John Casken

SKU: HL.49043952

ISBN 9790220134463. 0.38 inches. English.

This work's title comes from DM Thomas's dramatic poem on an imagined episode in the life of Cleopatra. Cleopatra offers any three men from her royal court a night of unbridled passion, in return for which they must forfeit their lives the next morning. Three men step forward, the last of which is the son she had by her brother Ptolemy, whom she gave away at birth. Unaware that Cleopatra is his mother, he gives her wine laced with mandragora and makes his escape before daybreak. The grisly tale provided the composer many opportunities for dramatic characterisation. The use of a narrator necessitated an episodic structure in which the music captures the atmosphere suggested by the text, and mirrors the different moods as the journey unfolds and the three characters live out their different fates.

The title Deadly Pleasures was suggested by the content of D.M. Thomas's dramatic poem on an imagined episode in the life of Cleopatra. Cleopatra offers any three men from her royal court a night of unbridled passion, in return for which they must forfeit their lives the next morning. Three men step forward, the last of which (unbeknownst to all) is the son she had by her brother Ptolemy, whom she gave away at birth. Unaware that Cleopatra is his mother he gives her wine laced with the drug mandragora and escapes his grisly death before daybreak.The music of Deadly Pleasures skilfully captures the diff erent episodic moods of the text as the journey unfolds, and the three characters live out their diff erent fates.

SKU: HL.49044382

ISBN 9790220135286. 8.25x11.75x0.063 inches. English.

This Easter anthem by British composer John Casken is an expert example of contemporary choral writing and would be ideal for amateur choirs looking for exciting new repertoire.

SKU: HL.49014892

ISBN 9790220115707. 8.25x11.75x0.252 inches.

SKU: HL.49020646

SKU: HL.49014917

ISBN 9790220118524.

3(3:pic) * 2 * ca. * bob.2 * bcl. * ssax * 2 * cbsn. - 4 * flhn. * 2 * 2 * btbn * 1 - timp. * perc.(4dr., large b.d., large sus.cym., cast., 2tam-tams, log drum, kit, marimba., vibra., glock., crots., tub.bells, 3gngs., maraca., cabaca)(2 players) - pf. (cel) * hp - str.

SKU: HL.49019937

ISBN 9790220134159. UPC: 888680029135. 8.25x12.0x0.135 inches. English. Choral Music of Our Time.

John Casken's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis was commissioned to mark the return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the North East of England, where Casken lives. The book, dating from the 7th century, is one of the finest examples of Anglo-Saxon Northumbrian illuminated manuscript, containing the oldest surviving translation of the Gospels into English. The manuscript was produced at a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne but is normally housed at the British Library in London, and its special exhibition in the Palace Green Library at Durham was marked by a summer-long celebration of the arts. Casken's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis is set in English.

SKU: HL.49030267

ISBN 9790220129452.

SKU: HL.49020647

SKU: HL.49043942

ISBN 9790220134562. 8.25x11.75x0.396 inches. English.

The Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood was probably written in the 8th Century and is the earliest dream-vision poem in Old English. A fragment of the poem from the section that describes the crucifixion can be found carved on the Ruthwell Cross in Dumfriesshire, and set in stone at a time when Ruthwell was part of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria. In responding to a commission for the Hilliard Ensemble, I was keen to find a dramatic text, but one that would also invite a musical response appropriate to the very nature of this kind of vocal quartet. Writing for the Hilliards together with a mixed instrumental ensemble, and for a generous cathedral acoustic, has had a strong influence on the types of textures and sonorities I have used. The structure of the work is dictated by the form of the poem, but the music could also be seen as consisting of a sequence of motets with both vocal and instrumental interludes.John Casken.

SKU: HL.49019910

ISBN 9790220134395. UPC: 888680089528. 8.25x11.75x0.25 inches.

My Concerto for Orchestra (2007) is a twenty-minute work in which different sections of the orchestra, as well as individual solos and duos from within the orchestra, are highlighted as the music unfolds. The work continues my interest in two-movement forms that began with my Cello Concerto (1991), and was later developed in Sortilege (1996) and Symphony (Broken Consort) (2004). In these works, and in the Concerto for Orchestra, each movement is given equal weight and importance with the second developing earlier material and taking it in new directions.The two-movement form of the Concerto for Orchestra derives from a symphonic sonata structure, reshaping the traditional four-movement form and combining this with aspects of sonata form, a tradition that goes back to Liszt, Schoenberg and Sibelius:1st movement (i) exposition of ideas - dramatic and sudden (ii) scherzo and development 1 - resolute2nd movement (iii) adagio - calm and unhurried (iv) development 2 with recapitulation - intense and energeticThe Concerto for Orchestra was commissioned by the Musikalische Akademie des Nationaltheatre-Orchesters Mannheim with the support of Die Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg for its first two performances on 31st March and 1st April 2008 conducted by Friedemann Layer. The score is dedicated in friendship and admiration to Ronald Zollman.John Casken

3(3.pic).2.ca.2(2.Ebcl).bcl.3(3.cbsn)-4.3(1.Dtpt).2.btbn.1-timp.3perc(crot, vib, tub bells, sizz cym, Chinese cym, h.h, Swiss cow-bell, gong, horizontal gong, 2tam-t, tamb, bng, s.d, 5tom-t, b.d, clav, casts, marac, 5tempbl, wdbl, cabaca, vibraslap)-hp-str.

SKU: HL.49030371

ISBN 9790220119514.

Written for the superb Domus ensemble, Casken's vivid addition to the small number of modern piano quartets exploits the very different sonorities, weight and attack which strings and piano possess. Casken's music has a strong sense of theatre and here the singing lines are constantly threatened by dynamic, rhythmic material. '... this 16-minute single movement explores the essential dichotomy between the dynamic percussive keyboard and the singing, more cohesive strings.' (Christopher Morley. The Birmingham Post. 1990).

SKU: HL.49020648

SKU: HL.49019330

ISBN 9790220133725. 8.25x11.75x0.242 inches.

The work explores something of how we might experience winter. The title is a play on words and the normal meaning of reels as dances infects both the first movement, with its lilting triplet rhythms, and the last movement which incorporates a vigorous reel-like unison melody that unfolds as part of a series of energetic episodes. The song of the second movement is a long singing line given to the cello, and the ensemble here, as elsewhere, is coloured in the percussion by the use of a steel pan.John Casken.

SKU: HL.49046353

ISBN 9781540082886. UPC: 842819106470.