SKU: FG.55011-372-5

ISBN 9790550113725.

Images of the sea figure prominently throughout my life and memories: from holidays on the Atlantic coast during my Canadian childhood to my current Baltic home, and the imagined, only later experienced Mediterranean of my ancestral heritage. As an immigrant (son of an immigrant) bound to two northern countries, the sea is emblematic of my twin homelands, from the expanses of water surrounding them to those separating them. A Mari usque ad Mare. The sea is also an enduring image of the unknown, of expanses unexplored, of the raw power of nature and, for too many currently, of terror holding a hope of refuge - or the pain of loss.
Such disparate ideas were captured for me in the seascapes of the New York painter MaryBeth Thielhelm, whom I met in 2008 during a residency on the Gulf of Mexico. Her vast, abstract, nearly monochromatic depictions of imaginary seas in wildly varying moods were the catalyst for a concerto where the piano is frequently far from a hero battling a collective, but rather acts as a channel for elemental forces surging up from the orchestra, floating - sometimes barely so - on its constantly shifting surface. There are few themes to speak of, beyond a handful of iconic ideas that periodically cycle upward. Rather, the piano's material is largely an ornamentation of the more primal rhythmic and harmonic impulses from the orchestra below - a poetic interpretation, if you will, of the more immediate experience of facing the vastness of some unknown body of water.
The title Nameless Seas is borrowed from one of Thielhelm's exhibitions, as are those of the four movements, which are bridged together into two halves of roughly equal weight - one rhapsodic and free, the other more single-minded and direct, separated only by a short breath. The opening movement, Nocturne, is predominantly calm, if brooding, darkness and light alternating throughout. Lyrical arabesques sparkle over gently lapping cross-currents in the strings and mirrored timpani, the piano's full power only rarely deployed. The waves gradually build, drawing in the full orchestra for a meeting of forces in Land and Sea, a brighter, more warmly lyrical scene that unfolds in series of dreamlike, sometimes even nostalgic visions, which for me carry strong memories of sitting on rocks above surging Atlantic waves. The third movement, Wake, is a fast, perpetual-motion texture of glinting, darting rhythms and sudden shafts of light, with a prominent part for the steel drums, limning the piano's quicksilver figurations. An ecstatic climax crashes into a solo cadenza that grows progressively calmer and more introspective rather than virtuosic. Much of the tension finally releases into Unclaimed Waters, a drifting, meditative seascape in which the piano is progressively engulfed by a series of ever-taller waves, ultimately dissolving into a tolling, rippling continuum of sound.
It has been a great privilege to realize such a long-held dream as this piece, and to write it for not one, but two great pianists. Risto-Matti Marin and Angela Hewitt, both of whose friendship and support have been unfailing and humbling, share the dedication. Nameless Seas was commissioned by the PianoEspoo festival and Canada's National Arts Centre, with the premieres in Ottawa and Helsinki led by Hannu Lintu and Olari Elts. Thanks are due also to the Jenny and Antti Wihuri fund, whose generous grant provided me with much-needed time, and Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, the source to which I returned to do a large part of the work.

SKU: BT.MUSAM997458

ISBN 9781849380881.

The little book with all the big songs!

A pocket-sized collection of over 70 hits by the biggest names of the 1980s.

Presented in chord songbook format, with chord symbols, Guitar chord boxes andcompletelyrics.

SKU: HL.48188488

UPC: 888680866952. 8.5x11.75x0.543 inches.

“Composed in 1978 by Henri Dutilleux, Timbres, Space, Movement is a work for Orchestra, also named ?The starry night? after a painting by Van Gogh. It was commisioned by Mstislav Rostropovich for the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and is dedicated to Charles Münch. This great orchestral work lasts approximately 20 minutes and depicts the content of the painting. It is written for a full orchestra without Violins or Violas. A sketch of the placement of the instruments is given in the book as its disposition differs from a full orchestra: The Cellos placed in a half-circle in front of the conductor. The Cellos represents the space with twirling solos and more stagnant sections while the lack of Violins and Violas is for the quiet and motionless part of the painting. The solo of the Winds and Drums characterizes the clouds and the light of the moon and the stars. It is divided in two parts: 1. Nébuleuse (Nebula) and 2.Constellations, which are divided by a Cello interlude. Henri Dutilleux was internationally acclaimed for his work winning prizes such as the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the UNESCO's International Rostrum of Composers, amongst many others. His work also includes a Piano sonata, two symphonies, the Violin concerto 'L'arbre des songes' (The tree of dreams) and the Cello concerto 'Tout un monde lointain' (A whole distant word).”.