| Beacon of the Bay Violon et Piano Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music Cello, Piano, Violin SKU: PR.114423360 Composed by Stacy Ga...(+)
Chamber Music Cello,
Piano, Violin SKU:
PR.114423360 Composed
by Stacy Garrop. Set of
Score and Parts. 24+12+12
pages. Duration 8:30.
Theodore Presser Company
#114-42336. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.114423360). UPC:
680160686285. When
the Newport Music
Festival commissioned me
for a piano trio in honor
of their 2021 season, I
looked for a topic that
would celebrate an aspect
of the Newport community.
While researching the
area, I was struck by the
nine lighthouses situated
around the island. The
dual nature of
lighthouses was
particularly appealing to
me: not only do they
serve a vital role in the
navigation of ships
around rocks and land,
but they are also a
beautiful sight,
particularly at night
when their blinking
beacons are clearly
visible to the eye. It
occurred to me that
lighthouses link the past
with the present, and
will endure long into the
future, with their
beacons serving the same
purpose for every
generation.I became
fascinated with the
lighthouse on the
property of Castle Hill
Inn, located at the
opening of the East
Passage of the
Narragansett Bay. This
squat thirty-four foot
granite structure was
erected in 1890 on a very
picturesque spot, right
at the water’s
edge. Its
“characteristic,â
the nautical term
for each
lighthouse’s
unique light sequence
that allows ships to
identify the lighthouse,
is to alternate on for
three seconds, then off
for three seconds. The
lighthouse has also
served as the starting
and finish line for
numerous high profile
yacht races, as well as
survived a massive
hurricane in 1938, though
the lighthouse
keeper’s nearby
residence wasn’t
so lucky. American
novelist Thornton Wilder
wrote much of his 1973
novel Theophilus North
while staying at the
Castle Hill Inn; a
passage from the book
perfectly captures the
dual nature of
lighthouses:“At a
later visit I was able to
engage the pentagonal
room in a turret above
the house; from that
magical room I could see
at night the beacons of
six lighthouses and hear
the booming and chiming
of as many sea
buoys.â€In Beacon of
the Bay, we first hear
the lighthouse’s
characteristic as its
ruby light blinks on and
off. This is followed by
a simple theme that
represents the lighthouse
performing its solitary
duty. As the piece
progresses, we hear waves
playfully lapping around
its base, then yachts
gracefully floating by;
this is followed by a
violent storm that churns
the waves with so much
force that they crash
against the
lighthouse’s
granite body. But the
steadfast lighthouse
holds firm to the rocks,
grandly blinking its ruby
light. The music quiets
back down to its simple
theme, with yachts
sailing by once more as
the piece concludes. $33.99 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
| Nighttime Violon et Piano Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music Cello, Clarinet, Flute, Piano, Violin SKU: PR.14440515S Com...(+)
Chamber Music Cello,
Clarinet, Flute, Piano,
Violin SKU:
PR.14440515S Composed
by Robert Martin. Full
score. With Standard
notation. 48 pages.
Theodore Presser Company
#144-40515S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.14440515S). UPC:
680160667819. 9 x 12
inches. In 1979,
Martin produced a set of
three quintets, in
consideration of Gorky's
piece Nighttime Enigma
Nostalgia. Each is scored
for flute, clarinet,
violin, cello, and piano.
One role of music is to
evoke. Therefore,
Nighttime is a nocturne,
a night piece suggestive
of flickering shadows,
perhaps created by
firelight. It is a
recurrent setting in
human existence. The
music opens with the
scene of twilight calm,
gently disturbed with the
slight uncertainty about
what is around us, what
we cannot see. Later, the
clarinet takes on a solo
role, and the notes bleed
like careless paint into
the other instruments
that quietly sustain
them. Next, the flute
takes over the role of
solo. The piece ends with
a repeated cadence of
morning light. (From the
performance notes.). $34.99 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
| Phaedrus Violon et Piano Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music Clarinet, Piano, Violin SKU: PR.164002390 Composed by Dan W...(+)
Chamber Music Clarinet,
Piano, Violin SKU:
PR.164002390 Composed
by Dan Welcher. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 1995. 26+14+14
pages. Duration 14
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00239.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.164002390). UPC:
680160038091. I
became interested in the
work of Plato through my
friend and collaborator,
the writer and
philosopher Paul
Woodruff. Paul's new
translation, with
Alexander Nehamas, of the
Symposium gave me
insights into ancient
Greek ways of thinking
about Love, Beauty, and
Wisdom -- and managed to
keep the earthy, and
often bawdy side of it
all in full view. But
their new translation of
Plato's later dialogue
Phaedrus went even
further: the beauty of
the speeches is
breathtaking, and the
discourse itself is
enough to keep one awake
at night. Basically the
Great Speech of Socrates
in the Phaedrus dialogue
has to do with the place
of Eros in the world, and
with the conflict in the
soul between fleshly
pleasure and philosophic
discovery. I will not
attempt to encapsulate
this brilliant discourse
in a program note:
suffice it to say that
reading it gave rise to
my two-sided work for
clarinet, violin, and
piano, Phaedrus. The
first movement represents
the Philosophic life, and
is thus subtitled
Apollo's Lyre (Invocation
and Hymn). It begins with
an unaccompanied melody
for the clarinet, which
(after a pair of
harp-like flourishes for
the piano, expands into
an accompanied canon. The
voices in the dialogue
(clarinet and violin)
follow each other by a
prescribed number of
beats, but the music is
totally devoid of any
meter at all. The piano,
representing the lyre,
accompanies this lyric
love-feast with repeated
strummed chords. The
canon has three large
sections, and ends with
violin echoing the
unaccompanied clarinet
invocation as the sound
of the lyre fades. The
second movement, called
Dionysus' Dream-Orgy
(Ritual Dance) presents,
after a brief
introduction, another
kind of unmetered music.
Rather than long lyric
flights of philosophic
song, however, this time
we hear a unison dance of
unbridled energy and
sensual transport. The
piece soon forms itself
into a loose arch form,
with contrasting metered
dance sections divided by
the unison unmetered orgy
tune. Midway through the
movement, Apollo's melody
returns from the first
movement, but it is a
temporary reminiscence.
The orgiastic dance
returns, reaches a
climax, and ends with a
stomping of feet. While
Plato asserts that a
proper balance between
lust and reason is
necessary in all men, he
(naturally) gives the nod
to Philosophy as the
better choice in which to
live. Not so in my music:
the two sides are meant
to coexist and to
complement each other. No
sides are taken. Phaedrus
was commissioned of the
Verdehr Trio by Michigan
State University. It is
dedicated to the Vedehr
Trio with great affection
and admiration. $85.00 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
| Enigma Violon et Piano Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music Cello, Clarinet, Flute, Piano, Violin SKU: PR.14440516S Com...(+)
Chamber Music Cello,
Clarinet, Flute, Piano,
Violin SKU:
PR.14440516S Composed
by Robert Martin. Full
score. With Standard
notation. 44 pages.
Duration 9 minutes, 15
seconds. Theodore Presser
Company #144-40516S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.14440516S). UPC:
680160667864. 9 x 12
inches. In 1979,
Martin produced a set of
three quintets, in
consideration of Gorky's
piece Nighttime Enigma
Nostalgia. Each is scored
for flute, clarinet,
violin, cello, and piano.
As the title suggests,
the music is in a state
of perpetual questioning
using a variety of
approaches. For example,
Enigma opens using
ostinati (plural of
ostinato) that do not
match in length, like a
staircase with each step
a different height.
Additionally, the music
has sudden starts and
stops, again unexplained.
There are dramatic and
powerful explosive
passages that are
interrupted. The
technique, used to create
this feeling of a
perplexed music world
where things seem often
not to make sense and to
be left unresolved, is
called in poetry and
literature, anticlimax.
In Enigma, the music
suggests one direction;
then refuses to continue,
striking out in another
direction. Artists use
approaches such as this
to force themselves into
creative circumstances
that they otherwise might
not have discovered.
(From the performance
notes.). $32.99 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
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