SKU: AP.36-52730597
ISBN 9781633610026. UPC: 679360614891. English.
Volume 1 begins with open strings and basic notation, rhythms, and bowing skills. New notes, notation, and bowing skills are added in logical progression, reinforcing both right- and left-hand technique and developing the cognition for string performance. This book introduces students to: the basic major and minor tetrachords on all four strings; essential rhythmic notation from whole notes through eighth-note patterns; left-hand techniques such as easily played double stops, left-hand pizzicato, differentiating whole and half steps; and a variety of bow techniques. Audio available online.
These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.
SKU: AP.36-52730601
ISBN 9781633610064. UPC: 679360614938. English.
This volume continues the development of playing skills found in Book 1 and progresses to more complex rhythms, left-hand finger patterns and techniques, bowing techniques, and preparation for shifting. Book 2 introduces students to: long and controlled bow strokes, slurred legato and staccato bow strokes, string-crossing slurs, and producing dynamic contrasts; new rhythmic patterns including dotted notes, triplets, sixteenth notes, swinging eighth notes, and syncopated rhythms; new time signatures including 6/8 and 3/8, along with cut time for cello/bass; and major and minor left-hand string patterns, extended fingerings, and beginning octave harmonics and shifting. Online audio available.
SKU: AP.36-52710599
ISBN 9781633610040. UPC: 679360611654. English.
SKU: AP.36-52740602
ISBN 9781429126281. UPC: 679360617915. English.
SKU: AP.36-52720600
ISBN 9781429126267. UPC: 679360613795. English.
SKU: HL.48025036
UPC: 196288020813.
The piece was commissioned by a colleague Brett Dean of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the violist Walter Kussner, as part of a CD project with works for solo viola in 1998/99. Since then, the composer himself has played it himself countless times in concerts andlectures. Here it is now in a congenial adaptation for cello. The title Intimate Decisions comes from a painting by Dean's wife, theAustralian painter Heather Betts, and indicates the private nature of the music. According to Dean, writing a piece for a solo string instrument was strangely similar to writing a personal letter or an intense conversation with a close friend. The piece begins with a short series of individual intervals of a rather intangible character, followed by a more emphatic motif of a minor sixth and minor ninth, and later a chain of harmonies whirring down the lower strings. The various developing characters go through an increasingly decisive, ultimately dramatic conversation, in rhapsodic alternation with flighty virtuosity, but also calm and delicacy, only to fade away like an echo at the end.
SKU: BO.B.3340
ISBN 9788480207591.
English comments: My dedication to the string instruments has been a constant throughout my compositional career and I knew that sooner or later the time would come to compose a concerto for violin and orchestra. That moment came in the autumn of 2002 and after ten months of uninterrupted work I finished it in August of 2003. It is a work structured similarly to the traditional concertos. An important impetus for the elaboration of my concerto was due to the ill-fated violinist Ginette Neveu. Her version of Sibelius' Concerto has always stayed with me. For this reason the first movement, Moderato-Allegro, begins with a contemplative atmosphere similar to that of Sibelius' Concerto in which the principal thematic ideas appear tentatively. These ideas, two rhythmic and two melodic, are reaffirmed through a broad development that culminates in an orchestral fullness. A calm, mysterious passage recalls the introduction and after becoming blurred, three bars burst in leading to the rapid section of the movement. Soloist and orchestra engage in a dialectic struggle of a dramatic nature. The agitation subsides leaving only a tranquil and suggestive clarinet phrase. This will be taken up by the soloist who leads up to the movement's most dramatic moment playing an accelerating triplet figure supported by an orchestral pedal in crescendo. From here the soloist's cadenza emerges beginning with soft double notes. It finishes with an ascending progression and the soloist settles into the high register to elicit the orchestra's intervention in a soft and transfigured atmosphere. Once internalised the second movement, Adagio poco sostenuto e leggero begins. It has a solemn character and opens with two trumpet calls answered by the violoncellos and the contrabasses. The violin soloist introduces and plays two nostalgic themes, the first in the low register and the second, more extensive, in the middle register. The soft and delicate Misterioso e leggero begins with the violin singing on high. The rhythm of the constant quaver figures gradually accelerates until the soloist provokes a dramatic full orchestra as in a cadenza. Once again, the Calmo, in which the soloist with less and less orchestral attire serenely bids farewell. A rising series of double stops by the soloist serves to initiate the Finale-Scherzo. In 6/8 rhythm and with the character of a rondo it carries us along in a carefree, virtuosic ambiance. The principal motives, brief and concise, emerge from the happy, playful theme presented by the soloist. With an intricate progression of rapid sixths in double stops it reaches a tense and somewhat combative moment. However this resolves itself in a diminuendo that the soloist peacefully takes up with the notes re-la to commence the cadenza. This culminates in a series of tied notes to reintroduce the principal theme. A moment of melodic suspension serves as a farewell before the brief and jovial final coda. --The authorComentarios del Espanol:A lo largo de mi carrera compositiva mi dedicacion a los instrumentos de cuerda ha sido constante y sabia que, tarde o temprano, llegaria el momento de componer un concierto para violin y orquesta. Este llego en otono de 2002 y, tras diez meses de trabajo ininterrumpido, lo termine en agosto de 2003. Se trata de una obra estructurada de manera similar a los conciertos tradicionales. Un importante impulso a la elaboracion de mi concierto lo debo al recuerdo de la malograda violinista Ginette Neveu. Su version del concierto de Sibelius ha permanecido siempre dentro de mi. Por ese motivo, el primer movimiento Moderato-Allegro se inicia con una atmosfera contemplativa cercana a la del mencionado Concierto, en la que aparecen cautamente las principales ideas tematicas. Con un amplio desarrollo se llega a un lleno orquestal en el que estas ideas -dos ritmicas y dos melodicas- quedan reafirmadas. Un pasaje calmo y misterioso rememora la introduccion. Tras desdibujarse, irrumpen tres compases que nos llevan a la parte rapida del movimiento. Solista y orquesta establecen un combate dialectico de caracter dramatico. La inquietud desaparece hasta una tranquila e insinuante frase del clarinete. Esta sera recogida por el solista, quien, a base de una figuracion de tresillos cada vez mas rapidos apoyada por un pedal de la orquesta in crescendo, conduce hacia el momento mas dramatico del movimiento. De aqui nace la cadenza del solista, que se incia con suaves notas dobles. Finaliza con una progresion ascendente y el solista se coloca en el registro agudo para llamar la intervencion de la orquesta dentro de una atmosfera suave y transfigurada. Interiorizado es el segundo movimiento Adagio poco sostenuto e leggero. Con dos llamadas de las trompas respondidas por los violonchelos y contrabajos inicia el Adagio de caracter grave. El violin solista introduce y canta dos temas nostalgicos. El primero en el registro grave y el segundo, mas amplio, en el medio. Inicia el Misterioso e leggero, de caracter suave y delicado. Con el violin cantando en agudo. La constante figuracion de corcheas acelerara poco a poco el ritmo hasta que el solista a modo de cadenza provocara un dramatico lleno orquestal. De nuevo el Calmo, donde el solista, cada vez con menos ropaje orquestal, se despide serenamente. Una subida de dobles cuerdas a cargo del solista sirve para iniciar el Finale-Scherzo. Este, en ritmo de 6/8 y con caracter de rondo, nos transporta en un clima virtuosistico y despreocupado. Del tema alegre y jugueton presentado por el solista nacen los principales motivos, breves y concisos. Con una intrincada sucesion de rapidas sextas en doble cuerda se llega a un momento crispado y algo combativo que, sin embargo, se resolvera en un diminuendo que el solista recoge apaciblemente con las notas re-la para inciar la cadenza. Esta culmina con un suave rosario de notas en ligado para introducir de nuevo el tema principal. Un momento de suspension melodica sirve como despido antes de la breve y jovial coda final. La obra fue estrenada el 23 de septiembre de 2005 en el Teatre Monumental de Madrid por la Orquesta Sinfonica de RTVE con Markus Placci de solista y Uwe Mund de director. Gravacion: RNE y Canal Clasico de TVE. --El Autor.
SKU: HL.50601598
8.0x11.75 inches.
The catalogue of Edison Denisov's works includes 16 concertos. It was a genre to which he returned time and again throughout his life, from the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra of 1972 to the Double Concerto for Flute, Clarinet and Orchestra of 1996.In Denisov's music the role of the soloist, or rather the protagonist, is extraordinarily important, not so much for its virtuosity as for its confessional character. The solo part is a monologue distinguished by poetic diction and a very personal message from thecomposer. The dramaturgical conception of the Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, a reworking of the Viola Concerto of 1986, draws on traditional sonata form, thereby reaffirming the ubiquitous classicism in Denisov's thought. In this late work, we find all the typical features of his style: sinuous melodic lines layered into dense contrapuntal textures, and an interplay of orchestral colours, with pure sonorities contrasting with complex mixtures of sounds. It is a perfect dramaturgy that governs the evolution of the music to the very end. The first movement assumes the role of a sonata-allegro, with the standard formal sections of exposition, development,recapitulation and coda. The second movement is an Adagio for strings. The third takes the form of a little contrasting intermezzo that introduces both new thematic material and a new range of colours. Here tunefulness gives way to pointillism enriched with soniceffects. The only movement with a virtuosic solo part, its nervousness and inner tension set it worlds apart from the second and fourth movements that surround it. The fourth movement assumes the traditional form of a final set of variations. It is the dramaturgical and semantic heart of the concerto. The theme of the variations is Franz Schubert's Impromptu in B-flat major, op. 142, which in this case is 'born' from the celesta as the product of a dodecaphonic string cluster. This finale represents Denisov's homage to his great mentor, Schubert's music being for him a symbol of eternal and universal beauty. 'The attentive listener', Denisov stressed, 'will recognise that the Impromptu theme is already suggested very slowly in the course of the three preceding movements, not only thematically, but also psychologically. That's what makes the appearance of the Schubert theme sound so natural.' The variations relate to the variation genre less in their form than in their spiritual and conceptual metamorphoses. It is, one might say, 'music round about Schubert'. (Ekaterina Kouprovskaia-Denisova).
SKU: BT.PWM4901
Concerto for String Orchestra - the magnum opus of Grayna Bacewicz (1909-1969), the outstanding composer and violinist - was composed in 1948 and at once became one of the most frequently performed works of this Polish artist. This masterpieceof neoclassicism fascinates as much by its invention and virtuosic briliance as its harmonious combination of formal elements of a traditional nature with new tonal ideas. The form of the three-movement Concerto oscillates between that of the baroqueconcerto grosso and the early classical sonata cycle. The neoclassical tendency is evident, above all, in the articulation of the musical structure in keeping with the rigours of periodicity and the manner of developing thematic threads derived fromthem, while the concertato character of particular movements and the generally linear texture indicate baroque connections. The first movement (Allegro) - in the form of an early classical sonata allegro - begins with a subject with energeticfigurations, emblematic for the whole piece and based on a constant, pendulum-like semiquaver movement anchored securely on D. It is precisely because of the nature of this subject that Bacewiczs work has been compared to the Brandenburg Concertosby Jan Sebastian Bach The second movement (Andante), while retaining its concertato charakter, is, at the same time, an example of the composers ability to create emotionally serene lyrical moods, and her sense of cantilena derived from the spiritof romantic song (a motto-subject presented at the beginning by cello solo). In this movement it is both the process of evolution and the instrumental colouring which constitute the constructional agents forming here a self-containedvalue. In thethird movement (Vivo) the composer returns to her favourite type of music, understood as an expression of pure motion in the form of figural motives with infinite transformational possibilities. The spontaneity of the music, the constant mutabilityof the tonal situations, and the sophisticated, acerbic harmonies - as Witold Lutosawski described them - form a colourful mosaic built in the structural skeleton of a sonata rondo. Concerto for String Orchestra is not only proof of thestylizing tendency of the composer but also of an unerring intuition concerning the technical and expressive possibilities inherent in a string instruments ensemble. [Magorzata Gsiorowska, translated by Ewa Cholewka].
SKU: BO.B.3338
English comments: I finished writing the Porta Ferrada Double Concerto at the beginning of 2004. I was commissioned to write it for the Porta Ferrada International Music Festival (in Sant Feliu de Guixols).This double concerto for violin, cello and chamber ensemble represents the start of a period in which the pieces that I am working on are all for small ensembles: Davallament, for soprano and piano; Quinteto de la sala de Levante, for clarinet and string quartet; Palau d'hivern, for soprano, clarinet and string quartet; and Concertino Geminis for solo violin and 15 string instruments.Having written large-scale works, I have now gone back to writing chamber music.
We can see how, throughout my career, the sinfonia concertante form is omnipresent in almost all my earlier periods. I still haven't found a satisfactory answer to why I choose a dialogue between a soloist and an instrumental group so often. I would perhaps say that with a solo instrument it seems as if my music has to flow more effortlessly, allowing me to work more easily. Having a main character in the piece's discourse greatly helps me to develop the idea I have about the piece I want to write.
In this case there are two string soloists, the violin and the cello, which of course play a major part, but without this becoming a virtuosic. As for its form, the piece is based on three parts that meet without interruption.It was first performed on 10 August 2005 at the Teatre Auditori Municipal in Sant Feliu de Guixols as part of the 43rd edition of the Porta Ferrada International Festival, by the Porta Ferrada Simfonietta orchestra and the soloists Melodie Giot and Manon Philippe, conducted by Daniel Tosi.
Comentarios del Espanol: Acabe de escribir el Doble Concierto de la Porta Ferrada a principios del ano 2004. Nace como un encargo del Festival Internacional de Musica de la Porta Ferrada (Sant Feliu de Guixols).Este doble concierto, para violin, violonchelo y un conjunto de camara, abre un periodo en el que las obras que trabajo son todas para pequenos conjuntos: Davallament, para soprano y piano; Quinteto de la sala de Levante, para clarinete y cuarteto de cuerda; Palau d'hivern, para soprano, clarinete y cuarteto de cuerda; Concertino Geminis para violin solista y 15 instrumentos de cuerda.Despues de haber escrito obras de gran formato, ahora vuelvo a la musica de camara.
Podemos ver como la forma concertante, a lo largo de toda mi produccion, es omnipresente en casi todas las epocas precedentes. No he encontrado una respuesta satisfactoria al porque de elegir tan a menudo el dialogo entre un solista y un grupo instrumental. Como aproximacion, diria que con un instrumento solista parece ser que mi musica tenga que fluir mas facilmente y que pueda trabajar con mas comodidad. El hecho de tener un personaje principal en el discurso de la partitura me ayuda mucho a desarrollar la idea que tengo sobre la obra que quiero escribir.
En este caso se trata de dos solistas de cuerda, el violin y el violonchelo, que, como es natural, toman un papel primordial sin que, sin embargo, lleguen a alcanzar una parte virtuosistica. La obra, formalmente, se basa en tres partes que se tocan sin interrupcion.
El estreno tuvo lugar el 10 de agosto de 2005 en el Teatre Auditori Municipal de Sant Feliu de Guixols, en el marco del 43 Festival Internacional de la Porta Ferrada, por la orquesta Simfonietta Porta Ferrada y las solistas Melodie Giot y Manon Philippe, bajo la direccion de Daniel Tosi.
