SKU: PR.114424240

ISBN 9781491137581. UPC: 680160691036.

THE BONES OF MR. FORTUNE (FREE AT LAST!) is an 11-minute concerto-like work for solo flute accompanied by symphonic winds and percussion – perfect to play with band or with orchestra, as well as with the composer’s own piano reduction. The work features lengthy cadenzas, and exhilarating dance-like sections with the ensemble. Hailstork describes the historical inspiration: Abused in life and death, an enslaved man (Mr. Fortune) was owned by a surgeon who preserved his skeleton to study anatomy. The bones remained with the doctor’s family for generations, and were given a proper burial making national news in 2013, 215 years after Mr. Fortune’s death.
Abused in life and death, an enslaved man known as Mr. Fortune was honored with an elaborate funeral more than 200 years after he died in Connecticut.Mr. Fortune was owned by Dr. Preserved Porter on a farm in Waterbury, Connecticut. When Fortune died in 1798, Porter, a bone surgeon, preserved his skeleton by having the bones boiled to study anatomy at a time when cadavers for medical study were disproportionately taken from slaves, servants and prisoners.One of Porter’s descendants gave the skeleton in 1933 to Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, where it was displayed from the 1940s until 1970. The descendant referred to the slave as “Larry” and his name was forgotten at the time.A study by forensic anthropologists at the Quinnipiac University School of Medicine concluded that Fortune was about 5 feet 5 inches tall and died at around 55 years old. He suffered a number of painful ailments, including a fracture in his left hand, a severe ankle sprain and lower back pain. “He was an individual who was in considerable distress,” a forensic professor, Richard Gonzalez said.I was taken by the bizarre story of Mr. Fortune and decided to use it as the stimulus for this work.

SKU: HH.HH448-FSP

ISBN 9790708146551.

In Sonata 7, in D major, Balicourt opens with a suave, intricately rhythmic Adagio. The following Presto, with its delightful interplay between flute and bass, including both octave doubling and stretto imitation, is the most skittish movement to emerge from the composer’s pen. The finale is a ‘sandwich’ movement, in which a Minuetto encloses a duple-metre Cantabile in D minor. Although the minuet could be said to exemplify one of those ‘easy’ movements referred to in Balicourt’s prospectus for subscribers, its complex, prescribed ornamentation requires sensitive handling. Sonata 8, in E minor, is strategically placed as the final work in the set, being one of the longest as well as the most conservative; adopting the traditional four-movement configuration, it continually harks back to the grand Handelian style. An eloquent Andante ushers in a Presto containing many, slightly academic, contrapuntal touches and much chromaticism. The subsequent Largo is only five bars long: its plain melodic line in minims and crotchets is the skeleton around which the flautist is expected to weave an elaborate embroidery. For the finale Balicourt introduces, in effect, a new version, in triple metre, of the second movement. The fact that all four movements are in E minor heightens the sense of unity, which is expressed very concretely through their sharing of some thematic material.

SKU: HL.50602087

ISBN 9781540061430. UPC: 888680959609.

Karembeu's Guide to the Complete Defensive Midfielder looks at the floating role of the defensive midfielder where the player is giving a much freer role within the overall skeleton of the team, moving between defend and attack. The piece was commissioned by Cheltenham Music Festival Society for Emulsion Sinfonietta and Food (Iain Bellamy and Thomas Stronen), and was premiered at the 2015 Cheltenham Music Festival.