SKU: HL.14019137

ISBN 9788759850756. 12.0x16.5x0.707 inches. English.

Work for Piano and Orchestra, commissioned by the Helsinki Festival.

SKU: BT.SCHBB6501243

SKU: FG.55011-372-5

ISBN 9790550113725.

Images of the sea figure prominently throughout my life and memories: from holidays on the Atlantic coast during my Canadian childhood to my current Baltic home, and the imagined, only later experienced Mediterranean of my ancestral heritage. As an immigrant (son of an immigrant) bound to two northern countries, the sea is emblematic of my twin homelands, from the expanses of water surrounding them to those separating them. A Mari usque ad Mare. The sea is also an enduring image of the unknown, of expanses unexplored, of the raw power of nature and, for too many currently, of terror holding a hope of refuge - or the pain of loss.
Such disparate ideas were captured for me in the seascapes of the New York painter MaryBeth Thielhelm, whom I met in 2008 during a residency on the Gulf of Mexico. Her vast, abstract, nearly monochromatic depictions of imaginary seas in wildly varying moods were the catalyst for a concerto where the piano is frequently far from a hero battling a collective, but rather acts as a channel for elemental forces surging up from the orchestra, floating - sometimes barely so - on its constantly shifting surface. There are few themes to speak of, beyond a handful of iconic ideas that periodically cycle upward. Rather, the piano's material is largely an ornamentation of the more primal rhythmic and harmonic impulses from the orchestra below - a poetic interpretation, if you will, of the more immediate experience of facing the vastness of some unknown body of water.
The title Nameless Seas is borrowed from one of Thielhelm's exhibitions, as are those of the four movements, which are bridged together into two halves of roughly equal weight - one rhapsodic and free, the other more single-minded and direct, separated only by a short breath. The opening movement, Nocturne, is predominantly calm, if brooding, darkness and light alternating throughout. Lyrical arabesques sparkle over gently lapping cross-currents in the strings and mirrored timpani, the piano's full power only rarely deployed. The waves gradually build, drawing in the full orchestra for a meeting of forces in Land and Sea, a brighter, more warmly lyrical scene that unfolds in series of dreamlike, sometimes even nostalgic visions, which for me carry strong memories of sitting on rocks above surging Atlantic waves. The third movement, Wake, is a fast, perpetual-motion texture of glinting, darting rhythms and sudden shafts of light, with a prominent part for the steel drums, limning the piano's quicksilver figurations. An ecstatic climax crashes into a solo cadenza that grows progressively calmer and more introspective rather than virtuosic. Much of the tension finally releases into Unclaimed Waters, a drifting, meditative seascape in which the piano is progressively engulfed by a series of ever-taller waves, ultimately dissolving into a tolling, rippling continuum of sound.
It has been a great privilege to realize such a long-held dream as this piece, and to write it for not one, but two great pianists. Risto-Matti Marin and Angela Hewitt, both of whose friendship and support have been unfailing and humbling, share the dedication. Nameless Seas was commissioned by the PianoEspoo festival and Canada's National Arts Centre, with the premieres in Ottawa and Helsinki led by Hannu Lintu and Olari Elts. Thanks are due also to the Jenny and Antti Wihuri fund, whose generous grant provided me with much-needed time, and Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, the source to which I returned to do a large part of the work.

SKU: BT.BMP8091417

A lot is known about the American composer Leroy Anderson. This son of Swedish immigrants played the piano, organ, accordion, trombone, tuba and double bass. He spoke several languages fluently and graduated from Harvard with first-class honours.While on military service, the army also commissioned him to write a manual on Icelandic grammar.He already started writing musical arrangements as a student, and from his 30th year arranged and composed for the Boston Pops Orchestra. Such melodiesas Serenata, The Typewriter, Sleigh Ride and Bugler�s Holiday made him world famous. His best-known work, Blue Tango, reached number one in the US charts in 1952, and it sold more than a million copies. In 1975, a year after hisdeath, he was given a star at the Walk of Fame in Hollywood.Most of his works last no longer than three minutes, about the maximum length of a single at that time. One work that lasts longer is his 1953 Piano Concerto in C for piano and orchestra.The first performance was in Chicago, conducted by the composer and with Eugene List at the piano. However, after three performances he was no longer happy with the work and withdrew it. He always intended to revise it, but never got round to it. Itwas only in 1989 that the Anderson family decided to republish the work.This three-part composition is on the one hand characterised by a careless elegance, but on the other one can hear the influence of Rachmaninoff, Copland, Gershwin, and evenBeethoven and Mozart, as well as the Viennese classics.Anderson used the sonata form for the first movement. It ends with a cadenza that carries us on into the second part (in e minor). The third part is a typically cheerful American folk dance in2/4 time, a so-called Hoe Down, with a lilting, lyrical passage as its middle section. At the end comes a solo passage followed by a rapid close.In this piano concerto, Anderson combines a rigidly classical form of composition with simple andappealing themes and elements from light music. So this work is a perfect synthesis of light music and what is called serious music, in the same way as Gershwin�s Rhapsody in Blue. A work that can be played equally well in a concerthall, at an open-air concert or even a pop concert.

Over de Amerikaanse componist Leroy Anderson is veel bekend. Deze zoon van Zweedse immigranten speelde piano, orgel, accordeon, trombone, tuba en contrabas. Hij sprak vloeiend verschillende talen en studeerde met grote onderscheidingaf aan Harvard en schreef tijdens zijn legerdienst in opdracht van het leger een handboek grammatica Ijslands.Al in zijn studententijd begon hij met het maken van arrangementen, en vanaf zijn 30ste arrangeerde en componeerde hijvoor het Boston Pops Orchestra. Melodieën zoals Serenata, The Typewriter, Sleigh Ride en Bugler's Holiday maakte hem wereldberoemd. Zijn bekendste werk Blue Tango stond in 1952 op nummer één in de VS Charts, ener werden meer dan een miljoen exemplaren van verkocht. Een jaar na zijn dood in 1975 kreeg hij een ster op de Walk of Fame in Hollywood.Zijn meeste werken duren niet langer dan drie minuten, ongeveer de maximumduur van een singletoen. Een werk dat wel langer duurt, is het pianoconcerto in C voor piano en orkest uit 1953. Het werd in Chicago gecreëerd onder zijn leiding met Eugene List aan de piano. Na drie uitvoeringen echter, was hij niet meer tevredenover zijn werk en trok dit terug. Hij had zijn leven lang de intentie het te herwerken doch kwam er niet meer toe. Pas in 1989 besliste de Anderson Familie zijn pianoconcerto toch opnieuw uit te geven.Dit driedelige werk wordtenerzijds getypeerd door een zorgeloze elegantie, maar anderzijds zijn invloeden van Rachmaninoff, Copland, Gerschwin en zelfs Beethoven en Mozart alsook de Weense klassiekers te horen.Voor de eerste beweging, past Anderson de sonatevormtoe. Op het einde volgt een cadenza die ons in het tweede deel (in mi klein) voert. Het derde deel is een typische Amerikaanse, vrolijke volksdans in 2/4, een zogenaamde Hoe Down met als middengedeelte een zangerige, lyrische

Über den amerikanischen Komponisten Leroy Anderson lässt sich vieles berichten: Der Sohn schwedischer Immigranten spielte Klavier, Orgel, Akkordeon, Posaune, Tuba und Kontrabass, sprach neun Sprachen fließend, absolvierte mit einemMagna-cum-laude-Abschluss die Harvard Universität und verfasste während seiner Militärzeit im Zweiten Weltkrieg für die amerikanische Armee eine Grammatik des Isländischen. Schon während seiner Studentenzeit begann er zu arrangieren, ab Mitte der30er Jahre des letzten Jahrhunderts arrangierte und komponierte er für das Boston Pops Orchestra. Aus seiner Feder stammen so bekannte Werke der leichten Muse wie Serenata, The Typewriter, Sleigh Ride oder Bugler�s Holiday. Sein wohlbekanntestes Stück, Blue Tango, wurde als erste Instrumentalkomposition über eine Million Mal verkauft und belegte im Jahr 1952 Platz 1 der US-Charts. Für seine Verdienste um die Schallplattenindustrie erhielt er ein Jahr nach seinem Tod einenStern auf dem Walk of Fame in Hollywood.Charakteristisch für seine Werke ist die Dauer: die meisten sind rund drei Minuten lang � mehr passte nicht auf den damals gebräuchlichen Tonträger, eine Singleschallplatte. Nur wenige seinerKompositionen sprengen diesen Zeitrahmen. Dazu gehört sein Konzert C-Dur für Klavier und Orchester. Er komponierte es 1953, die Uraufführung fand unter seiner Leitung und mit Eugene List am Klavier im selben Jahr in Chicago statt. Da Anderson mit demWerk aber nicht zufrieden war, zog er es im Sommer 1954, nach nur drei Aufführungen, wieder ein. Er hatte zeitlebens die Absicht, es zu überarbeiten, allein, es kam nicht mehr dazu. Erst 1989 entschied sich die Anderson-Familie dazu, dasKlavierkonzert wieder zu veröffentlichen.Das dreisätzige Werk zeigt die Unbeschwertheit und Eleganz, die Andersons sämtliche Kompositionen auszeichnen. Dennoch findet man darin auch Anklänge an Komponisten wie Rachmaninoff, Copland, Gershwin, undeben Beethoven und Mozart, sowie die Wiener Klassiker. Der erste Satz folgt der Sonatenhauptsatzform. An seinem Ende steht eine Klavierkadenz, die direkt in den langsamen zweiten Satz (in e-Moll) überleitet. Der dritte Satz schließlich ist einwaschechter Hoe Down, ein fröhlicher amerikanischer Volkstanz im 2/4-Takt, in dessen Zentrum aber eine lyrisch-gesangliche Passage steht. Eine weitere Solo-Kadenz führt das Werk in einen spritzigen Schlussabschnitt.In seinem Klavierkonzertvereinigt Anderson einen klassisch-traditionellen Form- und Kompositionsstil mit Elementen der Unterhaltungsmusik und eingängigen Melodien, die schon immer sein Markenzeichen waren. Daher bildet dieses Werk eine perfekte Synthese von ernster undleichter Musik. Es passt � wie beispielsweise auch George Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue � gleichermaßen in einen vornehmen Konzertsaal, wie auch zur zwanglos-lockeren Atmosphäre einer sommerlichen Open-Air-Veranstaltung oder einesPops-Konzertes.

Nous savons beaucoup de choses sur le compositeur américain Leroy Anderson. Ce fils dimmigrants suédois jouait du piano, de lorgue, de laccordéon, du trombone, du tuba et de la contrebasse. Il parlait couramment plusieurs langues et était diplômé avec grande distinction de Harvard. Pendant son service militaire, il écrivit un manuel de grammaire islandaise commandé par larmée.Étudiant, il avait déj commencé faire des arrangements et dès l ge de 30 ans, il arrangeait et composait pour le Boston Pops Orchestra. Des mélodies telles que Serenata, The Typewriter, Sleigh Ride et Buglers Holiday lui valurent une renommée mondiale. Son uvre phare, Blue Tango, fut numéro un descharts américains en 1952 et se vendit plus dun million dexemplaires. Un an après sa mort en 1975, il eut droit son étoile sur le Walk of Fame Hollywood.La plupart de ses uvres nexcèdent pas trois minutes, soit peu près la durée maximale dun single lépoque. Son concerto en ut pour piano et orchestre de 1953 est quant lui plus long. Il fut créé Chicago sous sa direction avec Eugene List au piano. Après trois exécutions, Anderson nétait toutefois plus satisfait de son travail et le retira. Toute sa vie, il eut lintention de le remanier mais ne le fit pas. Ce nest quen 1989 que la famille Anderson décida de tout de m?me rééditer son concerto pour piano.Cette uvre en trois parties se caractérise par son élégance nonchalante mais aussi par linfluence de Rachmaninoff, Copland, Gershwin et m?me de Beethoven et Mozart, ainsi que des classiques viennois.Pour le premier mouvement, Anderson opte pour une sonate. la fin, une cadence nous conduit la deuxième partie (en mi mineur). La troisième partie est une danse populaire joyeuse et typiquement américaine en 2/4, une Hoe Down avec un passage lyrique et mélodieux en son milieu. la fin, un solo est suivi par une clôture rapide.Dans son concerto pour piano, Anderson unit une composition pure et classique des thèmes beaux et simples, sans oublier des éléments de la musique légère. Cette uvre.

SKU: SA.41762

ISBN 9781608741762. 9.5 x 12.5 inches.

Composed in the late summer of 1876, Dvorak's first effort at a full-blown concerto shows signs of an unusual amount of revision in the composer's hand - especially for the solo piano part. This might explain the delay in the concerto's premiere, which was given at the Provisional Theatre in Prague on March 24, 1878 with Karel Slavkovsky as soloist accompanied by the Provisional Theatre Orchestra under the baton of Adolf Cech. The composer himself wrote: I see I am unable to write a Concerto for a virtuoso; I must think of other things. The ungainly solo part no doubt also played a role in the work's dely in publication, which didn't take place until 1883. Even after this, and despite much beauty in the music itself, performances were scarce due to the difficulty and charchter of the solo part. The solo part was revised heavily by the Czech pianist Vilem Kurz (1872-1945), whose version was premired by his daughter Ilona KurzovA! and the Czech Philharmonic on December 9, 1919 and is the one most often performed today. This new study score is a digitally enhanced reissue of the full score first published in 1956 by the Czech State Publishers as part of the Dvorak collected works, edited by Jiri Berkovec and Karel Solc, which includes both the composer's original solo part and the re-arranged one made by Kurz. Unlike so many of the on-demand scores now available, this one comes with all the pages and the images have been thoroughly checked to make sure it is readable. As with all PLP scores a percentage of each sale is donated to the amazing online archive of free music scores and recordings, IMSLP - Petrucci Music Library.