Make the silence talk'La Muette knew how to make the silence talk like no one', writes Djavann in his book (La Muette, © Flammarion 2008). Those words deeply touched me for they express one of the most beautiful metaphors in music. Through the lines of discourse, beyond words, I was listening to the silence of 'La Muette'. A rare and intense listening which joins the same internal listening I use when I'm writing my score. I was listening to La Muette, I decided to write a new piece to make the silent voice of La Muette told by Chahdortt Djavann sound through music. Choosing the extracts The text put in music is composed of short extracts from Djavann's story. I focused on this woman's portrait, who conquers her freedom through silence in which she forms a strong love relationship with her niece Fatemeh on the one hand, and the Uncle on the other hand. 'She had made her silence become her art of living, her freedom' writes Djavann. The extremely dramatic tension, the flow of the singing in Persian language, and the oppression in relation to the Iranian context are trying to underline the independent beauty of that woman who resists and exists without a voice. Story A young 15 years old Iranian girl named Fatemeh is in jail. Waiting for her death sentence, she writes the story of her aunt on a small notebook, 'so that someone remembers La Muette and myself'. The young teenager was raised by her aunt who becomes mute because she decided to stop talking on a dark day of her own childhood when she was interrogated, never to tell THE truth. An aunt whose silence makes even more fascinating, haughty, with an insolent look, cigarette at her lips, bare-footed and without any scarf on her head. 'La Muette' had made her silence become her art of living, her freedom. Around her, women start to talk, even considering her mad, for only a mad person could act this way. Fatemeh loves her mute aunt unconditionally, that is how she wants to become a woman, by being like her, fascinated by her silence and her excesses. La Muette embodies a figure of Freedom and makes us remember that in some countries, the woman who won't be submissive risks capital punishment. She will be hung. Following this beautiful text by Chahdortt Djavann, 'La Muette', a powerful text, stiff, tensed, without any lyricism nor compromises, which takes place in Iran under the Mollahs' regime. Persian: Phonological material / Compositional material Djavann's story is written in French. I asked Baharé Khadjé-Nouri to translate the text into Persian, and worked with her on pronunciation, accentuation, metric and the structure of the language, and I thank her again for that. I spent a long time having some people reading me the text in Persian and through listening I immersed myself in that sound universe. From this linguistic material, the beginning of the piece starts with the constitution of a tank of sound objects which will constitute parts of the compositional material. To compose the phonological tank, I worked on writing the pronunciation that lies at the origin of every possible vocal composition, writing the tone as well as the 'percussive - resounding' aspects of phonemes, multiple uses of fricative consonants or sibilants. Finally I used the vocal treatment of the phoneme through modes of play in relation to sprechsang: sing -inspire, or -expire, -blow, -chanting, -whispering, -spitting, -speaking. But a purely phonetic analysis of the vocal structures composing the sung part would reduce the word to its mere phonetic entity. The phonological material then constituted a compositional material by giving to the sung word its semantic entity. Form of the piece To strip the drama off every narrative element, at least of the discursive and linear character of the story, I first re-organized parts of the text extracted from the whole book in an order fitting the form I wanted to give to the piece (except for the beginning and ending which are kept in their linear forms). I imagined Fatemeh in jail, whose memories bounced between the four walls of her cell: recurring musical material, re-injected in an obsessive way, disjointed and contrasted, continuously modified each time, bouncing from one sequence to the next in another state. The piece is divided into 5 sequences, between each of them is an instrumental interlude with a voice-off, the voice of the present in the cell that contrasts with the singing voice of the sequence, evocation of memories of La Muette (sequence 1: preamble, sequence 2: portrait of La Muette, sequence 3: La Muette and Fatemeh, sequence 4: La Muette and the Uncle, sequence 5: epilogue). Electroacoustic setupFor this piece, I wrote the electroacoustic parts myself at the same time I was writing the instrumental parts. The electroacoustic setup is here considered as a whole instrument, an instrument added to the 12 others electroacoustic instruments and to Donatienne's voice. The electroacoustic sounds are divided into three types: - Samples from the singer's voice and instruments of the TM+ ensemble transformed - The narrator's voice Baharé Khadjé-Nouri in Persian, original version or transformed - Extra-musical sounds As for the synchronization between the acoustic and the electroacoustic scores, we will use for the first time an innovative application developed by Frédéric Bevilacqua and Bruno Zamborlin, not to follow the moves as we did it in StreicherKreis (my string quartet created in November 2008), but to follow the voice and orchestra. Thus, we will be using an 'audio-following', which constituted a first. This setup of recognition and following will allow the synchronization between instrumental and electroacoustic scores in a musical and precise way. Concerning the interactivity between performers and device, it will all be in real-time. Characteristics of the musicians' sound will 'interpret' what comes out of the speakers. The musicians will define the settings of the sound transformations, in terms of space, transposition, tone or length. This new piece expresses a message through the choice of subject that goes beyond strictly music. For me, it is important that both the composer and writer can invest their work into problematics which they're confronted to because they are immediate witnesses. / Soprano Et Percussions

for four male voices. Par BRYARS GAVIN. Glorious Hill may be performed by a male choir. Text by Pico della Mirandola (1463-1497) from De Hominis Dignitate. Glorious Hill was commissioned by the Hilliard Ensemble and first performed by them at its summer Festival of Voices in Lewes, Sussex, in August 1988. It was the first piece I wrote for the ensemble and I focused on the singers' unique ability to move with ease from early music to tonal music of the present day. There were techniques which I asked for which I hardly needed to notate - the staggered breathing of the two tenors to supply a continuous unbroken held note for example - and the piece moves between passages for solo voices and sections of highly chromatic homophony, almost as if the music were switching between the 12th century of Perotin and the 16th century of Gesualdo. Each of the four voices is given its own solo passage, sometimes accompanied, sometimes quietly supported by the other voices. The title, Glorious Hill comes from the name of the small-town Mississippi setting of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. I wrote the music for the 1987 production of this play at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, the first time I had written any incidental music for the stage. Williams makes very specific demands in terms of music and there is one particularly powerful scene, the penultimate one, throughout which music and atmospheric sound effects are continuous. The principle character Alma argues passionately about the vital importance of human choice with the man to whom she has, too late, admitted her love. I watched this section every night throughout the 4 week run of the play watching the different ways in which the actress, Frances Barber, played the scene. There is a powerful emotional and philosophical connection between the imagery of this scene and a passage from the Renaissance philosopher Pico della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man which forms the text of Glorious Hill. This passage has been described as one of the few passages in Renaissance philosophy to treat human freedom in a modern way. The text, which is sung in Latin, is addressed by God to Adam before the fall from grace. / Répertoire / 4 Voix d'Hommes [Attbar], 2 Altos, Violoncelle et

The Chinese Pictures for solo flute (s) (1993) were composed for the premiere played by the solo flutist Walter van Hauwe but Yun also wished for a performance by German flutes. The four pieces which Yun composed in June 1993 in Hohegeiß/ Harz are characterised by the reduced structural capacity of his style the memories of far eastern flute-idioms - with the exceprion of the third piece Der Affenspieler - and a Buddhist pattern. Yun consistently limits his work: all pieces come from techniques of the evolved variations and contrastive adaptions from (repsectively different) two- or three-toned themes. The first two pieces have the contemplative tenor as well as the spiraldramaturgy of the upward auched semi-circle the archetypal symbol for heaven in common. However the themes are conflictive: Bigger intervals abound the single tone in I. Der Besucher der Idylle whereas the tight coupling with the 'main tone' through smaller intervals in II. Der Eremit am Wasser evoke a softer sound. This clearly mirrors the impression of the single tone as a brush mark. Both pieces are - just like IV. Die Hirtenflöte - inspired by various variations of the story of the shepherd and his ox which in east Asia is used to name the 'inner child' of a human. The title if the first piece in the autograph is Der Besucher der Eremitage and refers to Buddhist hermitage. The visitor of this idyll is the farmer who leads his ox to the water for him to drink. The continuation of this parable is expressed by the second piece Der Eremit am Wasser. Together with the farmer the hermit comes to the water and rinses his ears. The farmer asks him why he would do that and the hermit responds: 'I was in town at the royal palace. I was to be empoloyed as sergeant and got offered a good payment. But when I asked what I had to do I heard terrible things. That is why I have to rinse my ears. ' The farmer however is disgusted by the contamination of the water; he leaves the fountain without letting his ox drink. The title of the third piece

POD-Nico Muhly's Stabat Mater Dolorosa for Soprano Baritone and Ensemble. Parts. My Stabat Mater is a very simply-constructed piece of music. I knew I wanted to write a duet a piece of religious music and something to go along with a bit of Birtwistle. My initial instinct was to base the piece on drones as Birtwistle's music has so very many notes but then I decided that an austere but ecstatic approach was the best to fill a coherent evening. I asked my friend Craig Lucas to paraphrase the Stabat Mater text - which describes the Virgin Mary weeping at the foot of the cross on which her son is crucified. The piece is organised byseparating each phrase of the text with a moment of silence with the exception of the last three which are joined with a frenzied chorale with improvised dynamics from the Harp Wind and Strings. - Nico Muhly Instrumentation: Soprano and Baritone voice Flute Clarinet in Bb Harp Violin Viola and Violoncello. 

'for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain'for junior-upper voice SSSA Choir and Double SATB Choir a cappella (Score)Commissioned by the National Youth Choirs of Great BritainText is by Arthur W. E. O'Shaughnessy, adapted by Jessica Duchen.Composer's NoteWhen the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain requested a short piece for their gala concert at Birmingham's Symphony Hall, I was particularly excited about the prospect of writing for 300 singers. A recent research trip to Estonia resulted in somewhat of a revelation: having heard and seen their world-renowned choirs in action (literally!) has resulted in We are the Music-Makers having the less mainstream 'surround-sound' of upper voices/junior choir at the back and sides of the audience and a further stereophonic double-choir on stage.This poem was sent to me by Tim Williams (my ex Head of English at school), and immediately seemed to fit this occasion. This text has already been set magnificently by Elgar, so partly to avoid any kind of comparison and also to bring its timeless message up to date, I asked my poet friend Jessica Duchen to give it a sligtly more contemporary feel.A poem about global music-making (which ties in with the NYCGB's recent World-Music CD), it speaks about humankind, nation to nation, and the mention of Babel inspiring a 'speakng of tongues' effect by using as many different international words for 'music' as possible as an accompaniment (not an easy task, as many of them are similar to our own word!). These are: French (Musique), Romanian (Muzica), Swahili (Mahewa), Polish (Muzka), Estonian (Muusika), German (Muzik), Japanese (Ongaku), and Spanish (Música). / Choeur Mixte (SSAATTBB) A Cappella

Per Pianoforte. Par ROTA NINO. Both waltzes are based on the famous musical cryptogram B-A-C-H and were created in 1975. The very same year, Nino Rota was asked by Federico Fellini, who was just shooting the film Casanova, to write pieces he wanted to use for his film. Thus, Due Valzer sul nome BACH became a part of the film score of Fellini's Casanova and ultimately its main motifs. The third waltz in this series remained unfinished. / Niveau : 4 / Répertoire / Piano

After composing the unconventional but highly successful Night Piece (Notturno) for the inaugural Leeds International Piano Competition, Marion Harewood, the competition's co-founder along with Dame Fanny Waterman, asked Britten to write a further piece for the 1966 contest. He began a set of variations in the autumn of 1965, but the manuscript breaks off just before the end of the sixth of what appear to have been intended to be at least ten variations. Here, in Variations (1965) for Piano , Colin Matthews concludes the sixth variation and you can purchase the piano score, which includes a facsimile reproduction of the first page of Britten's original manuscript.

Andrew Lloyd Webber turns 70 in March 2018 and this incredible compilation is being released the same month in commemoration of his remarkable 50-year career of composing classic Broadway musicals and contemporary works. This matching folio features 39 tracks from the 4-disc collection including Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life) ? Another Suitcase in Another Hall ? Any Dream Will Do ? As If We Never Said Goodbye ? Don't Cry for Me Argentina ? Everything's Alright ? I Am the Starlight ? I Don't Know How to Love Him ? Learn to Be Lonely ? Love Changes Everything ? Love Never Dies ? Memory ? The Phantomof the Opera ? Pie Jesu ? Sunset Boulevard ? Tell Me on a Sunday ? Unexpected Song ? Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again ? You Must Love Me ? You're in the Band and more.

All In One for 3 String Quartets was composed by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen in 2013 (String Quartet No.12 13 and 14 played simultaneously). Gudmundsen-Holmgreen has written a collection of three new string quartets: String Quartet no. 12 ‘Each in Each’; String Quartet no. 13 ‘Mutual Ordering’ and String Quartet no. 14 ‘Well-Tuned Sounds’. Each quartet can be played on its own; they can also played simultaneously in any combination. When all three quartets are played together as they are tonight the combined work is titled All in One. About this collection Gudmundsen-Holmgreenwrites: 'Some years ago Kronos and the vocal group Theatre of Voices performed three new pieces which I had written for the two groups: one for Theatre of Voices (Green) and two for Kronos (New Ground and No Ground). They were played and sung by each group independently – but also both groups together concurrently on top of each other as a final gesture. The combined pieces were called New Ground Green and No Ground Green. 'David liked the idea (and the result) of pairs of quartets that could be played both independently and simultaneously and asked me if the vocal quartet could be transformed into a string quartet. It could not. He then asked me to repeat the whole set-up with a new pair of quartets adding also some percussion instruments as was the case with Green for Theatre of Voices. Of course this was tempting. Furthermore David asked me to make one of the two new quartets a little easier to play. 'I began to work. The Kronos part of the pair of quartets turned out to be tough to play as David puts it. Unfortunately the ‘easier’ one was tough to play also! So I had to write one more which was then a little easier still (but still not easy). 'The three new works can be played separately and on top of each other in many different combinations resulting in different kinds of

Soliloquy for a Passing Century - Score-'All music be it 'abstract' or 'descriptive ' or 'popular' or 'serious ' must speak for itself. Words about it are irrelevant unless they be lyrics or narration. That being said I will attempt a few words about my piece because I was asked to do so and the very special nature of the event in which this first performance takes place. Therefore I offer a guide to the musical gestures and terrain that make up the work and hopefully helpcommunicate my music to the listener.'Remembrance Day' opens softly with a prologue evoking a distant nostalgic Lullaby. As it fades a sudden loud chime combines with high Clarinets in an anguishedsequence that cries out a musical pattern establishing and shaping the body of the work. The music alternates between elegiac thematic references and the pulsations and accents of chimes and tolling bells. A slight pause-thensubdued but menacing sounds from muted Trombones Tuba and Percussion. Over this is a variant of the Clarinets initial 'cry of anguish'- but this time in quiet grief-turning into a funeral cortege. The cortege proceeds to chantsand responses that grow in intensity changing to hymn-like swelling and embellishments. A sudden explosive interruption brutal and violent-the previous menacing muted trombone motif now unleashed. This leads to a full-blown andaffirmative chorale. Following this climax the work winds down diminishing in intensity. There are passing references to what was heard before. Now comes a last variation on the chant and a pianissimo echo variant in mutedTrumpets and then Woodwinds of the hymns and chorales. As this recedes comes the plaintive cry of anguish again-unresolved. Once again quiet pulsations a short silence-and the epilogue-a few fragments of the opening lullaby-somefinal pulsings-a few timpani beats-silence.I am honored to have been asked to write this work and I thank the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation for making this possible. I also hope that our children's

Four short movements for two Bassoons.Composer's Note.Take Two Bassoons is planned as one of a series of light-hearted works for pairs of instruments written with advice from performers who are also experienced teachers. Many of these pieces explore some specific opportunities and challenges inherent in the technique of each instrument.There are four short movements: Jaunty Tenderly Angry and Running Wild.Note from Marc Goldberg.Thea Musgrave asked to meet with me in New York to discuss a set of duets she was writing and we got together over coffee near Carnegie Hall for an indepth discussionabout the bassoon. I confess to having had momentary misgivings when asked to list things that were difficult to do on the instrument envisioning for a moment an etude of unforgiving notes difficult dynamics uncomfortable articulations clumsy cross-fingerings and the like arranged back-to-back in an endurance test to challenge the best players on their best day.What she has in fact created is delightful a charming set of pieces full of character wit colour and yes challenge perfectly suited for student and teacher alike and wonderful recital works to boot.I couldn’t be more pleased to have had some part however small in their roots and am looking forward to calling these pieces and Thea Musgrave - lifelong friends.