SKU: AP.12-0571538886

ISBN 9780571538881. English.

Speakings for large orchestra and electronics is undoubtedly one of Jonathan Harvey's most important and ambitious works. Composed in 2008, it utilizes a unique process of electronic transformation developed at IRCAM to explore the possibility that an orchestra could be made to speak. Typeset, and with input from Gilbert Nouno who collaborated with Harvey on the electronic element, this long-awaited new edition makes this stunning piece even more accessible to conductors and enthusiasts.

Winne r of the prestigious Monaco Prize, the 25-minute work belongs to a fascinating clutch of works composed around the time of Harvey's final opera, Wagner Dream, which contains musical allusions to Wagner, in this case Parsifal. Unfolding over three continuous movements, the music moves from the babbling of a baby and the frenetic chatter of human life in all its expressions, to music of unity, a hymn that is close to Gregorian chant in which---in Harvey's words---the paradise of the sounding temple is imagined.

SKU: CL.RWS-1823-01

Inspired by and based on the masterpiece The Prairie Is My Garden by American painter Harvey Thomas Dunn, this work for the symphonic band is large in scope and musical depth. In the painting, a mother and her two children are out gathering flowers from the quintessential prairie of the Great Plains. Composer Robert W. Smith delivers us to the same Great Plains in this epic musical tone poem. From the reflective opening solo to the bold and courageous statements that follow, this homage to the generations that built the great American west is an excellent concert/festival selection for the mature concert band.