SKU: BT.DHP-1175824-070

ISBN 9789043152884. English-German-French-Dut ch.

Beat It is one of Michael Jackson’s most popular songs. Seen by many as a rock song, Beat It was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time”, due to the notable inclusion of guitarist Eddie van Halen, and was also awarded two Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 1984 ceremony. Since its release, the song has been covered by various artists such as Fall Out Boy, Fergie and most recently Anthony Gröger, who has made this energetic arrangement for string quartet.

Beat It komt van Michael Jacksons succesvolste album Thriller. Het nummer werd ook als single uitgebracht. Bovendien werd de hit onderscheiden met twee Grammy Awards en twee American Music Awards. Het voor Jackson toch wel ongewoon rockachtige werk is vaak gecoverd en opnieuw uitgevoerd. Ook Anthony Gröger waagde zich eraan en schreef een spetterende bewerking voor strijkkwartet.

Beat It, eine Single-Auskopplung aus Michael Jacksons erfolgreichstem Album Thriller, wurde mit zwei Grammys und zwei American Music Awards ausgezeichnet. Der fu r Jackson ungewöhnlich rockige Titel wurde seither mehrfach gecovert und neu interpretiert wie hier von Anthony Gröger, der sich zu einer fetzigen Bearbeitung fu r Streichquartett inspirieren ließ.

Beat It, 3^e single de l’album Thriller a remporté de nombreuses récompenses dont deux Grammy Awards et deux American Music Awards. Beat It a toujours été l’une des chansons phares de Michael Jackson et figurait dans toutes ses tournées. Faire ressortir le coté rock de la version originale dans son arrangement pour quatuor cordes fut pour Anthony Gröger l’une des principales priorités. Une version particulièrement réussie qui remportera un franc succès !

SKU: PR.114406980

UPC: 680160010806.

Shula mit Ran’s second string quartet, subtitled “Vistas,” occupies a large canvas that is cast in a traditional fourmovement mold, where the outer movements present, explore, and later return to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and scherzo-type third movement with a trio. In addition to tempo-based titles, the individual movements have subtitles that are evocative of each movement’s character, as follows: I. Concentric: from the inside out II. Stasis III. Flashes IV. Vistas.
My second string quartet, “Vistas”, is a work cast in a traditional four-movement formal mold, with the outer movements, presenting and later returning to the work’s principal musical materials, surrounding a slow movement and a scherzo-type third movement.While the four movements’ “proper” names -- Maestoso con forza, Lento, Scherzo impetuoso, and Introduzione; Maestoso e grande – give some indication of the general character of the individual movements, I have also subtitled, less formally, each movement as follows:  1) Concentric:  from the inside out  2)  Stasis  3) Flashes  4) Vista.  The images evoked by these titles tell one, I think, a bit more about the inner workings of the quartet.In the first movement, a prominently presented opening pitch (E) reveals itself, as the movement unfolds, to be a center of gravity from which ever-growing cycles of activity gradually evolve.  While various important themes come into being as the movement progresses, their impact on the listener has, I believe, a great deal to do with their juxtaposition and relationship to the initial central point of gravity.Stasis is, as the name implies, a movement where activity seems, at times, almost suspended.  Being also, as Webster’s Dictionary reminds us, “a state of static balance and equilibrium among opposing tendencies or forces,” it develops various materials, including ones from the first movement, without bringing them to points of resolution.Flashes is short and very fast, evoking in my mind the quick shimmer of fireflies, a “sudden burst of light”, but also a “brief time”.  Perhaps, even, a “smile”?Final ly, the last movement, Vista, is not only “a view or outlook”, but also “a comprehensive mental view of a series of remembered or anticipated events.”  After a brief recall of the opening of the second movement, this movement brings back all the important themes of the first movement in their original order.  But just as going back can never really mean going back in time, the movement is much more than recapitulatory.  By cutting through previously transitory passages and presenting the main ideas in a fashion more direct yet more evolved, it also sheds new light on earlier events, offering a retrospective, synoptic view of the first movement as it brings to culmination the work as a whole. “Vistasâ € was commissioned by C. Geraldine Freund for the Taneyev String Quartet of what was then Leningrad.  It was the first commission given in this country to a Soviet chamber ensemble since the 1985 cultural exchange accord between the Soviet Union and the United States.

SKU: PR.114414200

ISBN 9781491111284. UPC: 680160594719. 9x12 inches.

Composed for violinist Baird Dodge, James Matheson's SPIN is a three-movement study in various meanings of the word spin. I. Gyre has the character of a whimsically spinning object in a sort of arena. II. Web is essentially a slow movement. It explores a nearly static, sinewy texture comprised of slowly undulating chords in which snippets of melody emerge from the notes held while the chords disappear. Similar to the first movement, III. Spiral explores a kinetic notion of spinning, this time in the form of rapidly rising scales.
SPIN was composed in early 1998. Each of the work’s three movements assumes the task of exploring a different meaning of the title.The first movement, Gyre (as in gyroscope), has the character of a whimsically spinning object in a sort of arena – spinning and bouncing off the walls (like a spinning penny, which bounces off of an object unpredictably and with somewhat explosive force). The primary musical idea consists of high harmonics in the violins set against a rocking pulse in the lower strings. This basic texture is explored in various guises as the movement progresses.Web is essentially a slow movement. It explores a nearly static, sinewy texture comprised of slowly undulating chords. Snippets of melody emerge from the notes held while the chords disappear. The music intensifies, leading to an expected climax (or anti-climax) of pizzicatos, before returning to the opening material and winding gently to a close.Like Gyre, the third movement, Spiral, explores a kinetic notion of spinning, this time in the form of rapidly rising scales. The formal idea of this movement, however, has the character of a spiral, with its tendency toward implosion.SPIN was written for violinist Baird Dodge.

SKU: BR.EB-6705

ISBN 9790004169063. 9 x 12 inches. German.

Though a piano can always be included, it is not an essential requirement for the performance of these settings: in some of the carols, two violins or two flutes are quite sufficient, especially if voices are used as well. The following combinations are particularly suitable for domestic music-making, whether or not voices are included as well:one violin and piano,two violins and piano,two or three violins,violins and recorders,two concert (C) flutes (and an alto flute) and - as the ideal combination for shepherds' songs - flutes, violins, cello and piano.Performing groups and music schools have the advantage of a wider choice of forces and the possibility of varying the instrumentation within the individual carols and verses. Thus large and small combinations can alternate, strings and flutes can play in turn, and finally the piano can be used by itself or to reinforce other instrumental combinations, in which case the cello can be added, too.The pieces are graded in increasing order of difficulty; the first carols are chosen so that they can be mastered by violinists after as little as 4 to 6 months of learning their instrument. The choise and sequence of the carols in this book, and also their keys, were determined, amongst other factors, by their suitability for the start of violin tuition, both in first and in third position, so that these carols make an especially good supplement of Christmas music to the violin method of Fritz and Gottfried Scharlach (with its principle of starting with the third position). The progressively increasing difficulty of the carols has resulted, for example, in the three Advent carols (nos. 23-25) being placed later in the collection.The editor hopes that these carols will be much played and sung, and thus help to fill the Christmas season with joy and splendour.Fritz Scharlach, Salzburg, December 1972

Our beautiful Christmas carols, old and new, are presented here in settings, ranging from the easy to the more difficult, for various combinations of voices and instruments that may be available in domestic music-making or for a Christmas concert.