Choral SSA Choir and Piano

SKU: CF.CM9716

Day of Wrath. Composed by David (D) Smith. 12 pages. Duration 0:01:57. Carl Fischer Music #CM9716. Published by Carl Fischer Music (CF.CM9716).

ISBN 9781491160954. UPC: 680160919550. Key: D minor. Latin. Early Latin Text.

This text is taken from the Dies Irae Sequence from the Requiem Mass. It is a contemplation of the arrival of judgment day. The A-sections, mm. 1-29 & mm. 43-end, are a manic depiction of the fierce wrath of judgment day. They should be sung with fire, crisp consonants while always enunciating the accents in order to realize the full effect of this powerful text. The entire demeanor of the tone and facial expressions should change for the B-section, mm. 30-42 as it is a plea for mercy. The audience should realize the change in this contrasting section. Translation Dies irae, dies illa: Day of wrath, that day Solvet saeclum in favilla: shall dissolve the world into embers Teste David cum Sibylla: As David prophesied with the Sibyl. Voca me cum benedictis :Call me to be with the blessed. Salva me fons pietatis : Save me, fount of pity. The Sibyl is a reference from a Greek word, which means Prophetess. In this context, the word appears in plural, referring to many prophetesses. David, or King David, has long been considered prophetic among biblical scholars. About the Arranger D. Farrell Smith is the Director of Choirs at Hilldale Middle School, and Hilldale High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He holds a B.A. in Music Education and the M.A. in Theological Studies. Currently the Minister of Music at Eastern Heights Baptist Church, he has been a Music educator and Minister for 20 years. Mr. Smith studied with Dr. Gary Foster and Dr. Donald Studebaker and has performed under such notables as R. Evan Copley, Daniel Pinkham, Lloyd Pfautsch, and Bev Henson.
This text is taken from the Dies Irae Sequence from the Requiem Mass. It is a contemplation of the arrival of judgment day. The A-sections, mm. 1-29 & mm. 43-end, are a manic depiction of the fierce wrath of judgment day. They should be sung with fire, crisp consonants while always enunciating the accents in order to realize the full effect of this powerful text. The entire demeanor of the tone and facial expressions should change for the B-section, mm. 30-42 as it is a plea for mercy. The audience should realize the change in this contrasting section.TranslationDies irae, dies illa: Day of wrath, that daySolvet saeclum in favilla: shall dissolve the world into embersTeste David cum Sibylla: As David prophesied with the Sibyl.Voca me cum benedictis :Call me to be with the blessed.Salva me fons pietatis : Save me, fount of pity.The “Sibyl” is a reference from a Greek word, which means Prophetess. In this context, the word appears in plural, referring to many prophetesses. David, or King David, has long been considered prophetic among biblical scholars.About the ArrangerD. Farrell Smith is the Director of Choirs at Hilldale Middle School,  and Hilldale High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma.   He holds a B.A. in Music Education and the M.A. in Theological Studies. Currently the  Minister of Music at Eastern Heights Baptist Church, he has been a Music educator and Minister for 20 years. Mr. Smith studied with Dr. Gary Foster and Dr. Donald Studebaker and has performed under such notables as R. Evan Copley, Daniel Pinkham, Lloyd Pfautsch, and Bev Henson.

String quartet

SKU: HH.HH462-FSP

Composed by Ming Wang. String Quartet. Full score and parts. Edition HH Music Publishers #HH462-FSP. Published by Edition HH Music Publishers (HH.HH462-FSP).

ISBN 9790708146711.

Cica da larvae live underground for years, creeping about slowly and peacefully in the darkness until that sudden, beautiful brief moment when, one warm, damp summer’s eve, they emerge, metamorphosed into a highly mobile life form. Gaily they dance in the sunshine, singing ardently to the trees in all their greenery --- but only for a short while, for, just as suddenly, they are gone. The same process repeats year upon year. The life cycle of this string quartet resembles that of the cicada. Initially, two embryonic cells remain hidden within dense, gloomy note-clusters; over time they evolve into buds, grow and then blossom. They appear for the first time in their adult form in the fast middle section, where they assume the shape of two very popular Chinese folk melodies, Jasmine and Old Six Blows, albeit in wholly chromaticized and defamiliarized variants. After their grand efflorescence, these forms gradually dissolve into transparent wisps of sound.

2 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli - Level 6

SKU: KU.GM-1911

Composed by David Philip Hefti. Edited by David Philip Hefti. Bach format (230 x 302). In A Folder. Full score, parts. 78 pages. Duration 19 minutes. Edition Kunzelmann #GM-1911. Published by Edition Kunzelmann (KU.GM-1911).

ISBN 9790206202384. 9 x 12 inches.

Monu mentum, Music for String Sextet, was written in 2014 to a commission from the Moritzburg Festival, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center New York and the Kathe Kollwitz House in Moritzburg. It is dedicated to the cellist Jan Vogler. The world premiere took place on 19 August 2014 at the Moritzburg Festival, performed by Timothy Chooi & Mira Wang (violins), Roberto Diaz & Hartmut Rohde (violas), Jan Vogler & Harriet Krijgh (cellos). The American premiere took place on 7 May 2015 in the Lincoln Center with the Amphion String Quartet, the violist Yura Lee and the cellist Jan Vogler.

The String Sextet Momentum< /em> commemorates the outbreak of the First World War, the death of Peter Kollwitz – who died as a volunteer, aged just 18, in the early weeks of the war – and the manner in which his mother, the artist Kathe Kollwitz, mourned the loss of her son. The artist worked through her pain by creating her most famous sculpture, The Mourning Parents. It stands today at the German soldiers’ cemetery at Vladslo in western Flanders, where her son Peter also lies buried. During the 18 years that she worked on the Parents , Kathe Kollwitz attended several concerts at the Volksbuhne in Berlin, where from January to February 1927 she heard Arthur Schnabel’s cycle of all the Beethoven piano sonatas. Schnabel performed the Sonata op. 111 in c minor on 26 February 1927, and this work touched her in particular, as we can read in her diary: “The strange flickering notes turned into flames – a moment of rapture, taking one into a different sphere, and the heavens opened almost as in the Ninth (Symphony). Then one found one’s way back – but it was a return after having been assured that there is a heaven. These notes are serene – confident – and good. Thank you, Schnabel!” This encounter with Beethoven’s last sonata inspired the artist to take up work again on her sculpture after a long interruption and to consider different possibilities for arranging the two figures. For this reason, the first minutes ofMomentum  are derived from this sonata by Beethoven – though without it being quoted in an audible manner – and they leave their mark on the form of the Sextet. The number 18 and the date of Peter Kollwitz’s death (23 October 1914) also have a direct impact on the work’s dramaturgy. This music is mostly calm in nature, but is time and again interrupted unexpectedly, being disturbed by unruly sounds and vehement eruptions until time itself seems to dissolve in an aleatoric passage. The work ends with an extended lament on “seed corn should not be ground”, a line from Goethe’s W ilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years. Kathe Kollwitz often quoted this phrase to argue for peace, and also took it as the title for a lithograph that she made in 1942. - David Philip Hefti

Chamber Music oboe

SKU: PR.114422520

Sonata for Oboe and Piano. Composed by Katherine Needleman. Set of Score and Parts. 24+8 pages. Duration 15:45. Theodore Presser Company #114-42252. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114422520).

ISBN 9781491134788. UPC: 680160683833.

After decades as a renowned oboe virtuoso, Katherine Needleman was improvising at the piano during the quarantine summer of 2020 when her ideas congealed in a powerful way. Within a week she completed a 16-minute oboe sonata inspired by the world’s overlapping crises. This riveting three-movement sonata bears the title qua resurget ex favilla, drawn from the Dies Irae text referring to rising back from ashes. Needleman won the International Double Reed Society’s Inaugural Commissioning Competition by entering her own recording of this work, performing as both oboist and pianist from her living room. As a result, IDRS commissioned her to compose a new work for English horn and piano which was premiered at their 2021 Virtual Symposium and programmed for the live 2022 convention.
I’m not exactly sure how, in a life consumed by music, I never put anything on paper between the time I stopped at age 10 and the age of 42. I mean, I have some ideas why, but that could easily dissolve into a feminist manifesto or a condemnation of my musical education and the overwhelming culture of American oboe playing, the vehicle through which I’ve made a living my entire adult life. Rather than go there, I will just say this is the first piece I put on paper in my adult life.Six months into COVID-19 lockdown in the US, the world was feeling pretty weird. I had familiarized myself with the music notation program, Sibelius, for recent arranging projects. I had written some mockeries of A.M.R. Barret oboe etudes in response to an assignment I was given (and did appropriately first). When I descended into a dark chorale in the middle of the fourth mockery, I realized I needed a new vehicle. I wrote a short, ridiculous piece for my husband’s birthday, and then, the next night, when improvising at the piano, like I’ve done since I was seven years old, this piece came to me. However, this time, I sketched it out into Sibelius. Over the course of the next week, I found notating and picking permanent, official notes to enter into the computer challenging. But it was all done on paper in seven days, and I took another few for dynamics and articulations thinking they might be useful for someone else, if I would ever be lucky enough for someone else to play it.I don’t have much to say about the music of qua resurget ex favilla itself. It’s a personal statement couched in the feelings of that time. The US presidential election was looming large and ugly in my mind, well, that and the end of life as we knew it, but I also had some bizarre feeling that everything would be okay.

Judith Clurman Choral Series. Composed by Robert Beaser. Judith Clurman Choral Series. Concert, Hymn, Poetry, Spiritual. Octavo. 16 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

SSATB chorus, piano - Grade 3

SKU: CA.928200

Composed by Henri Duparc. Arranged by Denis Rouger. Carus digital: Notenausgabe als PDF. Full Score. Composed 1880. Duration 5 minutes. Carus Verlag #928200. Published by Carus Verlag (CA.928200).

ISBN 9790007300869. Key: C minor / c major. French. Text: Baudelaire, Charles.

Sounds, colors and scents can conjure up places of longing. During the Romantic period, the desire to travel and see other places was seen as an expression of some inner state of mind. In L'invitation au voyage, the boundaries between what is real and imaginary seem to dissolve in the lyrical perception of a journey to the inner self: There we find nothing but order and beauty, splendor, peace, and delight”. This is unattainable perfection as a place of longing, where we are freed from all earthly cares. A never-ending sixteenth-note figure in the piano accompaniment flickers like a shimmering veil over these words, which in their poetry seem to remove us far from our earthly existence. “The world falls asleep in a warm light!

This art song was originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing any of the qualities of the original. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art songs demand from a soloist and pianist.

The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD ... wo die Zitronen blühn (Carus 83.514).

Choral (SATB a cappella)

SKU: HL.49044324

SATB a cappella. Composed by Matthew Brown. This edition: Saddle stitching. Sheet music. Choral. Classical, Contemporary. Octavo. Composed 2008. 10 pages. Duration 5'. Schott Music #C 56391. Published by Schott Music (HL.49044324).

ISBN 9790001199667. UPC: 841886024380. Latin.

The text of Hildegard von Bingen is interpreted with spherical and archaic sounds. Frictions form and dissolve, harmonies come and go. The piece is particularly suitable for chamber choir, demanding a trained ear of the singers.

Piano Solo

SKU: IS.PN7295EM

Composed by Guy Van Nueten. Keyboards - Piano. Metropolis Music Publishers #PN7295EM. Published by Metropolis Music Publishers (IS.PN7295EM).

ISBN 9790365072958.

Ligh t the fire, James. We’ll take our digestive by the crackling of the hearth. Such were the thoughts that came to mind as I started listening to Guy Van Nueten’s new record. Because, yes, there is a certain aristocracy to this music. There’s the feeling of autumn and you immediately long to warm yourself on the sounds that issue from Van Nueten's bony fingers. But it could just as well be a car ride through soft rain at nightfall, where trees become freakish phantoms, and here and there a villa looms like a light beacon. Pacman is a record that makes you hunt for images, films you have seen before, feelings you have known and wish to relive, like a somewhat forbidden fruit, a secret pleasure. Melancholy? Absolutely. A vague sadness to make a person purr like a contented cat? Certainly. Yet at the same time, Van Nueten is cunning. While ensuring that his music pleases you, at the end of some compositions he’ll suddenly come up with a theme that he’ll stop abruptly, so that the notes remain hanging like snapshots of aerial acrobats in action. It is also investigative music as if Guy himself does not wish to know just where he will finish up. There is a stubbornness to it, an elegant fight perhaps between composer and pianist. It pursues you – exactly like a Pacman, in fact, chomping away at digital pieces of your heart. Yet it never seems to dissolve into thin air: time and again, right from the first listen, he makes you long to hear more. It is music that should protect a person like a secret, like an illegal fire in a forest that warms your hands and fills your head with dreams. It smells like cedar, this piano music. Or like a nice cigar offered to you by the imaginary James, who whispers: The fire is crackling, sir. Just as you like it. At which point the enchantment begins all over again.

SKU: HL.1254919

Vocal Eze Voice Products. General Merchandise. Hal Leonard #MH9950. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.1254919).

UPC: 850008838064. 4.0x8.25x0.425 inches.

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Concert Band Concert Band - Grade 2.5; Grade 3

SKU: FJ.B1539

Composed by Brian Balmages. Concert Band; MakeMusic Cloud. FJH Concert Band. Based on Abraham Lincoln's famous speech in 1858 about slavery, this contemplative work weaves original material with America to depict the tension in the House of Representatives. Often, the melody to America is altered melodically and harmonically as mo. Patriotic. Score and Part(s). Duration 5:00. The FJH Music Company Inc #98-B1539. Published by The FJH Music Company Inc (FJ.B1539).

UPC: 674398231119. English.

Based on Abraham Lincoln's famous speech in 1858 about slavery, this contemplative work weaves original material with America to depict the tension in the House of Representatives. Often, the melody to America is altered melodically and harmonically as moments of anger, rage and fear dissolve into quirky moments of patriotism. The end of the work is magical, as the words let freedom ring are sung by the ensemble to leave the audience speechless.

About FJH Concert Band

Desig ned for high school groups and upper-level middle school groups. Independence is encouraged, but many lines are cross-cued. Usually includes an expanded percussion section. Grades 3 - 3.5

Oboe, bassoon and piano - difficult

SKU: HL.49016219

Composed by Benjamin Schweitzer. This edition: Saddle stitching. Sheet music. Misc. Score (also performance score). Composed 2006. 73 pages. Duration 10'. Schott Music #ED 20121. Published by Schott Music (HL.49016219).

ISBN 9790001146449. UPC: 884088202538. 9.0x12.0x0.195 inches.

The chiaroscuro-technique developed by painters of the Italian renaissance served to intensify contrasts and effects of optical depth. In Klar/Obskur, I tried to transfer the general idea of this technique on the rather unusual instrumentation of two double-reed woodwinds and piano. On the one hand, a clear, well articulated playing is characteristic for these instruments, on the other hand, they have an often underestimated potential of 'twilight': air-sounds and fragile, shady colours have a especially attractive when being produced by double-reed instruments (which are often, and superficially regarded as being less capable of differentiated sounds than flute or clarinet). The piano, too, has a broad bandwidth of possibilities between percussive and delicate playing to complement the woodwinds which, in return, can absorb and continue the fading piano sounds.The beginning introduces the two contrasting elements that form the basic material for the piece: a clear, sharp chord, followed by fragile, dim sounds. The changes between these elements as well as their combination and amalgamation produce an enormous spectrum of colours and gesture. After this 'motto-like' opening follow four quite clearly separated short sections, each of them being characterised by a well-defined texture: a partly almost imperceptible air-sound passage, a short sequence of microintervallic notes, a burst of virtuosity and a recourse to the fragile sounds of the beginning.The second, longer main part consists of three sections merging subtly into each other: a short unisono-passage, marked elastic [federnd], is being dissolved into its basic elements; from these remainders, a confrontation of low, 'arcane' bassoon and piano sounds and a strongly ornamented melodic line of the oboe emerges, leading to a short but powerful climax. The piece is concluded by an extended, relaxed epilogue, containing a short piano solo and a duet of oboe and bassoon and, finally, a quotation of the 'elastic' character of the middle section.Benjamin Schweitzer.

Overture for Woodwinds (Grade 4 - Score and Parts). By Philip Sparke (1951-). For Concert Band. Anglo Music Concert Band. Grade 4. Anglo Music Press #003. Published by Anglo Music Press

SKU: BA.BA08362-01

Edited by Bernhard Hangartner, Cristina Hospenthal, Laurenz Lütteken, Max Schiendorfer, and Mechthild Sobiela-Caanitz. This edition: Complete edition. Linen. Das Deutsche Kirchenlied. Kritische Gesamtausgabe der Melodien II/7. Complete edition, Critical commentary, anthology. Baerenreiter Verlag #BA08362_01. Published by Baerenreiter Verlag (BA.BA08362-01).

ISBN 9790006496471. 27.5 x 20 cm inches.

Georg Anton Benda's melodrama ,,Medea(1775) was one of the most successful German musical theatre works of the late 18th century. With a libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter, the work soon became a great influence within the melodrama genre. For several decades, it was performed all over central Europe, developing an impressive reception history. Between 1775 and about 1790, the melodrama was considered an extremely popular (albeit controversial) part of musical theatre, in particular in German-speaking regions. Consequently, Benda's ,,Medeawas at the center of many heated debates.

Unlike opera, the melodrama does not present the libretto in sung form, but rather, the text is spoken and combined with orchestral music and scenes. The traditional opera forms (aria, recitative, ensemble, chorus) are dissolved and replaced by a new interplay of music, speech, and scenes. A focus on a single protagonist and the quick, delicate alternation between spoken text and music allows for the development of conflicting and contradictory psychological profiles with a heightened intensity within the melodrama.

Near the end of his life, Benda revised the work significantly, drawing from his experience of real performances and their effectiveness. The changes leading to the new version of his ,,Medeamusic were quite extensive, affecting almost every single measure: numerous details of the part writing (tempi, voice leading, rhythms, accompanying figures etc.) were revised, the instrumentation was changed, middle voices were led in a more lively manner, and the music as a whole was shortened and effectively compressed. The composer regarded the latter, modified ,,Medeaas the authorized version of the work. The premiere took place in 1784 in Mannheim, however, the altered work received little attention since then and has become tangible again for the first time with the OPERA Edition. All previous editions of the work - and along with them, all previous recordings - are based on the earlier version of 1775.

The third volume of the OPERA seriesMedeacontains a linen-bound book and the edirom on a USB stick in credit card format. The number of users permitted to simultaneously use the digital content of the edition is not limited.

For further information regarding the work and the OPERA series, please visit www.opera-e dition.com and Takte online

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.

String quartet

SKU: BO.B.3542

Composed by Domenec Gonzalez de la Rubia. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.B.3542).

Staeliana was commissioned by the Fundacio Caixa de Catalunya in 2007 for the inauguration of an exposition of the work of Nicolas Staël at La Pedrera, Barcelona. In this work I wanted to compose homage to a painter who knew how to join together in his unique works both the traditions of the past along with the vanguard of his time. Beginning with figurative works which lead toward abstraction, his body of work can be defined as a contrast between these two concepts which, with extreme simplicity, define his entire artistic conception. Staeliana, an expressive chorale, at times both luminous and dramatic, dissolves into the most minimal expression. From the first joining together of the voices it concludes with utter simplicity of expression. The suicide of the artist in 1955 is representative of the dissolution of his existence as well as of his artistic works. This contrast between figurative and abstraction is reflected in the music by the contrast between stability and tension. I believe that this duality may be found both in his work and in his life, always oscillating between living a creative life or opting for death, which may be seen as a fusion in nothingness with the plenitude of purest simplicity.

String Quartet (Score)

SKU: HL.284555

String Quartet. Composed by John Luther Adams. Music Sales America. Classical. Softcover. Composed 2018. 74 pages. Chester Music #CH87868. Published by Chester Music (HL.284555).

UPC: 888680912901. 9x12 inches.

Composers note:

I never imagined I would write a string quartet. Then I heard the JACK Quartet, and I understood how I might be able to make the medium my own. The result was The Wind in High Places - a twenty-minute work composed entirely on natural harmonics and open strings.

Over the next few years, two more quartets followed. The second quartet, untouched, is a further exploration of the aeolian sound world of the first. Then, in Canticles of the Sky, the musicians finally touch the fingerboards of their instruments.

And now comes Everything That Rises.

This fourth quartet is more expansive, both in time and in space. It grows out of Sila: The Breath of the World - a performance-length choral/orchestral work composed on a rising series of sixteen harmonic clouds.

Everything That Rises traverses this same territory, but in a much more melodic way.

Each musician is a soloist, playing throughout. They surround the audience. Time floats.

Over the course of an hour, the lines spin out - always rising - in acoustically perfect intervals that grow progressively smaller as they spiral upward... until the music dissolves into the soft noise of the bows, sighing.

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.

Violin & piano (Solo) - Difficult

SKU: OU.9780193583245

Composed by Anthony Powers. Violin & Piano. 24 pages. Duration 7'. Oxford University Press #9780193583245. Published by Oxford University Press (OU.9780193583245).

ISBN 9780193583245. 12 x 8 inches.

For violin and piano The composer writes: The structure is a short set of double variations, the two themes following a short introduction. One is flamboyant and rhetorical, the other gentle and lyrical. The first develops rhythmically, through a toccata to a vigorous dance, the second becomes increasingly decorated so that the line is almost dissolved, but finally emerges in its clearest, simplest form. In a coda each musical character disappears into silence.

Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano & optional Double Bass

SKU: ST.Y261

Composed by Morgan Hayes. Chamber music. Version for Clarinet in A, Violin, Violoncello, Piano and optional Double Bass. Score and parts. Score and parts. Stainer & Bell Ltd. #Y261. Published by Stainer & Bell Ltd. (ST.Y261).

ISBN 9790220222580.

The ground bass, a type of theme-and-variations much favoured by English composers from Purcell to Britten, receives a 21st-century makeover in Morgan Hayes's Dances on a Ground.

The 'ground' in this case is, appropriately, a robotic, march-like tune for cello that asserts itself in unrelenting mechanical repetitions according to the rules of the form. But among the other instruments there is little consensus about the path the music should take. Though the theme resists for a time, increasingly assaulted by their capricious flights of melody and spiky pizzicatos it abandons its stubborn resistance, is turned to fragments, then dissolves in a fierce conclusion, leaving only an outline of its former self.

Premiered in Vilnius, Lithuania, in May 2009 by the Composers Ensemble with pianist Huw Watkins, Dances on a Ground revisits an earlier work written for the Smith Quartet, and presents its material in terms of a carefully chosen instrumentation of clarinet in A, violin, cello, piano and optional double bass. The same performers gave the work's UK premiere last September, at Kings Place, London.