mozart-Stallman New Quintets (2006), I discovered to my delight that a prominent scholar had long before endorsed such an effort. Eric Blom (1888-1959), author of Mozart (1935), had taken note of the four-hand piano works as a kind of keyboard chamber music. Regarding Sonata, K. 497, Mr. Blom had observed that Mozart is often dealing with, not the expected four voices (one to a hand), but five. Blom states: The F major Sonata (K. 497) removes us to another world--the world of the great chamber music, especially of the string quintets. Indeed an arrangement of some sort for a combination of instruments would make a magnificent concert work of this almost uncomfortably great piece of domestic music. That Mozart was in 1786 writing for piano duo from a quintet perspective makes sense, as we find him returning to the quintet form with keen interest in his last years, writing four String Quintets, the Clarinet Quintet, rearranging a wind serenade for String Quintet, and leaving several other quintets incomplete. My arrangement presented here is made for flute and strings but is also intended for string quintet. Quintet in F Major for Flute and Strings, K. 497, was completed in 1999 and performed with the Martinu Quartet in the Czech Republic prior to recording it in 2004. Mozart had finished the original Sonata in F Major for Piano, Four-Hands, K. 497, on August 1, 1786. It shows the unmistakable influence of Figaro, completed and premiered exactly three months prior. As signaled by the imposing introductory Adagio, the conception is on a grand symphonic scale, all three movements being richly developed with contrapuntal episodes and an abundance of marvelously contrasting textures and themes throughout. Called the crowning work of its kind by Alfred Einstein, the Sonata is laden with examples of Mozart's mercurial originality. Here we have a perfect synthesis of concertante brilliance, operatic intensity and intimate dialogue. The work opens in unison with a probing, minor-tinged Adagio, whose question comes to a pause on the dominant, before being answered with jaunty certainty by the opening theme of the Allegro di molto--an F-major tune as sunny and confident as an aria from Figaro itself. This movement's declamatory opera chorus persistently intones its rhythmic motto over a swirling scale figure. The amorous second theme (initially presented in the first viola) also seems to be plucked from Figaro. The Andante opens with a heavenly melody, which takes as its springboard the Romanza theme from the Horn Concerto in E<= Major, K. 495, written only five weeks before. The love duet between flute and first viola seems to anticipate the impassioned duetting between violin and viola in the Andante of the String Quintet in C Major, K. 515, written about nine months later. The ingenious stretto canon of the Andante's middle section requires the precision of a Swiss clock (which its chiming thirds recall). Affecting bucolic codettas close each of the main sections of the movement. In the final Allegro, a rondo in 6/8 time, the puckish, yet aristocratic character of the opening theme contrasts with the bumptious, popular tune used for the second theme (heard first in the violin and then the flute, over pizzicato cello). Lilting hymn-like episodes in three, four- and finally five-part counterpoint are repeatedly interrupted by startling scale figures that rise up in furioso episodes throughout the movement. As in the Swiss clock section of the Andante, Mozart uses a stretto imitation treatment with this tempest theme, thereby heightening both intensity and sense of instability. I am most grateful to the adventuresome Martinu Quartet for their warm support and collaboration over the years with several of my arrangements, and to my friend Edwin Swanborn for the original typesetting of this score. Gratitude is also due Weekend Edition, Performance Today and innumerable classical stations across the United States for their enthusiastic and repeated airings of my new Mozart Quintet endeavors--and most of all, to violist Katherine Murdock for that dare in 1990. --Compiled from the writings of Robert Stallman by Hannah Woods Stallman, February 2, 2020.PrefaceIn 1990, during an intense rehearsal of a Mozart Quartet transcription for flute and strings by Franz Anton Hoffmeister, at the Marblehead Summer Music Festival, a disgruntled violist friend complained about Hoffmeister’s awkward string writing, suddenly daring me to create my own arrangement. I balked. But the following winter—despite scruples about treading on hallowed ground—I grew curious and began to experiment. Soon I was hooked on the challenge of learning to speak Mozart’s language with conviction. This fascination, encouraged by pianist Richard Goode and other Mozarteans, would eventually generate a total of thirty-nine recreations of Mozart piano sonatas as works for flute and strings.With zero tolerance for alteration of melodic or harmonic material—Mozart’s friend Hoffmeister had regrettably attempted such “improvementsâ€â€”I always tried to envision what Mozart himself would have desired. Many of the sonatas can be heard as if they were Mozart’s “blueprints†of imagined chamber works. Hence my task was to “flesh out†the keyboard versions as Mozart might have done, had a commission or performance opportunity arisen. I spent hours pondering how Mozart might have set these sonatas in four- or five-part form, providing the needed textural or contrapuntal enhancements. With immersion in the composer’s dialect, various apt solutions presented themselves. The search for the “right†one then became a most absorbing study.On the eve of releasing my Bogner’s Café recording of Mozart-Stallman New Quintets (2006), I discovered to my delight that a prominent scholar had long before endorsed such an effort. Eric Blom (1888–1959), author of Mozart (1935), had taken note of the four-hand piano works as “a kind of keyboard chamber music.†Regarding Sonata, K. 497, Mr. Blom had observed that Mozart is often dealing with, not the expected four voices (one to a hand), but five. Blom states: “The F major Sonata (K. 497) removes us to another world—the world of the great chamber music, especially of the string quintets. Indeed an arrangement of some sort for a combination of instruments would make a magnificent concert work of this almost uncomfortably great piece of domestic music.†That Mozart was in 1786 writing for piano duo from a quintet perspective makes sense, as we find him returning to the quintet form with keen interest in his last years, writing four String Quintets, the Clarinet Quintet, rearranging a wind serenade for String Quintet, and leaving several other quintets incomplete. My arrangement presented here is made for flute and strings but is also intended for string quintet.Quintet in F Major for Flute and Strings, K. 497, was completed in 1999 and performed with the Martinů Quartet in the Czech Republic prior to recording it in 2004. Mozart had finished the original Sonata in F Major for Piano, Four-Hands, K. 497, on August 1, 1786. It shows the unmistakable influence of Figaro, completed and premiered exactly three months prior. As signaled by the imposing introductory Adagio, the conception is on a grand symphonic scale, all three movements being richly developed with contrapuntal episodes and an abundance of marvelously contrasting textures and themes throughout. Called “the crowning work of its kind†by Alfred Einstein, the Sonata is laden with examples of Mozart’s mercurial originality. Here we have a perfect synthesis of concertante brilliance, operatic intensity and intimate dialogue.The work opens in unison with a probing, minor-tinged Adagio, whose question comes to a pause on the dominant, before being answered with jaunty certainty by the opening theme of the Allegro di molto—an F-major tune as sunny and confident as an aria from Figaro itself. This movement’s declamatory “opera chorus†persistently intones its rhythmic motto over a swirling scale figure. The amorous second theme (initially presented in the first viola) also seems to be plucked from Figaro.The Andante opens with a heavenly melody, which takes as its springboard the Romanza theme from the Horn Concerto in E≤ Major, K. 495, written only five weeks before. The “love duet†between flute and first viola seems to anticipate the impassioned “duetting†between violin and viola in the Andante of the String Quintet in C Major, K. 515, written about nine months later. The ingenious stretto canon of the Andante’s middle section requires the precision of a Swiss clock (which its chiming thirds recall). Affecting bucolic codettas close each of the main sections of the movement.In the final Allegro, a rondo in 6/8 time, the puckish, yet aristocratic character of the opening theme contrasts with the bumptious, popular tune used for the second theme (heard first in the violin and then the flute, over pizzicato cello). Lilting hymn-like episodes in three, four- and finally five-part counterpoint are repeatedly interrupted by startling scale figures that rise up in furioso episodes throughout the movement. As in the “Swiss clock†section of the Andante, Mozart uses a stretto imitation treatment with this tempest theme, thereby heightening both intensity and sense of instability.I am most grateful to the adventuresome Martinů Quartet for their warm support and collaboration over the years with several of my arrangements, and to my friend Edwin Swanborn for the original typesetting of this score. Gratitude is also due Weekend Edition, Performance Today and innumerable classical stations across the United States for their enthusiastic and repeated airings of my “new†Mozart Quintet endeavors—and most of all, to violist Katherine Murdock for that dare in 1990.—Compiled from the writings of Robert Stallmanby Hannah Woods Stallman,February 2, 2020.
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: BT.DHP-1033337-015
9x12 inches.
Missa Brevis, written for choir and wind band, was commissioned by the Conseil Départemental pour la Musique et la Culture de Haute-Alsace (Dir.: Philippe Pfisterer) in Guebwiller (France), in celebration of the millennium of Pope Leon IX’sbirth in Éguisheim (France). The composer conducted the first performance on June 23, 2002. It was performed live for the French television channel France 2. The mass movements Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Deiare very suitable for the Catholic as well as the Protestant liturgy. For this mass, various ways for performing in diverse variable strengths are possible. An instrumental performance is possible if the brass represents the choir parts. In thisoption, it is desirable for the brass to be positioned separately from the rest of the band (on a gallery, for example), so that the idea of two choirs is approached. In a performance with a large choir, the brass can work very well as a support. Inthat case, the dynamics of the brass should be adapted somewhat, since these are actually intended for an instrumental performance. You can also leave out the brass entirely for the benefit of the choir. For the accompaniment of smaller choirs, youcan opt for a small ensemble from the band. This can also be a quartet, put together as desired. For the performance of this mass, the obvious choice is one of the above options. However, as an alternative, a performance with a combination of theseoptions (vocally/instrumentally) is also possible not just from an artistic point of view (variation), but also from a practical starting point for example in the case that the choir has rehearsed only two movements. With a full strength, theconductor can vary the instrumentation to his or her liking. Then the brass can also play a role in the accompaniment (instead of supporting the choir). The following combinations are possible:1. clarinet choir (from Eb Clarinet to BassClarinet)2. clarinet choir + saxophones3. brass (flugelhorns, horns, euphoniums, bass section)4. brass (2 trumpets / 2 trombones)5. double reeds (optional + flute, optional + string bass)6. tutti7. all winds8. allbrassIn a performance by brass band and choir, it is usually advisable to leave out option 1 (choir + brass + band). The choir sings self-reliantly, accompanied by a full brass band. In an instrumental performance, you can consider a combinedquartet (two cornets and two trombones) + brass band.Choral parts available separately.Missa Brevis, geschreven voor koor en blaasorkest, werd gecomponeerd in opdracht van de Conseil Départemental pour la Musique et la Culture de Haute-Alsace (dir. Philippe Pfisterer) in Guebwiller (Frankrijk), ter gelegenheid van het duizendstegeboortejaar van paus Leo IX. In zijn geboorteplaats, Éguisheim (Elzas, Frankrijk), vond op 23 juni 2002 de première van deze mis plaats onder leiding van de componist. Het betrof een live-registratie voor de Franse televisiezender France 2. Demisdelen Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus en Agnus Dei lenen zich uitstekend voor zowel de katholieke als de protestantse liturgie. Er zijn voor deze mis diverse uitvoeringsmogelijkheden mogelijk, aangezien er sprake is van eenvariabele bezetting. Een instrumentale uitvoering behoort uitdrukkelijk tot de mogelijkheden, indien het scherp koper de koorpartijen vertegenwoordigt. In deze optie is het wenselijk dat het scherp koper zich separaat opstelt van de rest van hetorkest (bijvoorbeeld op een galerij), zodat het idee van dubbelkorigheid wordt benaderd. Bij een uitvoering voor groot koor werkt het scherp koper zeer goed als ondersteuning. In dat geval kan de dynamiek van het koper iets worden aangepast,aangezien deze in eerste instantie bedoeld is voor een instrumentale versie. Ook kan men ervoor kiezen het scherp koper helemaal weg te laten ten gunste van het koor. Bij begeleiding van kleinere koren kan men kiezen voor een klein ensemble uit hetorkest. Dit kan ook een naar wens samengesteld kwartet zijn. Voor de uitvoering van deze mis ligt het voor de hand een van deze opties te kiezen. Als alternatief is echter ook een uitvoering mogelijk met een combinatie van deze opties (vocaal/instrumentaal) niet slechts vanuit een artistiek motief (afwisseling), maar ook vanuit een praktisch motief, voor het geval dat het koor bijvoorbeeld slechts twee delen heeft ingestudeerd. Bij een volledige bezetting kan de dirigent deinstrumentatie naar believen afwisselen. Hierbij kan ook het scherp koper in de begeleiding een rol krijgen (in plaats van ondersteuning van het koor). Zo zijn de volgende combinaties mogelijk:
1. clarinet choir (van Es-klarinet tot basklarinet)
2. clarinet choir + saxofoons
3. zacht koper (bugels, hoorns, euphoniums, bassen)
4. scherp koper (2 trompetten / 2 trombones)
5. dubbelrieten (eventueel + fluit, eventueel + contrabas)
6. tutti
7. alle hout
8. alle koper
In een uitvoering voor brassband en koor is het in de meeste gevallen aan te bevelen de optie voor scherp koper weg te laten. Het koor zingt zelfstandig, begeleid door een volledige brassband. In een instrumentale uitvoering kunt u denken aan eencombinatiekwartet (twee cornetten en twee trombones) + brassband.Koorpartijen apart verkrijgbaar.Missa Brevis, geschrieben für Chor und Blasorchester entstand im Auftrag des Conseil Départemental pour la Musique et la Culture de Haute-Alsace (Dir.: Philippe Pfisterer) in Guebwiller (Frankreich), anlässlich des tausendjährigen Jubiläumsder Geburt von Papst Leo IX in Éguisheim. Der Komponist dirigierte die Uraufführung am 23. Juni 2002. Sie wurde live vom französischen Fernsehen France 2 übertragen. Die Messesätze Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus und Agnus Deieignen sich ausgezeichnet sowohl für die katholische als auch die protestantische Liturgie. Diese Messe kann in diversen variablen Spielstärken aufgeführt werden. Eine Instrumentalaufführung ist möglich, wenn das Blech die Chorstimme übernimmt.Um der Idee von zwei Chören in dieser Variante möglichst gerecht zu werden, empfiehlt es sich, das Blechregister getrennt vom Rest des Blasorchesters aufzustellen (beispielsweise auf einer Galerie). In einer Aufführung mit einem großen Chor kann dasBlechregister sehr gut als Unterstützung dienen. In diesem Fall sollten die Dynamikangaben der Blechbläser etwas angepasst werden, da sie ja eigentlich für eine Instrumentalaufführung gedacht sind. Man kann zugunsten des Chors auch völlig auf dasBlech verzichten. Zur Begleitung kleinerer Chöre können Sie ein kleines Ensemble aus dem Blasorchester wählen. Dies könnte auch ein Quartett in beliebiger Zusammensetzung sein. Für die Aufführung dieser Messe bietet sich eine der oben genanntenVarianten an. Eine Kombination dieser Wahlmöglichkeiten (vokal/instrumental) ist jedoch auch möglich und das nicht nur vom künstlerischen Standpunkt aus betrachtet (zur Abwechslung), sondern auch aus praktischen Erwägungen beispielsweise, wennder Chor nur zwei Sätze einstudiert hat. In voller Besetzung kann der Dirigent die Instrumentierung nach Belieben variieren. Dann können die Blechbläser auch eine Rolle in der Begleitung übernehmen (anstatt den Chor zu unterstützen). Die folgendenKombinationen sind möglich:
1. Klarinettenchor (von Klarinette in Es bis Bassklarinette)
2. Klarinettenchor + Saxophone
3. Blech (Flügelhorn, Horn, Euphonium, Bassregister)
4. Blech (2 Trompeten / 2 Posaunen)
5. Doppelrohrblattinstrumente (wahlweise + Flöte, wahlweise + Kontrabass)
6. Tutti
7. Alle Holzbläser
8. Alle Blechbläser
In einer Aufführung mit Brass Band und Chor ist es gewöhnlich ratsam, nicht die erste Option (Chor + Blech + Blasorchester) zu wählen. Der Chor singt unabhängig, begleitet von einer vollständigen Brass Band. In einer Instrumentalaufführung könnenSie sich für ein kombiniertes Quartett (zwei Kornette und zwei Posaunen) + Brass Band entscheiden. Chorstimmen separat erhältlich.Missa Brevis est une messe pour Orchestre d’Harmonie et Choeur composée la demande du Conseil Départemental pour la Musique et la Culture de Haute-Alsace (Dir. : Philippe Pfisterer) de Guebwiller en France, l’occasion des célébrations dumillénaire de la naissance du Pape Léon IX Éguisheim. La création mondiale a eu lieu le 23 juin 2002 sous la direction du compositeur, et a été diffusée en direct sur la chaîne de télévision nationale France 2. Les différentes parties de cettemesse (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus et Agnus Dei) conviennent autant la liturgie catholique qu’ la liturgie protestante. Missa Brevis peut être interprétée dans différentes combinaisons instrumentales. Ellepeut être jouée dans une version purement instrumentale, où les cuivres prennent en charge la partie vocale. En tel cas, il est conseillé de placer les cuivres l’écart de la formation (sur une estrade, par exemple) de façon reproduire l’idée dedeux groupes indépendants. Dans le cadre d’une interprétation avec un grand Choeur, les cuivres jouent un rôle de soutien. Leurs nuances doivent alors être adaptées dans la mesure où elles ont été écrites, l’origine, pour une version instrumentale.Il est également possible de ne pas faire intervenir les cuivres et de privilégier le Choeur. Pour accompagner de petits ensembles vocaux, il faut opter pour une formation instrumentale réduite voire même un Quatuor (instrumentation au choix). Pourl’interprétation de cette messe l’un des choix proposés ci-dessus s’impose. Il existe néanmoins une alternative qui consiste interpréter cette oeuvre en combinant ces options (vocales / instrumentales). Cela peut être bénéfique tant d’un point devue artistique (variante) que pratique dans le cas où le Choeur n’a travaillé que deux mouvements de la messe. Si le chef dispose de deux formations complètes (Choeur et Orchestre d’Harmonie), il peut varier l’instrumentation selon ses préférences. ce moment-l , il peut confier un rôle d’accompagnement et non de soutien aux cuivres de sa formation. Les combinaisons suivantes peuvent être formées :
1. Choeur de Clarinettes (de la Clarinette Mib la Clarinette Basse)
2. Choeur de Clarinettes + Saxophones
3. Cuivres (Bugles, Cors, Barytons / Euphoniums, Basses)
4. Cuivres (2 Trompettes / 2 Trombones)
5. Instruments anches doubles (Fl te et Contrebasse cordes optionnelles)
7. Tous les Bois
8. Tous les Cuivres
Dans le cadre d’une interprétation par un Brass Band accompagné d’un Choeur, il est préférable de supprimer l’option 1 (Choeur + Cuivres + Orchestre d’Harmonie) car le Choeur étant autonome. Dans une version instrumentale pour Cuivres, il estpossible de former la combinaison suivante : Quatuor (2 Cornets / 2 Trombones) et Brass Band.Partitions pour chœur disponibles séparément.Parti per coro disponibili a parte.
SKU: HL.49018099
ISBN 9790001158428. UPC: 884088567347. 8.25x11.75x0.457 inches. Latin - German.
On letting go(Concerning the selection of the texts) In the selection of the texts, I have allowed myself to be motivated and inspired by the concept of 'letting go'. This appears to me to be one of the essential aspects of dying, but also of life itself. We humans cling far too strongly to successful achievements, whether they have to do with material or ideal values, or relationships of all kinds. We cannot and do not want to let go, almost as if our life depended on it. As we will have to practise the art of letting go at the latest during our hour of death, perhaps we could already make a start on this while we are still alive. Tagore describes this farewell with very simple but strikingly vivid imagery: 'I will return the key of my door'. I have set this text for tenor solo. Here I imagine, and have correspondingly noted in a certain passage of the score, that the protagonist finds himself as though 'in an ocean' of voices in which he is however not drowning, but immersing himself in complete relaxation. The phenomenon of letting go is described even more simply and tersely in Psalm 90, verse 12: 'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom'. This cannot be expressed more plainly.I have begun the requiem with a solo boy's voice singing the beginning of this psalm on a single note, the note A. This in effect says it all. The work comes full circle at the culmination with a repeat of the psalm which subsequently leads into a resplendent 'lux aeterna'. The intermediate texts of the Requiem which highlight the phenomenon of letting go in the widest spectrum of colours originate on the one hand from the Latin liturgy of the Messa da Requiem (In Paradisum, Libera me, Requiem aeternam, Mors stupebit) and on the other hand from poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, Hermann Hesse, Rabindranath Tagore and Rainer Maria Rilke.All texts have a distinctive positive element in common and view death as being an organic process within the great system of the universe, for example when Hermann Hesse writes: 'Entreiss dich, Seele, nun der Zeit, entreiss dich deinen Sorgen und mache dich zum Flug bereit in den ersehnten Morgen' ['Tear yourself way , o soul, from time, tear yourself away from your sorrows and prepare yourself to fly away into the long-awaited morning'] and later: 'Und die Seele unbewacht will in freien Flugen schweben, um im Zauberkreis der Nacht tief und tausendfach zu leben' ['And the unfettered soul strives to soar in free flight to live in the magic sphere of the night, deep and thousandfold']. Or Joseph von Eichendorff whose text evokes a distant song in his lines: 'Und meine Seele spannte weit ihre Flugel aus. Flog durch die stillen Lande, als floge sie nach Haus' ['And my soul spread its wings wide. Flew through the still country as if homeward bound.']Here a strong romantically tinged occidental resonance can be detected which is however also accompanied by a universal spirit going far beyond all cultures and religions. In the beginning was the sound Long before any sort of word or meaningful phrase was uttered by vocal chords, sounds, vibrations and tones already existed. This brings us back to the music. Both during my years of study and at subsequent periods, I had been an active participant in the world of contemporary music, both as percussionist and also as conductor and composer. My early scores had a somewhat adventurous appearance, filled with an abundance of small black dots: no rhythm could be too complicated, no register too extreme and no harmony too dissonant. I devoted myself intensely to the handling of different parameters which in serial music coexist in total equality: I also studied aleatory principles and so-called minimal music.I subsequently emigrated and took up residence in Spain from where I embarked on numerous travels over the years to India, Africa and South America. I spent repeated periods during this time as a resident in non-European countries. This meant that the currents of contemporary music swept past me vaguely and at a great distance. What I instead absorbed during this period were other completely new cultures in which I attempted to immerse myself as intensively as possible.I learned foreign languages and came into contact with musicians of all classes and styles who had a different cultural heritage than my own: I was intoxicated with the diversity of artistic potential.Nevertheless, the further I distanced myself from my own Western musical heritage, the more this returned insistently in my consciousness.The scene can be imagined of sitting somewhere in the middle of the Brazilian jungle surrounded by the wailing of Indians and out of the blue being provided with the opportunity to hear Beethoven's late string quartets: this can be a heart-wrenching experience, akin to an identity crisis. This type of experience can also be described as cathartic. Whatever the circumstances, my 'renewed' occupation with the 'old' country would not permit me to return to the point at which I as an audacious young student had maltreated the musical parameters of so-called contemporary music. A completely different approach would be necessary: an extremely careful approach, inching my way gradually back into the Western world: an approach which would welcome tradition back into the fold, attempt to unfurl the petals and gently infuse this tradition with a breath of contemporary life.Although I am aware that I will not unleash a revolution or scandal with this approach, I am nevertheless confident as, with the musical vocabulary of this Requiem, I am travelling in an orbit in which no ballast or complex structures will be transported or intimated: on the contrary, I have attempted to form the message of the texts in music with the naivety of a 'homecomer'. Harald WeissColonia de San PedroMarch 2009.
SKU: PR.114406980
UPC: 680160010806.
Shulamit Ran’s second string quartet, subtitled “Vistas,†occupies a large canvas that is cast in a traditional fourmovement mold, where the outer movements present, explore, and later return to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and scherzo-type third movement with a trio. In addition to tempo-based titles, the individual movements have subtitles that are evocative of each movement’s character, as follows: I. Concentric: from the inside out II. Stasis III. Flashes IV. Vistas.My second string quartet, “Vistasâ€, is a work cast in a traditional four-movement formal mold, with the outer movements, presenting and later returning to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and a scherzo-type third movement.While the four movements’ “proper†names -- Maestoso con forza, Lento, Scherzo impetuoso, and Introduzione; Maestoso e grande – give some indication of the general character of the individual movements, I have also subtitled, less formally, each movement as follows: 1) Concentric: from the inside out 2) Stasis 3) Flashes 4) Vista. The images evoked by these titles tell one, I think, a bit more about the inner workings of the quartet.In the first movement, a prominently presented opening pitch (E) reveals itself, as the movement unfolds, to be a center of gravity from which ever-growing cycles of activity gradually evolve. While various important themes come into being as the movement progresses, their impact on the listener has, I believe, a great deal to do with their juxtaposition and relationship to the initial central point of gravity.Stasis is, as the name implies, a movement where activity seems, at times, almost suspended. Being also, as Webster’s Dictionary reminds us, “a state of static balance and equilibrium among opposing tendencies or forces,†it develops various materials, including ones from the first movement, without bringing them to points of resolution.Flashes is short and very fast, evoking in my mind the quick shimmer of fireflies, a “sudden burst of lightâ€, but also a “brief timeâ€. Perhaps, even, a “smileâ€?Finally, the last movement, Vista, is not only “a view or outlookâ€, but also “a comprehensive mental view of a series of remembered or anticipated events.â€Â After a brief recall of the opening of the second movement, this movement brings back all the important themes of the first movement in their original order. But just as going back can never really mean going back in time, the movement is much more than recapitulatory. By cutting through previously transitory passages and presenting the main ideas in a fashion more direct yet more evolved, it also sheds new light on earlier events, offering a retrospective, synoptic view of the first movement as it brings to culmination the work as a whole. “Vistas†was commissioned by C. Geraldine Freund for the Taneyev String Quartet of what was then Leningrad. It was the first commission given in this country to a Soviet chamber ensemble since the 1985 cultural exchange accord between the Soviet Union and the United States.
SKU: DZ.DZ-4287
ISBN 9782898522048.
Antônio Francisco Braga (1868-1945) belongs to the generation of Brazilian composers of the first republican period, aesthetically tied to romanticism, alongside Henrique Oswald (1852-1931), Leopoldo Miguez (1850-1902), Glauco Velásquez (1884-1914), and Barrozo Neto (1881-1941). Born in Rio de Janeiro, on April 15th, 1868, he began his musical studies at the Asilo dos Meninos Desvalidos, in 1876. In 1883, he enrolled at the Imperial Conservatório de Música where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Carlos de Mesquita – a former student of César Franck, Durand, and Massenet – and clarinet with Antônio Luís de Moura. Braga's first compositions date from this period: Sonho de Dante (1885), Dolce far niente (1886), the first Valse Romantique for piano (1886), among others.In 1887, he premiered his first symphonic work, Fantasia-Abertura. In 1890, being one of the finalists in a competition to choose the new Brazilian national anthem, Braga was awarded a scholarship to study in Europe, where he took classes with Jules Massenet at the Paris Conservatory. During this period, he wrote some of his most important symphonic works, Paysage, Cauchemar, Episódio Sinfônico, and Marabá (which was performed by Richard Strauss and the Vienna Philharmonic in 1920, in Brazil). His opera Jupyra is considered one of the greatest Brazilian compositions of that genre.Back in Brazil, he was appointed professor of counterpoint, fugue, and composition at the Instituto Nacional de Música, in 1902. There, some of the finest Brazilian composers studied with him, like Glauco Velásquez and Lorenzo Fernândez.Braga wrote operas, symphonic works, songs, sacred music, two Masses, music for piano, different chamber formations, band, and choir. He is the author of many patriotic hymns, the most popular of which is Hino à Bandeira (with lyrics by Olavo Bilac). He explored Brazilian nationalist elements in some of his works, as in Variações sobre um Tema Brasileiro and in the Trio for violin, cello and piano, whose third movement is based on a lundu (a musical genre and dance of Afro-Brazilian origin).In addition to being a composer, Braga was one of the most active conductors of his time, having been ahead of three orchestras in Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional de Música, Sociedade de Concertos Sinfônicos, and Theatro Municipal. Braga conducted the Brazilian premiere of major symphonic works such as La Mer (Debussy), Pacific 231 (Honegger) besides other numerous Brazilian compositions.In 1938, he retired from Instituto Nacional de Música. He passed away on March 14th, 1945, in Rio de Janeiro.Unfortunately, Francisco Braga never wrote for the guitar. However, over a century ago his music had already been incorporated to its repertoire. According to information found in newspapers of the time, Spanish guitarist Josefina Robledo included transcriptions of pieces by Braga in her programs when she performed in Brazil: Gavota e Minuete (from the melodrama Contratador de Diamantes), in 1919, in São Paulo, and the waltz-caprice Corrupio, in 1921, in Rio de Janeiro.The piano score of Madrigal Pavane was dedicated to Alexina Leitão and published by Casa Vieira Machado, in 1901. According to the composer’s catalogue, there are two other versions of this piece: strings orchestra (1901) and quartet (which is still in manuscript). Dedicated to Braga’s childhood friend José de Souza Rocha, Timburibá (the name of a Brazilian tree) is a tango for piano from 1886, published by Narciso & Arthur Napoleão.Antônio Francisco Braga (1868-1945) appartient à la génération des compositeurs brésiliens de la première période républicaine, esthétiquement liés au romantisme, aux côtés de Henrique Oswald (1852-1931), Leopoldo Miguez (1850-1902), Glauco Velásquez (1884-1914) , et Barrozo Neto (1881-1941). Né à Rio de Janeiro, le 15 avril 1868, il commence ses études musicales à l'Asilo dos Meninos Desvalidos, en 1876. En 1883, il s'inscrit au Imperial Conservatório de Música où il étudie l'harmonie et le contrepoint avec Carlos de Mesquita – ancien élève de César Franck, Durand et Massenet – et clarinette avec Antônio Luís de Moura. De cette période datent les premières compositions de Braga : « Sonho de Dante » (1885), « Dolce far niente » (1886), la première « Valse Romantique » pour piano (1886), entre autres.En 1887, il crée sa première œuvre symphonique, « Fantasia-Abertura ». En 1890, étant l'un des finalistes d'un concours pour choisir le nouvel hymne national brésilien, Braga obtient une bourse pour étudier en Europe, où il suit les cours de Jules Massenet au Conservatoire de Paris. Durant cette période, il écrit certaines de ses œuvres symphoniques les plus importantes, « Paysage », « Cauchemar », « Episódio Sinfônico » et « Marabá » (interprétée par Richard Strauss et la Philharmonie de Vienne en 1920, au Brésil). Son opéra « Jupyra » est considéré comme l'une des plus grandes compositions brésiliennes de ce genre.De retour au Brésil, il fut nommé professeur de contrepoint, de fugue et de composition à l'Instituto Nacional de Música, en 1902. Là, certains des meilleurs compositeurs brésiliens étudièrent avec lui, comme Glauco Velásquez et Lorenzo Fernândez.Braga a écrit des opéras, des œuvres symphoniques, des chansons, de la musique sacrée, deux messes, de la musique pour piano, différentes formations de chambre, un orchestre et une chorale. Il est l'auteur de nombreux hymnes patriotiques, dont le plus populaire est « Hino à Bandeira » (avec des paroles d'Olavo Bilac). Il a exploré des éléments nationalistes brésiliens dans certaines de ses œuvres, comme dans « Variações sobre um Tema Brasileiro » et dans le Trio pour violon, violoncelle et piano, dont le troisième mouvement est basé sur un « lundu » (un genre musical et une danse afro-américaine). Origine brésilienne).En plus d'être compositeur, Braga a été l'un des chefs d'orchestre les plus actifs de son époque, ayant dirigé trois orchestres à Rio de Janeiro : « Instituto Nacional de Música », « Sociedade de Concertos Sinfônicos » et « Theatro Municipal ». Braga a dirigé la première brésilienne d'œuvres symphoniques majeures telles que « La Mer » (Debussy), « Pacific 231 » (Honegger) ainsi que de nombreuses autres compositions brésiliennes.En 1938, il prend sa retraite de l'Instituto Nacional de Música. Il est décédé le 14 mars 1945 à Rio de Janeiro.Malheureusement, Francisco Braga n’a jamais écrit pour la guitare. Cependant, il y a plus d'un siècle, sa musique était déjà incorporée à son répertoire. Selon des informations trouvées dans les journaux de l'époque, la guitariste espagnole Josefina Robledo incluait des transcriptions de pièces de Braga dans ses programmes lorsqu'elle se produisait au Brésil : « Gavota e Minuete » (du mélodrame « Contratador de Diamantes »), en 1919, à São Paulo, et la valse-caprice « Corrupio », en 1921, à Rio de Janeiro.La partition pour piano de « Madrigal Pavane » a été dédiée à Alexina Leitão et publiée par « Casa Vieira Machado », en 1901. Selon le catalogue du compositeur, il existe deux autres versions de cette pièce : orchestre à cordes (1901) et quatuor (qui est encore manuscrit). Dédié à José de Souza Rocha, ami d'enfance de Braga, « Timburibá » (nom d'un arbre brésilien) est un tango pour piano de 1886, publié par « Narciso & Arthur Napoleão ».Envoyer des commentairesPanneaux latérauxHistoriqueEnregistrées.
SKU: CF.H84
ISBN 9781491165539. UPC: 680160924530.
Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. Over his long career, he added a significant catalogue of very beautiful works to the harp repertoire. Many of his solo works, almost one hundred, have been consistently in print since they were first published. But in recent years harpist Carl Swanson has discovered a treasure trove of pieces by Tournier heretofore unknown and unpublished. These include the Déchiffrages in this edition, as well as songs set for voice, harp, and string quartet, and ensemble arrangements of some of his most beloved works.All of the works that Carl Swanson found were in manuscript only. With the help of the great harpist Catherine Michel, he has put these pieces into playable form, and they are being published for the very first time. He and Catherine often had to re-notate passages to show clearly how they could be played, adding fingerings and musical nuances, tempos, pedals, and pedal diagrams.Tournier wrote these pieces when he was in his 20s, and before he became the impressionistic composer those familiar with his work know so well. They are written in the late nineteenth-century romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. They are beautiful short, intermediate level pieces by a first rate composer, and add much needed repertoire to that level of playing.Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory with a first prize in harp in 1899. He also studied composition there and won a second prize in the prestigious Prix de Rome competition, as well as a first prize in the Rossini competition, another major composition competition of the day. From 1912 to 1948 he taught the harp class at the Paris Conservatory. But composition, and almost entirely, composition for the harp, was the main focus of his life. His published works, including many works for solo harp, a few for harp and other instruments, and several songs, number around one hundred pieces.In 2019, while researching Tournier for my edition MARCEL TOURNIER: 10 Pieces for Solo Harp, I discovered that there was a significant list of pieces by this composer that had never been published and were not included on any inventory of his music. Principal on this list were his déchiffrages (pronounced day-she-frahge, like the second syllable in the word garage).The word déchiffrage means sight-reading exercise, and that was their original purpose. Tournier numbered and dated these pieces, with dates ranging from 1900 to 1910, indicating that they were in all likelihood written for Alphonse Hasselmans’ class at the Paris Conservatory. Tournier was probably told how long to make each one, and how difficult. They range in length from two to four pages, with only one in the whole series extending to five, and from thirty to fifty-five measures, with only one extending to eight-five. The level of difficulty for the whole series is intermediate, with some at the easier end, and others at the middle or upper end.We don’t know if they were intended to test students trying to enter the harp class, or if they were used to test students in the class as they played their exams. The fact that they were never published means that students had to not only sight read them, but sight read them in manuscript form!I worked from digital images of the original manuscripts, which are in the private music library of a harpist in France. She had twenty-seven of these pieces, and this edition is the second in a series of three that will publish, for the first time, all of the ones that I have found thus far. The manuscripts themselves consist of little more than notes on the page: no pedals written in, no fingerings, few if any musical nuances and tempo markings, and no clear indication as to which hand plays which notes. These would have been difficult to sight read indeed! My collaborator Catherine Michel and I added musical nuances, fingerings, pedals and pedal diagrams, and tempo indications to put them into their current condition.At the time these were written, Tournier would have been in his twenties, having just graduated from the harp class himself (1899), and might still have been in the composition class. These are the earliest known pieces that he wrote, and they were written at the very beginning of a cultural revolution and upheaval in Paris that was to completely and profoundly alter musical composition. Tournier himself would eventually be caught up in this new way of composing. But not yet.All of the déchiffrages are written in the late romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. Each one is built on a clear musical idea, and the variety over the whole series makes them wonderful to listen to as well as to learn. They are also great technical lessons for intermediate level players.The obvious question is: Why didn’t Tournier publish these pieces, and why didn’t he list them on his own inventory of his music? Actually, four of them were published, with small changes, as his collection Four Preludes, Op. 16. These came from the ones that will be in volume three of this series from Carl Fischer. His first large piece, Theme and Variations, was published in 1908, and his two best known and frequently played pieces, Féerie and Au Matin, followed in 1912 and 1913 respectively. We can only speculate because there is so much still unknown about Tournier and about these unpublished pieces. He may have looked at them, fresh out of school as he was, as simply a way to make some quick money. The first several pieces that he did publish are much longer than any of the déchiffrages. So it could be that, because of their shorter length, as well as the earlier musical style that he was moving away from, he chose not to publish any more of them. We may never know the full story. But all these years later, more than a century after they were composed, we can listen to them for their own merits, and not measured against whatever else was going on at the time. The numbers on these pieces are the ones that Tournier assigned to them, and the gaps between some of the numbers suggest that there are perhaps thirty or more of these pieces still to be found, if they still exist. They will, in all likelihood, be found, as these were, in private collections of harp music, not in institutional libraries. We can only hope that more of them will be located in years to come.—Carl SwansonGlossary of French Musical TermsTournier was very precise about how he wanted his pieces played, and carefully communicated this with many musical indications. He used standard Italian words, but also used French words and phrases, and occasionally mixed both together. It is extremely important to observe and understand everything that he put on the page.Here is a list of the French words and phrases found in the pieces in this edition, with their translation.bien chanté well sung, melodiousdécidé firm, resolutediminu peu à peu becoming softer little by littleen diminuant becoming softeren riten. slowing downen se perdant dying awayGaiement gayly, lightlygracieusement gracefully, elegantlyLéger light, quickLent slowmarquez le chant emphasize the melodyModéré at a moderate tempopeu à peu animé more lively, little by littleplus lent slowerRetenu held backsans lenteur without slownesssans retinir without slowing downsec drily, abruptlysoutenu sustained, heldtrès arpegé very arpeggiatedTrès Modéré Very moderate tempoTrès peu retenu slightly held backTrès soutenu very sustainedun peu retenu slightly held back.
SKU: PR.114417130
ISBN 9781491110409. UPC: 680160626687. 9x12 inches.
A recipient of the New Music USA 2013 Live Music For Dance Award commissioning grant, Not Alone is inspired by the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai's poem Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow. The premiere was given on April 26, 2014 by the PRISM Quartet with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which commissioned the work to celebrate its 25th Anniversary NYC Season. From the Program Note by Matthew Levy (The PRISM Quartet), Not Alone (2014) is an interdisciplinary work...but it stands alone in a chamber music setting. The work spans a stunning range of textures, from introspective solos for each of the four saxophones to majestic hyper-active gestures. The PRISM Quartet recorded Not Alone for a 2017 release on XAS Records titled Paradigm Lost. But we're excited for a wider community of saxophonists to embrace the work, and share it with their own audiences. Not Alone is published together with Happy Birthday to PRISM, a brief miniature that Chen Yi wrote for the quartet's 20th anniversary celebration in 2004. For advanced performers._________________________Text from the scanned back cover:NOT ALONE for Saxophone QuartetHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PRISM for Saxophone QuartetNot Alone is a 14-minute saxophone quartet and dance score inspired by the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai’s “Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow.†The expansively-textured sax quartet matches the exploratory and dramatic movements and gestures in the dance. NOT ALONE was commissioned by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company which premiered the work in collaboration with the PRISM Quartet. Also included in this publication is Chen Yi’s fascinating take on “Happy Birthday to You,†composed in celebration of Prism’s 25th anniversary season.A recipient of the New Music USA 2013 Live Music For Dance Award commissioning grant, Not Alone is inspiredby the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai’s poem “Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow.†The premierewas given on April 26, 2014 by the PRISM Quartet with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which commissioned thework to celebrate its 25th Anniversary NYC Season. Program Note by composer Chen YiThe original inspiration for this work for both the choreographer and the composer came from the Tang Dynasty poem - Alone Under the Moon by Li Bai. The poem describes the poet being alone in a garden. The moon and his shadow became his companions that night. The choreographer brings this idea to modern life in an urban setting. She created a series of “mindscapes†which are the result of the exploration of the different mental and physical states of being alone.Through self-examination, the choreographer raises the question: are we ever really alone? Our physical being may be standing by itself, but what about our introspective self? When we are still, we let our thoughts pass by like flowing water. If we could engage with our shadows, what would it be like?Program Note by Matthew Levy, The PRISM QuartetThe PRISM Quartet has commissioned a great many composers since our founding days in 1984. Chen Yi is among ahandful of our very favorites, and one to whom we’ve returned time and time again. Her music is powerful, expansive,intimate, and draws connections between Eastern and Western, ancient and modern traditions in a voice all her own.Chen Yi has written or adapted four works for the PRISM Quartet. She penned a wonderful miniature called HappyBirth day to PRISM to celebrate the ensemble’s 20th anniversary back in 2004 (Dedication, Innova Recordings).We subsequently commissioned her to compose Septet (2008) for Erhu, Pipa, Percussion, and Saxophone Quartet(2008), premiered and recorded with the New York ensemble Music From China (Antiphony, Innova Recordings 2010).In 2015, the PRISM Quartet performed and recorded (XAS Records) a new version of her saxophone quartet concerto,BA YIN, with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Wind Ensemble under the baton of Steven Davis (originally writtenfor the Rascher Quartet and scored for saxophones and string orchestra.).Finally, Not Alone (2014) is an interdisciplinary work written for the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company with the PRISMQuartet, but it stands alone in a chamber music setting. The work spans a stunning range of textures, from introspectivesolos for each of the four saxophones to majestic hyper-active gestures. The PRISM Quartet recorded Not Alonefor a 2017 release on XAS Records titled Paradigm Lost. But we’re excited for a wider community of saxophonists toembrace the work, and share it with their own audiences.In his liner notes for the recording, WNYC’s John Schaefer writes: “As with much of her music, Chen employs percussiveeffects and glissandi; in Chinese music these are not considered “extended techniques†or special effects, but animportant part of the performer’s arsenal. Here, they help create the twilit mood of the opening moments. The piecesoon becomes more dramatic, suggesting the arrival of the drinker’s companions (real or imagined) and his or herincreasingly garrulous outbursts. Passages of consonance and discord can easily be heard as companionable singingand bouts of drunken argument. The piece bustles along on a kind of restless energy, until, finally, that restlessnesssubsides, giving way to a gently humorous ending where a short falling phrase signals the drinker falling asleep.â€.
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.
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