| Concerto - Piano And Orchestra - Solo Part Schott
Piano and orchestra - difficult SKU: HL.49046544 For piano and orchest...(+)
Piano and orchestra -
difficult SKU:
HL.49046544 For
piano and orchestra.
Composed by Gyorgy
Ligeti. This edition:
Saddle stitching. Sheet
music. Edition Schott.
Softcover. Composed
1985-1988. Duration 24'.
Schott Music #ED23178.
Published by Schott Music
(HL.49046544). ISBN
9781705122655. UPC:
842819108726.
9.0x12.0x0.224
inches. I composed
the Piano Concerto in two
stages: the first three
movements during the
years 1985-86, the next
two in 1987, the final
autograph of the last
movement was ready by
January, 1988. The
concerto is dedicated to
the American conductor
Mario di Bonaventura. The
markings of the movements
are the following: 1.
Vivace molto ritmico e
preciso 2. Lento e
deserto 3. Vivace
cantabile 4. Allegro
risoluto 5. Presto
luminoso.The first
performance of the
three-movement Concerto
was on October 23rd, 1986
in Graz. Mario di
Bonaventura conducted
while his brother,
Anthony di Bonaventura,
was the soloist. Two days
later the performance was
repeated in the Vienna
Konzerthaus. After
hearing the work twice, I
came to the conclusion
that the third movement
is not an adequate
finale; my feeling of
form demanded
continuation, a
supplement. That led to
the composing of the next
two movements. The
premiere of the whole
cycle took place on
February 29th, 1988, in
the Vienna Konzerthaus
with the same conductor
and the same pianist. The
orchestra consisted of
the following: flute,
oboe, clarinet, bassoon,
horn, trumpet, tenor
trombone, percussion and
strings. The flautist
also plays the piccoIo,
the clarinetist, the alto
ocarina. The percussion
is made up of diverse
instruments, which one
musician-virtuoso can
play. It is more
practical, however, if
two or three musicians
share the instruments.
Besides traditional
instruments the
percussion part calls
also for two simple wind
instruments: the swanee
whistle and the
harmonica. The string
instrument parts (two
violins, viola, cello and
doubles bass) can be
performed soloistic since
they do not contain
divisi. For balance,
however, the ensemble
playing is recommended,
for example 6-8 first
violins, 6-8 second, 4-6
violas, 4-6 cellos, 3-4
double basses. In the
Piano Concerto I realized
new concepts of harmony
and rhythm. The first
movement is entirely
written in bimetry:
simultaneously 12/8 and
4/4 (8/8). This relates
to the known triplet on a
doule relation and in
itself is nothing new.
Because, however, I
articulate 12 triola and
8 duola pulses, an
entangled, up till now
unheard kind of polymetry
is created. The rhythm is
additionally complicated
because of asymmetric
groupings inside two
speed layers, which means
accents are
asymmetrically
distributed. These
groups, as in the talea
technique, have a fixed,
continuously repeating
rhythmic structures of
varying lengths in speed
layers of 12/8 and 4/4.
This means that the
repeating pattern in the
12/8 level and the
pattern in the 4/4 level
do not coincide and
continuously give a
kaleidoscope of renewing
combinations. In our
perception we quickly
resign from following
particular rhythmical
successions and that what
is going on in time
appears for us as
something static,
resting. This music, if
it is played properly, in
the right tempo and with
the right accents inside
particular layers, after
a certain time 'rises, as
it were, as a plane after
taking off: the rhythmic
action, too complex to be
able to follow in detail,
begins flying. This
diffusion of individual
structures into a
different global
structure is one of my
basic compositional
concepts: from the end of
the fifties, from the
orchestral works
Apparitions and
Atmospheres I
continuously have been
looking for new ways of
resolving this basic
question. The harmony of
the first movement is
based on mixtures, hence
on the parallel leading
of voices. This technique
is used here in a rather
simple form; later in the
fourth movement it will
be considerably
developed. The second
movement (the only slow
one amongst five
movements) also has a
talea type of structure,
it is however much
simpler rhythmically,
because it contains only
one speed layer. The
melody is consisted in
the development of a
rigorous interval mode in
which two minor seconds
and one major second
alternate therefore nine
notes inside an octave.
This mode is transposed
into different degrees
and it also determines
the harmony of the
movement; however, in
closing episode in the
piano part there is a
combination of diatonics
(white keys) and
pentatonics (black keys)
led in brilliant,
sparkling quasimixtures,
while the orchestra
continues to play in the
nine tone mode. In this
movement I used isolated
sounds and extreme
registers (piccolo in a
very low register,
bassoon in a very high
register, canons played
by the swanee whistle,
the alto ocarina and
brass with a harmon-mute'
damper, cutting sound
combinations of the
piccolo, clarinet and
oboe in an extremely high
register, also
alternating of a
whistle-siren and
xylophone). The third
movement also has one
speed layer and because
of this it appears as
simpler than the first,
but actually the rhythm
is very complicated in a
different way here. Above
the uninterrupted, fast
and regular basic pulse,
thanks to the asymmetric
distribution of accents,
different types of
hemiolas and inherent
melodical patterns appear
(the term was coined by
Gerhard Kubik in relation
to central African
music). If this movement
is played with the
adequate speed and with
very clear accentuation,
illusory
rhythmic-melodical
figures appear. These
figures are not played
directly; they do not
appear in the score, but
exist only in our
perception as a result of
co-operation of different
voices. Already earlier I
had experimented with
illusory rhythmics,
namely in Poeme
symphonique for 100
metronomes (1962), in
Continuum for harpsichord
(1968), in Monument for
two pianos (1976), and
especially in the first
and sixth piano etude
Desordre and Automne a
Varsovie (1985). The
third movement of the
Piano Concerto is up to
now the clearest example
of illusory rhythmics and
illusory melody. In
intervallic and chordal
structure this movement
is based on alternation,
and also inter-relation
of various modal and
quasi-equidistant harmony
spaces. The tempered
twelve-part division of
the octave allows for
diatonical and other
modal interval
successions, which are
not equidistant, but are
based on the alternation
of major and minor
seconds in different
groups. The tempered
system also allows for
the use of the
anhemitonic pentatonic
scale (the black keys of
the piano). From
equidistant scales,
therefore interval
formations which are
based on the division of
an octave in equal
distances, the
twelve-tone tempered
system allows only
chromatics (only minor
seconds) and the six-tone
scale (the whole-tone:
only major seconds).
Moreover, the division of
the octave into four
parts only minor thirds)
and three parts (three
major thirds) is
possible. In several
music cultures different
equidistant divisions of
an octave are accepted,
for example, in the
Javanese slendro into
five parts, in Melanesia
into seven parts, popular
also in southeastern
Asia, and apart from
this, in southern Africa.
This does not mean an
exact equidistance: there
is a certain tolerance
for the inaccurateness of
the interval tuning.
These exotic for us,
Europeans, harmony and
melody have attracted me
for several years.
However I did not want to
re-tune the piano
(microtone deviations
appear in the concerto
only in a few places in
the horn and trombone
parts led in natural
tones). After the period
of experimenting, I got
to pseudo- or
quasiequidistant
intervals, which is
neither whole-tone nor
chromatic: in the
twelve-tone system, two
whole-tone scales are
possible, shifted a minor
second apart from each
other. Therefore, I
connect these two scales
(or sound resources), and
for example, places occur
where the melodies and
figurations in the piano
part are created from
both whole tone scales;
in one band one six-tone
sound resource is
utilized, and in the
other hand, the
complementary. In this
way whole-tonality and
chromaticism mutually
reduce themselves: a type
of deformed
equidistancism is formed,
strangely brilliant and
at the same time
slanting; illusory
harmony, indeed being
created inside the
tempered twelve-tone
system, but in sound
quality not belonging to
it anymore. The
appearance of such
slantedequidistant
harmony fields
alternating with modal
fields and based on
chords built on fifths
(mainly in the piano
part), complemented with
mixtures built on fifths
in the orchestra, gives
this movement an
individual, soft-metallic
colour (a metallic sound
resulting from
harmonics). The fourth
movement was meant to be
the central movement of
the Concerto. Its
melodc-rhythmic elements
(embryos or fragments of
motives) in themselves
are simple. The movement
also begins simply, with
a succession of
overlapping of these
elements in the mixture
type structures. Also
here a kaleidoscope is
created, due to a limited
number of these elements
- of these pebbles in the
kaleidoscope - which
continuously return in
augmentations and
diminutions. Step by
step, however, so that in
the beginning we cannot
hear it, a compiled
rhythmic organization of
the talea type gradually
comes into daylight,
based on the simultaneity
of two mutually shifted
to each other speed
layers (also triplet and
duoles, however, with
different asymmetric
structures than in the
first movement). While
longer rests are
gradually filled in with
motive fragments, we
slowly come to the
conclusion that we have
found ourselves inside a
rhythmic-melodical whirl:
without change in tempo,
only through increasing
the density of the
musical events, a
rotation is created in
the stream of successive
and compiled, augmented
and diminished motive
fragments, and increasing
the density suggests
acceleration. Thanks to
the periodical structure
of the composition,
always new but however of
the same (all the motivic
cells are similar to
earlier ones but none of
them are exactly
repeated; the general
structure is therefore
self-similar), an
impression is created of
a gigantic, indissoluble
network. Also, rhythmic
structures at first
hidden gradually begin to
emerge, two independent
speed layers with their
various internal
accentuations. This
great, self-similar whirl
in a very indirect way
relates to musical
associations, which came
to my mind while watching
the graphic projection of
the mathematical sets of
Julia and of Mandelbrot
made with the help of a
computer. I saw these
wonderful pictures of
fractal creations, made
by scientists from Brema,
Peitgen and Richter, for
the first time in 1984.
From that time they have
played a great role in my
musical concepts. This
does not mean, however,
that composing the fourth
movement I used
mathematical methods or
iterative calculus;
indeed, I did use
constructions which,
however, are not based on
mathematical thinking,
but are rather craftman's
constructions (in this
respect, my attitude
towards mathematics is
similar to that of the
graphic artist Maurits
Escher). I am concerned
rather with intuitional,
poetic, synesthetic
correspondence, not on
the scientific, but on
the poetic level of
thinking. The fifth, very
short Presto movement is
harmonically very simple,
but all the more
complicated in its
rhythmic structure: it is
based on the further
development of ''inherent
patterns of the third
movement. The
quasi-equidistance system
dominates harmonically
and melodically in this
movement, as in the
third, alternating with
harmonic fields, which
are based on the division
of the chromatic whole
into diatonics and
anhemitonic pentatonics.
Polyrhythms and harmonic
mixtures reach their
greatest density, and at
the same time this
movement is strikingly
light, enlightened with
very bright colours: at
first it seems chaotic,
but after listening to it
for a few times it is
easy to grasp its
content: many autonomous
but self-similar figures
which crossing
themselves. I present my
artistic credo in the
Piano Concerto: I
demonstrate my
independence from
criteria of the
traditional avantgarde,
as well as the
fashionable
postmodernism. Musical
illusions which I
consider to be also so
important are not a goal
in itself for me, but a
foundation for my
aesthetical attitude. I
prefer musical forms
which have a more
object-like than
processual character.
Music as frozen time, as
an object in imaginary
space evoked by music in
our imagination, as a
creation which really
develops in time, but in
imagination it exists
simultaneously in all its
moments. The spell of
time, the enduring its
passing by, closing it in
a moment of the present
is my main intention as a
composer. (Gyorgy
Ligeti). $34.00 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 24 hours - In Stock | | |
| String Quartet Op. 37 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle PWM (Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne)
String Quartet (Score) SKU: HL.370494 Critical Edition Hardcover. ...(+)
String Quartet (Score)
SKU: HL.370494
Critical Edition
Hardcover. Composed
by Karol Szymanowski.
PWM. Classical.
Hardcover. 60 pages.
Polskie Wydawnictwo
Muzyczne #9267030.
Published by Polskie
Wydawnictwo Muzyczne
(HL.370494). ISBN
9781705147009. UPC:
840126994025. The
First String Quartet in C
major, Op. 37, was
written in the autumn of
1917 and earned
Szymanowski the first
prize in a competition
organized by the Ministry
of Religious and in a
competition organized by
the Ministry of Religious
and Educational Affairs
in January 1922. The
First String Quartet is
notable for its clar and
simple construction. The
first movement is in the
formof a sonata allegro;
the Andantino semplice
(in modo iuna canzone) in
the middle is a cross
between ternary and
variation form. The final
Scherzando alla burlesca
also keeps to the form of
a sonata allegro. The
combinations and
proportions of formal
factors and the treatment
of thematic material
betray a fairly
conventional adoption of
classical models.
Similarly, the expressive
and structural use of
melodic material shows a
respect for traditional
norms. Szymanowski
created, in other works
from the same period, his
own individual type of
melodic line, which was
strongly expressive and
achieved its effect
chiefly by its tonal
qualieties; nevertheless
in this Quartet he
returns to a fluid,
cantilena-like,
symmetrically shaped
melodic line, which runs
along in broad phrases of
a concentrated,
reflective character.
Melody becomes the chief
factor in the development
of the form, both in
thematic usage and in the
application of a more
polyphonic texture.
Harmonic and tonal means
are considerably
simplified in the Quartet
[]. Most of the writing
is linear, or horizontal,
with individual treatment
of each part, the
parallel continuation of
the four sound planes,
almost a matter of
principle. The functions
of the particular
instruments in realizing
these planes are
constantly changing,which
accounts for the even
greater variedy of
tone-colour. The decision
to forego experiment with
forms and sonorities is
reflectedin the overall
approach to musical
expression. The
predominant atmosphere of
restrained emotion, quiet
lyricism and serenity is
strongly suggestive of
classical aestetic
models. (Based on Zofia
Helman Commentary on
Szymanowski Complete
Edition, Vol. B6) (II)
The ''Second String
Quartet'' represents an
interesting attempt to
revert to classical form
coupled with the new
harmonic and tonal
vocabulary worked out
previously in the
''Slopiewnie'', ''Stabat
Mater'' and ''Mazurkas''.
It was also the first
time the composer had
used folk elements in the
framework of a major
classical form. The
''Second String Quartet''
is in a special category
among Szymanowski's
works. Though it dates
from the composer was
still occupied with folk
music, it nevertheless
shows him returning to
classical models, but at
the same time using an
aesthetic of subjective
expression, which gives
the work its own
individual stamp. The
''Second String Quartet''
synthesis of the various
directions in which
Szymanowski was
attempting to develop.
The sonority and texture
used in the first. $40.00 - Voir plus => Acheter | | |
| Glitter, Doom, Shards, Memory [Conducteur] Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music Viola 1, Viola 2, Violin 1, Violin 2, Violoncello SKU: PR.11441...(+)
Chamber Music Viola 1,
Viola 2, Violin 1, Violin
2, Violoncello SKU:
PR.11441690S
String Quartet No.
3. Composed by
Shulamit Ran. Sws.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed March 9 2013. 32
pages. Duration 23
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-41690S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.11441690S). UPC:
680160626021. 9 x 12
inches. Ran's third
string quartet was
written for the Pacifica
Quartet, who are
featuring it in numerous
performances from May
2014 through February
2016, across the country
and abroad. Their blog
page dedicated to the
work also features the
composer's notes, for
more indepth insight.
...impassioned solos
emerge from ominous
quiet, and high arpeggios
in the violins quiver
alongside the earthy
cello. Ms. Ran skillfully
deploys these extremes of
color, volume and pitch,
yet the overall somewhat
chilly impression is one
of poise. -- Zachary
Woolfe, The New York
Times. My third string
quartet was composed at
the invitation of the
Pacifica
Quartet, whose
music-making I have come
to know closely and
admire hugely as resident
artists at the University
of Chicago. Already
in our early
conversations Pacifica
proposed that this
quartet might, in some
manner, refer to the
visual arts as a point of
germination. Probing
further, I found out that
the quartet members had
special interest in art
created during the
earlier part of the 20th
century, perhaps between
the two world wars.Â
It was my good fortune to
have met, a short while
later, while in residence
at the American Academy
in Rome in the fall of
2011, art conservationist
Albert Albano who steered
me to the work of Felix
Nussbaum (1904-1944), a
German-Jewish painter
who, like so many others,
perished in the Holocaust
at a young age, and who
left some powerful,
deeply moving art that
spoke to the life that
was unraveling around
him. The title of my
string quartet takes its
inspiration from a major
exhibit devoted to art by
German artists of the
period of the Weimar
Republic (1919-1933)
titled “Glitter and
Doom: German Portraits
from the 1920sâ€,
first shown at New
York’s
Metropolitan Museum of
Art in 2006-07.Â
Nussbaum would have been
a bit too young to be
included in this
exhibit. His most
noteworthy art was
created in the last very
few years of his short
life. The
exhibit’s
evocative title, however,
suggested to me the idea
of “Glitter, Doom,
Shards, Memory†as
a way of framing a
possible musical
composition that would be
an homage to his life and
art, and to that of so
many others like him
during that era.
 Knowing that their
days were numbered, yet
intent on leaving a mark,
a legacy, a memory, their
art is triumph of the
human spirit over
annihilation. Parallel
to my wish to compose a
string quartet that,
typically for this genre,
would exist as
“pure musicâ€,
independent of a
narrative, was my desire
to effect an awareness in
my listener of matters
which are, to me, of
great human concern.
 To my mind there is
no contradiction between
the two goals. Â As in
several other works
composed since 1969, this
is my way of saying
‘do not
forget’, something
that, I believe, can be
done through music with
special power and
poignancy. Â Â The
individual titles of the
quartet’s four
movements give an
indication of some of the
emotional strands this
work explores. 1)
“That which
happened†(das was
geschah) – is how
the poet Paul Celan
referred to the Shoah
– the Holocaust.
 These simple words
served for me, in the
first movement, as a
metaphor for the way in
which an
“ordinaryâ€
life, with its daily flow
and its sense of sweet
normalcy, was shockingly,
inhumanely, inexplicably
shattered. 2)
“Menace†is a
shorter movement,
mimicking a Scherzo.
 It is also
machine-like, incessant,
with an occasional,
recurring, waltz-like
little tune –
perhaps the chilling
grimace we recognize from
the executioner’s
guillotine mask. Â Like
the death machine it
alludes to, it gathers
momentum as it goes, and
is
unstoppable. 3) â
If I must perish - do
not let my paintings
dieâ€; these words
are by Felix Nussbaum
who, knowing what was
ahead, nonetheless
continued painting till
his death in Auschwitz in
1944. Â If the heart of
the first movement is the
shuddering interruption
of life as we know it,
the third movement tries
to capture something of
what I can only imagine
to be the conflicting
states of mind that would
have made it possible,
and essential, to
continue to live and
practice one’s art
– bearing witness
to the events.
 Creating must have
been, for Nussbaum and
for so many others, a way
of maintaining sanity,
both a struggle and a
catharsis – an act
of defiance and salvation
all at the same
time. 4)
“Shards,
Memory†is a direct
reference to my
quartet’s title.
 Only shards are left.
 And memory.  The
memory is of things large
and small, of unspeakable
tragedy, but also of the
song and the dance, the
smile, the hopes. All
things human. Â As we
remember, in the face of
death’s silence,
we restore dignity to
those who are
gone.—Shulamit
Ran . $29.99 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
| String Quartet No. 3 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur] Theodore Presser Co.
String quartet String Quartet SKU: PR.16400272S Cassatt. Composed ...(+)
String quartet String
Quartet SKU:
PR.16400272S
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S). UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches. My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet. $38.99 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
| String Quartet No. 3 Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Theodore Presser Co.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720). UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches. My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet. $53.00 - Voir plus => AcheterDélais: 2 to 3 weeks | | |
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