The Dreamers - A Gothic Tale for Horn Trio by Niels Marthinsen. Programme note: The Dreamers for horn violin and piano is the sixth of a series of seven compositions named after Karen Blixen's collection of short stories Seven Gothic Tales. My musical gothic tales are written for very different ensembles - THE SUPPER AT ELSINORE is a saxophone quartet THE OLD CHEVALIER is for bass trombone and piano THE MONKEY is a chamber orchestra work - but they all share musical material in a criss-cross of contextual references reminiscent of Blixen's narrative complexity: Themes and motivs from one pieceappear in others in new and surprising shapes and combinations. Karen Blixen's THE DREAMERS has the most complex narrative structure of all her seven gothic tales. The story is made up of three tales with different narrators but with the same principal caracter in various disguises all three imbedded within a fourth tale that serves as a framework for the entire short story.The main story line unravels the life of a famous opera diva who looses her voice during a terrible fire. Before this her life was perpetual bliss and the tragedy drives her into assuming different personality guises in order to escape reality.Toward the end she is confronted with her true identity and dies.THE DREAMERS isn't 'about' anything. The music is inspired by the artistic content of Blixen's short story - it's emotionalism dramatic construction atmosphere period and settings - but unfolds in time and musical space in ways that are completely independent of the story's narrative progression...except one might say that the three players try their best to either catch or escape each other and that when they finally meet it happens abruptly even tragically - and only barely provides a little consolation.

Par SCHOENBERG ARNOLD. Here the fourths, springing from an entirely different expressive urge, shape themselves into a defi nite horn theme, spread themselves out architectonically over the whole piece, and place their stamp on everything that happens. Thus it turns out that they do not appear here merely as melody or as a purely impressionistic chord effect; their character permeates the total harmonic structure, and they are chords like all others.' (Arnold Schoenberg, Theory of Harmony, 1911) The Chamber Symphony Op.9 heralded a breakthrough in Schoenberg's compositional style. While the work did not go hand in hand with the complete destruction of the old tonal system it does show an extension in chordal and melodic constructions. It's focus on the interval of the fourth rather than the third is stated right at the start with the horn fanfare and this leads into the use of the whole tone scale soon after. These two elements open up a new sound space which he would explore further in the works to follow. Certainly not a work to be missing from any library where contemporary music is one of the main focuses./ Répertoire / Ensemble de Musique de Chambre

Michael Nyman's Musique A Grande Vitesse (MGV) translates as ‘high speed music’ and was commissioned by the Festival de Lille for the inauguration of the TGV North EuropeanParis-Lille line in 1993. This piece of sheet music runs continuously but was conceived as an abstract imaginary journey; or rather five inter-connected journeys each ending with a slow mainly stepwise melody which isonly heard in its 'genuine' form when the piece reaches its destination. Thematic 'transformation' is a key to MGV as a whole. Throughout the piece ideas - rhythmic melodic harmonic motivic textural -constantly change their identity as they pass through different musical 'environments'. The opening bars establish both a recurrent rhythmic principle - 9 11 or 13-beat rhythmic cycles heard against a regular 8 - and aharmonic process - chord sequences (mainly over C and E) which have the note E in common. (Coincidentally MGV begins in C and ends in E). A later scalic syncopated figure (again first heard over C E and A)begins the second section featuring Brass in D flat. The topography of MGV should be experienced without reference to planning description or timetables. Its tempo changes and unpredictable slowings downbear no logical relation to the high speed of the Paris-Lille journey while the temptation to treat MGV as a concerto grosso with the Michael Nyman band as the ripeno was resisted: more suitably theband (amplified in live performance) lays down the tracks on which MGV runs.

Gustav Holst's The Wandering Scholar a one-act chamber opera for Baritone Soprano Tenor Bass and Orchestra. Edited by Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst. Full score and Orchestral parts are availble for hire. The Wandering Scholar Holst’s last opera was written in 1929-30 and was first performed in The David Lewis Theatre Liverpool in 1934 conducted by Dr. J. E. Wallace and produced by Frederick Wilkinson. This was a few months before Holst’s death and he was too ill to go to the performance. He had no chance to revise the score which has remained unpublished until now. He leftseveral pencil queries in the margins such as ‘Tempo?’ ‘More?’ ‘More harmony?’ etc. And in one of his note-books he left queries about several words in the libretto which he had doubts about. The editors have answered these queries by making some alterations in speed and dynamics and by suggesting metronome marks throughout the work. They have also made several alterations in the libretto which they feel that Holst might have made himself if he had had the chance to revise the work with his friend Clifford Bax.

A work for violin clarinet and piano by Norwegian composer Henrik Skram. A work for violin clarinet and piano by Norwegian composer Henrik Skram.

20 morceaux récréatifs extraits de la Méthode Rose et arrangés par Alfred Herzog pour diverses formations hétérogènes constituent ce recueil qui fait entrevoir aux jeunes musiciens du premier cycle quelques réalités de la pratique collective.

Le piano est toujours présent, entouré de la flûte, de la clarinette, du violon ou violoncelle et parfois d'une percussion, selon la nature de l'ensemble.

Une construction mélodique et rythmique stimulante de chaque partie favorise le travail individuel. A noter que le recueil ne contient pas de parties séparées afin que chaque instrumentiste puisse lire le texte musical dans sa globalité. / Classique / Partition CD /

Phantasmagoria for Violin Violoncello and Piano was composed by Bent Sørensen in 2007. First performance by Trio con Brio 12 Aug 2007 in Roskilde Denmark.Programme note:My Piano Trio “Phantasmagoria” is in five movements. It all began with the fifth movement which originally was a tiny piece for cello and piano. After re-composing this little piece for piano trio I worked composed backwards – The fourth movement – third movement - and I finally got to the beginning of the piece. It all begins with the violin – solo – heavily muted but aggressive and gradually the cello andthe piano enter as shadows of the violin. The first movement ends in a dark shadow of an aria from my opera “Under the Sky”. All five movements are full of shadows of all kinds. Shadows of fragments and traces of movements appear in other movements. Music voices instruments appear behind each other as a play of shadows. “Shadow play” was the first title on my mind but a shadow play can be more physical – the shadow can come alive – alive behind the shadows. Phantasmagoria is a shadow play in darkness where contours of persons and music voices and instruments - create adventures behind each other. “Phantasmagoria” was commissioned by Franz Schubert Society Denmark and dedicated to Trio con Brio Copenhagen. (Bent Sørensen)

Love In The Afternoon was composed by Britta Byström - for the Kungsbacka Piano Trio on their 20th Birthday in 2017.