A Melodrama Interspersed With Music. Par BENDA GEORG. Georg Anton Benda's melodrama „Medea' (1775) was one of the most successful German musical theatre works of the late 18th century. With a libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter, the work soon became a great influence within the melodrama genre. For several decades, it was performed all over central Europe, developing an impressive reception history. Between 1775 and about 1790, the melodrama was considered an extremely popular (albeit controversial) part of musical theatre, in particular in German-speaking regions. Consequently, Benda's „Medea' was at the center of many heated debates. Unlike opera, the melodrama does not present the libretto in sung form, but rather, the text is spoken and combined with orchestral music and scenes. The traditional opera forms (aria, recitative, ensemble, chorus) are dissolved and replaced by a new interplay of music, speech, and scenes. A focus on a single protagonist and the quick, delicate alternation between spoken text and music allows for the development of conflicting and contradictory psychological profiles with a heightened intensity within the melodrama. Near the end of his life, Benda revised the work significantly, drawing from his experience of real performances and their effectiveness. The changes leading to the new version of his „Medea' music were quite extensive, affecting almost every single measure: numerous details of the part writing (tempi, voice leading, rhythms, accompanying figures etc.) were revised, the instrumentation was changed, middle voices were led in a more lively manner, and the music as a whole was shortened and effectively compressed. The composer regarded the latter, modified „Medea' as the authorized version of the work. The premiere took place in 1784 in Mannheim, however, the altered work received little attention since then and has become tangible again for the first time with the OPERA Edition. All previous editions of the work - and along with them, all previous recordings - are based on the earlier version of 1775. The third volume of the OPERA series 'Medea” contains a linen-bound book and the edirom on a USB stick in credit card format. The number of users permitted to simultaneously use the digital content of the edition is not limited. For further information regarding the work and the OPERA series, please visit www.opera-edition.com and Takte online/ Répertoire / Récitant et Orchestre

Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) came from an aristocratic family which lived near Novgorod. When he appeared to be musically gifted as a child his parents did not hesitate one moment to map out a more honourable profession for him – he wasto make a career in the navy as a marine officer. Rimsky-Korsakov however succeeded in secretly studying the cello next to his studies at the Naval Academy at St Petersburg. Through his cello teacher he came into contact with the composerBalakirev. In this way he suddenly became a member of The Mighty Five (a group of Russian composers consisting of Balakirev Moussorgsky Cui Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov himself). Rimsky-Korsakov turned out to be so talented that he evenbecame a teacher at the St Petersburg Conservatory.‘Procession of the Nobles’ comes from the opera-ballet ‘Mlada’.The opera has a remarkable history for between 1868 and 1870 five different composers worked on this project. The finalresult was never executed however. Twenty years later Rimsky-Korsakov started work on the opera once more and composed his own version of Mlada.The theme of the opera is a tragic love story that is set in the early Middle Ages in a realm on theBaltic Sea. In ‘Processsion of the Nobles’ all the princesses of the country gather for a grand feast on the occasion of the summer holidays.

The Last Queen of Egypt. Queen Cleopatra ruled Egypt for over 20 years. She is one of antiquity's best-known women, in particular because of her relationships with Julius Caesar and, above all, Mark-Anthony, but also because the cause of her death remains a mystery. The work is split into three parts and performed without breaks. The first section begins with a bright introduction representing Mark-Anthony. Dynamic in nature and reminiscent of military music, this characterises the Roman general. But soon after, another theme emerges, softer and more melodic, symbolising Cleopatra's femininity. The two characters then combine on a faster tempo. The middle section of the work depicts the love that Mark-Anthony and Cleopatra feel for each other. This passionate relationship lasted ten years and produced three children. This is expressed by a warm and intense theme, just like the beauty of the Egyptian queen. The third and last section opens in a determined and military mood. Mark-Anthony and Cleopatra were often apart, the Roman general was often away on a campaign. They met up in Alexandria to celebrate their triumph. But, as the targets of the jealousy and ambition of Octavius, Julius Caesar's son, the lovers are trapped and await the inevitable conquest of Egypt by the Romans. When Mark-Anthony heard the false news that Cleopatra had committed suicide, he ended his own life. The Queen of Egypt, for her part, was imprisoned shortly afterwards. The two lovers remain one of History's most famous couples. This piece was commissioned by the Wind Orchestra of the town of Antony, near Paris, directed by Philippe Rossignol, to mark its 90th anniversary.

Edizione critica a cura di Gabriele Dotto e Roger Parker (Vol. 1: XLIV, Vol. 2: VIII). Par DONIZETTI GAETANO. Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, written to a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, was first performed at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples on 26 September 1835. It has remained in the repertory without interruption as one of Donizetti’s most popular operas throughout its nearly 200-year history. The edition proposes as the principal text a version of the opera that, for the most part, is as near as possible to that given at the premiere in Naples. However, one of the important new features of the edition is that it includes several fully orchestrated passages that, for unknown reasons, were cancelled very close to the time of the first performance. It also features in the third-act mad scene an obbligato part for the glass harmonica, an instrument that Donizetti had chosen for this extraordinary scene, and drafted in his autograph score, but was then constrained to substitute with a solo flute when the glass harmonica player got into contractual difficulties with the theatre. While the glass harmonica part was considered a mere “musicological curiosity” some decades ago, the critical edition now convincingly argues for its legitimate restoration as part of the composer’s preferred concept. The Sources section of the edition includes a detailed examination of all contemporary sources for the opera. The composer’s autograph score is of course the most important of these, but also of great value is the first printed vocal score of the opera, which in some numbers has a piano reduction prepared by the composer and contains many vocal variants (all reported in the score) that will be a great value to performers. There are also a number of early manuscript copies of the full score, several of which are valuable in outlining the first interpretations of Donizetti’s music. The critical edition restores the original keys, thus maintaining Donizetti’s overall harmonic design, but discusses transpositions that later entered the performing and editorial tradition of the opera. Three transposed pieces – which may have had Donizetti’s approval – will be made available available in the material for hire to theatres. / Date parution : 2022-03-05/ Répertoire / Orchestre

From the composer: High Flyers are regarded as people with promise and potential.They are winners. This is music for winners.The title as well as being a play-on-words implies the nature of the work. It is a bright optimistic and upbeat piece attempting to depict an exhilarating ride on flying carpet. The opening rising chords immediately suggest the gentle elevation of the carpets' ascent towards unknown heights leading to a hint of a first theme in the horns at Fig. B. The first four notes provide the thematic material for the whole work: C F G A.A perpetual sense of movement is achieved through accented quaver chords punctuating the melodicmaterial of the first main theme. Fig. E sees the music of the opening bars fully realised with flourishes from the euphonium and baritones representing swirling clouds shooting stars or passing birds in flight.The same subject is developed into a lyrical second theme with a new lush harmonic treatment evocative of gliding over an expanse of sparse countryside.This section ends with a note of serenity but is shattered by the urgent insistence of the percussion rhythms.The third section introduces a new idea with a slightly distorted fanfare in the cornets and trombones. This figure suggests for the first time that there may be trouble ahead. In fact there is no need to fear and the journey can continue without aggravation. This fanfare returns near the end to signal a final note of triumph.A new rhythmic variant of the cell motif emerges as the third theme now transformed by the addition of a triplet figure. The music steadily gains momentum before moving inexorably towards the climactic return of the music and tonality of the opening bars of the piece.

Lieder der Vergänglichkeit for three soloists (SMezBar), mixed choir and orchestra. Par PENDERECKI KRZYSZTOF. The form of this work is not so much based on the classical symphony, but is closer to a song cycle structure which has now grown to include 13 movements for choir and orchestra. The Romantic characteristics and form of the 8th Symphony are both reminiscent of Gustav Mahler’s choral symphonic works and his Lied von der Erde. Krzysztof Penderecki here extends and augments his expressive musical material, for example through cluster techniques and glissandi, possibilities which he has been systematically exploring since the 1950s. He has compiled the texts from poetry by Eichendorff, Rilke, Brecht, Kraus, Hesse, Goethe, Bethge and von Arnim on the theme of ’forests and trees’, which has long been close to his heart as demonstrated by his private arboretum near Luslavice (’my personal Ithaca’) containing over 1500 species of trees./ Répertoire / Solistes, Choeur et Orchestre

The atmosphere of the Wild West is caught in a striking and most imaginative way by young composer Andreas Schulte in this work. A caravan of gold- and fortuneseekers launch themselves into a big adventure and begin their rush westward. The first movement desciribes these first days of buoyancy and optimism in a crisp march. Near the campfire the pioneers rest themselves and the music expresses feelings of romance nostalgia for the past and hopes for the future. A wistful melody very characteristically communicates these feelings. Relaxation takes place in the third movement which is a musical characterization of a rodeo and its attendant festivities.It is obvious that sometimes something goes wrong and this aspect can also be heard. Nevertheless the valiant rider wins in the end. With a flashback to the beginning the journey is completed musically thus giving the composition a dignified finale. Let the mystic Wild West entrance you. (Wagons ho ....!!) De sfeer van het Wilde Westen wordt door de jonge componist Andreas Ludwig Schulte op een uiterst treffende en beeldende wijze geschetst. Een karavaan van goud- en gelukzoekers stort zich in het grote avontuur en begint de grote reis naar het westen. Het eerste gedeelte beschrijft de eerste dagen van opgewektheid en optimisme in een vlotte mars. Bij het kampvuur komen de pioniers tot rust en worden gevoelens van romantiek heimwee (verleden) en hoop (toekomst) muzikaal weergegeven. Een weemoedige melodie verwoordt die gevoelens op een zeer kenmerkende wijze. De ontspanning vindt plaats in het derde deel waarin een rodeofeest muzikaal wordt verklankt. Met een flashback van het begin wordt de tocht voltooid en de compositie waardig afgesloten. Raak in de ban van het wilde westen!

The atmosphere of the Wild West is caught in a striking and most imaginative way by young composer Andreas Schulte in this work. A caravan of gold- and fortuneseekers launch themselves into a big adventure and begin their rush westward. The first movement desciribes these first days of buoyancy and optimism in a crisp march. Near the campfire the pioneers rest themselves and the music expresses feelings of romance nostalgia for the past and hopes for the future. A wistful melody very characteristically communicates these feelings. Relaxation takes place in the third movement which is a musical characterization of a rodeo and its attendant festivities.It is obvious that sometimes something goes wrong and this aspect can also be heard. Nevertheless the valiant rider wins in the end. With a flashback to the beginning the journey is completed musically thus giving the composition a dignified finale. Let the mystic Wild West entrance you. (Wagons ho ....!!) De sfeer van het Wilde Westen wordt door de jonge componist Andreas Ludwig Schulte op een uiterst treffende en beeldende wijze geschetst. Een karavaan van goud- en gelukzoekers stort zich in het grote avontuur en begint de grote reis naar het westen. Het eerste gedeelte beschrijft de eerste dagen van opgewektheid en optimisme in een vlotte mars. Bij het kampvuur komen de pioniers tot rust en worden gevoelens van romantiek heimwee (verleden) en hoop (toekomst) muzikaal weergegeven. Een weemoedige melodie verwoordt die gevoelens op een zeer kenmerkende wijze. De ontspanning vindt plaats in het derde deel waarin een rodeofeest muzikaal wordt verklankt. Met een flashback van het begin wordt de tocht voltooid en de compositie waardig afgesloten. Raak in de ban van het wilde westen!

The Incredible Adventure of Jerrie Mocke. In 1964, the American aviator Jerrie Mock was the first woman to fly solo around the world, in spite of her critics and the bad weather forecasted. She completed this journey in 29 days on board the ?Spirit of Columbus?, a single engine Cessna. This story inspired Marc Jeanbourquin. The aviator?s determined nature appears from the very first bars, reflecting her mood before take-off. The hymn that follows illustrates the beginning of the flight, when all is going well. This leads to a calmer section, as if the aviator was letting herself be carried by the air currents above the clouds, lost in her thoughts. Then a more energetic passage brings her back inside the cockpit to confront the bad weather she encounters. She overcomes these difficulties to appear out of the clouds before a cheerful finale, as if nearing the finishing line. Welcome aboard for a flight around the world! First prize in the composition competition of the Swiss Music Association (Contest music 4th category 2020).

The result of a collaborative commission by the U.S. Air Force Academy Band the U.S. Coast Guard Band the U.S. Military Academy Band and the U.S. Naval Academy Band this major work for band takes its title from a quoteattributed to Thomas Jefferson “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty ” and a variation of the West Point motto “The Long Gray Line.” Opening with a tribute to those who have gone before in service toour country a solemn noble theme is presented that reappears near the end of the composition. The main body of the work is a series of march-like themes and idiomatic fragments culminating in a glorious full-band fanfare.Following a restatement of the “noble” theme a stirring coda brings the music to a climactic close. Dur: 8:30 (Grade 5) (E.B. Marks)

This is a beautiful and lyrical Cornet solo with band accompaniment. It conjures up a pastoral scene with distant bells ringing The piece is actually named after a pub in Lower Peover near Knutsford in Cheshire.

Concerto for String Orchestra - the magnum opus of Grayna Bacewicz (1909-1969) the outstanding composer and violinist - was composed in 1948 and at once became one of the most frequently performed works of this Polish artist. This masterpieceof neoclassicism fascinates as much by its invention and virtuosic briliance as its harmonious combination of formal elements of a traditional nature with new tonal ideas. The form of the three-movement Concerto oscillates between that of the baroqueconcerto grosso and the early classical sonata cycle. The neoclassical tendency is evident above all in the articulation of the musical structure in keeping with the rigours of periodicity and the manner of developing thematic threads derived fromthem while the concertato character of particular movements and the generally linear texture indicate baroque connections. The first movement (Allegro) - in the form of an early classical sonata allegro - begins with a subject with energeticfigurations emblematic for the whole piece and based on a constant pendulum-like semiquaver movement anchored securely on D. It is precisely because of the nature of this subject that Bacewiczs work has been compared to the Brandenburg Concertosby Jan Sebastian Bach The second movement (Andante) while retaining its concertato charakter is at the same time an example of the composers ability to create emotionally serene lyrical moods and her sense of cantilena derived from the spiritof romantic song (a motto-subject presented at the beginning by cello solo). In this movement it is both the process of evolution and the instrumental colouring which constitute the constructional agents forming here a self-containedvalue. In thethird movement (Vivo) the composer returns to her favourite type of music understood as an expression of pure motion in the form of figural motives with infinite transformational possibilities. The spontaneity of the music the constant mutabilityof the tonal situations and the sophisticated acerbic harmonies - as Witold Lutosawski described them - form a colourful mosaic built in the structural skeleton of a sonata rondo. Concerto for String Orchestra is not only proof of thestylizing tendency of the composer but also of an unerring intuition concerning the technical and expressive possibilities inherent in a string instruments ensemble. [Magorzata Gsiorowska translated by Ewa Cholewka]

Kevin Volans' String Quartet No. 9: Shiva Dances was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and first performed by the Smith Quartet at the 2004 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.Kevin Volans (the composer) notes on the piece:In the past I have been interested in trying to go beyond historicism (1970s) beyond style(1980s) and beyond form (1990s) in my work. Looking back over the music of the twentiethcentury I was struck by the fact the nearlyall of it is extremely 'busy' almost cluttered. Italmost seemed that composers felt compelled to look industrious. In the new millennium Ithought it would be interesting to try and eliminate content. I also aspired to movingfrommusic (sound as art) to art (art as sound). This of course has already been done by a numberof composers (many from New York Phil Niblock and La Monte Young to name but two) butit was something I had never tried.AlthoughI found it annoying that the label 'minimalist' was given to my African-based work and fearing this would make the label stick I set out to write a piece which reflected my loveof minimal painting and architecture. The Japanesehave a term 'wabi' meaning 'voluntarypoverty' or 'emptiness' to describe their restrained minimal aesthetic an aesthetic which however pays greatest attention to the quality of material and fine detail. I like to think thatthelack of excessive pitch material in this piece reflects a kind of voluntary poverty.When Shiva is portrayed dancing (as Nataraj) He is depicted in a circle of flames crushing asmall figure the ego underfoot.You get theimpression He dances on the spot not movingaround at all. I like that.The piece is dedicated to Pablo Pascual Cilleruelo.

Par GIACCHINO MICHAEL. Robert Longfield\'s easy string orchestra arrangement of the main theme from Spider-Man: No Way Home captures the energy of the original without overwhelming your students. Beginning in 3/4 time but changing to 4/4 near the end, this D minor arrangement provides a good opportunity to work on this fundamental meter change. / Date parution : 2022-07-20/ Répertoire / Ensemble de Cordes

Par SPARKE PHILIP. The south-western US state of Arizona has more than its fair share of stunning landscapes, natural phenomena and National Monuments. Best known is the Grand Canyon, but there are also numerous deserts, a petrified forest, extinct volcanoes and the huge Sunset Crater. Not surprisingly, it has featured as the backdrop to many Western movies. The Painted Desert is a narrow, crescent-shaped arc about 160 miles long which begins near the Grand Canyon and varies in width from 10 to 35 miles. It is largely void of vegetation and years of erosion by wind and rain have exposed sedimentary layers of rock up to 250 million years old. Chemical differences in the various layers result in aneffect not unlike a multicoloured layer cake with contrasting hues of red, orange and pink, blue, grey and lavender creating a silent and barren landscape which looks like it has been hand-painted. As with much of the planet’s stunning landscapes all the observer can do is stand and stare. / Niveau : 1 / Pièce de concert / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie