SKU: ST.Y261

ISBN 9790220222580.

The ground bass, a type of theme-and-variations much favoured by English composers from Purcell to Britten, receives a 21st-century makeover in Morgan Hayes's Dances on a Ground.

The 'ground' in this case is, appropriately, a robotic, march-like tune for cello that asserts itself in unrelenting mechanical repetitions according to the rules of the form. But among the other instruments there is little consensus about the path the music should take. Though the theme resists for a time, increasingly assaulted by their capricious flights of melody and spiky pizzicatos it abandons its stubborn resistance, is turned to fragments, then dissolves in a fierce conclusion, leaving only an outline of its former self.

Premiered in Vilnius, Lithuania, in May 2009 by the Composers Ensemble with pianist Huw Watkins, Dances on a Ground revisits an earlier work written for the Smith Quartet, and presents its material in terms of a carefully chosen instrumentation of clarinet in A, violin, cello, piano and optional double bass. The same performers gave the work's UK premiere last September, at Kings Place, London.

SKU: HL.14034682

ISBN 9780853608080. UPC: 884088486440. 8.25x11.75x0.069 inches.

Variations On A Catalan Folksong (Op. 25) were written by John W. Duarte for solo Guitar. They were based on the Spanish folk melody Canco Del Llabre, one of the most popular Catalan folk tunes to have survived to this day.

John W. Duarte (1919-2004) was a British guitarist, composer, and music journalist. Having received a degree in Chemistry, his fascination with the endless possibilities of the Guitar caused him to abandon science in favour of music. Despite having never formally studied music, he is regarded as one of the foremost composers for Guitar of the 20th century.

SKU: ST.MB42

ISBN 9790220200175.

Composed in 1740, this is a fascinating late example of the English masque tradition, and a relatively early work by a composer who began to occupy a central role in the life of London's musical theatre at about the time when Handel was abandoning Italian opera in favour of oratorio.

The performing material is available for rental.

SKU: BR.EOS-8063-26

ISBN 9790004789810. 8.5 x 11.5 inches.

The Ode was admirably set by Mr. Henry Purcell, and performed twice with universal applause.
(The Gentlemen's Journal, 1692)

The popularity of Purcell's setting is apparent from the many sources that survive and from the printed extracts which appeared almost immediately after its first performance. The primary source for this edition is the largely autograph manuscript in the Bodleian Library. Rather to reduce the orthography to a norm, the capitalization of the vocal text favours Purcell's preferences.
(Christopher Hogwood) Vokalensemble Stuttgart und den Kammerchor des Kopernikus-Gymnasiums Wasseralfingen. Fur diese beiden ganz unterschiedlichen Chorformationen hat Martin Smolka 2012 auch gezielt seine Partitur angelegt. Biografisch ist das Agnus Dei eine Art kleines Requiem fur seinen kurz zuvor verstorbenen Vater. Das liturgische Agnus Dei rahmt den deutschen Text Eh das Madchen entschlief ... der bei Auffuhrungen in anderen Landern durch eine Ubersetzung ersetzt werden soll.

Der SWR-Redakteur Hans-Peter Jahn schreibt dazu im Programmheft: Die fur Smolka typischen minimalistischen Taktzellen schaffen eine archaische Sinnlichkeit. Eine einfache und zugleich streng gebaute Vokalmusik mit Tiefenwirkung.

Nach der Urauffuhrung war die Esslinger Zeitung hellauf begeistert: Smolka ist ein Meister der Stimmbehandlung und der chorischen Klanggestaltung. Im Zentrum des Stucks gerat die Musik zum Stillstand: im leisen gleichmassigen Summen uber dem plotzlich fortissimo ein tschechisches Kinderlied erklingt eines das der Vater seinen Kindern haufig vorgesungen hat. Das alles war sehr beruhrend. Und eigentlich noch mehr als das. My father PhDr. Jaroslav Smolka (1933-2011) was a leading Czech musicologist author of books Czech Cantata and Oratorium Fuga in Czech Music Smetana's Orchestra Music Smetana's Vocal Music monography of Jan Dismas Zelenka and many others. He was a legendary teacher of Music History at Prague Music Academy critic recording producer composer; for almost 50 years he was an important and highly respected personality of Prague musical life.
My father devoted a lot of time and energy to musical education and activities of my sister and me using often quite original methods such as teaching of intervals and counterpoint through Bartok's Microcosmos ear training filling all imaginable moments of everyday life or lessons of harmony analysis starting with Overture to Tristan and Musorgsky's Catacombs. The Martinu song Wondering Maiden was his solo number in our home vocal productions which he used to sing with amazing devotion while his huge voice was audible in several neighboring streets.
My Agnus Dei is closely bound to all this history e.g. by using canon and preferring beauty of dissonant seconds like Bartok or quoting Martinu and his refined neoclassical harmony. Father would be probably a bit critical about the minimalistic monotony of the main body of the piece. Nevertheless firstly he would improvise a short lecture of history of Agnus Dei in Requiem in Czech Music naming by heart many dates and all examples of changes of order of the traditional text by composers. Examples would be sung probably.
(Martin Smolka).

SKU: FG.55011-449-4

ISBN 9790550114494.

An idiomatic guitar transcription of this Sibelius's solo cello work dating from 1887 when he was 22 years. The work owes much to Bach in terms of its style, although the theme on which the variations are based has a certain Finnish-Nordic flavour. Nino Atanaskovic has done a great favour for all guitarists by arranging this work for his instrument. Now even the guitarists can get a taste of Sibelius.

SKU: HL.14033070

Ten Tunes From Gilbert And Sullivan have been arranged for Recorder with Guitar accompaniment by John W. Duarte. The recorder part is presented here. Included are classic tunes from The Mikado, HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and more!

John W. Duarte (1919-2004) was a British guitarist, composer, and music journalist. Having received a degree in Chemistry, his fascination with the endless possibilities of the Guitar caused him to abandon science in favour of music. Despite having never formally studied music, he is regarded as one of the foremost composers for Guitar of the 20th century.

SKU: BR.BG-925

ISBN 9790004131824. 9 x 12 inches.

When the mathematically oriented compositional method started losing favour, composers began turning again more strongly to the piano, from the midsixties on, and discovered, as it were, the new poetry of the instrument through effects obtained with harmonics and preparation. For this reason, only a few pieces dating from before 1965 have been selected. Most of the following pieces were composed especially for this anthology. They are arranged in order of increasing difficulty. While the first volume is intended more for the amateur, the second volume presupposes a greater degree of skill. Due to the great number of composers, it was impossible even to pretend to offer a representative cross-section of contemporary German piano music. Several composers had to be excluded because they wrote no notable works for piano. Another criterion influencing the selection of pieces was the effort to present the most varies styles of piano writing possible. Moreover, special notice has been given to the works which display originality, even though their authors are not among the most widely known and marketable musicians of the day.

SKU: HH.HH105-FSP

ISBN 9790708041559.

IThe text for Ingratissima Clori does not appear in Ottoboni’s Trattenimenti poetici, and its authorship is therefore uncertain. However, it exhibits one of Ottoboni’s most consistent stylistic ‘trademarks’ – the use of end rhyme throughout the recitative stanzas (i.e., not merely in a final couplet) – and the worldly wise view of romantic love expressed in it (amounting to: if one love object is unresponsive to you, seek another) is very much in his vein. It should be considered a candidate for his authorship. The text comprises two arias, each introduced by a short recitative. This is the ‘RARA’ layout that dominated the cantata around 1700, before becoming displaced from favour in its turn by the even more condensed ‘ARA’ layout.

SKU: HL.49045038

ISBN 9783795772741. UPC: 841886024397. 9.0x6.5x9.5 inches. German - English.

The 'Eulenburg Audio+Score' series contains the orchestral world's greatest musical treasures from the baroque, classical and romantic repertoire. Each volume is clearly-presented with authoritative scores, informative prefaces detailing the biographical and creative background; - CDs of great performances of each work in full length, from orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.NEW: This box-set of 25 masterpieces in a handy slipcase containing volumes 51-75 in the series is amazing value: almost 50% cheaper than buying each volume separately! This is the perfect gift for any music-lover. 'Eulenburg Audio+Score' is the new way to hear, read and understand music. Eulenburg is the 130 year-old world-famous publishing brand, renowned for its top-quality, reliable study scores at reasonable prices. Focusing on the fields of opera, orchestral music, chamber music and vocal music, it is the favoured by conductors, orchestral musicians, soloists, students, teachers and music-lovers generally. The more you read, the more you hear!

SKU: HH.HH500-FSP

ISBN 9790708185109.

The eighteenth century saw a great increase in secular music for solo voice and continuo set to texts in Venetian, which was then a recognized literary language, not a mere dialect of Italian. Most of these compositions are short gondola songs or canzonettas, but a few are cantatas in several movements indistinguishable from their counterparts with Italian texts except in language and subject matter, which favours contemporary themes treated in a comic manner. The two Venetian cantatas for soprano and continuo by Diogenio Bigaglia (1678–1745) published here for the first time – they are probably the first of their type ever to appear in a modern edition – are excellently crafted examples of their type, revealing an unexpectedly racy side of their composer, a Benedictine monk. One is a set of instructions for a shopping trip given by a nun to her aged servant, and the other is a woman’s catty description of the rise from rags to riches of one of her neighbours through prostitution. The editions come with translations of the texts and a brief note on the pronunciation of Venetian.