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: UM.12499

ISBN 9790224412499. A4 inches.

SKU: SU.50027580

Published by Seesaw Music.

SKU: DZ.DZ-1358

ISBN 9782896552573.

SKU: BT.CMP-0164-97-040

In A Day at the Museum the renowned composer James Curnowpresents four contrasting types of art that will be found in an artexhibition. The work is divided into five movements, Promenade (walking between exhibits), Landscape (Van Gough and Rubens), Portrait (Manet), Seascapes (Monet) and Sculpture. Take a walk through the world’s greatest museum and let your mind recall the pleasure of seeing works by the great masters of the art world.

Peut-on concevoir la vie sans la beauté des arts ? Des siècles de paysages sublimés, de portraits exquis et de sculptures délicates signés par de grands maîtres sont mis en musique dans cette composition de James Curnow. Une promenade travers les salles d’un musée la rencontre des Beaux-Arts.

SKU: PO.UME16S

ISBN 9781877564840.

Written for New Zealand's Jade String Quartet, Look to the Far Horizon sees Adams attempt to capture some of the atmosphere and character of the skies and seascapes surrounding his home city of Dunedin, New Zealand, and the nearby Otago peninsula.Gentle clusters evoke the typically bleached skies and clouds of the Otago environment, while a simple modal tune introduces the building block from which everything is derived, its short note-long note rhythm sometimes transforming into a clipped scotch snap. Close imitative entries echo seabirds taking flight in close formation, while upper-register interruptions in biting, bracing harmony suggest the shrieks of seabirds in southerly winds and a graceful violin tune takes inspiration from the fight of the albatross.

SKU: BT.FORFAW01

SKU: BT.CMP-0164-97-010

In A Day at the Museum the renowned composer James Curnowpresents four contrasting types of art that will be found in an artexhibition. The work is divided into five movements, Promenade (walking between exhibits), Landscape (Van Gough and Rubens), Portrait (Manet), Seascapes (Monet) and Sculpture. Take a walk through the world’s greatest museum and let your mind recall the pleasure of seeing works by the great masters of the art world.

Peut-on concevoir la vie sans la beauté des arts ? Des siècles de paysages sublimés, de portraits exquis et de sculptures délicates signés par de grands maîtres sont mis en musique dans cette composition de James Curnow. Une promenade travers les salles d’un musée la rencontre des Beaux-Arts.

SKU: CL.029-1555-01

A very relaxing and appealing concert band piece for younger concert bands. Full of lush scoring, this piece give everyone in the band a change to shine. Very accessible and sounds great!