SKU: CA.739400

ISBN 9790007186067. Language: English. Text: Tagore, Rabindranath.

The same stream of life for mixed choir (SSAATTBB), lyrics by Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, was commissioned by the conductor of the New Dublin Voices, Bernie Sherlock. The New Dublin Voices were awarded for the piece, from the Arts Council Ireland. The piece was premiered at the Unitarian Church on Sunday 11th September 2016 in Dublin. It was performed at leading festivals and competitions including the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf in June 2017, and the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona (July 2017).

SKU: GI.G-9735

ISBN 9781622773381.

Michael Hopkins brought this massive compendium of information into an organized setting useful for collegiate string methods, performance and pedagogy classes, in-service and convention settings, individuals in the field, and for the studio teacher. —Robert Culver, from the Foreword The Art of String Teaching—a hybrid of written text and high-quality online videos—is a comprehensive string pedagogy resource covering everything from the origins and history of the string family to advanced-level string techniques. This one-of-a-kind resource has been divided into two parts. In Part I, Michael Hopkins offers an orientation to string education, outlines his philosophical approach to string education, and provides four chapters on the foundational aspects of string playing for beginning string players. Part 2 focuses on intermediate- and advanced-level instruction, touching on such topics as left-hand shifting, vibrato, bowing techniques, tuning skills, improvisation and composition, and music listening, among others. The two concluding chapters offer insight into the string rehearsal and how to run a successful orchestra program. The appendices contain an abundance of practical and convenient teacher resources, including worksheets, flashcards, string repertoire, scales and arpeggios, a template for method book analysis, and sample assessments and rubrics. QR codes throughout the book link to online video demonstrations of string techniques, and the spiral binding is ideal for playing the included string repertoire from a music stand. This book serves as a useful reference guide for professional orchestra conductors, teachers of group string classes, and private studio teachers. It also addresses the needs of students whose primary instrument is not strings and is suited for use in a string techniques or pedagogy course at the college level. Michael Hopkins is Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In addition to serving as a guest conductor at string festivals across the country, he has given many presentations at state and national conferences on various topics related to string education and music technology. He has also published articles in a number of the most notable music and education journals.

SKU: MH.1-59913-072-6

ISBN 9781599130729.

Program Notes: It was a happy coincidence that the commission for SINFONIA XVI: TRANSCENDENTAL VIENNA came from the Henry David Thoreau School located in Vienna, Virginia. Thoreau is one of the magic names in American culture: Henry David Thoreau, one of the leading figures of the Transcendentalist movement, centered in 19th-century New England, left us a body of unique philosophical and poetical writings. To utter the words, Walden Pond, is to invoke an America long past in physical actuality, but still present in the minds and hearts of many American citizens. The name, Vienna, of course, summons thoughts of the Old World: culture, fine food, wine, civilized cities. While contemplating the form that SINFONIA XVI should take, I found myself thinking of two pillars of Viennese culture: expressionism and the waltz. Musically speaking, expressionism reached a zenith in the works of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. It was Berg, in particular, that I wanted to invoke in the outer movements of my composition. I knew I would also have to include a waltz, and an invocation of the mysterious forces that are contained in both expressionism and transcendentalism. Thus was the structure of the work generated. The outer movements with their vision of the night sky and the stars, Aldebaran and Sirius, frame the central movements, which are essentially two versions of the same material, and are quieter and less dramatic. The outer movements are symmetrical, and share both pitch and rhythmic materials. Accordingly, I see the work as a ternary form, with the central movements forming a unit within the outer frame: A (Movement 1) B (Movements 2 & 3) A' (Movement 4). Harmonically, the work can be summarized by the two pitch-series which occur in the opening bars of Movement 1: the initial 12-note row, with a tonal center on F-sharp (measures 1-6), and the subsequent D-minor Dorian 7-note row (beginning in measure 14). Aspects of these materials occur in all four movements, but they are most strongly present in Movements 1 and 4. Note that the 12-note row is not subjected to the usual serial procedures, but instead is treated as a signifier and is left unchanged. Since the fourth movement takes up where the first movement leaves off, I can conceive of one interpretation of SINFONIA XVI as an evocation of Thoreau himself contemplating two of the brightest stars on a clear, cold night. Aldebaran is an orange, first-magnitude star, located in the constellation Taurus; Sirius, the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the sky, and is located in the constellation Canis Major. Thoreau interrupts his star-gazing to entertain some inward thoughts, waking dreams, as it were, then returns his gaze to the splendid night sky and all its treasures. Although many other interpretations of the material are possible, it is important to remember that the abstract materials of the piece -- pitch, rhythm, structure -- are what count the most. Ensemble instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 4 Flute 1, 4 Flute 2, 3 Oboe, 1 Eb Clarinet (opt.), 4 Bb Clarinet 1, 4 Bb Clarinet 2, 4 Bb Clarinet 3, 3 Bass Clarinet, 3 Bassoon, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone 1, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone 2, 2 Bb Tenor Saxophone, 2 Eb Baritone Saxophone, 3 Bb Trumpet 1, 3 Bb Trumpet 2, 3 Bb Trumpet 3, 2 Horn 1, 2 Horn 2, 3 Trombone 1, 3 Trombone 2, 3 Euphonium B.C., 2 Euphonium T.C., 5 Tuba, 2 Timpani, 3 Percussion 1, 3 Percussion 2, 3 Percussion 3, 3 Percussion 4.

SKU: HL.287423

Wald for Ensemble was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 2008-09. Co-commission by the Schonberg Ensemble and BBC for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. Programme Note Wald is, in a way, a series of variations from the beginning of my woodwind quintet Walden (1978). This thematical idea is very simple - a rising call of a fourth and the response in other voices. This idea is repeated several times, but because the call has aslower pulse than the responses, the process leads to them changing order. In Walden I borrowed the title from the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who, in the middle of the eighteenth century, in alittle wooden hermit house at the bank of the lake Walden pond, wrote the book Walden of his life and time in the forests. Here he experimented living for two years in order to come closer to nature and to see if it was possible to live simply without all the unnecessary needs created by society. The book is filled with poetry, but is also cutting and critical of society. In my piece Walden, I tried to search for the same simplicity, handling the most simple material, but at the same time trying not to lose the poetry. Wald is a twin piece to Walden, but also to my former piece Schnee. Robert Schumann wrote in 1848-49 a wonderful piano piece, Waldszenen. He wrote this collection of short pieces with beautiful titles.

SKU: HL.49017441

9.0x12.0x0.376 inches.

This composition evolved from an improvisation played by Petr Eben himself on numerous concert tours across Europe. Now the printed version long awaited by many organists has been published. The fourteen pieces are based on themes taken from the book by the same name by the humanist philosopher, educational theorist and theologist Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670). Eben writes about the piece: 'The pilgrim who wanders through the labyrinth of the world finds nothing here to delight him and turns his heart towards God. What touches me most about Comenius' view is his tireless striving to make the world a better place. The whole atmosphere of the text is not that of an idyllic stroll through the world, but of a satirical, bizarre and sometimes even apocalyptic vision.'.

SKU: HL.14007553

12.0x16.5 inches.

An ennead is a large composition in nine sections. Historical examples include an important early Latin epic, the discourses of the neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, and the once popular poem by Edward Young, first published in 1745. This last was re-issued in 1802, in a sumptuous edition illustrated with more than five hundred engravings by William Blake, whose own Vala is also an ennead. Young's poem was called Night Thoughts, and I had originally intended to use the same title for my own set of quite independent nocturne-like pieces. Finally, I decided on the name Sonatina, as being a more accurate description of a work in which the interrelatedness of the sections placed it somewhere between the character of a suite and that of a set of variations, as well as emphasizing its artistic descent from the type of irregular sonata pioneered by such composers as Alkan and Busoni. -Justin Connolly.

SKU: BT.GOB-000304-010

An Astrological Composition.

Astrology is based on the principle that each sort of time has its own quality. In order to determine the quality of a particular moment, an astrologer looks at the position of the planets in the solar sustemat that moment. Each planet has specific types of energies and its location provides unique information for a certain moment on Earth. Thus: its position in the sky tells something about what happens on Earth.

In this composition the typesof energies of four planets are musically translated. The four planet were not randomly chosen. There are two pairs, whose influence and energy are opposite.

Venus and Mars.
Venus represents the feminine principle: harmony, beauty,art, and the ability to make relationships and to keep the peace. Venus connects, and communicates in order to maintain the balance.
Mars represent the masculine principle: winning, impulsiveness, enthusiasm, and sexual energy for procreation.He creates war enabling the strongest to triumph. Mars is musically depicted in a stirring march in which enthusiasm characterises the masculine character.

Saturn and Jupiter.
Saturn represents concentration and withdrawal: the strongnotion of responsibility, seriousness, self-discipline and melancholy. Saturn is the hermit who will conquer his fears and worries in minimal conditions and by self-chastisement. This contemplative character is depicted in the music as if it isalmost standing still, which also reflects the given character of this planet.
Jupiter represents growth and expansion: the positive, self-confidence, the good Samaritan, the healer. Jupiter is the philosopher who will make the world a betterplace, sees future possibilities, and searches for eternal values. He is the prophet who sometimes rants and raves his doctrine and proclamations, resulting musically in a whirling and upbeat finale. not looking back at what has been but searchingfor new challenges.

Heaven and Earth was commisioned by the Music Lending and Information Centre (MUI), a department of the library for the province of Gelderland in Arnhem, The Netherlands.Een astrologische compositie.

Astrologie is gebaseerd op het principe dat elke tijd zijn eigen kwaliteit heeft. Tijd voor koffie of het was je tijd nog niet als bijvoorbeeld een baan aan je neus voorbij is gegaan.
Om de kwaliteit van een moment te lezen kijkt deastroloog naar de stand van de planeten in ons zonnestelsel op dat tijdstip. Elke planeet heeft specifieke energieën en de plaats aan de hemel geeft unieke informatie over een bepaald moment op aarde. Oftewel: de stand aan de hemel (Ouranos) verteltiets over wat er op aarde (Gaia) gebeurt.

In deze compositie worden de energieën van vier planeten muzikaal vertaald. De vier planeten zijn niet lukraak gekozen. Het zijn twee paren, die qua invloed en energie tegenovergesteldzijn.

Venus en Mars.
Venus vertegenwoordigt het vrouwelijke principe: harmonieus, schoonheid, de kunst, het vermogen om verbindingen aan te gaan en de vrede te bewaren. Venus geeft door en verbindt om de balans te bewaren.
Marsvertegenwoordigt het mannelijke principe: winnen, anderen aftroeven, impulsief en enthousiast, seksuele energie voor de voortplanting. Mars creëert oorlog om de sterkste te laten zegevieren.
Venus staat tot Mars als vrede staat tot oorlog, alsverbinden staat tot verbreken, als harmonie staat tot competitie.

Jupiter en Saturnus.
Jupiter vertegenwoordigt groei en expansie: het positieve zelfvertrouwen, de weldoener, de genezer. Jupiter is de filosoof die de wereld wilverbeteren, vooruitkijkend en zoekend naar eeuwige waarden, de profeet die soms al te bombastisch zijn leer verkondigt.
Saturnus vertegenwoordigt concentratie en inkrimping: het sterke verantwoordelijkheidsbesef, soberheid, zelfdiscipline enmelancholie. Saturnus is de kluizenaar die onder minimale voorwaarden en zelfkastijding zijn angsten wil overwinnen. De harde, serieuze werker die volgens vaste regels stug doorgaat om aan zijn hoge eisen te voldoen.
Jupiter staat tot Saturnusals uitbreiding staat tot inkrimping, als zelfvertrouwen staat tot faalangst, als vrijheid staat tot structuur.

Gobelin Music Publications.