SKU: BT.DHP-0960683-040
The Russian ballet director Sergei Diaghilev commissioned many composers to write music for the theatre. This was what caused Serge Prokofiev to compose the four part Scytische Suite (also known as Ala and Lolli) in 1916, from which The Enemy God and the Dance of the Spirits can be heard on this CD. This suite is one of Prokofiev's first works, and received negative criticism following its first performance on account of its being uncivilised. Prokofiev himself wrote after this first performance . . . The timpani player beat the skin of the timpani to tatters, and the whole orchestra voiced a protest. A cellist complained that he only put up with the violence, createdby the blaring brass, on account of his sick wife and three children . . ..
SKU: BT.DHP-0960683-010
SKU: BF.BM397-SCORE
Prokofiev composed his first piano concerto while at the Conservatory, in 1911 and 1912, and premiered it himself on August 7, 1912. The concerto is a single movement divided into clearly marked sections. Prokofiev could in this way keep the typical fast-slow-fast structure of the usual three-movement concerto, yet use some of the same thematic elements throughout all of his sections. Throughout the work, Prokofiev demonstrates his penchant for bright, percussive textures. The glockenspiel takes on a uniquely soloistic role, often teaming up with the piano to sparkle above the orchestral fray. With its bravura solos and daring harmonies, Prokofiev's first 'mature' composition announces him as a musical force to be reckoned with.
SKU: MH.1-59913-020-3
ISBN 9781599130200.
Program Notes: Festival in Russia is a transcription for concert band of Anatoli Liadov's dazzling orchestral work, Polonaise (Op. 49). Written at the turn of the century, its energetic dance rhythms and melodic expressiveness will bring a delightful Old World charm to today's audiences. Liadov (1855-1914) was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and succeeded him as the composition teacher. (One of Liadov's most notable students at the Conservatory was Sergei Prokofiev.) At the time the Polonaise was written (1899), Liadov was at the height of his profession and one of his era's most respected and widely-known composers. The first performance of this transcription for concert band was given by the West Virginia University Wind Symphony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on February 24, 1988, Don Wilcox conducting. Ensemble instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 4 Flute I, 4 Flute II, 1 Oboe I, 1 Oboe II, 1 English Horn, 1 Bassoon I, 1 Bassoon II, 1 Eb Clarinet, 4 Bb Clarinet I, 4 Bb Clarinet II, 4 Bb Clarinet III, 1 Eb Alto Clarinet, 1 Eb ContrabassClarinet, 3 Bb Bass Clarinet & Bb Contrabass Clarinet, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone I, 3 Eb Alto Saxophone II, 2 Bb Tenor Saxophone, 2 Eb Baritone Saxophone, 3 Bb Cornet I, 3 Bb Cornet II, 3 Bb Cornet III, 2 Bb Trumpet I, 2 Bb Trumpet II, 2 F Horn I & III, 2 F Horn II & IV, 2 Trombone I, 2 Trombone II, 2 Bass Trombone, 3 Euphonium, 2 Euphonium T.C., 4 Tuba, 2 Timpani, 2 Bells & Vibraphone, 3 Chimes, Triangle & Cymbals, 2 Xylophone & Marimba, 2 Snare Drum & Bass Drum.
SKU: MH.1-59913-021-1
ISBN 9781599130217.
SKU: HL.48024642
ISBN 9781784542658. UPC: 888680949068. 7.25x10.25x0.241 inches.
New edition of this enigmatic, single-movement work for full orchestra lasting 13 minutes and dating from the early-1930s. In his preface, Gerard McBurney comments that, Despite the music's modernist surface, the Chant symphonique's 'three closely integrated movements' correspond rather neatly to a traditional sonata-form exposition, development and recapitulation. There is even an overall tonality of sorts - D major. But 'parts', 'moods', keys and cadences are all subjected in this unusual work to tremendous pressure and distortion, so that we quickly begin to suspect that something other, different and more mysterious, is really going on here..
SKU: BT.F-03002
