SKU: HL.14023340

ISBN 9788759871911. 8.25x11.75x0.115 inches. English.

To Nocturner (2001) - for Chamber Choir (12 or 24 Voices). Texts by Ole Sarvig and Ib Michael. English version available: KP01444E Programme note: These two choral pieces for 12 voices consists of radical recompositions on of earlier themes: in Summer's Sleep we hear new combinations of two 'Sarvig melodies' from the 1970s (one of which is now in the Danish Hymnbook under the title aret, The Year): Michael's Night is based on an earlier, simple choral song (Star Mirror,1987), now for 12 voices and composed such that an original idea of simultaneously displaced, opposite motions cf. the poem) comes out as desired. Of the Nocturnes Norgard writes: Summer's Sleep wascomposed to stanzas of Ole Sarvig's poem The Year (from the collection Forstadsdigte ('Suburban Poems')) and forms the picture of the summer of life, which is asleep - while the heaven seed waits for the summer wind (invisible to every mind). The many layers of text are expressed musically in a multilayered choral texture with 'looks' up and down through the various tempo and time-worlds: summer sleep, summer dream. The second nocturne, Michael's Night, takes its name from the author Ib Michael, whose poem Star Mirror (from the collection Himmelbegravelse ('Sky Funeral') (1986) I pushed/coaxed him to expand from one to nine stanzas. The four selected stanzas set in the nocturne focus on the pan-erotic elements of the moonlit, starlit night. With the titles I have chosen I have stressed the mythic layer of the text, the summer night not as a dream but as sensual reality. The two nocturnes are dedicated to Ivan Hansen on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday on 25th February 2003, out of gratitude for over a quarter of a century of inspiring collaboration.

SKU: HL.49007066

ISBN 9790001075695. UPC: 196288077459. 8.25x11.75x0.24 inches. German.

During the period in which these arrangements were created, Hans Werner Henze was far from being a Wagnerite. Despite this, he deliberately set out to study Wagner's music. Tristan und Isolde was the opera Henze found most accessible and it was therefore the Wesendonck-Lieder, dating from 1858 with their clear affinity to the harmony of Tristan, which became Henze's focal point of interest.In his arrangements he was aiming 'to evoke the pre-Tristan state. For this reason, I have selected a small ensemble consisting of seven wind instruments, two horns, harp and small string orchestra to retain the preliminary study character of these Lieder. At the same time however, I am attempting to permit the Tristanesque tone which is already inherent in the piano version to unfold through harmonic separation.'- Hans Werner Henze.

SKU: UT.CH-395

ISBN 9790215328587. 9 x 12 inches.

Il grande larice rosso; Piccole vite; Requiem per un bosco

Never before have I felt the urgency within myself to communicate with my instrument something which goes beyond just the notes, a desire to embrace with music parts of the world which I see as being so neglected and abandoned, as if man were no longer able to see beyond the narrow confines of his home and work spaces. The environment which surrounds us, free and pure, seems to bow more and more to the base instincts of abuse which man brings into play... the destruction of centuries-old forests and glaciers, the construction of harmful and disturbing, useless and polluting elements... and I wonder what we can do, what I, as a musician, can do, at least to show my disapproval of these situations. I have no straight answer but I know that writing the music I love to play, often born in natural and wild environments can help to dream of, or imagine a present time which is more on a human scale, thanks to the strong evocative power which music possesses and emanates.
This is the meaning of these compositions, dedicated to a tree, a 700-year-old specimen of the Stura Valley, Lu Merze Gros (The Big Larch), to the small beings which inhabit it, in the bark, among its foliage, in the surrounding soil and to my sense of frustration at seeing a forest of fir trees razed to the ground to allow the construction of a bobsleigh run.
This action of mine has been useless and nostalgic perhaps, but it has given me intense moments of emotion in the writing and moves me enormously during its performance.

Giorgio Signorile.