SKU: PR.16400272S

UPC: 680160588442. 8.5 x 11 inches.

My third quartet is laid out in a three-movement structure, with each movement based on an early, middle, and late work of the great American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. Although the movements are separate, with full-stop endings, the music is connected by a common scale-form, derived from the name MARY CASSATT, and by a recurring theme that introduces all three movements. I see this theme as Mary's Theme, a personality that stays intact while undergoing gradual change.   I The Bacchante (1876) [Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]   The painting shows a young girl of Italian or Spanish origin, playing a small pair of cymbals. Since Cassatt was trying very hard to fit in at the French Academy at the time, she painted a lot of these subjects, which were considered typical and universal. The style of the painting doesn't yet show Cassatt's originality, except perhaps for certain details in the face. Accordingly the music for this movement is Spanish/Italian, in a similar period-style but using the musical signature described above. The music begins with Mary's Theme, ruminative and slow, then abruptly changes to an alla Spagnola-type fast 3/4 - 6/8 meter. It evokes the Spanish-influenced music of Ravel and Falla.   Midway through, there's an accompanied recitative for the viola, which figures large in this particular movement, then back to a truncated recapitulation of the fast music. The overall feeling is of a well-made, rather conventional movement in a contemporary Spanish/Italian style. Cassatt's painting, too, is rather conventional.   II At the Opera (1880) [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts]   This painting is one of Cassatt's most well known works, and it hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The painting shows a woman alone in a box at the opera house, completely dressed (including gloves) and looking through opera glasses at someone or something that is NOT on the stage. Across the auditorium from her, but exactly at eye level, is a gentleman with opera glasses intently watching her - though it is not him that she's looking at. It's an intriguing picture.   This movement is far less conventional than the first movement, as the painting is far less conventional. The music begins with a rapid, Shostakovich-type mini-overture lasting less than a minute, based on Mary's Theme. My conjecture is that the woman in the painting has arrived late to the opera, busily stumbling into her box. What happens next is a kind of collage, a kind of surrealistic overlaying of two different elements: the foreground music, at first is a direct quotation of Soldier's Chorus from Gounod's FAUST (an opera Cassatt would certainly have heard in the brand-new Paris Opera House at that time), played by Violin II, Viola, and Cello. This music is played sul ponticello in the melody and col legno in the marching accompaniment. On top of this, the first violin hovers at first on a high harmonic, then descends into a slow melody, completely separate from the Gounod. It's as if the woman in the painting is hearing the opera onstage but is not really interested in it. Then the cello joins the first violin in a kind of love-duet (just the two of them, at first). This music isn't at all Gounod-derived; it's entirely from the same scale patterns as the first movement and derives from Mary's Theme and its scale. The music stays in a kind of dichotomy feeling, usually three-against-one, until the end of the movement, when another Gounod melody, Valentin's aria Avant de quitter ce lieux reappears in a kind of coda for all four players. It ends atmospherically and emotionally disconnected, however. The overall feeling is a kind of schizophrenic, opera-inspired dream.   III Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun (1909) [Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts]   The painting, one of Cassatt's last, is very simple: just a figure, looking sideways out of the picture. The colors are pastel and yet bold - and the woman is likewise very self-assured and not in the least demure. It is eight minutes long, and is all about melody - three melodies, to be exact (Young Woman, Green, and Sunlight). No angst, no choppy rhythms, just ever-unfolding melody and lush harmonies. I quote one other French composer here, too: Debussy's song Green, from Ariettes Oubliees. 1909 would have been Debussy's heyday in Paris, and it makes perfect sense musically as well as visually to do this.   Mary Cassatt lived her last several years in near-total blindness, and as she lost visual acuity, her work became less sharply defined - something akin to late water lilies of Monet, who suffered similar vision loss. My idea of making this movement entirely melodic was compounded by having each of the three melodies appear twice, once in a pure form, and the second time in a more diffuse setting. This makes an interesting two ways form: A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.   String Quartet No.3 (Cassatt) is dedicated, with great affection and respect, to the Cassatt String Quartet, whose members have dedicated themselves in large measure to the furthering of the contemporary repertoire for quartet.

SKU: BT.DHP-1145555-400

ISBN 9789043135979. English-German-French-Dutch.

Position 1 covers the four fingerings of the first position. The connection between these fingerings and the different keys - up to three sharps or flats - is also dealt with. The book features 38 exercises for the various fingerings, sevenscale and triad exercises, and 68 attractive performance pieces in a range of musical styles. The performance pieces can be played with CD accompaniment (demo and play-along tracks are featured on CDs 1 and 2) or with piano accompaniment. The pianoaccompaniments can be found on CD 2 in PDF form.

In Position 1 worden alle vingerstellingen binnen de 1e positie geleerd aan de hand van grepenschema?s, oefeningen en speelstukken. Verder wordt het verband gelegd tussen de verschillende vingerstellingen in toonladders en drieklanken inde 1e positie over 2 oktaven. De 68 speelstukken kunnen met cd-begeleiding worden gespeeld, of met live-pianobegeleidingen. Deze worden als pdf geleverd op de 2 bijbehorende cd?s. De vertrouwde afwisseling van nieuwe stukken, arrangementen vanklassieke thema?s en volksliedjes ontbreekt uiteraard niet!

Lees hier de boekbespreking uit Arco.

In Position 1 geht es um die vier Griffarten der ersten Lage. Diese Griffarten werden auch mit den verschiedenen Tonarten - mit bis zu drei Kreuzen oder Bs - verknüpft. Das Buch umfasst 38 �bungen für die verschiedenen Griffarten, siebenTonleiter- und Dreiklangsübungen sowie 68 reizvolle Vortragsstücke in einer ganzen Palette an Musikstilen. Die Vortragsstücke können zu den Begleitungen auf den beiden CDs (die Demo- und Mitspielversionen enthalten), aber auch mit einem Pianistengespielt werden. Die Klavierstimmen sind im PDF-Format zum Ausdrucken auf der CD 2 enthalten.

Position 1 couvre les quatre doigtés de la première position et examine le rapport entre ces doigtés et les différentes tonalités - jusquà trois dièses ou bémols. Cet ouvrage contient 38 exercices pour les divers doigtés, 7exercices de gammes et de triades, et 68 morceaux de concert dans une diversité de styles. Ces morceaux peuvent être exécutés avec l´accompagnement du CD, mais aussi accompagnés au piano. Des versions intégrales et de démonstration figurent surles CD 1 et 2, ce dernier comprenant aussi les partitions du piano sous forme de fichiers PDF.

Position 1 affronta le quattro diteggiature della prima posizione. La pubblicazione contiene 38 esercizi per le varie posizioni, sette scale e terze, come anche 68 accattivanti brani in vari stili musicali da suonare in pubblico. Questipossono essere eseguiti sia con lausilio dei 2 CD inclusi (traccia demo e traccia play-along), sia con l´accompagnamento di un pianista. Le parti del piano, contenute sul secondo CD, sono scaricabili in formato PDF.

SKU: BR.EB-9270

ISBN 9790004185704. 9 x 12 inches.

I fell in love with the remarkable singing of the Tenores di Bitti on hearing their recordings as a student. Their uniquely intense vocal timbre, their harmony, which seemed pure and rough at once, and the sense that this music was, at root, not so much about performance as simply being together in the world, in a community of spirit. At the time, I had no intention of using this music to my own creative ends, but now, here we are: Sardinian Songbook is the second in a cycle of works for the Ligeti Quartet, all based on transcriptions of music from different throat-singing traditions. Like string quartets, the tenores usually sing in groups of four voices, but being free from instruments they stand very close together enabling the resonances of their voices to blend and interact in a special way. The quartet, of course, can only sit so close before their bows clash, so I have chosen instead to reflect this physical closeness inversely, by getting the players to stand increasingly far from one another as the piece progresses. In so doing, the initial state of sonic blend gives way to hocketing lines, opening up the sense of space.Christian Mason, 2018 The four movements may be played separately or as a collection. If played together the following order should be observed (see table of contents).

World premiere: Sheffield/UK, Firth Hall, April 14, 2018, Commissioned by Ligeti Quartet.