SKU: BR.EB-9253

World premiere of the orchestral version: Stuttgart, January 1, 2018World premiere of the piano version: Mito, June 17, 2017

Have a look into EB 9283.

ISBN 9790004185537. 9 x 12 inches.

Marche fatale is an incautiously daring escapade that may annoy the fans of my compositions more than my earlier works, many of which have prevailed only after scandals at their world premieres. My Marche fatale has, though, little stylistically to do with my previous compositional path; it presents itself without restraint, if not as a regression, then still as a recourse to those empty phrases to which modern civilization still clings in its daily utility music, whereas music in the 20th and 21st centuries has long since advanced to new, unfamiliar soundscapes and expressive possibilities. The key term is banality. As creators we despise it, we try to avoid it - though we are not safe from the cheap banal even within new aesthetic achievements.Many composers have incidentally accepted the banal. Mozart wrote Ein musikalischer Spass [A Musical Jape], a deliberately amateurishly miscarried sextet. Beethoven's Bagatellen op. 119 were rejected by the publisher on the grounds that few will believe that this minor work is by the famous Beethoven. Mauricio Kagel wrote, tongue in cheek, so to speak, Marsche, um den Sieg zu verfehlen [Marches for being Unvictorious], Ligeti wrote Hungarian Rock; in his Circus Polka Stravinsky quoted and distorted the famous, all too popular Schubert military march, composed at the time for piano duet. I myself do not know, though, whether I ought to rank my Marche fatale alongside these examples: I accept the humor in daily life, the more so as this daily life for some of us is not otherwise to be borne. In music, I mistrust it, considering myself all the closer to the profounder idea of cheerfulness having little to do with humor. However: Isn't a march with its compelling claim to a collectively martial or festive mood absurd, a priori? Is it even music at all? Can one march and at the same time listen? Eventually, I resolved to take the absurd seriously - perhaps bitterly seriously - as a debunking emblem of our civilization that is standing on the brink. The way - seemingly unstoppable - into the black hole of all debilitating demons: that can become serene. My old request of myself and my music-creating surroundings is to write a non-music, whence the familiar concept of music is repeatedly re-defined anew and differently, so that derailed here - perhaps? - in a treacherous way, the concert hall becomes the place of mind-opening adventures instead of a refuge in illusory security. How could that happen? The rest is - thinking.(Helmut Lachenmann, 2017)CD (Version for Piano):Nicolas Hodges CD Wergo WER 7393 2 Bibliography:Ich bin nicht ,,pietistisch verformt. Ein Gesprach [von Jan Brachmann] mit dem Komponisten Helmut Lachenmann, in: FAZ vom 7. Juni 2018, p. 15.

World premiere of the piano version: Mito/Japan, June 17, 2017, World premiere of the orchestral version: Stuttgart, January 1, 2018, World premiere of the ensemble version: Frankfurt, December 9, 2020.

SKU: PL.0604

* prayerful choral setting, using lush harmonies, suspensions, and descending lines with lifted endings to depict the traditional 19th century text * duetting and trios, as well as contrapuntal entrances add clarity and transparency to this elegant setting * cadences overlapping with new entrances give a timeless, suspended affect * closing section, a sort of coda reflects and repeats the text, Spirit of God, first contrapuntally, and finally, with a four-part final cadence * the climactic phrase, my heart an altar, and your love the flame reflects the essence of this anthem by prize-winning composer Aaron David Miller

Using warm harmonies, some with dissonances, this sensitive anthem is primarily syllabic with mostly connected vocal lines that move diatonically having limited skips. The gentle character remains relatively soft throughout. - James McCray, The Diapason June 2006.

SKU: PR.114419730

ISBN 9781491132333. UPC: 680160681686. 9 x 12 inches.

Chen Yi describes the cheery interplay of HAPPY TUNE as: “When one instrument plays a livelymelody, the other plays a vivid rhythmic pattern in the accompaniment. The pair of string instrumentsimitates the sound of primitive Chinese folk song singing, as well as the Chinese traditional windinstrument sheng, a mouth pipe organ.” Published as a shared score and extracted parts, and writtenas a celebration piece honoring the 25th anniversary of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival.
Composed to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, my violin and viola duet HAPPY TUNE was written for Kim Kashkashian and Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, and premiered at the festival on June 16, 2018.I fondly remember being invited by the GLCMF (directed by Prof. James Tocco) to be the dual Stone Composers-in-Residence with my husband Zhou Long, along with the Stone Composer Fellow Nicholas Omiccioli in 2011. We had a dozen of our chamber works performed excellently by the outstanding chamber ensembles and musicians during the week, meeting enthusiastic audiences and supporters of new music in various venues at the festival. The experience was truly inspiring, and I created HAPPY TUNE to honor the GLCMF, with hopes to carry on the high spirit in our new music society.In this duet, when one instrument plays a lively melody, the other plays a vivid rhythmic pattern in the accompaniment. The pair of string instruments imitates the sound of primitive Chinese folk song singing, as well as the Chinese traditional wind instrument sheng, a mouth pipe organ.

SKU: BT.PMC3865

The Two Songs on American Poems were composed in late May and early June of 2011 by candlelight at my rustic waterfront cabin on a remote island off the northwest coast of Washington State. It was in this locale that I havecompleted a number of works over the years, including the Lux Aeterna, O Magnum Mysterium, Nocturnes, Canticle/O Vos Omnes and others. Prayer was written in memory of Michael Jasper Gioia, Dana and Mary Gioia's infant son, whosebrief life was tragically ended by SIDS.Mr. Gioia served as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003-2010 and has authored several books of poems, numerous anthologies, articles, essays and two opera libretti. Amonghis many awards are the American Book Award and Presidential Citizens Medal. He currently holds the Judge Widney Chair of Poetry and Public Policy at the University of Southern California. Sure on this Shining Night was originallycomposed as a choral piece, the third movement of my Nocturnes on poems by Rilke, Neruda and Agee. Rod Gilfry, an international star of opera, recital and musical theater, premiered the mixed duet version with his daughter, Carin,in 2009. He is Professor of Vocal Studies at the USC Thornton School of Music. Both he and Mr. Gioia are national treasures. The Two Songs are designed as a pair but may be sung independently - when paired, Sure On This ShiningNight should begin immediatelyfollowing the final, sustained chord of Prayer with no break in between the songs. Both of these songs, premiered by Mr. Gilfry accompanied by the composer at a USC Visions & Voices tribute to DanaGioia on September 27, 2011, have their roots in the American musical theater and should be sung as such.

SKU: HL.153647

UPC: 888680096748. 6.75x10.5x0.029 inches.

This short duet from the 18th century opera La Molinara is an ideal selection for women's choirs to develop diction and dramatic expression of the text. Excellent for concert/festival and ensemble performances!