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: AY.FRD37

ISBN 9790302114659.

John La Montaine's Twelve Relationships for Piano Solo consists of twelve short canons: Bold and Plain, Teasing, Plaintive, Bittersweet, Wayward, Saucy, Entreating, Piquant, Brooding, Spirited and Jubilant. It was originally composed in 1965. A canon is the strictest form of composition, in which two or more parts take up in succession exactly the same musical subject. Each of the canons in Twelve Relationships is at a different interval. That is, the second entrance of the subject begins on a different note in each canon, and that note is always different from the first entrance. Twelve different intervals are utilized in the twelve canons. Each of these canons is strict in its succession of intervals from the first note to the last. The first canon is at the octave and therefore in one and the same key. All of the others at different intervals, since they are strict, are simultaneously in two different keys. There is no other known set of canons so composed. The title Twelve Relationships may be understood in two senses. One refers to the form, the intervallic relationships mentioned above. The other refers to the content, that is, to the psychological relationships that are implied by the titles of the individual canons and which form the musical substance of the pieces. Jocelyn Mackey (Pan Pipes, music critic): Twelve Relationships contains twelve two-part canons with titles like, Plaintive, Sprightly, Saucy, Brooding. The first, Bold and Plain, is composed with imitation at the fifth, while a different interval is used in each of the other eleven. Just as the Well-Tempered Clavier contains preludes in each possible key, each possible interval of imitation is used in this set of canons. Amazing contrapuntal skill..

SKU: BT.DHP-1145589-401

ISBN 9789043136792. International.

The heat of the day ebbs away as the sun slowly dips from view over the western horizon. A dazzling display of warm hues, vibrant yellows, glowing oranges and burning reds, lights up the evening before cooling to calm blues, dark, cool purples andfinally the black of night. Such are the unforgettable sunsets that inspired Jan de Haan to write this piece.

De hitte van overdag ebt weg terwijl de zon in het westen langzaam achter de horizon verdwijnt. Een schitterend schouwspel van warme schakeringen - levendig geel, gloedvol oranje en vurig rood - verlicht nog even de avond, waarna koele kleuren volgenmet serene tinten blauw, donkere nuances van paars en ten slotte het zwart van de nacht. Fraaie zonsondergangen als deze vormden voor Jan de Haan de inspiratie tot het schrijven van dit sfeervolle werk voor blaasinstrument en piano.

Die Hitze des Tages verebbt, während die Sonne langsam am westlichen Horizont versinkt. Ein schillernder Reigen warmer Farben aus pulsierendem Gelb, glühendem Orange und brennendem Rot erhellt den Abendhimmel, bevor ruhige Blautöne, kühle Lilaschattierungen und schlie�lich die Schwärze der Nacht Abkühlung bringen. Solcheunvergesslichen Sonnenuntergänge inspirieren Jan de Haan zur Komposition dieses Stückes für diverse Blasinstrumente und Klavierbegleitungen.

La chaleur de la journée sâ??atténue peu peu alors que le soleil plonge lentement derrière lâ??horizon. Un éblouissant spectacle met en scène des jaunes vibrants, des oranges lumineux et des rouges br lants qui illuminent le début de soirée alors quedéj , apparaissent les premières nuances bleutées et pourpres, synonymes de fraîcheur. Ces inoubliables couchers de soleil ont inspiré Jan de Haan lorsquâ??il a composé cette pièce pour instrument vent diverses et piano.

Il calore del giorno si stempera mentre il sole scompare lentamente all`orizzonte. Una brillante combinazione di calde tonalit di giallo vibrante, arancio luccicante e rosso incandescente riscalda la sera. Colori che lasciano il passo a un blu cherilassa, a rinfrescanti tonalit del viola, e infine al nero della notte. Questi sono i tramonti indimenticabili che hanno ispirato Jan de Haan nel scirvere questo brano per diversi strumenti a fiati e pianoforte.

SKU: CY.CC2763

The Four Pieces, Op. 70 were written for Cello and Piano in Berlin, 1896. The four movements are titled:

Aria, Finnish, Scottish and Swedish

1. Aria is an Adagio in A minor reminiscent of the Kol Nidre
2. Finnish is a brooding lyrical Andante in G Minor
3. Scottish is a proud song in B major with dotted rhythms
4. Swedish, an unruly Allegro dance in A-B-A form in A minor

For advanced performers, this work of about 12 minutes in length has been superbly arranged by Ralph Sauer.

SKU: BT.BVP0434