SKU: BT.MUSM570366316

English.

Stef Conner 's The Shipwrecked Ghost for Mezzo-Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Violin and Cello. Composed 2014. Duration: 9 minutes. Commissioned by Dark Inventions for their Firewheel project, part of the Sound and Music ‘Composer Curator Scheme’. Premiered by Dark Inventions at The Engine House, Manchester, 8th May 2014. This piece is based on the traditional melody ‘The Lover’s Ghost’ (also known as ‘The Grey Cock’), JEFDSS 1953, as sung by Mrs Costello (Birmingham, 1951); recorded by the BBC; transcribed by Patrick Shuldham Shaw. The lyrics of ‘The Shipwreck't Ghost’ were written down, and probably written by, thepoet John Clare (1793-1864). Transcribed from Peterborough MS. A7 p.33a and set to the traditional melody ‘The Lover's Ghost’ (also known as ‘The Grey Cock’) by George Deacon, published in John Clare and the Folk Tradition by Francis Boutle © George Deacon London 2002 & 1983. Reproduced by kind permission of the author and edited and arranged by Stef Conner. More information on John Clare can be found through the John Clare Society: https://www.johnclaresociety.blogspot.co.uk.

SKU: BT.YE0036

Four movements, top part advanced. Several recordings and many broadcasts. Duration c.13'.

Programme Notes:

The Swiss composer Joseph Lauber was born at Ruswil near Lucerne in 1864. After studying with Heger in Zürich and Rheinberger in Munich, Lauber worked with Diémer and Massenet in Paris. With Massenet he learnt a great deal about orchestration, a subject that he subsequently taught until the end of his life at the Geneva conservatoire as well as piano and composition. He died in 1952.

Lauber's 193 catalogued works are many and varied. He wrote for all instruments and in every genre except oratorio and opera. Among his output areseveral works for double bass, most written for Prof. Hans Fryba, a personal friend with whom he worked as a double bass and piano recital duo. Fryba was one of the leading players in Europe in his day and was principal of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. First was Theme and Variations (1936-7) and a Rhapsodie with orchestra (1937). Three Walzes followed in 1939, a Gavotte and Gigue, a Sonata and then in 1943 Fantasie de Concert, written for the Geneva Competition. Four Caprices appeared in 1942, the same date as the Quartet for double basses which was dedicated to Fryba and written for the Berlin Philharmonic Double Bass Quartet, one of the first ever such ensembles to exist.

The Quartet for double basses was revived by Klaus Stoll in the 1970s for the Philharmonic Double Bass Quartet at that time to play. It was subsequently published in 1975 by Yorke Edition by kind permission of the composer's son Edmund Lauber.

Rodney Slatford 2004

SKU: HL.1496057

UPC: 196288218371.

With words by Grahame Davies, this ten minute work for chorus and orchestra was written by kind permission of the Master of Marlborough College, Mrs Louise Moelwyn-Hughes; commissioned by the Choirmaster of Marlborough College, Mr Adam Meehan-Staines, and made possible through the generosity of donors to the Arts Fund, Marlborough College Foundation. First performed on 20 March 2022 at the Chapel of St Michael and All Angels, Marlborough College, by Marlborough College Choral Society and Orchestra, conducted by AdamMeehan-Staines.

SKU: PR.144407380

ISBN 9781491133903. UPC: 680160683475. 9 x 12 inches.

In her powerful Foreword to the music, violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins has written: “There are great works which give voice to important moments for generations, and this is one of them.” The tragedy of Elijah McClain’s murder has moved us all, and for many musicians the image of this gentle young man playing his violin for kittens at an animal shelter has added a poignant extra layer. Zwilich was a professional violinist before turning exclusively to composing, and A LITTLE VIOLIN MUSIC is a memorial from the heart of one violinist to another.
[THESE NOTES MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED OUTSIDE OF THE PUBLICATION; OK TO QUOTE A BIT AND GIVE AUTHOR CREDIT]We often research important pieces of music to gain some glimpse into the mind of the composer by understanding the times in which a piece was written. The times that brought this piece into being, 2020, has been a year like no other in our lifetimes.With the suffering of a once in a century pandemic raging in ever higher waves, and millions of people around the world confined to their homes with a shared attention span for the first time in generations, we watched in horror the 8 minute 46 second killing of George Floyd, a man previously unknown to us, but now unwillingly joining a long list of names of unarmed African Americans killed by police. The anguished backlash of citizens around the world, from Japan to New Zealand to Germany to the United States, of every age, color, and creed, has rallied for weeks and months on end to demand enough and that “Black Lives Matter.”And yet, in the midst of it all is an America starkly divided against itself with some defiantly pushing back, emboldened by authoritarian-style government actions against its own citizens occurring all over the country. It is against this backdrop that we ever had a chance to know of Elijah McClain. Here in quarantine I sometimes practice my scales in front of the news. And one day the mirror image looking back at me from the screen was a slight young man, warm, affable brown eyes, and also a violin under his chin. The newsreel-style camera pan so familiar now, I knew the only reason we were gazing upon his unfamous face was that he too had been killed by police nearly a year before. But the revelation of it in the broadcast hit me particularly hard.Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who is not only one of the great composers of our time, is also a dear friend, and called me the next day, also deeply saddened by the news. It was from Ellen that I learned that Elijah used to play for the kittens at the local animal shelter so they wouldn’t be lonely. This kind, gentle soul was aggressively taken into police custody while saying, “I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking... I’m going home.” He was never seen alive again.Ellen and I spoke of the sadness and the injustice of this several times. She felt a powerful calling to contribute something in a statement and the result is the piece you now hold in your hands. I am deeply honored to be the dedicatee of the piece, to have worked together with Ellen on some of the final details, and to pen this score note. As an invited alumna of the Eastman School of Music, I premiered the work for their virtual event on Diversity and Inclusion. Each time I play it, there is a persistent lump in my throat because Ellen has captured something poignant and powerful here.There are great works which give voice to important moments for generations, and this is one of them. We humbly offer this piece in memory of Elijah McClain.Foreword © 2021 by Kelly Hall-Tompkins. Used by permission.

SKU: BR.BG-591

ISBN 9790004130841. 9 x 12 inches.

These two books of piano pieces arranged in progressive order of difficulty are the first collection to give a representative survey of contemporary Greek music. No pretensions of completeness are being made. The piece by Skalkottas is the only one that has been published before, and I am indebted to the Universal Edition, Vienna, for their kind permission to republish it.The younger generation of Greek composers have turned away from their national folklore, which is in evidence in just a few works only as a latent force. Some of the composers were introduced to modern techniques by the outstanding teacher Jannis A. Papaioannou and have gone abroad to complete their knowledge of the latest methods and to integrate them into their personal style. Older composers like Poniridy and Konstantinidis are represented by works of artfully stylized folk music.I should like to acknowledge the advice and help given to me by my friend and colleague Jannis A. Papaioannou, as well as to the American Director of the Gennadeios Library, Francis R. Walton, for generously providing the manuscript of the piece by Mitropoulos. (Gunther Becker).

SKU: BR.DV-9515A-15

ISBN 9790200490602. 9 x 12 inches. German.

In the latter half of the 18th and in the 19th century the Old Preface Testament Christmas prophecy (Isaiah 9, 1-6) formed the basis for numerous motetto- and cantata-like compositions originating from the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland of Saxony. From very early times, this text was included in Matins for Christmas day, hut until the period specified it was usually intoned on a reciting note. The present cantata is one of the few surviving testimonies to musical activity in the small Thuringian town of Schleiz. The prophecy Das Volk, so im Finstern wandelt was written - probably for performance at court services - in all likelihood by Johann Georg Reichard, a magistrate in the Grafschaft (County) of Reuss who later held higher judicial appointments. Reichard was born at Oels (Olefoica) in Silesia in 1710 and studied law at Leipzig from 1732. He then went to Schleiz and rose from the position of archivist to high legal office, at the same time succeeding Gottfried Siegmund Liebich (d. 1736) as director of the court chapel. He died in Schleiz on 2 June 1782. A few of his church cantatas and other pieces (serenades etc) written for the court at Schleiz once belonged to the Fursten- and Landesschule of St Augustine at Grimma whose music holdings are now preserved in Dresden. Some of Reichard's compositions are autograph, some in copies made by his son Heinrich Gottfried Reichard (1742-1801) who pursued an active career at Grimma both in music and ancient philology, first as cantor, finally as co-rector. The 'Prophecy' cantata survives anonymously in a score copied by Heinrich Gottfried Reichard who may well have sung it himself when he was fourteen, before bis voice broke - as the date Anno 17 56 suggests. He probably prepared the score in bis later years from the original parts, now no langer existent, as he did in the case of other works of his father's. Whether he revised the musical text, and to what extent, cannot now be established. This short and attractive work has all the lightness and exuberance of the rococo as well as genuine emotional depth. In addition, it is easy to perform and should prove very popular. Liturgically, it still occupies a place in Christmas matins or vespers. Permission for this publication was kindly given by Dr. Wolfgang Reich of the Sachsische Landesbibliothek Dresden, Musikabteilung. Wolfram Steude, Dresden, January 1972.