In the final days of November, as the nights grew longer and the vicious North winds began to pound the embattled city, the kingdom was rapidly nearing its darkest hour. As enemy forces threatened from every side, the exhausted council gathered in the great hall for one final desperate meeting. With all hope waning, with all other options exhausted, and with one last chance to save his people, the king summoned all remaining forces and invoked The Seventh Resolution. A contemporary bold work! (4:30) / Orchestre D'Harmonie

The composer wrote: 'Persistent Memory is a little six minute drama . . . although the piano begins as the more aggressive partner and triggers the violin into animation it is in fact the piano that finally provides a note of resolution or at least partial resolution.'

G. Schirmer Inc.-Composed in the style of a grand and descriptive film score The Last Centaur is a musical depiction of a centaur who is separated from his family by war the ensuing adventures and ultimate reunion with hisfamily and friends. The music begins with a stately lyrical theme in the horns followed by solo Oboe. This main theme is then woven throughout the work as it develops and grows with intensity. Sweeping woodwind lines and majesticBrass fanfares capture the excitement of the drama and ultimate joyous resolution. Powerful and evocative writing! Dur: 6:00

Impressions On Beethoven's Harp Quartet. Par AMANTI LUCIO. When Cuarteto Casals approached me with the idea of illuminating Beethoven´s quartets anew, you can imagine the many thoughts and feelings that where going through my mind: what a joy, what a great honor… What an intriguing head-scratcher! How can you possibly shine a new light on something that is already perfect? Weeks, months went by in search of a common ground between the Master and myself until I finally found it in the realization that a word lays “hidden” in the St. John’s hymn that gave musical notes their original name: ‘Re, Sol, Ut, Io’ (D, G, C, B in English music notation) Perfect! “Resolutio” in Latin means both the resolution of a problem and the re-solution: a re-blend of many elements that will eventually coagulate to make something new. There was finally the melodic and a rhythmical canvas for my piece. On this canvas I wrote the story of a funny little contest, played on a sunny Mediterranean square, between street musicians and Cuarteto Casals just minutes before they are about to go on stage to perform Beethoven´s “Harp Quartet”. After all the characters, each in his own way, had the chance to tell their story, a gentle rain starts to fall, dissolving (Re-solving) again the music sheet to eventually leave us with just a white piece of paper for somebody else to continue the Work. (Lucio Franco Amanti) / Niveau : Avancé / Répertoire / 2 Violons, Alto et Violoncelle

This anthem sets lines from Psalm 139 1 Thessalonians and 1 John moving from an unsettled tonality at the beginning through anguished false relations and wistful expressivity to find triumphant resolution in a blazing A major at the end. Like all of McDowall's music it is well crafted and singable.

Par LIANG LEI. I was fascinated with the Chinese landscape painter Huang Binhong (1865-1955), particularly with the albums the artist painted when he was nearly blind from cataracts. The image that inspired this composition was a detail taken from the painting. The detail was reconstructed by high-resolution scanning, and it reveals an intricate world hidden within the paintings' brushstrokes. It draws us into the landscape of microscopic elements - a fiber in the rice paper, or the trace left by a single hair in the brush. Will you come to my dream? is about discovering such a world, and the moment when we lose ourselves in the landscape together. – Lei Liang / Niveau : Avancé / Répertoire / Piano 4 Mains

For a piece with such a strong electronic component 'It Goes Without Saying' is surprisingly organic. While the electronics include chillier metallic noises—samples ranging from a kitchen whisk to a unique set of tiny bells—most prominent are the warm woody sounds of a harmonium and of clicking clarinet-keys sounds that share a certain sonic DNA with the live components of the performance.The piece also develops according to organic principles. Over the initial drone of the harmonium the rhythm track and the clarinets build the material of the piece up from small replicating cells into a lively and elaborate texture. The minutely wrought surface isstretched over the simplest possible formal contour the drone undergirding the piece progressing from C to F and back again. When the slowly building dissonance of the underlying harmonium chord finally reaches its tipping point the resolution corresponds to a dramatic timbral shock: a shocking burst of industrial noise dominating rather than complementing its acoustic surroundings. Finally the machine noises die away and the harmonies return home the texture warms once again—now leavened by the gentle sound of the celesta. – Program Notes © 2007 Daniel Johnson Performance Notes: The clarinet should be placed in the center of the stage. If amplification is used (which is not necessary but can help solve certain balance issues) it is recommended that there be one microphone traditionally placed and another close to the side of the instrument gently amplifying the natural sound of the keys clicking. Download the pre-recorded element  HERE . If you encounter any problems please email promotion@musicsales.co.uk .

Ron Kean has masterfully interweaved the communion spiritual Let Us Break Bread Together into his best-selling Kyrie. Voiced for SAB choir each individual choral line is equally interesting and creates beautiful suspension and resolution.

Par BALAZS ARPAD. With its energetic impetus and imposing instrumentation, Concertino is certainly outstanding in the oeuvre of Árpád Balázs. Among his compositions for concert band, it is by far the most engaging and exacting work. Passing away and a will to live are simultaneously present in Concertino, which Árpád Balázs composed in memory of his beloved father. Its structure brings Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies to mind: its solemn opening, which returns at the end,is followed by a slow and a fast movement. The funereal music of the slow movement evolves from a motif of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with enormous intensification equal to the lament in Grieg's Peer Gynt. It is difficult to imagine a dramatic incandescence with a higher degree of heat. The heartbeat-imitating timpani features significantly at the beginning and the end of the funereal music. The fast movement represents resolution, resignation and regainedgaiety. This part, pulsating like a waltz and echoing the modulation technique of Richard Strauss, is followed by the solemn return of the opening chords.Whether playing or listenting to this tremendously soul-stirring music, you will all encounter a dramatic experience./ Répertoire / Concert Band

Par VINE CARL. Premiered by the Takács String Quartet in 2004, Carl Vine's String Quartet #4 is a dark and pensive work. Split into two equal parts, this acerbic 15-minute exploration of conflict without resolution - with angular rhythmic gestures set abruptly against a brooding chorale - would make an imposing addition to any quartet's repertoire. / Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par BALAZS ARPAD. With its energetic impetus and brilliant instrumentation, Concertino is outstanding in the oeuvre of Árpád Balázs. Among his compositions for concert band, it is by far the most engaging and demanding work. Passing away and a will to live are simultaneously present in Concertino, which Árpád Balázs composed in memory of his beloved father. Its structure brings Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies to mind. Its solemn opening (which returns at the end) is followed by a slow and a fast movement- the funereal music of the slow movement evolves from a motif from Bach's St. Matthew Passion which intensifies in a manner similar to the lament in Grieg's Peer Gynt. The pulsing timpani is featured significantly at the beginning and the end of the funereal music. The fast movement represents resolution, resignation, and regained gaiety. This part, pulsating like a waltz and echoing the modulation technique of Richard Strauss, is followed by the solemn return of the opening chords. This music ensures a thrilling experience for listeners and performers alike/ Répertoire / Concert Band

In memory of Christopher Rowland. Originally a concerto for Cello and chamber orchestra now for Cello with a Piano reduction of the orchestral part.The concerto is in four movements which are played without a break: Meditation Intermezzo Toccata-Scherzo and Song. The work lasts for some 18 minutes and was scored for two oboes two horns timpani (doubling tubular bells) and strings(found here in a Cello/Piano form). It is organised in one large arch-shaped structure with two fast inner movements flanked by two outer slow ones. The solo cello opens the work reflectively and introduces core melodic material which is continuously developed throughout theconcerto. Gradually the strings enter then wind and timpani and build a pyramid twelve-note chord at the peak of which there is a dramatic climax. The music then subsides (solo cello again) but links to the two faster middle movements. The second movement Intermezzo has an ABA structure and in its middle section quotes the opening of Shostakovich's Third String Quartet (written in the same year as Christopher Rowland was born!). Indeed the ghost of Shostakovich looms large throughout the concerto in more ways than one. The Toccata-Scherzo is energetic and rhythmically-charged again using an ABA structure. Here the writing for solo cello is quite virtuosic but not I hope in a shallow sense. The music builds inexorably towards a powerful climax underpinned by the opening twelve-note chord's re-appearance together with a violent outburst from the timpani at which point a tonal resolution (on G) arrives through a pianissimo held chord on strings which leads directly to the final movement - Song. And so the music arrives at its emotional heart through a simple melody (present in other forms throughout the work) announced by solo cello at the very top of its register against a quiet backdrop of horns and strings. A solo oboe enters with cello in canonic reply and all the time the music builds in texture and

Beginning with an unresolved emotion and motive, 'Finding a Way' travels through many emotions looking for a way to find resolution and comfort, conveying an uplifting and hopeful spirit that ultimately finds peace. When healing has had a chance to occur, sadness and sorrow can become replaced with delight and excitement of our memories. The piece concludes with a restatement of the opening, questioning motive, but this time with the question answered. (4:15) / Concert Band