PARTITIONS GRATUITES : CLAVECIN
- Manhattan

Harpsichord

SKU: HL.14012557

Composed by Per Norgard. Music Sales America. Book Only. Edition Wilhelm Hansen #KP00404. Published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen (HL.14012557).

Danish.

Per Norgard GEMINI RISING for harpsichord soloFirst there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there isThe title literally Ascending Twins - was borrowed from astrological terminology but refers, purely musically, to two essential circumnstances in the work: A constant duplicity in the melodic basis, as well as an almost constantly ascending tendency. Even when - as is the case in the start - falling figures appear, the combination of several such figures produces an ascending impression. GEMINI RISING was composed for Elisabeth Chojnacka and premiered at a concert in Copenhagen in November 1990.Per Norgard.

Chamber Music Harpsichord

SKU: PR.110418390

Composed by Eric Ewazen. Full score. 11 pages. Duration 10 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #110-41839. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.110418390).

ISBN 9781491134603. UPC: 680160685158.

Eric Ewazen’s THREE INVENTIONS were inspired by Bach’s Two-part Inventions, yet they sound thoroughly like Ewazen. Composed for harpsichord (with a piano adaptation following later), Ewazen’s inventions maintain a pure “one note per hand” texture until their final chord, with strong-but-free imitative counterpoint between the two voices. While Ewazen may be best known for his wind music, he is a pianist himself, and composers’ works for their own instrument are a direct insight into how they write for their own performances. The piano adaptation of THREE INVENTIONS is also available as a separate publication.
THREE INVENTIONS was written for my dear friend Maria Rojas, who premiered the work on a faculty recital at Juilliard. Maria is both a pianist and a harpsichordist, and I first met her when she gave a demonstration of the harpsichord for the students in my theory classes.I’ve always been captivated by Bach’s series of Two-Part and Three-Part Inventions. With the Two-Part Inventions, I’m amazed how Bach could create such wonderful intricacy and counterpoint with only two voices. I consequently modeled my inventions after the counterpoint of Bach, involving the traditional contrapuntal devices he used: imitation, development, harmonic and modal shifts, fragmentation, and sequence, essentially creating a dialog between two completely equal voices conversing with each other!Bach wrote 15 Two-Part Inventions (as well as 15 Three-Part Inventions, not to mention the 48 preludes and fugues in The Well-Tempered Clavier!), and that’s just the start of his voluminous repertoire for the keyboard! I was happy just to write three!!!Each of my inventions has a distinctive mood. The first is in a relaxed, yet cheerful C Major tonality (as a nod to Bach’s Invention No. 1 in C Major); the second is heartfelt and lyrical; and the third invention (involving a Gigue rhythm in the compound meter of 12/8) is energetic, and full of life and spontaneity. The third is primarily in a minor tonality, resulting in a feeling of drama, bringing the THREE INVENTIONS to an exciting finale.