SKU: PR.114419030

ISBN 9781491114124. UPC: 680160669851. 9 x 12 inches.

A fascination with polycultural synergy between diverse literary textsdrives the inspiration for much of Mohammed Fairouz’s prodigiouscreative output, including instrumental music as well as vocal. Inhis profound and extensive essay preceding the score, Fairouz shedslight on how Edgar Allen Poe’s “Israfel” relates to the prophetsand prophesies of the Quran, Old Testament, and New Testament.The eight-movement quartet may be heard as a dramatic galleryof portraits and of story-telling, flourishing in a post-traditionallanguage that is at once vernacular and spiritual, Middle Easternand Western. The complete set of score and parts is included in thispublication.
(See pages 2-3 of score for clear distinction of paragraphs, etc.)Prophesies, by Mohammed FairouzEdgar Allen Poe’s rendition of Israfel was the point of departure for the final movement of my previous stringquartet which is titled The Named Angels. At the opening of his poem, Poe evokes the Quran:“And the angel Israfel, whose heartstrings are a lute, and who has the sweetest voice of all God’s creatures.”This informs the first lines of the poem that, in turn, gave me the title for the final movement of The Named Angels,“Israfel’s Spell”:In Heaven a spirit doth dwell“Whose heartstrings are a lute”None sing so wildly wellAs the angel Israfel,And the giddy stars (so legends tell),Ceasing their hymns, attend the spellOf his voice, all mute.It is the end of that poem, however, that is the starting point for the current quartet, Prophesies, which concernsitself with mortal prophets rather than eternal Angelic spirits.If I could dwellWhere IsrafelHath dwelt, and he where I,He might not sing so wildly wellA mortal melody,While a bolder note than this might swellFrom my lyre within the sky.Islamic thought has asked us to look at the example of the prophets. That’s significant because of the fact thatJoseph and all the prophets were human beings with the flaws of human beings. No prophet was perfect, andIslamic tradition has never asked its followers to aspire to the example of the Angels, the perfected ones. Instead weare given the gift of our prophets. While The Named Angels drew on the motion and energy of everlasting spirits,Prophesies is a depiction of the movements within our own mortal coil.This quartet is a continuation of a long tradition of Muslim artists telling their stories and singing their songs.Many of these renditions are, in fact, figurative and (contrary to popular belief) the Quran contains no “Islamicedict” prohibiting figurative renditions of the figures described in the Old Testament, New Testament, or Quran.The majority of artists, however, have preferred eternal and abstract forms such as words and their calligraphicrepresentations, poems (Yusuf and Zuleikha or the Conference of Birds come immediately to mind), architecture,and many other non-figurative art forms to the representation of man. These cold, ancient, and everlasting shapesof unending time flourished, and the divine infinity of representing geometric forms gained favor over the placementof the explicit representation of mankind and our own likeness at the center of the universes.Adding the string quartet to these forms which express the recursive spheres of heavens and earth abstractly shouldexplain why I have chosen to render higher things through the use of music without the addition of words or anyother art-form. It is the abstract art of pure form, in which all is form and all is content, which compels me. Thisquartet should be seen as no more programmatic than the arches of the Great Mosque at Cordoba.The first movement, Yāqub (Jacob), is slow, quiet and prayerful. It evokes the patient sorrow of a slow choraledeveloping over time as it coaxes our pulse out of the ticking of a clock-like meter that defines our day-to-day livesand into a divine eternity.The second, Saleh, imagines the spirit of that desert-prophet through the use of a Liwa; the dance-sequence that hasbeen such a prevalent form of expression in the Arabian Peninsula for much of our recorded history.The third movement is titled Dawoōd, and it is emblematic of the beloved Prophet, King, and Psalmist, David.Though it has no lyrics, the movement functions as a dabkeh (an ancient dance native to the Levant) and also “sets”the opening of Psalm 100 (Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands). This line is never set to music or sung inthe quartet but is evoked through the rhythmic shape of the violin part which imitates the phonology and rhythmof my speaking the opening line in the Hebrew and develops the contours of that line incessantly throughout themovement.3The fourth movement is an ode to Yousef (Joseph) and relates to the first movement in tempo and tone just as Josephrelates to Jacob, his father. Together, the first and fourth movements provide a sort of Lamentation and relief.Joseph had the appearance of a noble angel, but he was very much a human being. And the story of this particularprophet had tragic beginnings many years before he found himself in a position of power in Egypt. Back in his youth,still among the Israelites, Joseph experienced a series of revelations through his dreams that spoke of his impendingcareer in prophecy. He confided his dreams to his father, the Prophet Jacob, who told his son of the greatness thatawaited him in his future only to have his brothers throw him into a well and leave him for dead. Joseph eventuallyfound his way from Israel to Egypt and rose out of slavery into a position of power. Meanwhile, famine engulfs Israel.Forty years pass, and back in the land of Jacob and Rachel, of Joseph’s brothers and Abraham’s tribe, Israel wasnot spared the effects of the famine. They sorely lacked Joseph’s prophecy and his vision. The Qur’an then tells usthat Jacob, sensing Joseph, sends the other brothers to Egypt instructing them to come back with food and grain.Arriving in Egypt, they unwittingly appear before Joseph. They don’t recognize their little brother who has risen toa position of might, dressed in his Egyptian regalia. They ask for the food and the grain.After some conversation, Joseph is no longer able to contain his emotion. Overcome, he reveals himself to his nowterrified brothers. He embraces them. He asks them eagerly, “How is our father?” Joseph gives them the gift of thefood and the grain that they came in search of. He relieves them from hunger and alleviates their fear. He sendsthem back with proof that he is alive, and it is this joyful proof from the miraculous hands of a prophet that bringsback the ancient Jacob’s vision after 40 years of blindness.In this story, I am struck by the fact that Joseph may not have made the decision to forgive his brothers on thespot, but that something inside the prophet’s soul found forgiveness and peace for the brothers who had so gravelywronged him at some point along his journey. I would suspect this point to have been present at Joseph’s inception,even before he had ever been wronged.This is proof, if we needed it, that Joseph’s angel-like beauty was not only physical and external, but also internalas well: Joseph possessed a profound loveliness of spirit that bound his appearance and his soul. In Joseph, formand soul are one.Time is to musicians what light is to a painter. In this way, the story of Joseph also shows us that time can affectour perception of even the most tragic wounds. In fact, the most common Arabic word for “human being” is insaan,which shares its roots with the word insaa, “to forget.” While our ability to remember is essential to how we learnabout ourselves, our capacity to “forgive and forget” may also be one of our great gifts as human beings.The fifth movement follows my ode to Joseph with a structural memory of Mūsa (Moses). The movement consistsentirely of descending motifs which I constructed as an indication of Moses’ descending movement as he emergedto his people from the heights of Mt. Sinai. The music is constructed in five phrases which function as a formalreference to the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch. The movement is placed as the fifth of the quartet for the samereason.While Joseph is always evoked as supremely beautiful in the Books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Suleiman(Solomon) is described as surpassing in his quicksilver intelligence. This movement is composed of a seven-partriddle which passes by in an instant but can be caught by the attentive listener. From Solomon, we work our wayback to Yishak (Isaac) in a seventh movement that evokes Isaac’s literal meaning in Arabic and Hebrew: laughter.The eighth and final movement of this quartet is named for the Patriarch of the entire Book: Ibrahim (Abraham). Itrelates to Isaac just as Joseph relates to Jacob; they are father and son. The lines are prayerful and contemplative;the form of the music evolves from a fugue joining together many different forms of prayer into a single tapestry ofcounterpoint, to the cyclical form of this entire quartet which is rendered through the motion of pilgrims circling theKaaba (cube) in Mecca — a structure which was built by Abraham for Hagaar and their son Ismail.These are just some of the figures that are cherished by all three of the Middle Eastern monotheisms (Judaism,Christianity, and Islam) that the Qur’an refers to collectively as Ahl Al-Kitab. This Arabic phrase is most commonlytranslated as “The People of the Book,” but here the most common translation is a flawed one: the Arabic word“ahl” means “family” and not just “people.” A better translation would be “Family of the Book.” Each of the eightmovements of Prophesies grows from a single musical cell.This quartet is a family album.—Mohammed Fairouz (2018.

SKU: BT.DHP-1084443-010

9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.

Washed up on the Phaeacian shore after a shipwreck, Odysseus is introduced to King Alcinous. As he sits in the palace, he tells the Phaeacians of his wanderings since leaving Troy. Odysseus and his men fi rst landed on the island of the Cicones wherethey sacked the city of Ismarus. From there, great storms swept them to the land of the hospitable Lotus Eaters. Then they sailed to the land of the Cyclopes. Odysseus and twelve of his men entered the cave of Polyphemus. After the single-eyed giantmade handfuls of his men into meals, Odysseus fi nally defeated him. He got him drunk and once he had fallen asleep, he and his men stabbed a glowing spike into the Cyclop’s single eye, completely blinding him. They escaped by clinging to the belliesof some sheep. Once aboard, Odysseus taunted the Cyclop by revealing him his true identity. Enraged, Polyphemus hurled rocks at the ship, trying to sink it. After leaving the Cyclopes’ island, they arrived at the home of Aeolus, ruler of the winds.Aeolus off ered Odysseus a bag trapping all the strong winds within except one - the one which would take him straight back to Ithaca. As the ship came within sight of Ithaca, the crewmen, curious about the bag, decided to open it. The winds escapedand stirred up a storm. Odysseus and his crew came to the land of the cannibalistic Laestrygonians, who sank all but one of the ships. The survivors went next to Aeaea, the island of the witch-goddess Circe. Odysseus sent out a scouting party butCirce turned them into pigs. With the help of an antidote the god Hermes had given him, Odysseus managed to overpower the goddess and forced her to change his men back to human form. When it was time for Odysseus to leave, Circe told him to sail tothe realm of the dead to speak with the spirit of the seer Tiresias. One day’s sailing took them to the land of the Cimmerians. There, he performed sacrifi ces to attract the souls of the dead. Tiresias told him what would happen to him next. He thengot to talk with his mother, Anticleia, and met the spirits of Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, Antilochus, Ajax and others. He then saw the souls of the damned Tityos, Tantalus, and Sisyphus. Odysseus soon found himself mobbed by souls. He becamefrightened, ran back to his ship, and sailed away. While back at Aeaea, Circe told him about the dangers he would have to face on his way back home. She advised him to avoid hearing the song of the Sirens; but if he really felt he had to hear, thenhe should be tied to the mast of the ship, which he did. Odysseus then successfully steered his crew past Charybdis (a violent whirlpool) and Scylla (a multiple-headed monster), but Scylla managed to devour six of his men. Finally, Odysseus and hissurviving crew approached the island where the Sun god kept sacred cattle. Odysseus wanted to sail past, but the crewmen persuaded him to let them rest there. Odysseus passed Circe’s counsel on to his men. Once he had fallen asleep, his men impiouslykilled and ate some of the cattle. When the Sun god found out, he asked Zeus to punish them. Shortly after they set sail from the island, Zeus destroyed the ship and all the men died except for Odysseus. After ten days, Odysseus was washed up on theisland of the nymph Calypso.

Odysseus, die is aangespoeld op de kust van de Phaeaken, maakt kennis met koning Alcinoüs. In het paleis van de laatstgenoemde vertelt hij wat hij heeft meegemaakt sinds zijn vertrek uit Troje. Odysseus en zijn metgezellen legdeneerst aan op het eiland van de Ciconen, waar ze de stad Ismarus plunderden. Toen ze weer op zee waren, brak een storm los, die ze naar het land van de gastvrije Lotophagen bracht. Daarna zeilden ze naar het eiland van de Cyclopen.Odysseus en twaalf van zijn metgezellen kwamen terecht in de grot van Polyphemus. Deze verslond een aantal van hen, maar werd uiteindelijk door Odysseus verslagen: hij voerde de reus dronken, waarna die in slaap viel. Vervolgensstak hij een gloeiende paal in zijn ene oog om hem blind te maken. Odysseus en zijn mannen ontsnapten uit de grot door ieder onder de buik van een van Polyphemus’ schapen te gaan hangen. Eenmaal weer aan boord riep Odysseusuitdagend naar de cycloop en onthulde zijn naam. Woedend wierp Polyphemus rotsblokken in de richting van het schip in een poging het te laten zinken. Nadat ze het Cyclopeneiland hadden verlaten, arriveerden ze bij Aeolus, heerservan de winden. Aeolus gaf Odysseus een zak met daarin alle krachtige winden behalve één - die hem rechtstreeks terug naar zijn thuisbasis Ithaca zou voeren. Toen het schip Ithaca bijna had bereikt, besloten de metgezellen, die nieuwsgierigwaren naar de inhoud, de zak te openen. De winden ontsnapten en er ontstond een enorme storm. Odysseus en zijn bemanning kwamen terecht in het land van de kannibalistische Laestrygonen, die alle schepen lieten zinken, opéén na. De overlevenden vluchtten naar Aeaea, het eiland van de tovenares Circe, die de metgezellen van Odysseus in zwijnen veranderde. Met de hulp van een tegengif dat hij had gekregen van Hermes, lukte het Odysseus om Circe te

Nachdem er an die Küste der Phäaker gespült wurde, wird Odysseus dem König Akinoos vorgestellt. In dessen Palast erzählt er den Phäakern von den Fahrten nach seiner Abreise aus Troja. Odysseus und seine Männer landen zunächst auf denKikonen, einer Inselgruppe, wo sie die Stadt Ismaros einnehmen. Von dort aus treiben sie mächtige Stürme zum Land der gastfreundlichen Lotophagen (Lotos-Essern). Dann segeln sie zum Land der Kyklopen (Zyklopen). Odysseus und seine zwölf Mannenbetreten die Höhle von Poloyphem, dem Sohn Poseidons. Nachdem dieser einige der Männer verspeist hat, überwaÃ…Nltigt ihn Odysseus, indem er ihn betrunken macht und dann mit einem glühenden Spieß in dessen einziges Auge sticht und ihn somitblendet. Odysseus und die übrigen Männer fl iehen an den Bäuchen von Schafen hängend. Wieder an Bord, provoziert Odysseus den Zyklopen, indem er ihm seine wahre Identität verrät. Wütend bewirft Polyphem das Schiff mit Steinen undversucht, es zu versenken. Nachdem sie die Insel der Kyklopen verlassen haben, kommen Odysseus und seine Mannen ins Reich von Aiolos, dem Herr der Winde. Aiolos schenkt ihm einen Beutel, in dem alle Winde eingesperrt sind, außer dem, der ihn direktzurück nach Ithaka treiben soll. Als das Schiff in Sichtweite von Ithaka ist, öff nen die neugierigen Seemänner den Windsack. Die Winde entfl iehen und erzeugen einen Sturm. Odysseus und seine Mannschaft verschlägt es ins Land derkannibalischen Laistrygonen, die alle ihre Schiff e, bis auf eines, versenken. Die Ãœberlebenden reisen weiter nach Aiaia, der Insel der Zauberin Kirke. Odysseus sendet einen Spähtrupp aus, der von Kirke aber in Schweine verwandelt wird. Mit Hilfeeines Gegenmittels vom Götterboten Hermes kann Odysseus Kirke überwaÃ…Nltigen und er zwingt sie, seinen Gefährten wieder ihre menschliche Gestalt zurückzugeben. Als er wieder aufbrechen will, rät Kirke ihm, den Seher Teiresias in derUnterwelt aufzusuchen und zu befragen. Eine Tagesreise führt sie dann ins Land der Kimmerer, nahe dem Eingang des Hades. Dort bringt Odysseus Opfer, um die Seelen der Toten anzurufen. Teireisas sagt ihm sein Schicksal voraus. Dann darf Odysseusmit seiner Mutter Antikleia und den Seelen von Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroklos, Antilochus, Ajax und anderen Toten sprechen. Dann sieht er die Seelen der Verdammten Tityos, Tantalos und Sisyphos. Bald wird Odysseus selbst von den Seelen gequält, kehrtvoll Angst zu seinem Schiff zurück und segelt davon. In Aiaia hatte Kirke ihn vor den drohenden Gefahren der Heimreise gewarnt. Sie riet ihm, den Gesang der Sirenen zu vermeiden, wenn er aber unbedingt zuhören müsse, solle er sich an denMast seines Schiff es bindet lassen, was er dann auch tut. Dann führt Odysseus seine Mannschaft erfolgreich durch die Meerenge zwischen Skylla und Charybdis, wobei Skylla jedoch sechs seiner Männer verschlingt. Schließlich erreichen Odysseusund die überlebende Besatzung die Insel, auf der der Sonnengott Helios heiliges Vieh hält. Odysseus will weitersegeln, aber seine Mannschaft überredet ihn zu einer Rast. Odysseus erzählt ihnen von Kirkes Warnung, aber kaum, dass ereingeschlafen ist, töten die Männer in gotteslästerlicher Weise einige Rinder und verspeisen sie. Als Helios dies entdeckt, bittet er Zeus, sie zu bestrafen. Kurz nachdem sie die Segel für die Abreise von der Insel gesetzt haben, zerstört Zeusdas Schiff und alle außer Odysseus sterben. Nach zehn Tagen wird Odysseus an den Strand der Insel der Nymphe Kalypso angespült.

Ulysse, épuisé par la terrible tempête qu’il a subie, échoue sur le rivage des Phéaciens. Reçu au palais du roi Alcinoos, Ulysse entreprend le récit des épreuves passées depuis son départ de Troie. Arrivés dans l’île des Cicones, Ulysse et ses compagnons mettent la cité d’Ismaros sac puis reprennent la mer. Les vents les emportent chez les Lotophages, un peuple paisible. Ulysse aborde au pays des Cyclopes. Il pénètre dans la caverne de Polyphème accompagné de douze hommes. Après avoir vu le Cyclope dévorer deux de ses compagnons chaque repas, Ulysse ruse pour lui échapper. Il l’enivre puis embrase un épieu taillé, qu’il plante dans l'œil unique du Cyclope endormi,l’aveuglant définitivement. Les survivants sortent ensuite cachés sous le ventre de ses brebis et regagnent leurs bateaux. Faisant preuve d’orgueil, Ulysse crie sa véritable identité au risque de faire sombrer son navire sous une pluie de rochers. Ulysse aborde l’île d’Eolie, au royaume du maître des vents. Eole offre Ulysse un vent favorable pour regagner Ithaque, et une outre renfermant tous les vents contraires. Hélas, la curiosité des marins d’Ulysse aura raison de cet heureux dénouement car, en ouvrant l’outre, les vents contraires s’échappent et déchaînent une nouvelle tempête. Après avoir dérivé plusieurs jours, ils parviennent chez les Lestrygons cannibales qui détruisent l’escadre. Les survivants reprennent la mer avec un unique navire et abordent dans l’île d’Aiaié, séjour de la magicienne Circé. Ulysse envoie des éclaireurs dans les terres. Imprudemment entrés dans la demeure de la magicienne, ils sont transformés en pourceaux. Seul Ulysse échappe au sortilège gr ce l’antidote que lui indique Hermès. Vaincue, Circé s’offre au héros et rend ses compagnons leur forme humaine. Avant de laisser partir Ulysse, Circé lui conseille d’aller au pays des morts consulter l’ombre du devin Tirésias. Après une journée de navigation, le bateau d’Ulysse atteint le pays des Cimmériens. Il s’acquitte des rites appropriés pour pouvoir s’entretenir avec l’ me.

SKU: HL.48021285

ISBN 9781458471598. UPC: 884088658458. 6.75x10.5 inches.

Text: Eric Crozier

Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes

Difficulty level: 3

Saint Nicolas (note the name has no 'H' in it!) was written for the centenary of Lancing College in Sussex, the independent secondary boarding school on the south coast of England which Peter Pears had attended in his teens. It has a vast chapel intended by its founder, Revd Nathaniel Woodard, as the cathedral for all the schools of his extensive foundation known collectively as 'Woodard' schools. St. Nicolas is famous for many legendary miracles and for being the original 'Santa Claus'. Crozier's libretto is designed to tell the story of his life, to recount some of his most celebrated acts and to give the audience/congregation the opportunity of joining in two beautiful hymns at key moments: 'All people that on earth do dwell' and 'God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform'. The narration is all done by the choir, though the tenor sings first-person narratives as well in his role as the mature Nicolas. The young Nicolas is sung by a boy in movement II. There is a dramatic moment at the end of this movement when the boy's voice does a tumble and the tenor proclaims in the voice of Nicolas as a young man: 'God be glorified'.

The third movement is an accompanied recitative in which the soloist sings of Nicolas devoting himself to God through the agonies and torment of the many distractions and temptations of life. His faith wins through and he sings a final touching phrase: 'and Love was satisfied'. The sea whips up a storm in the next movement: 'He journeys to Palestine'. It threatens to overturn the ship and drown everyone on board. There is wailing from the sopranos and altos of the semi-chorus and agonised calls from the tenors and basses to 'man the pumps'. Finally, Nicolas begs God to let the storm cease and offers thanks for their safe delivery. Britten creates a palpable sense of relief in the final pages.

In the fifth movement, 'Nicolas comes to Myra and is chosen Bishop', the choir sings chorale-like phrases welcoming him as their new Bishop. They go through his ceremonial dressing with all the accoutrements of his office, the mitre, crozier (nice pun on the librettist's name), robe and ring. An energetic chorus 'Serve the faith and spurn his enemies' leads to the first great hymn - a wonderfully climactic moment. Britten's arrangement is suitably uplifting.

The final movement tells of Nicolas' death and the work ends with the other great hymn: 'God moves in a mysterious way'.

This work demonstrates to me Britten's generosity of spirit and his natural feeling for enriching the repertoire at all levels of attainment. What a gift!

Duration: 50 minutes

Paul Spicer, Lichfield, 2011.