Par JARRELL MICHAEL. De la nature... du musical Michael Jarrell, né en 1958, est l'un des compositeurs les plus en vue de sa génération. Dans une démarche toute personnelle, qui ne s'est inféodée à aucun mouvement, et dans une quête intérieure inlassablement poursuivie, il a opéré une synthèse de l'héritage des musiques d'après-guerre dont il a extrait certaines caractéristiques techniques pour les mettre au service d'une véritable poétique musicale. En effet, contrairement à ses aînés, il explore moins le langage pour lui-même, faisant des nouvelles techniques le lieu d'une mutation dans la pensée musicale, qu'il ne cherche à le mettre au service de l'expression. Aussi se méfie-t-il d'une conceptualisation excessive, et de l'utopie dont l'oeuvre serait porteuse, préférant mettre en valeur les vertus d'un artisanat qu'il enseigne par ailleurs à Vienne et à Genève, ainsi que lors de nombreux séminaires à travers l'Europe. Ses oeuvres, facilement identifiables dans l'abondante production contemporaine, sont toutes liées les unes aux autres, non seulement par une certaine forme de sensibilité, leur tonalité propre, mais aussi par la récurrence de certains traits que Jarrell retravaille dans des contextes différents. Il s'est ainsi très tôt constitué un univers qu'il ne cesse de remodeler, visant moins l'originalité apparente de chacune des pièces qu'un déplacement constant des perspectives dans lesquelles les mêmes idées, en elles, peuvent être appréhendées. 'Cent fois sur le métier...' voilà quelle pourrait être sa devise. On trouve ainsi dans chacune de ses oeuvres quelque chose de familier qui acquiert en même temps une certaine étrangeté, sentiment qui constitue peut-être un élément essentiel de son expressivité. La musique de Jarrell arpente les régions du rêve et de l'irréalité, à la recherche de son moment de vérité, souvent situé dans les sonorités les plus graves et tes plus lentes, là où le temps, ailleurs agité, s'immobilise. C'est peut-être ce qui confère à sa musique une forme de tendresse inséparable de la beauté sonore, allant jusqu'à un esthétisme raffiné, loin des recherches extrêmes et des formulations autoritaires. Chez lui, même les techniques instrumentales les plus inhabituelles, ou les sonorités électroniques, auxquelles il a souvent recours, sont rapatriées dans un monde sensible emprunt de pureté où ce sont les qualités expressives qui dominent. Celles-ci ne renvoient pas forcément au moi du compositeur, qui tend au contraire à s'effacer, mais davantage à l'essence même du musical, au phénomène en soi, porteur d'une présence singulière au monde. On retrouve de telles qualités dans sa dernière oeuvre, ...Le ciel, tout à l'heure si limpide, soudain se trouble horriblement..., commandée par l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Elle fait appel à un grand orchestre symphonique standard: 3 flûtes (dont alto et piccolo, 2 hautbois et cor anglais, 2 clarinettes et clarinette basse, 2 bassons et contrebasson, 4 cors, 3 trompettes, 3 trombones, tuba, harpe, timbales, 4 percussions (vibraphone, glockenspiel, cloches tubes, cymbales, bongos, tam-tam, grosse caisse, temple blocks, tom grave, spring coils, triangle, mark tree) et cordes. Malgré un titre qui pourrait sous-entendre un élément programmatique, l'oeuvre appartient à la catégorie de la musique pure. L'orchestre y est traité de façon conventionnelle, mais avec une virtuosité d'écriture, un raffinement dans la sonorité qui exige beaucoup de ses interprètes. D'un seul tenant, l'oeuvre se divise en quatre parties principales d'inégale longueur, les deux premières étant plus importantes que les deux suivantes: la première est constituée d'un continuum de notes rapides réparties entre les cordes et Les bois, tandis que les trompettes, doublées par différents instruments, lancent une figure d'appel incisive qui s'allonge progressivement. L'écriture est d'une grande virtuosité, les figurations en triples croches passant d'un instrument ou d'un groupe à un autre. Les notes rapides se figent une première fois dans des oscillations jouées notamment par les cordes divisées, puis à travers des notes répétées qui traversent toute la texture orchestrale. Après un passage intermédiaire privilégiant les sons graves, l'écriture vive reprend jusqu'à un sommet dramatique marqué par des trilles, aussitôt suivi d'une désintégration qui mène à la seconde partie. Celle-ci débute avec des quintes jouées par les cordes graves divisées et colorées par les percussions (les contrebasses, qui doivent modifier leur accord, jouent des sons harmoniques). La musique semble vouloir repartir d'un point originel, elle se réinvente à partir d'une structure élémentaire, dans une extrême douceur. L'impétuosité du début laisse place à une grande délicatesse des sonorités. C'est un trait que l'on retrouve dans de nombreuses pièces de Jarrell: après l'effervescence d'une écriture brillante, agitée, nerveuse, que l'auditeur suit dans sa course folle, vient un moment réflexif et profond, qui nécessite une réorientation de l'écoule, une plongée dans la nature même du phénomène sonore. La trame qui se déploie dans un tempo lent offre ainsi une autre image de la sonorité orchestrale, comme si une musique des origines, au caractère de litanie, était soudain dévoilée sous la couche éclatante du début. Elle donne le sentiment d'avoir commencé bien avant son moment d'apparition, comme si elle provenait des couches profondes de la conscience, d'une mémoire archaïque. D'ailleurs, Jarrell réélabore ici un passage d'une pièce antérieure, Music for a While, lui reprenant son matériau de base. Le sentiment de profondeur est dû au formidable ralentissement du temps, qui nous met soudainement en apesanteur, mais aussi à une forme en spirale, qui tranche avec la musique directionnelle qui précédait. L'effet que provoque la distance sensible entre de tels contrastes est onirique: on ne sait plus si la première partie, qui nous échappe en se projetant vers l'avant, n'était qu'une forme illusoire, ou si nous entrons, avec la partie lente, dans une sorte de rêve éveillé. Un passage central, dans cette seconde partie, s'organise autour de guirlandes sonores à la harpe et aux cloches que tout l'orchestre remplit de sonorités suaves. Les arpèges descendants des vents doublés par des pizzicatos de cordes, que transpercent des notes répétées aux trompettes et aux cors, dans un climat encore doux, annoncent la reprise du mouvement frénétique. Mais cette fois, ce sont moins des figures virevoltantes qui passent à travers les pupitres que des blocs de notes joués par la masse des instruments: des figures qui s'élancent vers le haut aboutissent à des notes répétées, en une forme d'antiphonie, et mènent à un sommet d'intensité. Après quoi, en guise de coda, une quatrième partie nous conduit à une fin mourante: l'harmonie se fige, les polyrythmes annulent toute sensation de mesure, les longues tenues des instruments graves chutent chromatiquement, les percussions jouant des figures rituelles, en résonance, jusqu'à l'immobilité finale. Le titre de la pièce provient de Lucrèce (De la nature). Il n'a pas de signification structurelle immédiate, comme souvent chez Jarrell, mais exprime en quelques mots l'idée qui avait présidé au morceau. Le trouble s'apparente ici à une forme d'étrangeté, à quelque chose d'inquiétant qui n'apparaît pas de façon narrative, tel un vent d'orage dans un ciel serein, mais comme l'essence même de l'articulation formelle entre deux types d'écriture, deux types d'expression qui exigent des temporalités opposées l'une à l'autre. La soudaineté, c'est le renversement entre les deux. Pourtant, on retrouve un même noyau entre les parties vives et les parties lentes, la quinte jouant dans les deux cas un rôle structurel, et le mib apparaissant comme une note polaire (toute la musique de Jarrell est aimantée par des pôles qui orientent l'écoute). Si le passage du limpide au trouble se traduit par la sonorité orchestrale, par le maniement très sensible des timbres qui provient en grande part de la tradition orchestrale française, il se manifeste aussi par des figures qui évitent tout profil thématique, toute forme mélodique au sens traditionnel du terme, et qui composent la texture. L'auditeur a directement à faire avec la matière sonore. Et celle-ci est composée de part en part. L'adjectif poétique vient à l'esprit pour définir une invention qui s'écarte aussi bien des formes illustratives que des constructions schématiques, et qui repose essentiellement sur l'organisation des hauteurs au détriment des effets, des sonorités bruiteuses ou des gestes iconoclastes. Et malgré les passages brillants, malgré les explosions sonores toujours maîtrisées et un maniement virtuose de l'orchestre, cette poétique révèle un caractère fondamental plutôt intimiste. Philippe Albèra / contemporain / Répertoire / Orchestre

Based on the Critical Edition- Orchestra material on hire. Par MAHLER GUSTAV. The large-scale form of 'Symphony No. 9' is unusual in a number of ways. It reminds in no way of the ninth symphonies of famous predecessors. Two slow movements, an Andante comodo at the beginning and an Adagio at the end, form the frame for two of the most parodistic and embittered inner movements that Mahler ever wrote - a ländler-waltz combination, and the 'Rondo-Burleske', a bitter, ironic movement that is derisively dedicated 'to my brothers in Apollo'. The most extraordinary part of Mahler's last completed symphony must certainly be the slow finale - a 20-minute long intensively singing movement laden with conflict that includes references to earlier works by Mahler, in slow motion as it were ('Urlicht',' Ablösung im Sommer', the 'Scherzo of Symphony No. 3', 'Der Abschied' from 'Das Lied von der Erde', and 'Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen' from the 'Kindertotenlieder'); it indeed seems that a circle is being closed. (Reinhold Kubik) Universal Edition continues its new study score standard. These completely redesigned scores offer an unparalleled insight into the music of the last hundred years. Great care has been taken to select the best available content for this journey through music history, and every score has been edited according to the latest quality standards./ Répertoire / Orchestre

Serenade für 13 Instrumente. Par MOZART WOLFGANG AMADEUS. An announcement in the Wiener-Zeitung read: “Concert. Today [23 March 1784] Herr [Anton] Stadler Sr. , presently in the service of His Majesty the Emperor, will hold a concert for his own benefit at the Royal Imperial National Court Theatre in which, among other select pieces, he will present a grand work for wind-band of a quite special character, composed by Herr Mozart. ” That this was almost certainly four movements from the present Serenade in B-flat major, K. 361, is suggested by an account of the occasion published some months later, which states, “Today I heard a composition by Herr Mozart in 4 movements for wind ensemble. . . comprising 13 instruments: 4 horns, 2oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 clarinetts, 2 basset horns and a contrabass viol. . . . ” Much music of the serenade-divertimento-cassation-Nachtmusik type was written in a light style and intended for social occasions rather than formal concerts. In such a context K. 361 is striking for its seriousness of artistic content, its length (seven movements lasting nearly an hour), and its extended instrumentation (most wind-band music of the period calls for five to eight or nine players, not thirteen). If the work was not conceived in the first instance as a concert work, its potential as such must have been recognized early on by Mozart or Stadler. - Urtext of the New Mozart Edition - Parts (BA5331-22) and study score format 22. 5 x 16. 5cm (TP312) available for sale/ Répertoire / Partition de Poche

In Tchaikovsky's symphonic output his Symphony No. 4 was a pivotal work. It announced the composer as a major symphonist of his time overshadowing his previous less-than-distinguished efforts in this form and opened the way to his last major works: the haunting Fifth Symphony and the biographical Sixth the profound 'Pathétique.'Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony ? written in 1877 at the age of thirty-seven ? offers itself as an intensely personal statement. Dramatically shaped and brilliantly orchestrated it captures a theatrical quality and orchestral color that shaped the composer's symphonic fantasy Francesca da Rimini written just a year earlier. The Fourth opensunequivocally with the thrust of a brass fanfare ? the 'fate' motive that is to reappear in the last movement ? then flows with the effortless quality that characterizes Tchaikovsky's great generously melodious ballet scores. The second movement lingers over one of the composer's most poignant melodies and the third ? the Scherzo ? offers a delightful fantasy from this master orchestrator: the charming Pizzicato ostinato a unique moment in the entire orchestral literature.The symphony is reproduced here from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel edition with bar-numbered movements and ample margins at the bottom of each score page for notes and analysis. Ideal for study in the classroom at home or in the concert hall this affordable high quality conveniently sized volume will be the edition of choice for music students and music lovers alike.Reprint of the Breitkopf & Härtel edition.

Par OFFENBACH JACQUES. This is the last of nearly 100 operettas created by French composer Jacques Offenbach, a native of Germany whose works were most prominent in the latter half of the nineteenth century. His three-act drama Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann), which includes a prologue and epilogue, recounts dramatic stories of passion, murder, and revenge. Left incomplete at the composer's death, the operetta debuted in 1881 and remains popular to this day for its many memorable melodies. A masterpiece of French Romanticism, Les Contes d'Hoffmann embodies Offenbach's wish to transcend the limitations of his popular operettas and achieve success among the lofty heights of grand opera. This imaginative score presents an artful blend of fantasy, emotion, and the supernatural as well as elements of satire and the grotesque. Hoffmann, the narrator and protagonist, relates three stories to his drinking companions. The tales concern Olympia, who is revealed as a mechanical doll- Antonia, a gifted vocalist in danger of singing herself to death- and Giulietta, a Venetian courtesan who uses a magic mirror to purloin others' reflections. Reproduced from an authoritative score, this edition offers musicians and music lovers a modestly priced edition of Offenbach's enduring work./ Répertoire / Orchestre

Gustav Mahler's Symphony Nr. 10 is the last and only unfinished symphony in his complete oeuvre. On 5 September 1910 Mahler wrote his last notes: exactly 100 years later, the 23-year-old conductor and composer Yoel Gamzou presented with great success his new reconstruction of this extraordinary work. The World Première with the International Mahler Orchestra took place at the Ryckestrasse synagogue in Berlin as part of the Jewish Cultural Days 2010. / Partition D'Etude

Vltava (The Moldau) is the second in Smetana's Ma Vlast set of symphonic poems written for his native Czechoslovakia and named after the river that passes through Prague. The music is very programmatic in the Romantic sense carefully and vividly depicting the journey of the water from the springs to the rapids. Deeply and affectionately nationalistic the music carries the listener through a Peasant Wedding and a Forest Hunt with touches of enchantment from the Moonlight: Dance of the Water Nymphs. Vltava is a work very much of its time featuring so many of the characteristics that now define the Romantic era from our modernperspecyive and is unsurprisingly one of the most popular and widely performed Symphonic Poem of the repertoire.Scored for: 2.1.3.2/2(1asax)(1tsax).2.2.0/timp.1perc/str

Karl Kohaut (1726 - 1784) was an Austrian lutenist and composer of Czech descent considered to be one of the last important composers of music for Baroque lute. Although also a violinist active in the Viennese music scene he was most well-known as a lutenist. He composed a total of seven lute concertos during his lifetime. This Concerto in B-flat Major is in three movements: Allegretto Largo and Tempo di Minuetto. In this edition Victor Van Puijenbroeck has created a piano reduction of the orchestral score and also has adapted the lute part to be played on guitar. Included are parts for both lute (the part has been adapted from lute tablature to modern notation) andguitar (capotasto). Karl Kohaut (1726 - 1784) was an Austrian lutenist and composer of Czech descent considered to be one of the last important composers of music for Baroque lute. Although also a violinist active in the Viennese music scene he was most well-known as a lutenist. He composed a total of seven lute concertos during his lifetime. This Concerto in B-flat Major is in three movements: Allegretto Largo and Tempo di Minuetto. In this edition Victor Van Puijenbroeck has created a piano reduction of the orchestral score and also has adapted the lute part to be played on guitar. Included are parts for both lute (the part has been adapted from lute tablature to modern notation) andguitar (capotasto).

Commissioned by the French Government and Musica Strasbourg.As the title suggests Trois rivières is divided into three separate sections. The first part introduces all the instrumental colours used in the piece. The rhythmicaspect is here nearly eliminated giving room for the timbral scales colours resonances attacks and textures to come to the fore. The instruments come from all members of the percussion family but unpitched instruments aregiven a primary role.The second part adds a rhythmic aspect to the nuances of colour and texture as an ostinato is developed in markedly varying directions.The last part is an epilogue recalling components of the twopreceding parts. Here earlier aspects of the material are reorganised and placed in different relationships to each other.The voices of the percussionists act together as an extension of the instruments being used to createeither rhythmically free textures or strictly notated rhythms. They are treated instrumentally combining to create rhythms and timbres. The poem 'La nuit de lune sur le fleuve' (Moonlit night on the river) by the Chinese poet LiPo (701-762) constitutes the material for the voices which are amplified and further enhanced throughout.

The sultan Shakriar convinced of the falshood and inconstancy of all women had sworn an oath to put to death each of his wives after the first night. However the sultana Scheherazade saved her life by arousing his interest in the tales which she told him during 1001 nights. Driven by curiosity the sultan postponed her execution from day to day and at last abandoned his sanguinary design. Scheherazade told many miraculous stories to the sultan. For her tales she borrowed verses from the poets and words from folk songs combining fairy-tales with adventures.

Per Nørgård's Symphony No. 2 In One Movement - work for Orchestra dating from 1970. Programme Note: After the first performance of my chamber orchestra work VOYAGE INTO THE GOLDEN SCREEN (1969) I was very preoccupied with ‘voyaging on’ in the infinity series I had brought to fruition in the second movement of the work: instead of about 1000 notes of the series I wanted to use about 4000 in order to create the potential for further exploration of the many layers and interval combinations of the infinity series. Instead of the pristine progression of the notes and its orchestration in‘Voyage’ I now wanted to intervene: to create melodies lead up to climaxes darken enlighten etc. but all with respect for the continuous flow and the preservation of the special timeless objectivity characteristic of the infinity series. One can perhaps experience the many recurrences of motifs in tempo layers from fast to very slow as a successor to the fractal computer graphics of the eighties. At any rate this ‘Symphony no. 2 in one movement’ (which was the result) became the precursor of the other works of the seventies including my 50-minute long chorally integrated Third Symphony (from 1973-75) which is also based on the infinity series but in addition has incorporated the upper and lower harmonic series and rhythms with ‘Golden’ duration proportions. The Second Symphony lasts about 25 minutes and was given its first performance on13th April 1970 by the Aarhus City Orchestra conducted by Per Dreier. Per Nørgård August 1992

Symphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125 Facsimile Score. With his ninth symphony, Beethoven ventured into new musical dimensions. In the final movement, soloists and choir join forces with the orchestra and Schiller?s ?Ode to Joy? becomes a global aspiration, a declaration: ?Alle Menschen werden Brüder ! / All mankind becomes brothers.? In his commentary the great Beethoven scholar Lewis Lockwood describes the plea which Beethoven wanted to deliver at that time with this work and how views of this have changed over the centuries. Jonathan Del Mar, a renowned editor of Beethoven?s works, comments on noteworthy passages in the autograph manuscript and allows the reader to share in the composer?s working process.,br>Already the large-format paper which Beethoven used for some passages makes the large forces clear. Cuts, sometimes reversed later, show how he wrestled with the final version of the musical text and refined it right down to the last detail. The history of the autograph manuscript reflects an episode in German history: after storage in various places because of the war, the major parts were returned to Berlin but were initially divided by the Berlin Wall and only reunited in 1990. Martina Rebmann who is the Director of the Music Department at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin traces this story. In 1972 the main theme of the last movement was chosen by the Council of Europe as the European anthem and in 1985 it was adopted by the European Community as its official anthem. In 2001 the manuscript was listed in UNESCO?s Memory of the World Register. For the first time the facsimile presents all the parts of the manuscript including pages preserved in Bonn and Paris as well as the trombone and contrabassoon parts. The first edition (2010) was awarded with the German Music Edition Prize ?Best Edition? 2011.

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! It is these words from Shakespeare's Othello that these works by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar fall back on. The work was a sensational success from the very beginning, especially March #1. At its premiere in 1901 under the composer's direction, the audience requested two repeats - in 1902 the words of 'Land of Hope and Glory' were added to the march at the request of Edward VII for his coronation ceremonial. The resulting version is now performed every year at the Last Night of the Proms. Motivated by the success of the first two marches, Elgar composed another three which were performed in 1905, 1907 and 1930. #4 is as formal as #1 whereas the others are of a rather melancholy nature. / Orchestre

G. Schirmer Inc.-Composed in the style of a grand and descriptive film score The Last Centaur is a musical depiction of a centaur who is separated from his family by war the ensuing adventures and ultimate reunion with hisfamily and friends. The music begins with a stately lyrical theme in the horns followed by solo Oboe. This main theme is then woven throughout the work as it develops and grows with intensity. Sweeping woodwind lines and majesticBrass fanfares capture the excitement of the drama and ultimate joyous resolution. Powerful and evocative writing! Dur: 6:00 (Recorded by the West Genesee (NY) High School Wind Ensemble - Andrew Perry conductor)

Tributes - Album For Strings (1994-95) by Per Nørgård. Parts are available on hire: hire@ewh.dk I: FOUR OBSERVATIONS – FROM AN INFINTE RAPPORT – hommage a Bartok (1995) II: OUT OF THIS WORLD – hommage a Lutoslawski (1994) III: VOYAGE INTO THE BROKEN SCREEN - hommage a Sibelius (1995). Programme note “TRIBUTES – album for strings” (1994-95) includes three hommages which might also be performed separately.The shared point of departure was the hommage to three major composers of the 20th century – Bartok Lutoslawski and Sibelius.In FOUR OBSERVATIONS the hommage is to Bartok (on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death 1995). Hungarian Radio asked me to write a piece in his honor but apart from the very last unison string figure which is - I think - very Bartokian the work in no way intends to evoke even less to imitate the musical style of the great Hungarian master. This would be an act of impudence against a composer who was such an exceptionally integrated personality and who has himself shown (in 'Mikrokosmos') the worthy way to pay a personal tribute to highly respected colleagues: In 'Hommage á J.S.B.' and 'Hommage à R. Sch.' Bela Bartok composes in his own manner but lets the music reflect some qualities of the said composers as perceived in Bartok's mind. In a similar way my 'Observations from an infinite Rapport' reflects as well the timeless proportions of the 'golden section' - which seem to have inspired Bartok so much - in his great respect for perceptive structural patterns. 'OUT OF THIS WORLD' was composed at the request of a group of Lutoslawski's friends as a symbol of parting to a great composer and a noble man. The title quotes a poem by Yunus Emre the Turkish 14th century poet. The opening line of the poem 'Biz dünyadan' reads as follows in English translation: 'We are on the way out of this world we