Sona
ta No. 6 Kharkiv for
guitar solo was composed
in 2021, in the end of
the COVID-19 lockdown. At
that time my family and I
were staying in our home
city of Kharkiv (also
known as Kharkov),
Ukraine for almost two
years. We considered that
pandemic period as a
disaster, but later have
realized that it actually
was a rather happy time,
because a war came to our
homeland just a few
months later. Since 2022
a considerable fraction
of the 1.5 millions of
Kharkiv citizens have
left their homes, those
who stayed have been
living under ceaseless
missile attacks, and many
have been killed. I would
like to dedicate this
Sonata to the frontier
city of Kharkiv and, most
of all, to its citizens
suffering from the
war. Yet, the music of
the Sonata does not have
any specific program.
Here I will give a brief
overview of its main
composition elements to
facilitate future
interpretations. The
first and fourth
movements of this Sonata
are based on the
interplay between the
twelve-tone principle and
the G-major tonal center,
natural for the guitar.
Namely, the first
movement is based on the
interaction of the
G-major triad Gâ??Bâ??D
of the open guitar
strings 2â??3â??4,
ascending motif 1
involving the notes
Eâ??F#â??Aâ??C#
(originally on the first
string), and descending
motif 2 using the notes
E-â??Câ??Bbâ??A-
(originally, on the bass
string 6). These elements
supplement each other to
almost make up twelve
tones (apart from the
missing F), and the
motifs alternate with
ostinato fragments where
each note in the G major
triad is step-by-step
moved by a semitone up or
down. The second
movement is a Scherzo
involving numerous
semitones in accented
chords and fast passages,
as well as chromatic
melodic motion in the
bass voice. It is almost
atonal in some fragments,
but has an overall tonal
center of A-minor. The
third movement is a
meditative Adagio based
on a theme composed
within hexatonic scale
Dâ??Eâ??Fâ??G#â??Aâ?
?B and ostinato chords
involving open bass
strings Eâ??Aâ??D and
semitone
Bâ??C. Finally, the
fourth movement is based
on the complete
twelve-tone theme
consisting of two phrases
including motifs 1 and 2
from the first movement:
Gâ??Fâ??Bbâ??Abâ??Câ
??Ebâ??D and
Eâ??Bâ??C#â??Aâ??F#.
This theme is presented
in its prime and
retrograde forms. There
are dialogues between the
first string, basses and
open middle strings,
similar to the first
movement. In the
culmination, the
twelve-tone theme is
performed using the
parallel motion of the
standard guitar G-major
chord with open middle
strings across twelve
positions. The Sonata
was premiered and
recorded (CD Naxos No.
8.574630) by the
prominent Ukrainian
guitarist Marko Topchii
who has also lived and
studied in Kharkiv. I am
extremely grateful to him
for the brilliant
performance of this
piece. I am greatly
indebted to Productions
dâ??Oz for keeping my
original notations in
places where these do not
conform to the
publisherâ??s style.
Space Probe Orchestre d'harmonie [Conducteur] - Facile Curnow Music
Concert Band/Harmonie - Grade 2.5 SKU: BT.CMP-0625-02-140 Composed by Jam...(+)
Concert Band/Harmonie -
Grade 2.5
SKU:
BT.CMP-0625-02-140
Composed by James Hosay.
Passport Plus Series.
Concert Piece. Score
Only. Composed 2002. 32
pages. Curnow Music #CMP
0625-02-140. Published by
Curnow Music
(BT.CMP-0625-02-140).
Now your band
can boldly go where no
band has gone before, and
bring the “final
frontier†to your
concert band stage!
Here’s James L.
Hosay’s
imaginative new tone poem
SPACE PROBE. Since the
1970's, NASA has been
launching long-range,
solar-powered probes into
space. Over the past 30
years, the Voyager,
Pioneer, and Galileo
series’ probes
have sent back incredible
photographs. The data
sent to Earth by these
probes, along with recent
photos and information
gathered by the orbital
telescope, Hubble, has
helped astronomers chart
the ever-expanding
universe all the way back
to its origins. This
composition provides
excellent opportunities
for cross-curriculum
teaching withscience. A
scintillating musical
spacescape ushers in the
bold thematic statement
in the Trumpets and Alto
Saxophones. French Horns
join in thrilling
variation. A boundless
contrasting espressivo
theme soars through to
the reprise of the
initial ideas. Explore
SPACE PROBE with your
band this year.
Inspiring!
And
Final Version (1872/74) -
Opera in 4 Acts and
Prologue. Composed by
Modest Mussorgskij.
Arranged by Pawel Lamm.
Softcover. Bessel,
London. Opera; Music
theatre; Romantic.
Libretto. 48 pages.
Breitkopf and Haertel
#BES 3089. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.BES-3089).
ISBN
9790004610022. 0 x 0
inches.
Duration:
full evening Text by
the composer after
Alexander Pushkins
Dramatic Chronic of Tsars
Boris and Grishka
Otrepiev and Nikolai
Karamsins History of the
Russian
Empire Translation:
German (M. Hube), Engl.
(D. Lloyd-Jones)
Place and time:
Moscow and environment,
Court of the Novodevichy
Monastery, Tshudov
Monastery, Roadside Inn
near the Lithuanian
frontier, Tsar's Chamber
in Kremlin, Castle of
Sandomir, Kromy Forest,
1598-1605
Characte
rs: Boris Godunov
(baritone) - Feodor and
Xenia, his Children
(mezzo-soprano, soprano)
- Wet Nurse Xenias (alto)
- Prince Wassily
Ivanovitch Shuisky
(tenor) - Andrej
Schtschelkalov, Secret
Scribe (baritone) -
Pimen, Chronic Scribe
(bass) - Grigory
Otrepiev, later Dmitry
(tenor) - Marina
Mnischek, Wojewoden von
Sandomir's Daughter
(mezzo-soprano) -
Rangoni, Secret Jew
(bass) - Varlaam and
Missail, escaped Monks
(bass, tenor) -Roadside
Inn Landlady
(mezzo-soprano) - A
Simpleton (tenor) -
Nikititsh, Church
Advocate (bass) - a Boyar
(tenor) - Boyar
Chrushtschov (tenor) -
Mitjucha, Farmer
(baritone) - Lowitzki and
Tschernjakowski, Jesuits
(basses)
The
Original version of
1868/69 consists of seven
scenes in one prologue
and three acts: 1.
Courtyard of the
Novodevichy monastery -
2. Square in the Kremlin.
Coronation scene. - 3.
Pimen's cell in the
Chudov monastery - 4. Inn
scene - 5. A room in the
Czar's apartments in the
Kremlin - 6. Outside St.
Basil's Cathedral - 7.
Council of Boyars. Death
of Boris.
When the
work was rejected by St.
Petersburg's Mariinsky
Theater Mussorgsky
followed the advice of
friends and revised the
opera. In the Final
version of 1871/72 he
expanded the fifth scene
scrapped the sixth and
added three new scenes so
that the opera now
consisted of nine scenes
in one prologue and four
acts:
1.- 4. see
1868/69 - 5. A room in
the Czar's apartments in
the Kremlin - 6. Marina's
boudoir in Sandomir - 7.
Palace park in Sandomir -
8. Council of Boyars.
Death of Boris - 9. In
the forest of Kromy
(Revolution
scene)
The score
published under the
supervision of Pavel Lamm
in the Complete Edition
(1928) and the piano
reduction (1931) contain
the parts of both
versions transmitted in
score as well as in the
piano reduction all the
changes made by
Mussorgsky in his piano
reduction of 1874. The
performance material can
thus be used for a
production of either the
original version or the
final version according
to need.