SKU: PR.41641417L
UPC: 680160601974. 11 x 14 inches.
SKU: AP.1-ADV6007
UPC: 805095060072. English.
South Africa was originally written to feature the texture of the soprano saxophone with viola, the performance can be adapted to other instruments as indicated on the score or others within the written range. Although the piece is not specifically influenced by African music, it is dedicated to Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison. The writing alternates between counter and synchronized lines---the same is true for other pairings such as dissonance/consonance, changing tempos, and dynamics. The challenge is to get the piece to flow through these many shifts of texture. Towards the conclusion there is some space (optional) for improvising using the suggested written notes and intervals as the source material for both instruments.
SKU: BT.AMP-392-010
English-German-French-Dutch.
The work opens with a stern fanfare in bare fifths, which leads to a cantabile theme introduced by alto saxophone. This builds to a climax and reintroduces the fanfare, which slowly evolves into the subsequent vivo. A perky tune emerges on flute, saxophone and trumpet, which, after a short bridge passage, leads to a contrasting melody on low clarinets and saxophones. After some development a true ‘second subject’ appears for the whole band. A recapitulation leads briefly back to the opening fanfare before the vivo returns to close the work in celebratory mood.Het werk begint met een sobere fanfare in open kwinten, gevolgd door een zangerig thema dat wordt ge ntroduceerd door de altsaxofoon. Dit thema groeit uit tot een climax en leidt opnieuw de fanfare in, die zich langzaam ontwikkelt tot het daaropvolgende vivo. Er verschijnt een opgewekte melodie in de fluit, saxofoon en trompet, die na een korte overgangspassage uitmondt in een contrasterende melodie in de lage klarinetten en saxofoons. Na een verdere uitwerking openbaart zich een tweede thema voor het complete orkest. Een herneming voert ons even weer mee naar de openingsfanfare, voordat het vivo terugkeert en het werk in feestelijke stemming afsluit.Nach einer ernsten Fanfare in bloßen Quinten, die zu einem Thema in cantabile im Altsaxophon führt, taucht eine kecke Melodie in Flöte, Saxophon und Trompete auf, die nach einer kurzen Überleitung zu einer kontrastierenden Melodie in den tiefen Klarinetten und Saxophonen wird. Ein zweites Thema“ spielt das gesamte Blasorchester. Bevor ein Vivo aus dem Anfangsteil Southend Celebration beendet, werden längst alle Musiker und Zuhörer von der festlichen Stimmung, die es verbreitet, infiziert sein!L’œuvre s’ouvre avec une fanfare de nature sérieuse en quintes qui mène un thème cantabile introduit par les saxophones alto. La musique s’amplifie pour atteindre un certain climax et réintroduire la fanfare, qui évolue progressivement vers un vivo. Fl tes, saxophones et trompettes introduisent un air guilleret qui, après un court passage de transition, aboutit une mélodie contrastée dans le registre grave des clarinettes et saxophones. Après un développement, un véritable second sujet apparaît pour l’orchestre entier. Une récapitulation mène une brève réapparition de la fanfare d’ouverture avant le retour du vivo, qui achève la pièce dans une ambiance de fête.Il lavoro si apre con un’austera fanfara con quinte vuote, che porta a un tema cantabile introdotto da un saxofono contralto. Si arriva a un culmine e si introduce nuovamente la fanfara, che lentamente evolve nel ‘vivo’ successivo. Un tema vivace emerge dal flauto, dal sassofono e dalla tromba, e dopo un breve passaggio di transizione, porta a una melodia contrastante, dei clarinetti bassi e dei sassofoni. Dopo qualche sviluppo un vero ‘secondo soggetto’ sorge dall’intera banda. Una ripresa porta brevemente indietro alla fanfara, prima che il ‘vivo’ ritorni per chiudere il lavoro in modo celebrativo.
SKU: BT.AMP-392-140
SKU: PR.44641192L
UPC: 680160610860. 11 x 14 inches.
One of my greatest pleasures in writing a concerto is exploring the new world that opens for me each time I enter the sometimes alien, but always fascinating, world of a solo instrument or instruments. For me, the challenge is to discover the deepest nature of the solo instrument (its karma, if you will) and to allow that essential character to guide the shape and form of the work and the nature of the interaction between soloists and orchestra. In recent years, many of us have become more aware of the musical world outside the Western tradition of musics that follow different procedures and spring from other aesthetics. And contemporary percussionists have opened many of these worlds to us, as they have ventured around the globe, participating in Brazilian Samba schools, studying Gamelan and African drumming with local experts, collecting instruments from Asia and Africa and South America and the South Pacific, widening our horizons in the process. I will never forget our first meeting in Toronto when Nexus invited me into their world of hundreds of exciting percussion instruments. The vast array of instruments in the collection of the Nexus ensemble is truly global in scope as well as offering a thrilling sound-universe. I was inspired by the incredible range of sound and moved by the fact that so many of these instruments were musical reflections of a spiritual dimension. After long consideration, I decided that it would not only be impossible, but even undesirable for this Western-tradition-steeped composer to attempt to use these instruments in a culturally authentic way. My goal was an existential kind of authenticity: searching instead for universal ideas that would be true to both myself and the performers while acknowledging the traditional uses of the instruments. Since many percussion instruments are associated with various kinds of ritual, I decided that I would allow that concept to shape my piece. Rituals is in four movements, each issuing from a ritual associated with percussion, but with the orchestral interaction providing an essential element in the musical form. I. Invocation alludes to the traditions of invoking the spirit of the instruments, or the gods, or the ancestors before performing. II. Ambulation moves from a processional, through march and dance to fantasy based on all three. III. Remembrances alludes to traditions of memorializing. IV. Contests progresses from friendly competition games, contests to a suggestion of a battle of big band drummers, to warlike exchanges. In the 2nd and 4th movements, another percussion tradition, improvisation, is employed. Written into these movements are a number of seeds for improvisation. Indications in the score call for the soloists to improvise in three different ways, marked A for percussion alone; marked B for percussion with and in response to the orchestra; and C where the percussionists are free to add and embellish the written parts. These improvisations should grow out of and embellish previous motives and gestures in the movement.
