Chamber Music Piano SKU: CF.PL1056 Composed by Clara Wieck-Schumann, Fran...(+)
Chamber Music Piano
SKU: CF.PL1056
Composed by Clara
Wieck-Schumann, Franz
Schubert, and Robert
Schumann. Edited by
Nicholas Hopkins.
Collection. With Standard
notation. 128 pages. Carl
Fischer Music #PL1056.
Published by Carl Fischer
Music (CF.PL1056).
ISBN 9781491153390.
UPC: 680160910892.
Transcribed by Franz
Liszt.
Introduction
It is true that Schubert
himself is somewhat to
blame for the very
unsatisfactory manner in
which his admirable piano
pieces are treated. He
was too immoderately
productive, wrote
incessantly, mixing
insignificant with
important things, grand
things with mediocre
work, paid no heed to
criticism, and always
soared on his wings. Like
a bird in the air, he
lived in music and sang
in angelic fashion.
--Franz Liszt, letter to
Dr. S. Lebert (1868) Of
those compositions that
greatly interest me,
there are only Chopin's
and yours. --Franz Liszt,
letter to Robert Schumann
(1838) She [Clara
Schumann] was astounded
at hearing me. Her
compositions are really
very remarkable,
especially for a woman.
There is a hundred times
more creativity and real
feeling in them than in
all the past and present
fantasias by Thalberg.
--Franz Liszt, letter to
Marie d'Agoult (1838)
Chretien Urhan
(1790-1845) was a
Belgian-born violinist,
organist and composer who
flourished in the musical
life of Paris in the
early nineteenth century.
According to various
accounts, he was deeply
religious, harshly
ascetic and wildly
eccentric, though revered
by many important and
influential members of
the Parisian musical
community. Regrettably,
history has forgotten
Urhan's many musical
achievements, the most
important of which was
arguably his pioneering
work in promoting the
music of Franz Schubert.
He devoted much of his
energies to championing
Schubert's music, which
at the time was unknown
outside of Vienna.
Undoubtedly, Urhan was
responsible for
stimulating this
enthusiasm in Franz
Liszt; Liszt regularly
heard Urhan's organ
playing in the
St.-Vincent-de-Paul
church in Paris, and the
two became personal
acquaintances. At
eighteen years of age,
Liszt was on the verge of
establishing himself as
the foremost pianist in
Europe, and this
awakening to Schubert's
music would prove to be a
profound experience.
Liszt's first travels
outside of his native
provincial Hungary were
to Vienna in 1821-1823,
where his father enrolled
him in studies with Carl
Czerny (piano) and
Antonio Salieri (music
theory). Both men had
important involvements
with Schubert; Czerny
(like Urhan) as performer
and advocate of
Schubert's music and
Salieri as his theory and
composition teacher from
1813-1817. Curiously,
Liszt and Schubert never
met personally, despite
their geographical
proximity in Vienna
during these years.
Inevitably, legends later
arose that the two had
been personal
acquaintances, although
Liszt would dismiss these
as fallacious: I never
knew Schubert personally,
he was once quoted as
saying. Liszt's initial
exposure to Schubert's
music was the Lieder,
what Urhan prized most of
all. He accompanied the
tenor Benedict
Randhartinger in numerous
performances of
Schubert's Lieder and
then, perhaps realizing
that he could benefit the
composer more on his own
terms, transcribed a
number of the Lieder for
piano solo. Many of these
transcriptions he would
perform himself on
concert tour during the
so-called Glanzzeit, or
time of splendor from
1839-1847. This publicity
did much to promote
reception of Schubert's
music throughout Europe.
Once Liszt retired from
the concert stage and
settled in Weimar as a
conductor in the 1840s,
he continued to perform
Schubert's orchestral
music, his Symphony No. 9
being a particular
favorite, and is credited
with giving the world
premiere performance of
Schubert's opera Alfonso
und Estrella in 1854. At
this time, he
contemplated writing a
biography of the
composer, which
regrettably remained
uncompleted. Liszt's
devotion to Schubert
would never waver.
Liszt's relationship with
Robert and Clara Schumann
was far different and far
more complicated; by
contrast, they were all
personal acquaintances.
What began as a
relationship of mutual
respect and admiration
soon deteriorated into
one of jealousy and
hostility, particularly
on the Schumann's part.
Liszt's initial contact
with Robert's music
happened long before they
had met personally, when
Liszt published an
analysis of Schumann's
piano music for the
Gazette musicale in 1837,
a gesture that earned
Robert's deep
appreciation. In the
following year Clara met
Liszt during a concert
tour in Vienna and
presented him with more
of Schumann's piano
music. Clara and her
father Friedrich Wieck,
who accompanied Clara on
her concert tours, were
quite taken by Liszt: We
have heard Liszt. He can
be compared to no other
player...he arouses
fright and astonishment.
His appearance at the
piano is indescribable.
He is an original...he is
absorbed by the piano.
Liszt, too, was impressed
with Clara--at first the
energy, intelligence and
accuracy of her piano
playing and later her
compositions--to the
extent that he dedicated
to her the 1838 version
of his Etudes d'execution
transcendante d'apres
Paganini. Liszt had a
closer personal
relationship with Clara
than with Robert until
the two men finally met
in 1840. Schumann was
astounded by Liszt's
piano playing. He wrote
to Clara that Liszt had
played like a god and had
inspired indescribable
furor of applause. His
review of Liszt even
included a heroic
personification with
Napoleon. In Leipzig,
Schumann was deeply
impressed with Liszt's
interpretations of his
Noveletten, Op. 21 and
Fantasy in C Major, Op.
17 (dedicated to Liszt),
enthusiastically
observing that, I feel as
if I had known you twenty
years. Yet a variety of
events followed that
diminished Liszt's glory
in the eyes of the
Schumanns. They became
critical of the cult-like
atmosphere that arose
around his recitals, or
Lisztomania as it came to
be called; conceivably,
this could be attributed
to professional jealousy.
Clara, in particular,
came to loathe Liszt,
noting in a letter to
Joseph Joachim, I despise
Liszt from the depths of
my soul. She recorded a
stunning diary entry a
day after Liszt's death,
in which she noted, He
was an eminent keyboard
virtuoso, but a dangerous
example for the
young...As a composer he
was terrible. By
contrast, Liszt did not
share in these negative
sentiments; no evidence
suggests that he had any
ill-regard for the
Schumanns. In Weimar, he
did much to promote
Schumann's music,
conducting performances
of his Scenes from Faust
and Manfred, during a
time in which few
orchestras expressed
interest, and premiered
his opera Genoveva. He
later arranged a benefit
concert for Clara
following Robert's death,
featuring Clara as
soloist in Robert's Piano
Concerto, an event that
must have been
exhilarating to witness.
Regardless, her opinion
of him would never
change, despite his
repeated gestures of
courtesy and respect.
Liszt's relationship with
Schubert was a spiritual
one, with music being the
one and only link between
the two men. That with
the Schumanns was
personal, with music
influenced by a hero
worship that would
aggravate the
relationship over time.
Nonetheless, Liszt would
remain devoted to and
enthusiastic for the
music and achievements of
these composers. He would
be a vital force in
disseminating their music
to a wider audience, as
he would be with many
other composers
throughout his career.
His primary means for
accomplishing this was
the piano transcription.
Liszt and the
Transcription
Transcription versus
Paraphrase Transcription
and paraphrase were
popular terms in
nineteenth-century music,
although certainly not
unique to this period.
Musicians understood that
there were clear
distinctions between
these two terms, but as
is often the case these
distinctions could be
blurred. Transcription,
literally writing over,
entails reworking or
adapting a piece of music
for a performance medium
different from that of
its original; arrangement
is a possible synonym.
Adapting is a key part of
this process, for the
success of a
transcription relies on
the transcriber's ability
to adapt the piece to the
different medium. As a
result, the pre-existing
material is generally
kept intact, recognizable
and intelligible; it is
strict, literal,
objective. Contextual
meaning is maintained in
the process, as are
elements of style and
form. Paraphrase, by
contrast, implies
restating something in a
different manner, as in a
rewording of a document
for reasons of clarity.
In nineteenth-century
music, paraphrasing
indicated elaborating a
piece for purposes of
expressive virtuosity,
often as a vehicle for
showmanship. Variation is
an important element, for
the source material may
be varied as much as the
paraphraser's imagination
will allow; its purpose
is metamorphosis.
Transcription is adapting
and arranging;
paraphrasing is
transforming and
reworking. Transcription
preserves the style of
the original; paraphrase
absorbs the original into
a different style.
Transcription highlights
the original composer;
paraphrase highlights the
paraphraser.
Approximately half of
Liszt's compositional
output falls under the
category of transcription
and paraphrase; it is
noteworthy that he never
used the term
arrangement. Much of his
early compositional
activities were
transcriptions and
paraphrases of works of
other composers, such as
the symphonies of
Beethoven and Berlioz,
vocal music by Schubert,
and operas by Donizetti
and Bellini. It is
conceivable that he
focused so intently on
work of this nature early
in his career as a means
to perfect his
compositional technique,
although transcription
and paraphrase continued
well after the technique
had been mastered; this
might explain why he
drastically revised and
rewrote many of his
original compositions
from the 1830s (such as
the Transcendental Etudes
and Paganini Etudes) in
the 1850s. Charles Rosen,
a sympathetic interpreter
of Liszt's piano works,
observes, The new
revisions of the
Transcendental Etudes are
not revisions but concert
paraphrases of the old,
and their art lies in the
technique of
transformation. The
Paganini etudes are piano
transcriptions of violin
etudes, and the
Transcendental Etudes are
piano transcriptions of
piano etudes. The
principles are the same.
He concludes by noting,
Paraphrase has shaded off
into
composition...Composition
and paraphrase were not
identical for him, but
they were so closely
interwoven that
separation is impossible.
The significance of
transcription and
paraphrase for Liszt the
composer cannot be
overstated, and the
mutual influence of each
needs to be better
understood. Undoubtedly,
Liszt the composer as we
know him today would be
far different had he not
devoted so much of his
career to transcribing
and paraphrasing the
music of others. He was
perhaps one of the first
composers to contend that
transcription and
paraphrase could be
genuine art forms on
equal par with original
pieces; he even claimed
to be the first to use
these two terms to
describe these classes of
arrangements. Despite the
success that Liszt
achieved with this type
of work, others viewed it
with circumspection and
criticism. Robert
Schumann, although deeply
impressed with Liszt's
keyboard virtuosity, was
harsh in his criticisms
of the transcriptions.
Schumann interpreted them
as indicators that
Liszt's virtuosity had
hindered his
compositional development
and suggested that Liszt
transcribed the music of
others to compensate for
his own compositional
deficiencies.
Nonetheless, Liszt's
piano transcriptions,
what he sometimes called
partitions de piano (or
piano scores), were
instrumental in promoting
composers whose music was
unknown at the time or
inaccessible in areas
outside of major European
capitals, areas that
Liszt willingly toured
during his Glanzzeit. To
this end, the
transcriptions had to be
literal arrangements for
the piano; a Beethoven
symphony could not be
introduced to an
unknowing audience if its
music had been subjected
to imaginative
elaborations and
variations. The same
would be true of the 1833
transcription of
Berlioz's Symphonie
fantastique (composed
only three years
earlier), the
astonishingly novel
content of which would
necessitate a literal and
intelligible rendering.
Opera, usually more
popular and accessible
for the general public,
was a different matter,
and in this realm Liszt
could paraphrase the
original and manipulate
it as his imagination
would allow without
jeopardizing its
reception; hence, the
paraphrases on the operas
of Bellini, Donizetti,
Mozart, Meyerbeer and
Verdi. Reminiscence was
another term coined by
Liszt for the opera
paraphrases, as if the
composer were reminiscing
at the keyboard following
a memorable evening at
the opera. Illustration
(reserved on two
occasions for Meyerbeer)
and fantasy were
additional terms. The
operas of Wagner were
exceptions. His music was
less suited to paraphrase
due to its general lack
of familiarity at the
time. Transcription of
Wagner's music was thus
obligatory, as it was of
Beethoven's and Berlioz's
music; perhaps the
composer himself insisted
on this approach. Liszt's
Lieder Transcriptions
Liszt's initial
encounters with
Schubert's music, as
mentioned previously,
were with the Lieder. His
first transcription of a
Schubert Lied was Die
Rose in 1833, followed by
Lob der Tranen in 1837.
Thirty-nine additional
transcriptions appeared
at a rapid pace over the
following three years,
and in 1846, the Schubert
Lieder transcriptions
would conclude, by which
point he had completed
fifty-eight, the most of
any composer. Critical
response to these
transcriptions was highly
favorable--aside from the
view held by
Schumann--particularly
when Liszt himself played
these pieces in concert.
Some were published
immediately by Anton
Diabelli, famous for the
theme that inspired
Beethoven's variations.
Others were published by
the Viennese publisher
Tobias Haslinger (one of
Beethoven's and
Schubert's publishers in
the 1820s), who sold his
reserves so quickly that
he would repeatedly plead
for more. However,
Liszt's enthusiasm for
work of this nature soon
became exhausted, as he
noted in a letter of 1839
to the publisher
Breitkopf und Hartel:
That good Haslinger
overwhelms me with
Schubert. I have just
sent him twenty-four new
songs (Schwanengesang and
Winterreise), and for the
moment I am rather tired
of this work. Haslinger
was justified in his
demands, for the Schubert
transcriptions were
received with great
enthusiasm. One Gottfried
Wilhelm Fink, then editor
of the Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung,
observed of these
transcriptions: Nothing
in recent memory has
caused such sensation and
enjoyment in both
pianists and audiences as
these arrangements...The
demand for them has in no
way been satisfied; and
it will not be until
these arrangements are
seen on pianos
everywhere. They have
indeed made quite a
splash. Eduard Hanslick,
never a sympathetic
critic of Liszt's music,
acknowledged thirty years
after the fact that,
Liszt's transcriptions of
Schubert Lieder were
epoch-making. There was
hardly a concert in which
Liszt did not have to
play one or two of
them--even when they were
not listed on the
program. These
transcriptions quickly
became some of his most
sough-after pieces,
despite their extreme
technical demands.
Leading pianists of the
day, such as Clara Wieck
and Sigismond Thalberg,
incorporated them into
their concert programs
immediately upon
publication. Moreover,
the transcriptions would
serve as inspirations for
other composers, such as
Stephen Heller, Cesar
Franck and later Leopold
Godowsky, all of whom
produced their own
transcriptions of
Schubert's Lieder. Liszt
would transcribe the
Lieder of other composers
as well, including those
by Mendelssohn, Chopin,
Anton Rubinstein and even
himself. Robert Schumann,
of course, would not be
ignored. The first
transcription of a
Schumann Lied was the
celebrated Widmung from
Myrten in 1848, the only
Schumann transcription
that Liszt completed
during the composer's
lifetime. (Regrettably,
there is no evidence of
Schumann's regard of this
transcription, or even if
he was aware of it.) From
the years 1848-1881,
Liszt transcribed twelve
of Robert Schumann's
Lieder (including one
orchestral Lied) and
three of Clara (one from
each of her three
published Lieder cycles);
he would transcribe no
other works of these two
composers. The Schumann
Lieder transcriptions,
contrary to those of
Schubert, are literal
arrangements, posing, in
general, far fewer
demands on the pianist's
technique. They are
comparatively less
imaginative in their
treatment of the original
material. Additionally,
they seem to have been
less valued in their day
than the Schubert
transcriptions, and it is
noteworthy that none of
the Schumann
transcriptions bear
dedications, as most of
the Schubert
transcriptions do. The
greatest challenge posed
by Lieder transcriptions,
regardless of the
composer or the nature of
the transcription, was to
combine the vocal and
piano parts of the
original such that the
character of each would
be preserved, a challenge
unique to this form of
transcription. Each part
had to be intact and
aurally recognizable, the
vocal line in particular.
Complications could be
manifold in a Lied that
featured dissimilar
parts, such as Schubert's
Auf dem Wasser zu singen,
whose piano accompaniment
depicts the rocking of
the boat on the
shimmering waves while
the vocal line reflects
on the passing of time.
Similar complications
would be encountered in
Gretchen am Spinnrade, in
which the ubiquitous
sixteenth-note pattern in
the piano's right hand
epitomizes the
ever-turning spinning
wheel over which the
soprano voice expresses
feelings of longing and
heartache. The resulting
transcriptions for solo
piano would place
exceptional demands on
the pianist. The
complications would be
far less imposing in
instances in which voice
and piano were less
differentiated, as in
many of Schumann's Lieder
that Liszt transcribed.
The piano parts in these
Lieder are true
accompaniments for the
voice, providing harmonic
foundation and rhythmic
support by doubling the
vocal line throughout.
The transcriptions, thus,
are strict and literal,
with far fewer demands on
both pianist and
transcriber. In all of
Liszt's Lieder
transcriptions,
regardless of the way in
which the two parts are
combined, the melody
(i.e. the vocal line) is
invariably the focal
point; the melody should
sing on the piano, as if
it were the voice. The
piano part, although
integral to contributing
to the character of the
music, is designed to
function as
accompaniment. A singing
melody was a crucial
objective in
nineteenth-century piano
performance, which in
part might explain the
zeal in transcribing and
paraphrasing vocal music
for the piano. Friedrich
Wieck, father and teacher
of Clara Schumann,
stressed this point
repeatedly in his 1853
treatise Clavier und
Gesang (Piano and Song):
When I speak in general
of singing, I refer to
that species of singing
which is a form of
beauty, and which is a
foundation for the most
refined and most perfect
interpretation of music;
and, above all things, I
consider the culture of
beautiful tones the basis
for the finest possible
touch on the piano. In
many respects, the piano
and singing should
explain and supplement
each other. They should
mutually assist in
expressing the sublime
and the noble, in forms
of unclouded beauty. Much
of Liszt's piano music
should be interpreted
with this concept in
mind, the Lieder
transcriptions and opera
paraphrases, in
particular. To this end,
Liszt provided numerous
written instructions to
the performer to
emphasize the vocal line
in performance, with
Italian directives such
as un poco marcato il
canto, accentuato assai
il canto and ben
pronunziato il canto.
Repeated indications of
cantando,singend and
espressivo il canto
stress the significance
of the singing tone. As
an additional means of
achieving this and
providing the performer
with access to the
poetry, Liszt insisted,
at what must have been a
publishing novelty at the
time, on printing the
words of the Lied in the
music itself. Haslinger,
seemingly oblivious to
Liszt's intent, initially
printed the poems of the
early Schubert
transcriptions separately
inside the front covers.
Liszt argued that the
transcriptions must be
reprinted with the words
underlying the notes,
exactly as Schubert had
done, a request that was
honored by printing the
words above the
right-hand staff. Liszt
also incorporated a
visual scheme for
distinguishing voice and
accompaniment, influenced
perhaps by Chopin, by
notating the
accompaniment in cue
size. His transcription
of Robert Schumann's
Fruhlings Ankunft
features the vocal line
in normal size, the piano
accompaniment in reduced
size, an unmistakable
guide in a busy texture
as to which part should
be emphasized: Example 1.
Schumann-Liszt Fruhlings
Ankunft, mm. 1-2. The
same practice may be
found in the
transcription of
Schumann's An die Turen
will ich schleichen. In
this piece, the performer
must read three staves,
in which the baritone
line in the central staff
is to be shared between
the two hands based on
the stem direction of the
notes: Example 2.
Schumann-Liszt An die
Turen will ich
schleichen, mm. 1-5. This
notational practice is
extremely beneficial in
this instance, given the
challenge of reading
three staves and the
manner in which the vocal
line is performed by the
two hands. Curiously,
Liszt did not use this
practice in other
transcriptions.
Approaches in Lieder
Transcription Liszt
adopted a variety of
approaches in his Lieder
transcriptions, based on
the nature of the source
material, the ways in
which the vocal and piano
parts could be combined
and the ways in which the
vocal part could sing.
One approach, common with
strophic Lieder, in which
the vocal line would be
identical in each verse,
was to vary the register
of the vocal part. The
transcription of Lob der
Tranen, for example,
incorporates three of the
four verses of the
original Lied, with the
register of the vocal
line ascending one octave
with each verse (from low
to high), as if three
different voices were
participating. By the
conclusion, the music
encompasses the entire
range of Liszt's keyboard
to produce a stunning
climactic effect, and the
variety of register of
the vocal line provides a
welcome textural variety
in the absence of the
words. The three verses
of the transcription of
Auf dem Wasser zu singen
follow the same approach,
in which the vocal line
ascends from the tenor,
to the alto and to the
soprano registers with
each verse.
Fruhlingsglaube adopts
the opposite approach, in
which the vocal line
descends from soprano in
verse 1 to tenor in verse
2, with the second part
of verse 2 again resuming
the soprano register;
this is also the case in
Das Wandern from
Mullerlieder. Gretchen am
Spinnrade posed a unique
problem. Since the poem's
narrator is female, and
the poem represents an
expression of her longing
for her lover Faust,
variation of the vocal
line's register, strictly
speaking, would have been
impractical. For this
reason, the vocal line
remains in its original
register throughout,
relentlessly colliding
with the sixteenth-note
pattern of the
accompaniment. One
exception may be found in
the fifth and final verse
in mm. 93-112, at which
point the vocal line is
notated in a higher
register and doubled in
octaves. This sudden
textural change, one that
is readily audible, was a
strategic means to
underscore Gretchen's
mounting anxiety (My
bosom urges itself toward
him. Ah, might I grasp
and hold him! And kiss
him as I would wish, at
his kisses I should
die!). The transcription,
thus, becomes a vehicle
for maximizing the
emotional content of the
poem, an exceptional
undertaking with the
general intent of a
transcription. Registral
variation of the vocal
part also plays a crucial
role in the transcription
of Erlkonig. Goethe's
poem depicts the death of
a child who is
apprehended by a
supernatural Erlking, and
Schubert, recognizing the
dramatic nature of the
poem, carefully depicted
the characters (father,
son and Erlking) through
unique vocal writing and
accompaniment patterns:
the Lied is a dramatic
entity. Liszt, in turn,
followed Schubert's
characterization in this
literal transcription,
yet took it an additional
step by placing the
register of the father's
vocal line in the
baritone range, that of
the son in the soprano
range and that of the
Erlking in the highest
register, options that
would not have been
available in the version
for voice and piano.
Additionally, Liszt
labeled each appearance
of each character in the
score, a means for
guiding the performer in
interpreting the dramatic
qualities of the Lied. As
a result, the drama and
energy of the poem are
enhanced in this
transcription; as with
Gretchen am Spinnrade,
the transcriber has
maximized the content of
the original. Elaboration
may be found in certain
Lieder transcriptions
that expand the
performance to a level of
virtuosity not found in
the original; in such
cases, the transcription
approximates the
paraphrase. Schubert's Du
bist die Ruh, a paradigm
of musical simplicity,
features an uncomplicated
piano accompaniment that
is virtually identical in
each verse. In Liszt's
transcription, the
material is subjected to
a highly virtuosic
treatment that far
exceeds the original,
including a demanding
passage for the left hand
alone in the opening
measures and unique
textural writing in each
verse. The piece is a
transcription in
virtuosity; its art, as
Rosen noted, lies in the
technique of
transformation.
Elaboration may entail an
expansion of the musical
form, as in the extensive
introduction to Die
Forelle and a virtuosic
middle section (mm.
63-85), both of which are
not in the original. Also
unique to this
transcription are two
cadenzas that Liszt
composed in response to
the poetic content. The
first, in m. 93 on the
words und eh ich es
gedacht (and before I
could guess it), features
a twisted chromatic
passage that prolongs and
thereby heightens the
listener's suspense as to
the fate of the trout
(which is ultimately
caught). The second, in
m. 108 on the words
Betrogne an (and my blood
boiled as I saw the
betrayed one), features a
rush of
diminished-seventh
arpeggios in both hands,
epitomizing the poet's
rage at the fisherman for
catching the trout. Less
frequent are instances in
which the length of the
original Lied was
shortened in the
transcription, a tendency
that may be found with
certain strophic Lieder
(e.g., Der Leiermann,
Wasserflut and Das
Wandern). Another
transcription that
demonstrates Liszt's
readiness to modify the
original in the interests
of the poetic content is
Standchen, the seventh
transcription from
Schubert's
Schwanengesang. Adapted
from Act II of
Shakespeare's Cymbeline,
the poem represents the
repeated beckoning of a
man to his lover. Liszt
transformed the Lied into
a miniature drama by
transcribing the vocal
line of the first verse
in the soprano register,
that of the second verse
in the baritone register,
in effect, creating a
dialogue between the two
lovers. In mm. 71-102,
the dialogue becomes a
canon, with one voice
trailing the other like
an echo (as labeled in
the score) at the
distance of a beat. As in
other instances, the
transcription resembles
the paraphrase, and it is
perhaps for this reason
that Liszt provided an
ossia version that is
more in the nature of a
literal transcription.
The ossia version, six
measures shorter than
Schubert's original, is
less demanding
technically than the
original transcription,
thus representing an
ossia of transcription
and an ossia of piano
technique. The Schumann
Lieder transcriptions, in
general, display a less
imaginative treatment of
the source material.
Elaborations are less
frequently encountered,
and virtuosity is more
restricted, as if the
passage of time had
somewhat tamed the
composer's approach to
transcriptions;
alternatively, Liszt was
eager to distance himself
from the fierce
virtuosity of his early
years. In most instances,
these transcriptions are
literal arrangements of
the source material, with
the vocal line in its
original form combined
with the accompaniment,
which often doubles the
vocal line in the
original Lied. Widmung,
the first of the Schumann
transcriptions, is one
exception in the way it
recalls the virtuosity of
the Schubert
transcriptions of the
1830s. Particularly
striking is the closing
section (mm. 58-73), in
which material of the
opening verse (right
hand) is combined with
the triplet quarter notes
(left hand) from the
second section of the
Lied (mm. 32-43), as if
the transcriber were
attempting to reconcile
the different material of
these two sections.
Fruhlingsnacht resembles
a paraphrase by
presenting each of the
two verses in differing
registers (alto for verse
1, mm. 3-19, and soprano
for verse 2, mm. 20-31)
and by concluding with a
virtuosic section that
considerably extends the
length of the original
Lied. The original
tonalities of the Lieder
were generally retained
in the transcriptions,
showing that the tonality
was an important part of
the transcription
process. The infrequent
instances of
transposition were done
for specific reasons. In
1861, Liszt transcribed
two of Schumann's Lieder,
one from Op. 36 (An den
Sonnenschein), another
from Op. 27 (Dem roten
Roslein), and merged
these two pieces in the
collection 2 Lieder; they
share only the common
tonality of A major. His
choice for combining
these two Lieder remains
unknown, but he clearly
recognized that some
tonal variety would be
needed, for which reason
Dem roten Roslein was
transposed to C>= major.
The collection features
An den Sonnenschein in A
major (with a transition
to the new tonality),
followed by Dem roten
Roslein in C>= major
(without a change of key
signature), and
concluding with a reprise
of An den Sonnenschein in
A major. A three-part
form was thus established
with tonal variety
provided by keys in third
relations (A-C>=-A); in
effect, two of Schumann's
Lieder were transcribed
into an archetypal song
without words. In other
instances, Liszt treated
tonality and tonal
organization as important
structural ingredients,
particularly in the
transcriptions of
Schubert's Lieder cycles,
i.e. Schwanengesang,
Winterreise a...
Composed by Bernd Franke.
Full Scores. Edition
Peters. Score. 52 pages.
Duration 00:20:00.
Edition Peters
#98-EP14445. Published by
Edition Peters
(PE.EP14445).
ISBN
9790014135041. 297 x 420
mm inches.
German.
ARKA
stammt aus dem
Sanskrit und bedeutet so
viel wie Strahl, Blitz,
Sonne, Licht, aber auch
Lied, Feuer und Hymnus,
und entwickelt in meiner
Vorstellung sehr viele
unterschiedliche
Assoziationsfelder. In
ARKA stecken
auch die Worter arc
(beten) und ka (Wasser),
und es kann auch
ubersetzt werden mit:
,,Das Wasser stromt aus
dem heraus, der mehr
weiss.
Mein neues
Werk fur Pipa, Oboe,
Pauke, Schlagzeug und
Orchester entstand im
Auftrag der
Kammerakademie Neuss und
auf Anregung des Oboisten
Christian Wetzel. Es
entstanden drei Rituale
mit zum Teil szenischen
Elementen fur die
Solisten und das
Orchester.
Inspirationsquelle in
der Vorbeschaftigung
waren zwei Quellen und
Bucher. Das Daodejing von
Laozi in der
hervorragenden
Neuubersetzung von Viktor
Kalinke, eine der
wichtigsten Quellen
chinesischen Denkens und
der Philosophie dieser
grossen Kulturtradition
und die chinesische
Tradition der
5-Elementelehre und der
Wandlungsphasen. Als
zweites Buch hat mich
,,Die Glut von Roberto
Calasso inspiriert, ein
Buch uber die indischen
Veden in Verbindung mit
den Ursprungen des
Buddhismus und den damit
verbunden Ritualen.
In den letzten 20
Jahren habe ich mich
intensiv mit
ostasiatischer Musik,
Kunst und Philosophie
beschaftigt und habe das
auch durch langere
Studienreisen und
kompositorische Projekte
vertiefen konnen. U.a.
wurde 2012 mein Chorwerk
PRAN in Kolkata in Indien
uraufgefuhrt
(Goethe-Institut),
ebenfalls 2012 ,,in
between VI fur Sho und
Sheng in Tokyo und 2013
,,Mirror and Circle fur
Pipa, Cello und
chinesisches Orchester in
Taipeh/Taiwan
(Auftragswerk der
taiwanesischen
Regierung). Mit der
chinesischen
Pipa-Virtuosin Ya Dong
arbeite ich seit 2000
zusammen und habe fur sie
mehrfach komponiert
(Urauffuhrungen u.a. in
Hannover/EXPO 2000,
Rottweil 2001, Taipeh
2013, Magdeburg 2016).
Auch mit Christian Wetzel
arbeite ich seit uber 20
Jahren zusammen und habe
ebenfalls haufig fur ihn
komponiert (UA u.a. in
Bonn 1999, Hannover/EXPO
2000, Rottweil 2001,
Darmstadt 2004 und
etliche weitere
Projekte).
Jedes
dieser drei Rituale hat
eine Lange von ca. 6-7
Minuten und stellt
unterschiedliche
Qualitaten und
Besonderheiten der beiden
Soloinstrumente heraus,
immer in Verbindung mit
der Interaktion zwischen
Soli und Orchester. Die
Besetzung war fur mich
ausserst reizvoll, da
beide Instrumente in
dieser Kombination noch
nie so erklungen sind.
Die Pipa ist ein ungemein
modernes und
ungewohnliches
Instrument, reich an
Farben und vor allem an
perkussiven Effekten. Das
Tonmaterial wurde zum
grossten Teil aus den
Namen der beiden Solisten
gewonnen und ergibt
interessanter zwei
gespiegelte
Viertonmotive. In der
asiatischen Kultur
spielen der Spiegel und
der Kreis eine wichtige
Rolle, und so werden die
Tone, Rhythmen und Formen
eingewoben in diese drei
Rituale, welche am Ende
des dritten Satzes wieder
kreisformig an den Anfang
des ersten Rituals
anknupfen. Ein von den
Streichern und der Pauke
erzeugtes Gerausch,
verbunden mit dem
Rhythmus der grossen
Trommel, welcher einen
Herzschlag symbolisieren
soll. Die drei Untertitel
der Rituale Himmel, Erde
und (atmospharischer)
Raum spielen im vedischen
und chinesischen Denken
eine grosse Rolle und war
fur mich beim Komponieren
ebenfalls eine sehr
starke
Inspirationsquelle. In
vielen meiner
Kompositionen gibt es
Raumeffekte, Annaherungen
an das Publikum, das
Verschieben von
Perspektiven, die
Dekonstruktion und das
Hinterfragen der ublichen
Konzertsituation, so u.a
in meinem Beuys-Zyklus
oder in den Zyklen ,,CUT
und ,,in between.
In ARKA geht
es mir besonders um die
Interaktion zwischen
westlichem und ostlichem
Denken, um das
gegenseitige Durchdringen
dieser auf den ersten
Blick so
unterschiedlichen Denk-
und Lebensweisen, um eine
Verschmelzung scheinbarer
Gegensatze - um
Annaherung!
Bernd
Franke. Leipzig,
11.10.2019
W01476|C|Y
0.0000 Sheet Music
_x000D_ 9780193556799 Y
23.50 X556799 357665
9780193556799 MISC C 1
432 8030 0.00 Oxford Solo
Songs: Christmas 14 songs
with piano PAPER 14
9780193556799 A-B CAROLS
CHRISTMAS MISC
MISCELLANEOUS OXFORD
PIANO SOLO SONGS SONGS:
VOICE WITH AB 00:00:0 Low
voice & piano Low voice
book + downloadable
backing tracks 311x232 72
NEW NONE 29/07/2021 P
355580 9780193556799
Young: A babe is
born
Rutter:
Angels' Carol
McDowall: Before the
paling of the stars
Rutter:
Candlelight Carol
Rutter: I sing
of a maiden
Chilcott: Mid-winter
Todd: My Lord
has Come
Bullard: Scots Nativity
Quartel: Snow
Angel
Todd:
Softly
Chilcott: Sweet was the
song
Chilcott:
The Shepherd's Carol
Quartel: This
endris night
McGlade: What child is
this?
for
low voice and piano
This beautiful
collection of 14 songs
for low voice offers
Christmas settings by
some of Oxford's
best-loved composers.
Suitable for solo singers
and unison choirs alike,
each song is presented
with piano accompaniment,
and high-quality,
downloadable backing
tracks are included on a
companion website. With a
wonderful selection of
pieces, including
favourites such as Bob
Chilcott's 'The
Shepherd's Carol' and
John Rutter's
'Candlelight Carol', this
is the perfect collection
for use in carol services
and Christmas concerts or
for enjoying at home.
Also available in a
volume for high voice and
piano.
14
songs for solo
voice
Well-loved
composers, including John
Rutter and Bob
Chilcott
Wide
selection of Christmas
texts
Accessible
accompaniments
Includes backing tracks
downloadable from a
Companion
Website
Available in volumes for
high and low
voice
MISC|AU|Y
0.0000 Paperback _x000D_
EP73308R Y 0.00 73308R
P73308R 1 ORCHA 8000 0.00
Hover A (LARGE) BEAMISH
EP73308R GP:ORCHESTRAL
HOVER ONLY RENTAL SALLY
WORKS NONE ORCHA P 303000
EP73308R 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP14437A Y
22.95 14437A P14437A
FRANKE, BERND C
9790014137199 52A1 8000
0.00 AGNI A 9790014137199
AGNI BASS BERND CLARINET
EP14437A FRANKE
PHOTOPRINTS W01476
English / German 00:12:0
Instrumental Score 232 x
303 mm Bass clarinet 20
DETNT NEW PR43 23/04/2021
P 303006
AGNI is the
Hindu god of fire; the
elemental and
transformative force
inherent in
everything:
Every
flame, every fire, every
light, every warmth is
AGNI.
AGNI is
omnipresent, establishing
everything and ending
everything.
AGNI is
often depicted with seven
tongues which represent
different aspects of his
being.
These
include: creating,
sustaining, cleansing,
purifying, priestly,
martial, devastating,
destructive, and
consuming.
Derived
from Franke's concerto of
the same name, this solo
work for bass clarinet
compositionally traces
the transformative
processes initiated by
the divine fire. The solo
takes seven pieces from
the concerto, presenting
vivid character pieces
exploring the creative
possibilities and wide
tonal range offered by
the bass
clarinet.
This
version of AGNI
for bass clarinet solo
was premiered on 4
December 2020 in Leipzig
by Volker Hemken, the
principal bass
clarinetist of the
Gewandhausorchester
Leipzig. EP14437a
convinces with its
excellent and clear
notation, making the
piece a new standard for
bass clarinet.
W01476|C|Y 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP68686 Y
165.00 68686 P68686 LEWIS
C 9790300761299 97 8000
0.00 Ikons A
9790300761299
CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
EP68686 GEORGE IKONS
LEWIS PHOTOPRINTS SMALL
W06652 English 00:14:0
Conductor Score & Parts
303 x 232 mm Fl (A-fl in
F).Cl.Bsn
(Cbsn).Tbn.Perc.Vln.Vlc.C
b 132 NEW PR43 USTNT
21/04/2021 P 303006
Ikons,
commissioned by the
Vancouver Cultural
Olympiad 2010, exists in
two forms. This 14-minute
acoustic version,
premiered by the Turning
Point Ensemble, calls for
an octet of live
musicians to execute
complex rhythms and
quarter-tone
harmonies.
The
interactive, electronic
version, created with
visual artist Eric
Metcalfe and designed to
be presented separately,
incorporates samples from
this acoustic version
into a sculptural
environment of seven
pyramidal structures that
respond sonically to the
viewer.
W06652|C|Y
0.0000 Sheet Music
_x000D_ EP73531 Y 31.95
73531 P73531 PANUFNIK,
ROXANNA C 9790577020976
61 8000 0.00 Sonnets
without Words A
9790577020976 EP73531
HORN PANUFNIK PHOTOPRINTS
PIANO ROXANNA SHAKESPEARE
SONNETS W03578 WILLIAM
WITHOUT WORDS English
Score & Instrumental
Parts 232 x 303 mm Horn
and piano 28 NEW PR43
UKTNT 21/04/2021 P 303006
Roxanna Panufnik's
Sonnets without
Words is a
contemporary piece for
Horn in F and piano.
Written for horn player
Ben Goldscheider,
Panufnik has reimagined
the lyrical vocal lines
from three of her
previous settings of
Shakespeare's sonnets
(Mine eye, Music to
hear and Sweet
Love Remember'd for
voice and piano) into a
purely instrumental
work.
Score and
horn
part.
Contempo
rary work for Horn in F
and
piano
Settings of
Sheakespeare's Sonnets 8,
24 & 29 in instrumental
form
W03578|C|Y
W06737|LY|N 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP73571 Y
15.95 73571 P73571
MCNEFF, STEPHEN C
9790577021317 20 8000
0.00 Trig for Solo Cello
A 9790577021317 (SOLO)
CELLO EP73571 MCNEFF
PHOTOPRINTS SOLO STEPHEN
TRIG W03150 English
00:07:0 Instrumental
Score 232 x 303 mm Solo
Violoncello 8 NEW PR43
UKTNT 21/04/2021 P 303006
Stephen McNeff's
Trig is a short
7-minute contemporary
work for solo cello,
written to celebrate the
bicentennial of the Royal
Academy of Music in 2022
and in memorium cellist
Mike Edwards
1948-2010.
Trig
was premiered by
Henry Hargreaves on 19
March 2021, livestreamed
from the Royal Academy of
Music.
Contemp
orary piece for solo
cello
Written for
the Royal Academy of
Music's
bicentennial
W03150|C|Y 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP14528 Y
34.95 14528 P14528
SAUNDERS, REBECCA C
9790014136796 3 8000 0.00
to an utterance - study A
9790014136796 (SOLO) AN
EP14528 PHOTOPRINTS PIANO
REBECCA SAUNDERS STUDY TO
UTTERANCE W04191 English
Instrumental Score 420 x
297 mm Piano Solo 16
DETNT NEW PR43 21/04/2021
P 303006
to an
utterance - study
was commissioned by
Klangforum Wien for the
premiere commercial audio
recording on a portrait
CD in 2020 and first
performed by Joonas
Ahonen at the Berlin
Philharmonie on 4th
September 2020 at the
Musikfest Berlin.
W04191|C|Y 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP71880 Y
75.00 71880 P71880
PANUFNIK, ROXANNA C
9790577008332 82 8000
0.00 Spirit Moves for
Brass Quintet A
9790577008332 BRASS
ENSEMBLE EP71880 MOVES
PANUFNIK PHOTOPRINTS
QUINTET ROXANNA SPIRIT
W03578 English 00:15:0
Score & Instrumental
Parts 232 x 303 mm
Trumpet 1 in B flat
(doubling Piccolo
Trumpet), Trumpet 2 in B
flat (doubling Flugel
Horn), Horn in F,
Trombone, Tuba 84 NEW
PR43 UKTNT 21/04/2021 P
303006
Roxanna
Panufnik's Spirit
Moves, for brass
quintet, was commissioned
by the Fine Arts Brass
Ensemble. This 15-minute
piece is scored for two
trumpets in Bb (one
doubling piccolo trumpet
and the other doubling
flugel horn), horn in F,
trombone and tuba. This
brass quintet is so
called because the outer
movements are highly
spirited and the
central one is
spiritual.
This product consists of
score and parts.
W03578|C|Y 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP73585 Y
4.00 73585 P73585 369282
WILLIAMS, RODERICK C
9790577021591 1 151 8000
0.00 Eriskay Love Lilt A
9790577021591 (SECULAR)
CHORAL EP73585 ERISKAY
HALSTAN-USA LILT LOVE
RODERICK TRADITIONAL
W05152 WILLIAMS WORKS
English 00:03:0 190 x 272
mm SATB (divisi) and
piano 16 NEW PR30 UKTNT
20/05/2021 P 377788
A
gently flowing 3-minute
arrangement by Roderick
Williams for SATB (with
divisi) with piano
accompaniment that
captures the beauty of
this famous traditional
Hebridean love song. The
song text uses both old
dialect and English, each
verse ending with the
words, 'Sad am I without
thee'.
Commiss
ioned by The Sixteen
choir and recorded on
their 2021 album
'Goodnight
Beloved'
Roderick
Williams is a
composer/arranger and
also a world-renowned
baritone
The
arrangement is described
by Williams as 'having a
little nod to Ravel and
Grieg'
W05152|C|Y W04819|LY|N
0.0000 Sheet Music
_x000D_ 9780193556782 Y
23.50 X556782 357665
9780193556782 MISC C 1
432 8030 0.00 Oxford Solo
Songs: Christmas 14 songs
with piano PAPER 14
9780193556782 A-B CAROLS
CHRISTMAS MISC
MISCELLANEOUS OXFORD
PIANO SOLO SONGS SONGS:
VOICE WITH AB 00:00:0
High voice & piano High
voice book + downloadable
backing tracks 311x232 72
NEW NONE 29/07/2021 P
355580 9780193556782
Young: A babe is
born
Rutter:
Angels' Carol
McDowall: Before the
paling of the stars
Rutter:
Candlelight Carol
Rutter: I sing
of a maiden
Chilcott: Mid-winter
Todd: My Lord
has Come
Bullard: Scots Nativity
Quartel: Snow
Angel
Todd:
Softly
Chilcott: Sweet was the
song
Chilcott:
The Shepherd's Carol
Quartel: This
endris night
McGlade: What child is
this?
for
high voice and piano
This beautiful
collection of 14 songs
for high voice offers
Christmas settings by
some of Oxford's
best-loved composers.
Suitable for solo singers
and unison choirs alike,
each song is presented
with piano accompaniment,
and high-quality,
downloadable backing
tracks are included on a
companion website. With a
wonderful selection of
pieces, including
favourites such as Bob
Chilcott's 'The
Shepherd's Carol' and
John Rutter's
'Candlelight Carol', this
is the perfect collection
for use in carol services
and Christmas concerts or
for enjoying at home.
Also available in a
volume for low voice and
piano.
14
songs for solo high
voice
Well-loved
composers, including John
Rutter and Bob
Chilcott
Wide
selection of sacred and
secular Christmas
texts
Accessible
accompaniments
Includes backing tracks
downloadable from a
Companion
Website
Available in volumes for
high and low solo
voice
MISC|AU|Y
0.0000 Paperback _x000D_
9780193559066 Y 4.25
X559066 357665
9780193559066 YOUNG C 1
444 8030 0.00 O splendour
of God's glory bright
PAPER 9780193559066
BRIGHT CHORAL GLORY GOD'S
MIXED OF OXFORD SACRED
SPLENDOUR TOBY VOICES
W06576 YOUNG C 00:03:30
SATB & organ Vocal score
254x178 SATB 20 NONE P
355580 9780193559066
for SATB and organ
This energetic
setting of words by St
Ambrose of Milan is a
real showstopper. With
pop-influences and a
sparkling organ part,
Young effortlessly fuses
modern and traditional
sound worlds, while
changes in key and metre
build up to an
invigorating finish.
Perfect for accomplished
choirs looking for
something different.
W06576|C|Y 0.0000
Paperback _x000D_
9780193554399 Y 2.60
X554399 357665
9780193554399 LASSUS,
ORLANDO DE C 1 445 8030
0.00 Oculus non vidit
PAPER 9780193554399
CHORAL DE KEANE LASSUS
MARK NON OCULUS ORLANDO
OXFORD SACRED UPPER VIDIT
VOICES W02750 B 00:01:30
SA unaccompanied Vocal
score 254x178 Upper
Voices - 3 parts or more
4 NONE 10/06/2021 P
355580 9780193554399
for SA unaccompanied
This simple, charming
two-part motet features
long melismatic phrases
that reflect the text (1
Corinthians 2: 9), such
as the rising melodic
line over three bars on
the word 'ascended'
(ascendit).
W02750|C|Y
W06960|E|N 0.0000
Paperback _x000D_
9780193954298 Y 3.35
X954298 357665
9780193954298 TALLIS,
THOMAS C 1 448 8030 0.00
Honor, virtus et potestas
PAPER 9780193954298
CANTICLES DUNKLEY ET
HONOR OXFORD POTESTAS
SALLY SERVICES TALLIS
THOMAS VIRTUS W04705 C
00:06:0 SAATB
unaccompanied Vocal score
MSER00020 SATB 12 NONE
28/05/2021 P 355580
9780193954298
for
SAATB unaccompanied.
This glorious musical
depiction of the honour,
strength, power and
authority of the Holy
Trinity by Thomas Tallis
is the third issue in the
CMS's series of great
English Responds from the
16th century, edited by
Sally Dunkley. Scored for
SAATB, it can be
performed either as a
motet or as a full
Responsory with plainsong
alternating with
polyphony.
W04705|C|Y
W01184|E|N 0.0000
Paperback _x000D_ EP73527
Y 6.95 73527 P73527
BEAMISH, SALLY C
9790577020891 50 8000
0.00 The Parting Glass A
9790577020891 (SOLO)
BEAMISH CLARINET EP73527
GLASS PARTING PHOTOPRINTS
SALLY W00306 English
Score 232 x 303 mm
Clarinet 4 NEW PR43 UKTNT
12/12/2020 P 303006
Based on a traditional
Scottish/Irish 'farewell'
song, this short piece is
one of six works written
to express my love of
Scotland. After living
there for nearly half my
life, and raising a
family, I moved back to
England in 2018, and
remarried in 2019.
Of course, there were
many different emotions
attached to the move
south: especially the joy
and excitement of new
beginnings, and
reconnection with friends
from my youth.
But this piece
expresses the wrench I
experienced after a last
family meal in Glasgow,
and the realisation of
all I was about to leave
behind.
I have
taken the melody of the
original song, and
expanded it, exploring
the detail of its
patterns, so that it
becomes a timeless
meditation.
The
six pieces in the
'farewell' series are for
6 violas, string quintet,
string quartet, trio,
violin and clarinet duo,
and solo clarinet.
The Parting Glass
was composed in 2020
during the coronavirus
lockdown, which
intensified the feeling
of separation from my
Scottish family, as well
as from other musicians.
It was
commissioned by Vittorio
Ceccanti for the
ContempoArtEnsemble.
W00306|C|Y 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP73516 Y
6.95 73516 P73516
BEAMISH, SALLY C
9790577020747 20 8000
0.00 Maple A
9790577020747 (SOLO)
BEAMISH CELLO EP73516
MAPLE PHOTOPRINTS SALLY
W00306 English 00:06:0
Score 232 x 303 mm
Contemporary cello solo 8
NEW PR43 UKTNT 12/12/2020
P 303006 Seed; Spinning
Seed; Roots, shoots;
Leaves ; Flowers; Tree ;
Autumn ; Cello
Maple arose
from a commission to
write a work for solo
cello, to be performed
alongside readings from
artist John Newling's
collection of letters
entitled 'Dear Nature'; a
poetic manifestation of
our relationship with the
natural world.
The
piece is in eight short
sections, to be
interspersed with
readings of groups of the
poems. It may also be
performed as a single
movement. It begins with
a seed - the seed of a
maple tree, as it hangs
on the mature tree, ready
to drop. The seeds are
like propellers,
sometimes travelling more
than a mile before
landing on the ground.
Maple follows
the growth of the tree to
maturity - which in
reality would take at
least a hundred years.
'Roots, shoots' grows
downwards and upwards
from a pedal note, and
the dance-like 'Flowers'
is followed by the
stately 'Tree', and then
the warm, cascading
'Autumn'. Maple is very
often the wood of choice
for the back of a
stringed instrument, and
the last section uses
open strings to explore
the full resonance of the
cello.
The piece
starts with a 'seed' of
only five notes, which
grows into different
configurations. It is
intended to be played in
an improvisatory
style.
Maple was
co-commissioned by
Brighton Festival, Ars et
Terra Festival with SACEM
and Ditchling Arts and
Crafts Museum, to be
performed by Margarita
Balanas as part of the
Brighton Festival's 'Dear
Nature' project.
W00306|C|Y 0.0000 Sheet
Music _x000D_ EP73508 Y
39.95 73508 P73508
DILLON, JAMES C
9790577020648 3 8000 0.00
echo the angelus A
9790577020648 (SOLO)
ANGELUS DILLON ECHO
EP73508 JAMES PHOTOPRINTS
PIANO W01097 English
00:25:0 Score 232 x 303
mm Piano Solo 44 NEW PR43
UKTNT 12/01/2021 P 303006
First performed by
Noriko Kawai for
Huddersfield Contemporary
Music Festival, in a
broadcast from the Radio
Theatre, BBC Broadcasting
House, November
2020.
Full of
beautifully crafted,
delicate
tintinnabulations -
Richard Morrison, The
Times
This
product is Printed on
Demand and may take
several weeks to fulfill.
Please order from your
favorite retailer.
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S).
UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720).
UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Piano and orchestra - difficult SKU: HL.49046544 For piano and orchest...(+)
Piano and orchestra -
difficult
SKU:
HL.49046544
For
piano and orchestra.
Composed by Gyorgy
Ligeti. This edition:
Saddle stitching. Sheet
music. Edition Schott.
Softcover. Composed
1985-1988. Duration 24'.
Schott Music #ED23178.
Published by Schott Music
(HL.49046544).
ISBN
9781705122655. UPC:
842819108726.
9.0x12.0x0.224
inches.
I composed
the Piano Concerto in two
stages: the first three
movements during the
years 1985-86, the next
two in 1987, the final
autograph of the last
movement was ready by
January, 1988. The
concerto is dedicated to
the American conductor
Mario di Bonaventura. The
markings of the movements
are the following: 1.
Vivace molto ritmico e
preciso 2. Lento e
deserto 3. Vivace
cantabile 4. Allegro
risoluto 5. Presto
luminoso.The first
performance of the
three-movement Concerto
was on October 23rd, 1986
in Graz. Mario di
Bonaventura conducted
while his brother,
Anthony di Bonaventura,
was the soloist. Two days
later the performance was
repeated in the Vienna
Konzerthaus. After
hearing the work twice, I
came to the conclusion
that the third movement
is not an adequate
finale; my feeling of
form demanded
continuation, a
supplement. That led to
the composing of the next
two movements. The
premiere of the whole
cycle took place on
February 29th, 1988, in
the Vienna Konzerthaus
with the same conductor
and the same pianist. The
orchestra consisted of
the following: flute,
oboe, clarinet, bassoon,
horn, trumpet, tenor
trombone, percussion and
strings. The flautist
also plays the piccoIo,
the clarinetist, the alto
ocarina. The percussion
is made up of diverse
instruments, which one
musician-virtuoso can
play. It is more
practical, however, if
two or three musicians
share the instruments.
Besides traditional
instruments the
percussion part calls
also for two simple wind
instruments: the swanee
whistle and the
harmonica. The string
instrument parts (two
violins, viola, cello and
doubles bass) can be
performed soloistic since
they do not contain
divisi. For balance,
however, the ensemble
playing is recommended,
for example 6-8 first
violins, 6-8 second, 4-6
violas, 4-6 cellos, 3-4
double basses. In the
Piano Concerto I realized
new concepts of harmony
and rhythm. The first
movement is entirely
written in bimetry:
simultaneously 12/8 and
4/4 (8/8). This relates
to the known triplet on a
doule relation and in
itself is nothing new.
Because, however, I
articulate 12 triola and
8 duola pulses, an
entangled, up till now
unheard kind of polymetry
is created. The rhythm is
additionally complicated
because of asymmetric
groupings inside two
speed layers, which means
accents are
asymmetrically
distributed. These
groups, as in the talea
technique, have a fixed,
continuously repeating
rhythmic structures of
varying lengths in speed
layers of 12/8 and 4/4.
This means that the
repeating pattern in the
12/8 level and the
pattern in the 4/4 level
do not coincide and
continuously give a
kaleidoscope of renewing
combinations. In our
perception we quickly
resign from following
particular rhythmical
successions and that what
is going on in time
appears for us as
something static,
resting. This music, if
it is played properly, in
the right tempo and with
the right accents inside
particular layers, after
a certain time 'rises, as
it were, as a plane after
taking off: the rhythmic
action, too complex to be
able to follow in detail,
begins flying. This
diffusion of individual
structures into a
different global
structure is one of my
basic compositional
concepts: from the end of
the fifties, from the
orchestral works
Apparitions and
Atmospheres I
continuously have been
looking for new ways of
resolving this basic
question. The harmony of
the first movement is
based on mixtures, hence
on the parallel leading
of voices. This technique
is used here in a rather
simple form; later in the
fourth movement it will
be considerably
developed. The second
movement (the only slow
one amongst five
movements) also has a
talea type of structure,
it is however much
simpler rhythmically,
because it contains only
one speed layer. The
melody is consisted in
the development of a
rigorous interval mode in
which two minor seconds
and one major second
alternate therefore nine
notes inside an octave.
This mode is transposed
into different degrees
and it also determines
the harmony of the
movement; however, in
closing episode in the
piano part there is a
combination of diatonics
(white keys) and
pentatonics (black keys)
led in brilliant,
sparkling quasimixtures,
while the orchestra
continues to play in the
nine tone mode. In this
movement I used isolated
sounds and extreme
registers (piccolo in a
very low register,
bassoon in a very high
register, canons played
by the swanee whistle,
the alto ocarina and
brass with a harmon-mute'
damper, cutting sound
combinations of the
piccolo, clarinet and
oboe in an extremely high
register, also
alternating of a
whistle-siren and
xylophone). The third
movement also has one
speed layer and because
of this it appears as
simpler than the first,
but actually the rhythm
is very complicated in a
different way here. Above
the uninterrupted, fast
and regular basic pulse,
thanks to the asymmetric
distribution of accents,
different types of
hemiolas and inherent
melodical patterns appear
(the term was coined by
Gerhard Kubik in relation
to central African
music). If this movement
is played with the
adequate speed and with
very clear accentuation,
illusory
rhythmic-melodical
figures appear. These
figures are not played
directly; they do not
appear in the score, but
exist only in our
perception as a result of
co-operation of different
voices. Already earlier I
had experimented with
illusory rhythmics,
namely in Poeme
symphonique for 100
metronomes (1962), in
Continuum for harpsichord
(1968), in Monument for
two pianos (1976), and
especially in the first
and sixth piano etude
Desordre and Automne a
Varsovie (1985). The
third movement of the
Piano Concerto is up to
now the clearest example
of illusory rhythmics and
illusory melody. In
intervallic and chordal
structure this movement
is based on alternation,
and also inter-relation
of various modal and
quasi-equidistant harmony
spaces. The tempered
twelve-part division of
the octave allows for
diatonical and other
modal interval
successions, which are
not equidistant, but are
based on the alternation
of major and minor
seconds in different
groups. The tempered
system also allows for
the use of the
anhemitonic pentatonic
scale (the black keys of
the piano). From
equidistant scales,
therefore interval
formations which are
based on the division of
an octave in equal
distances, the
twelve-tone tempered
system allows only
chromatics (only minor
seconds) and the six-tone
scale (the whole-tone:
only major seconds).
Moreover, the division of
the octave into four
parts only minor thirds)
and three parts (three
major thirds) is
possible. In several
music cultures different
equidistant divisions of
an octave are accepted,
for example, in the
Javanese slendro into
five parts, in Melanesia
into seven parts, popular
also in southeastern
Asia, and apart from
this, in southern Africa.
This does not mean an
exact equidistance: there
is a certain tolerance
for the inaccurateness of
the interval tuning.
These exotic for us,
Europeans, harmony and
melody have attracted me
for several years.
However I did not want to
re-tune the piano
(microtone deviations
appear in the concerto
only in a few places in
the horn and trombone
parts led in natural
tones). After the period
of experimenting, I got
to pseudo- or
quasiequidistant
intervals, which is
neither whole-tone nor
chromatic: in the
twelve-tone system, two
whole-tone scales are
possible, shifted a minor
second apart from each
other. Therefore, I
connect these two scales
(or sound resources), and
for example, places occur
where the melodies and
figurations in the piano
part are created from
both whole tone scales;
in one band one six-tone
sound resource is
utilized, and in the
other hand, the
complementary. In this
way whole-tonality and
chromaticism mutually
reduce themselves: a type
of deformed
equidistancism is formed,
strangely brilliant and
at the same time
slanting; illusory
harmony, indeed being
created inside the
tempered twelve-tone
system, but in sound
quality not belonging to
it anymore. The
appearance of such
slantedequidistant
harmony fields
alternating with modal
fields and based on
chords built on fifths
(mainly in the piano
part), complemented with
mixtures built on fifths
in the orchestra, gives
this movement an
individual, soft-metallic
colour (a metallic sound
resulting from
harmonics). The fourth
movement was meant to be
the central movement of
the Concerto. Its
melodc-rhythmic elements
(embryos or fragments of
motives) in themselves
are simple. The movement
also begins simply, with
a succession of
overlapping of these
elements in the mixture
type structures. Also
here a kaleidoscope is
created, due to a limited
number of these elements
- of these pebbles in the
kaleidoscope - which
continuously return in
augmentations and
diminutions. Step by
step, however, so that in
the beginning we cannot
hear it, a compiled
rhythmic organization of
the talea type gradually
comes into daylight,
based on the simultaneity
of two mutually shifted
to each other speed
layers (also triplet and
duoles, however, with
different asymmetric
structures than in the
first movement). While
longer rests are
gradually filled in with
motive fragments, we
slowly come to the
conclusion that we have
found ourselves inside a
rhythmic-melodical whirl:
without change in tempo,
only through increasing
the density of the
musical events, a
rotation is created in
the stream of successive
and compiled, augmented
and diminished motive
fragments, and increasing
the density suggests
acceleration. Thanks to
the periodical structure
of the composition,
always new but however of
the same (all the motivic
cells are similar to
earlier ones but none of
them are exactly
repeated; the general
structure is therefore
self-similar), an
impression is created of
a gigantic, indissoluble
network. Also, rhythmic
structures at first
hidden gradually begin to
emerge, two independent
speed layers with their
various internal
accentuations. This
great, self-similar whirl
in a very indirect way
relates to musical
associations, which came
to my mind while watching
the graphic projection of
the mathematical sets of
Julia and of Mandelbrot
made with the help of a
computer. I saw these
wonderful pictures of
fractal creations, made
by scientists from Brema,
Peitgen and Richter, for
the first time in 1984.
From that time they have
played a great role in my
musical concepts. This
does not mean, however,
that composing the fourth
movement I used
mathematical methods or
iterative calculus;
indeed, I did use
constructions which,
however, are not based on
mathematical thinking,
but are rather craftman's
constructions (in this
respect, my attitude
towards mathematics is
similar to that of the
graphic artist Maurits
Escher). I am concerned
rather with intuitional,
poetic, synesthetic
correspondence, not on
the scientific, but on
the poetic level of
thinking. The fifth, very
short Presto movement is
harmonically very simple,
but all the more
complicated in its
rhythmic structure: it is
based on the further
development of ''inherent
patterns of the third
movement. The
quasi-equidistance system
dominates harmonically
and melodically in this
movement, as in the
third, alternating with
harmonic fields, which
are based on the division
of the chromatic whole
into diatonics and
anhemitonic pentatonics.
Polyrhythms and harmonic
mixtures reach their
greatest density, and at
the same time this
movement is strikingly
light, enlightened with
very bright colours: at
first it seems chaotic,
but after listening to it
for a few times it is
easy to grasp its
content: many autonomous
but self-similar figures
which crossing
themselves. I present my
artistic credo in the
Piano Concerto: I
demonstrate my
independence from
criteria of the
traditional avantgarde,
as well as the
fashionable
postmodernism. Musical
illusions which I
consider to be also so
important are not a goal
in itself for me, but a
foundation for my
aesthetical attitude. I
prefer musical forms
which have a more
object-like than
processual character.
Music as frozen time, as
an object in imaginary
space evoked by music in
our imagination, as a
creation which really
develops in time, but in
imagination it exists
simultaneously in all its
moments. The spell of
time, the enduring its
passing by, closing it in
a moment of the present
is my main intention as a
composer. (Gyorgy
Ligeti).
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.114405050 Composed by John Downey. S...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.114405050
Composed
by John Downey. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation. 53
pages. Duration 25
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-40505.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114405050).
UPC:
680160008377. 11 x 14
inches.
Although
structurally it
subdivides into five
movements, the entire
quartet emerges as one
vast continuum. There are
no formal breaks between
movements. However,
certain musical signposts
can be discerned,
associated with each of
the movements'
terminations and new
beginnings. The opening
movement, The Nostalgia
of Clanging Bell
Sonorities, begins
floating on recurrent Bbs
whose soft rhythmic flow
slowly puts into motion
strong undercurrents
suggestive of the latent
power of water... After
several suggestions of
tolling bells, the
movement gradually fades
into hushed tones of
veiled and very distant
sonorities. It uses a
unique efffect, for the
first time in a musical
context, conveyed through
the use of extra heavy
practice mutes. The
second movement, The
Spill of Water ,
disengages itself from
the first through its
distinct contrast in
tempo. Water moves fast,
and when it splashes, it
tends to run wildly. In
this case, it happens to
be bubbly water that
gushes forth bodly...
smashing across rocky
shorlines. So, too, the
music attempts to conjure
such moods. At the end of
this movement, a cello
cadenza emerges,
introducing an
introspective type of
melodicism. The third
movement, The Poignancy
of Memory, contains many
silences as it tries to
convey memory through
fragmented remembrances
much like often occur in
our dream state.
Progressing through
several slowly building
images, it gradually
works itself into
juxtaposition of musical
images. Towards the
movement's end, high
harmonics are sounding in
all four instruments
while left hand pizzicato
notes in the cello pluch
the last remembrances of
this central core. Almost
imperceptibly, the viola
assumes leadership as it
dissolves into: The
fourth movement, The
Fluidity of Motion, which
has mostly the viola, but
also the cello,
articulating lyrical
statements against the
sheets of sound conjured
up by the two violins
playing a flood of
swirling figures, evokes
a kind of static motion
in spae. Here, the
virtually imperceptible
manner in which this
hushed whisper continues
incessantly, can suggest
the potential fluidity
with which movement may
inch forward... Later
into the fourth movement
, two fairly extended
solos by the second and
then the first violins,
lead to a kind of
spontaneous dialogue
among the four
instrumentalists.
Eventually, this musical
conversation gets caught
up in: The fifth
movement's The Rush of
Time, which opens with a
hushed flurry of speed,
precipitates the Finale.
It generates, at first
slowly, but then very
swiftly, whole shifts of
rhythmic fields that
initially seem to
conflict with one
another. Ultimately, this
use of 'psycho-rhythmics
contributes to an on-rush
of motion and time.
Rhythmic changes are, at
times, abruptly
precipitated with but
little or no preparation
creating a kind of
inevitability in forward
thrust, while the
movement rushes forward
with a feeling of gradual
and continuous
acceleration. It gathers
density as more and more
notes are piled
progressively upon
successive beats. The
attempt is to spark
tension and ignite
excitement by means of
frenetic confrontations
of dissimilitudes.
Ultimately - with the
help of time - these
polarities centrifically
spin out their own
destinies with their
accompanying fall-out and
own inevitable
resolutions.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.11440505S Composed by John Downey. F...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.11440505S
Composed
by John Downey. Full
score. With Standard
notation. 53 pages.
Duration 25 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#114-40505S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.11440505S).
UPC:
680160008391. 11 x 14
inches.
Although
structurally it
subdivides into five
movements, the entire
quartet emerges as one
vast continuum. There are
no formal breaks between
movements. However,
certain musical signposts
can be discerned,
associated with each of
the movements'
terminations and new
beginnings. The opening
movement, The Nostalgia
of Clanging Bell
Sonorities, begins
floating on recurrent Bbs
whose soft rhythmic flow
slowly puts into motion
strong undercurrents
suggestive of the latent
power of water... After
several suggestions of
tolling bells, the
movement gradually fades
into hushed tones of
veiled and very distant
sonorities. It uses a
unique effect, for the
first time in a musical
context, conveyed through
the use of extra heavy
practice mutes. The
second movement, The
Spill of Water,
disengages itself from
the first through its
distinct contrast in
tempo. Water moves fast,
and when it splashes, it
tends to run wildly. In
this case, it happens to
be bubbly water that
gushes forth bodly...
smashing across rocky
shorelines. So, too, the
music attempts to conjure
such moods. At the end of
this movement, a cello
cadenza emerges,
introducing an
introspective type of
melodicism. The third
movement, The Poignancy
of Memory, contains many
silences as it tries to
convey memory through
fragmented remembrances
much like often occur in
our dream state.
Progressing through
several slowly building
images, it gradually
works itself into
juxtaposition of musical
images. Towards the
movement's end, high
harmonics are sounding in
all four instruments
while left hand pizzicato
notes in the cello pluck
the last remembrances of
this central core. Almost
imperceptibly, the viola
assumes leadership as it
dissolves into: The
fourth movement, The
Fluidity of Motion, which
has mostly the viola, but
also the cello,
articulating lyrical
statements against sheets
of sound conjured up by
the two violins playing a
flood of swirling
figures, evokes a kind of
static motion in space.
Here , the virtually
imperceptible manner in
which this hushed whisper
continues incessantly,
can suggest the potential
fluidity with which
movement may inch
forward... Later into the
fourth movement, two
fairly extended solos by
the second and then the
first violins, lead to a
kind of spontaneous
dialogue amont the four
instrumentalists.
Eventually, this musical
conversation gets caught
up in: The fifth
movement's The Rush of
Time, which opens with a
hushed flurry of speed,
precipitates the Finale.
It generates, at first
slowly, but then very
swiftly, whole shifts of
rhythmic fields that
initially seem to
conflict with one
another. Ultimately, this
use of psycho-rhythmics
contributes to an on-rush
seem of motion and time.
Rhythmic changes are, at
times, abruptly
precipitated with but
little or no preparation
creating a kind of
inevitability in forward
thrust, while the
movement rushes forward
with a feeling of gradual
and continuous
acceleration. It gathers
density as more and more
notes are piled
progressively upon
successive beats. The
attempt is to spark
tension and ignite
excitement by means of
frenetic confrontations
of dissimilitudes.
Ultimately - with the
help of time - these
polarities centrifically
spin out their own
destinies with their
accompanying fall-out and
own inevitable
resolutions.
Quicksilver Saxophone Alto et Piano Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music Piano, alto Saxophone SKU: PR.114419850 Composed by Stacy G...(+)
Chamber Music Piano, alto
Saxophone
SKU:
PR.114419850
Composed
by Stacy Garrop. Sws. See
lengthy program note on
prefatory page. Set of
Score and Parts. 44+24
pages. Duration 23
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-41985.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114419850).
ISBN
9781491135808. UPC:
680160681044. 9 x 12
inches.
Both a
spectacular concerto for
saxophone, and a dramatic
tone poem on Roman
mythology, QUICKSILVER is
a 23-minute concerto for
Alto Saxophone and Wind
Ensemble by one of the
sax literature’s
most commissioned and
admired composers.Through
worded captions as well
as gorgeously expressive
tone painting, Movement 1
depicts the birth and
childhood pranks of
Mercury, Movement 2 shows
him escorting souls to
the gates of the
Underworld, and Movement
3 is a phantasmagoric
finale portraying Mercury
as messenger amid the
conflicts of other
mythological figures.
There are many YouTube
performances available,
both in the original
version with Wind
Ensemble, and with
Piano. In addition to
being another name for
the element mercury,
“quicksilverâ€
is used to describe
something that changes
quickly or is difficult
to contain. My concerto
of the same name was
inspired by the Roman god
Mercury, as well as the
mercurial nature of the
saxophone: unpredictable,
very lively, and
volatile. Mercury (known
as Hermes in Greek
mythology) is best known
for his winged shoes,
which allowed him to fly
swiftly as the messenger
of his fellow Olympians.
Mercury had other duties
too, including serving as
the god of merchants,
travelers, and
tricksters; he also
ushered souls of the
departed to the
Underworld.Quicksilver
tells three tales of the
Roman god. The first
movement (Antics of a
Newborn God) opens with
the birth of Mercury;
after he takes his first
steps, he toddles around,
gleefully looking for
mischief. He stumbles
across a herd of cows
that belong to his
brother Apollo; Mercury
slyly lets the cows out
of their pen before
toddling onward with his
mischief-making.In the
second movement (Guiding
Souls to the Underworld),
Pluto, god of the
Underworld, bids Mercury
to bring him fresh souls.
The movement begins with
death-knells tolling for
humans who are about to
die; Mercury picks up
these souls and leads
them down to the gates of
the Underworld.The third
and final movement
(Messenger of Olympus)
depicts Mercury as he is
busily running errands
for various gods and
goddesses. We first
encounter him mid-flight
as he dashes to earth to
find Aeneas, a Trojan
lieutenant who had been
run out of Troy by the
invading Greeks. Aeneas
is on a quest to find
land on which to
establish a new city that
would eventually become
Rome. While traveling, he
is distracted from his
quest when he meets the
beautiful queen Dido.
They live together for
many years before Mercury
intervenes; he chastises
Aeneas for giving up on
his quest and persuades
him to pick it up again.
As Aeneas mournfully
resumes his journey, we
hear Dido perish of a
broken heart. Mercury
then takes to the skies
to seek out Perseus, who
is preparing to kill
Medusa, the hideous
gorgon who has snakes for
hair and a gaze that
turns those who catch her
glance into stone.
Mercury advises Perseus
on how to slay Medusa and
lends Perseus his sword
to do the deed. We hear
Perseus victorious in the
beheading of Medusa,
after which Mercury takes
to the skies once more to
fly home to Olympus.
Chamber Music Cello,
Flute, Viola 1, Viola 2,
Violin
SKU:
CF.MXE219
Composed by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Arranged by Robert
Stallman. Sws.
56+16+16+16+16+12 pages.
Carl Fischer Music
#MXE219. Published by
Carl Fischer Music
(CF.MXE219).
ISBN
9781491157794. UPC:
680160916399. 9 x 12
inches.
Composed by Harl
Mcdonald. This edition:
Study Score.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
84 pages. Duration 15
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #466-41177.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.466411770).
UPC:
680160640850. 9 x 12
inches.
Mississippi
I. Father of Waters: born
of the Highlands and the
Lakes; the Glaciers, the
Mountains, and the
Prairies. The picture of
your birth is clounded in
the ice and mists of
ancient ages but your
spirit remains our life
stream. II. The Red Man
knew your bountiful gifts
and gave thanks to the
Great Spirit on your
banks. -- The Spanish and
French Fathers brought
the glory of Christianity
to America on
Mississippi. But all men,
white and dark; --
Indian, Spaniard, and
Negro; Bourbon and
Yankee, combined to make
Mississippi the heart of
America. Saga of the
Mississippi Harl McDonald
Born near Boulder,
Colorado, July 27, 1899
Now living in
Philadelphia The original
suggestion for a
symphonic work on the
subject of the
Mississippi came
indirectly from the late
Booth Tarkington who saw
in it color and movement
and atmosphere
translatable into the
terms of music. In the
course of time, by the
mysterious processes of
composers' chemistry, it
took shape as a tone-poem
of two sections, one
representing the rise of
the great stream from its
primeval geologic
sources, the other the
human history of the
river. Mr. McDonald
devised the following
verbal outline of the
general scheme of his
diptych: I. Father of
Waters: born of the
Highlands and the Lakes;
the Glaciers, the
Mountains, and the
Prairies. The picture of
your birth is clounded in
the ice and mists of
ancient ages but your
spirit remains our life
stream. II. The Red Man
knew your bountiful gifts
and gave thanks to the
Great Spirit on your
banks. -- The Spanish and
French Fathers brought
the glory of Christianity
to America on
Mississippi. But all men,
white and dark; --
Indian, Spaniard, and
Negro; Bourbon and
Yankee, combined to make
Mississippi the heart of
America. The first of the
two movements, beginning
molto andante, is vaguel
modal to hint at
antiquity. It is built
upon the conventional two
themes, with an episode,
poco piu mosso,
misterioso, for
prehistoric murk and
muck. There are various
changes of pace and mood.
The second, Allegro ma
vigorosamente, prefigures
an Indian ceremony. A
theme presented by flute,
clarinet and bassoon is a
Canadian Indian fishing
call collected by the
late J.B. Beck. A later
passage of
quasi-Gregorian chant
identifies the French and
Spanish priests who made
the great river their
highway. The fishing-call
is altered in rhythm and
harmony to represent
Negro field hands and
roustabous. A turbulent
close brings all these
elemts together in the
muddy swirling currents
of the Mississippi. The
work was begun in the
summer of 1945, and was
revised and completed in
the summer of 1947. Harl
McDonald, who is the
manager of The
Philadelphia Orchestra,
has concerned himself
with music as an art, as
a science and as a
business in course of his
career. He was born on a
cattle ranch in the
Rockies, but since his
was a musical family, his
up-bringing combined
piano lessons with ranch
life. Years of study and
professional experience
followed in Los Angeles
and in Germany. In 1927
he was appointed lecuter
in composition at the
University of
Pennsylvania and he has
since then made is home
in Philadelphia. In 1933
under a grant of the
Rockefeller FOundation he
collaborated with
physicists in research
dealing with the
measurement of
instrumental and vocal
tone, new scale divisions
and the resultant
harmonies. In that same
year he was named head of
the University's music
faculty and conductor of
its choral organizations.
In 1939, having been a
member of the Board of
Directors for five years,
he was appointed manager
of The Philadelphia
Orchestra. He continus to
write, but otherwise his
entire attention is now
devoted to managerial
duties. Chief items in
the catalogue of his
compositions are four
symphonies, three
orchestra suites, a
half-dozen tone-poems,
three concertos and
considerable quantity of
choral music.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.114410380 Composed by Lowell Lieberm...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.114410380
Composed
by Lowell Liebermann.
Saddle, Tape Junction.
Set of Score and Parts.
With Standard notation.
Composed 1998. Opus 60.
48 + 92 pages. Duration
30 minutes. Theodore
Presser Company
#114-41038. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114410380).
UPC:
680160015160. 9.5 x 13
inches.
My second
String Quartet was
written twenty years
after the first, Opus 4
from 1978. The First
Quartet is an obsessively
contrapuntal work in one
movement, which was no
doubt influenced by my
studies with David
Diamond. I had always
intended to return to the
medium once I left the
astringency of my earlier
style, but it was only
when the National
Federation of Music Clubs
commissioned a major
chamber work, with
unspecified
instrumentation, to
celebrate their 100th
Anniversary that I was
enabled to do so. The
Second Quartet is in four
movements: Moderato,
Allegro isterico, an
Andante theme with 11
variations, and the
closing Allegro, which
then returns to the tempo
of the first movement. An
audience member at the
premiere told me that she
heard echoes of recent
tragic events such as the
Oklahoma bombing in this
work. While I had no such
programmatic intent while
writing the quartet, it
was not an entirely
incorrect assessment of
the work's intended
emotional impact. The
quartet is pervaded by a
sense of seriousness,
even mournfulness. The
second movement's scherzo
is an aggressively
animated piece of musical
machinery. The third
movement's Variations
unfold into a greater
variety of moods than the
others - but the moments
of lyricism are countered
by aggressive or ironic
outbursts. The final
movement's attempt at
triumph quickly subsides
into a return of the
first movement, before
being transformed onto a
sense of resignation and
acceptance as the
chromaticism of the
opening theme is
transformed into a pure
and diatonic C-Major. The
work received its world
premiere by the Shanghai
Quartet at the 100th
Anniversary Congress of
the National Federation
of Music Clubs at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago
on August 19th
1998. My second String
Quartet was written
twenty years after the
first, Opus 4 from
1978. The First
Quartet is an obsessively
contrapuntal work in one
movement, which was no
doubt influenced by my
studies with David
Diamond. I had always
intended to return to the
medium once I left the
astringency of my earlier
style, but it was only
when the National
Federation of Music Clubs
commissioned a major
chamber work, with
unspecified
instrumentation, to
celebrate their 100th
Anniversary that I was
enabled to do so.The
Second Quartet is in four
movements:Â Moderato,
Allegro isterico, an
Andante theme with 11
variations, and the
closing Allegro, which
then returns to the tempo
of the first movement.An
audience member at the
premiere told me that she
heard echoes of recent
tragic events such as the
Oklahoma bombing in this
work. While I had no
such programmatic intent
while writing the
quartet, it was not an
entirely incorrect
assessment of the
work’s intended
emotional impact. The
quartet is pervaded by a
sense of seriousness,
even mournfulness.Â
The second
movement’s scherzo
is an aggressively
animated piece of musical
machinery. The third
movement’s
Variations unfold into a
greater variety of moods
than the others –
but the moments of
lyricism are countered by
aggressive or ironic
outbursts. The final
movement’s attempt
at triumph quickly
subsides into a return of
the first movement,
before being transformed
onto a sense of
resignation and
acceptance as the
chromaticism of the
opening theme is
transformed into a pure
and diatonic C-Major.The
work received its world
premiere by the Shanghai
Quartet at the 100th
Anniversary Congress of
the National Federation
of Music Clubs at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago
on August 19th 1998.
Orchestra - all SKU: PR.816600040 Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. CD...(+)
Orchestra - all
SKU:
PR.816600040
Composed
by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. CD Sheet Music
(Version 1). Full Scores
to all of the major works
for orchestra by Mozart -
parts not included.
Classical Period. CD
Sheet Music. 2000
printable pages.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.816600040).
UPC:
680160600045. 5.5x5
inches.
This disk
contains study scores of
all 41 of Mozart's
Symphonies, as well as
Concertos for Winds and
Strings (Piano Concertos
are on a companion
CD-ROM), Serenades, Opera
Overtures, Divertimentos,
and other works.
About CD Sheet
Music (Version
1)
CD
Sheet Music (Version 1)
was the initial CD Sheet
Music series distributed
by Theodore Presser. The
CDs include thousands of
pages of music that are
viewable and printable on
Mac or PC. Version 1
titles are a great value
at 40% off, as we make
room in our warehouse for
the newly enhanced CD
Sheet Music (Version 2.0)
series.
Edited by Elisabeth Weinzierl; Edmund Wachter. For 2 Flutes. This edition: Stapl...(+)
Edited by Elisabeth
Weinzierl; Edmund
Wachter. For 2 Flutes.
This edition: Stapled
(2). Ready to Play. 2
Performance scores,
Anthology. Text Language:
German/English. 31/31
pages. Published by
Baerenreiter Verlag
Vistas. Composed
by Shulamit Ran. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation. 42 +
112 pages. Duration 25
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-40698.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114406980).
UPC:
680160010806.
Shula
mit Ran’s second
string quartet, subtitled
“Vistas,â€
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,
“Vistasâ€, 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’
“properâ€
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:Â 1)
Concentric:Â from the
inside out 2)Â
Stasis 3) FlashesÂ
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.Â
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
lightâ€, but also a
“brief
timeâ€. Perhaps,
even, a
“smile�Final
ly, the last movement,
Vista, is not only
“a view or
outlookâ€, but also
“a comprehensive
mental view of a series
of remembered or
anticipated
events.â€Â 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.Â
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.