Contrastes (clarinet & Piano)

SKU: HL.48185327

UPC: 888680858278. 9x12 inches.

Ivan Jevtic: Contrastes (Clarinet & Piano).

SKU: IS.CP6302EM

ISBN 9790365063024.

The Swiss-born clarinet virtuoso Matthias Muller is one of the most versatile and inspiring clarinet players and composers of his generation. This concerto is modelled on classical forms and deploys an aesthetic that is close to the Second Age of Modernism, which does not seek renewal in external appearance but looks for own characteristic ways in the internal structure. The harmony is based on a specific chord structure, exposed in the first part and set to shape in the next parts. The technical Clarity seeks contrasts in motivic and thematic processing of the material and in pronounced variations. This concerto has been recorded by the composer on the NEOS label (20904).

SKU: ST.C210

ISBN 9790570812103.

Wedding Bells was inspired by the wedding of our eldest daughter, Tess. The Wagner and Mendelssohn wedding marches are of course ever popular and the slow movement of the Mozart clarinet concerto contrasts beautifully. My own piece Wedding Bells conveys a celebratory, loving and joyous atmosphere and on the big day I played it during the signing of the register, accompanied by the father of the bride — it was an emotional performance!

These arrangements are intended to catch the mood: purists please forgive me — Wagner, Mozart and Mendelssohn may not have written every note here, but I hope that they would have approved.

Contents

Richard Wagner: Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Concerto — 2nd Movement
Pat Goddard: Wedding Bells
Felix Mendelssohn: Wedding March from the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Grades 5–7
Former Spartan Press Cat. No.: SP1370.

SKU: HL.48181570

UPC: 888680843960. 9x12 inches.

“Gabr iel Grovlez (1879-1944) studied under Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. His compositions proved to be extremely versatile, from Operas and Ballets to solo works. Grovlez's Sarabande and Allegro is a sublime addition to the Clarinet repertoire. Much of the composer's works show neo-classical features, which is also the case in Sarabande and Allegro. Where the texture is predominantly melody dominated homophony, perfect cadences are frequently heard and modulations to related keys occur. Grovlez's C minor Sarabande is in a steady, triple meter, superbly contrasted by the fast Allegro, composed in the relative major. All these features make for an enjoyable and delightful performance!&rdquo.

SKU: PR.114419940

ISBN 9781491133934. UPC: 680160683499. 9 x 12 inches.

Responding to demand from clarinetists, Schocker created this adaptation of his best-loved work, customizing it for the clarinet’s richness of contrasting registers. Composed as a recital piece for his own performances as a flutist, Gary Schocker’s Regrets and Resolutions has been a standard in that instrument’s repertoire for over 30 years. Inspired by an 80-year-old friend’s birthday, the composer has written: “I wrote the Regrets imagining what it might be like to look back over 80 years. ‘What if I’d made different choices?’ ‘What if ...?’ The Resolutions is a forward-thinking movement, very energetic and positive, except for a brief looking-back, questioning (the 1st movement is recapped and grows), after which the music plunges back into the rhythmic finale.”.

SKU: ST.C501

ISBN 9790570815012.

Close Encounters for Clarinet in B flat & Piano draws on historic themes connected to the medieval closes (also know as wynds or vennels) of the Scottish burgh town of Lanark, situated in the rural Clyde Valley. Often named after prominent resident business owners, these otherwise unremarkable narrow lanes are given life by the records of their occupiers or through local tales.

Aside from the more self explanatory titles, ‘Luminare’ describes the astronomical interests of electrical pioneer David Hunter; ‘Jumbo Jive’ relates to the legend of an inebriated circus elephant escapee who became stuck in the arch of Wide Close; ‘Amber Sky’ connects the India Ale trade of Brewery Close with an occasional, evocative dusk light that cloaks the town before sunset.

Close Encounters comprises five fascinating and contrasted short movements each set within its own very vivid sound world. The colourful harmonic language is drawn from a number of musical influences including flavours of Jazz, the silver screen and the French impressionists, all adding up to music that is both engaging to play and to listen to. The five movements are set at a comfortable technical level for the intermediate to advanced clarinettist, cover the entire range of the instrument, and the set would make for an intriguing addition to any clarinet recital.

- Paul Harris (composer & clarinettist)

SKU: PR.164002390

UPC: 680160038091.

I became interested in the work of Plato through my friend and collaborator, the writer and philosopher Paul Woodruff. Paul's new translation, with Alexander Nehamas, of the Symposium gave me insights into ancient Greek ways of thinking about Love, Beauty, and Wisdom -- and managed to keep the earthy, and often bawdy side of it all in full view. But their new translation of Plato's later dialogue Phaedrus went even further: the beauty of the speeches is breathtaking, and the discourse itself is enough to keep one awake at night. Basically the Great Speech of Socrates in the Phaedrus dialogue has to do with the place of Eros in the world, and with the conflict in the soul between fleshly pleasure and philosophic discovery. I will not attempt to encapsulate this brilliant discourse in a program note: suffice it to say that reading it gave rise to my two-sided work for clarinet, violin, and piano, Phaedrus. The first movement represents the Philosophic life, and is thus subtitled Apollo's Lyre (Invocation and Hymn). It begins with an unaccompanied melody for the clarinet, which (after a pair of harp-like flourishes for the piano, expands into an accompanied canon. The voices in the dialogue (clarinet and violin) follow each other by a prescribed number of beats, but the music is totally devoid of any meter at all. The piano, representing the lyre, accompanies this lyric love-feast with repeated strummed chords. The canon has three large sections, and ends with violin echoing the unaccompanied clarinet invocation as the sound of the lyre fades. The second movement, called Dionysus' Dream-Orgy (Ritual Dance) presents, after a brief introduction, another kind of unmetered music. Rather than long lyric flights of philosophic song, however, this time we hear a unison dance of unbridled energy and sensual transport. The piece soon forms itself into a loose arch form, with contrasting metered dance sections divided by the unison unmetered orgy tune. Midway through the movement, Apollo's melody returns from the first movement, but it is a temporary reminiscence. The orgiastic dance returns, reaches a climax, and ends with a stomping of feet. While Plato asserts that a proper balance between lust and reason is necessary in all men, he (naturally) gives the nod to Philosophy as the better choice in which to live. Not so in my music: the two sides are meant to coexist and to complement each other. No sides are taken. Phaedrus was commissioned of the Verdehr Trio by Michigan State University. It is dedicated to the Vedehr Trio with great affection and admiration.

SKU: HL.14013351

ISBN 9781844497621. 8.25x11.75x0.343 inches.

Gregson's Clarinet Concerto was completed in 1994, by commission for the BBC, and was first performed by the BBC Philharmonic with Michael Collins in Manchester, April 1994 (later recorded on Chandos CHAN 10105). The writing is highly challenging, pushing the instrument and its performer to the limits with some formidable glissandi and stark contrasts. This edition features a piano reduction of Gregson's orchestral material.

SKU: HL.49016219

ISBN 9790001146449. UPC: 884088202538. 9.0x12.0x0.195 inches.

The chiaroscuro-technique developed by painters of the Italian renaissance served to intensify contrasts and effects of optical depth. In Klar/Obskur, I tried to transfer the general idea of this technique on the rather unusual instrumentation of two double-reed woodwinds and piano. On the one hand, a clear, well articulated playing is characteristic for these instruments, on the other hand, they have an often underestimated potential of 'twilight': air-sounds and fragile, shady colours have a especially attractive when being produced by double-reed instruments (which are often, and superficially regarded as being less capable of differentiated sounds than flute or clarinet). The piano, too, has a broad bandwidth of possibilities between percussive and delicate playing to complement the woodwinds which, in return, can absorb and continue the fading piano sounds.The beginning introduces the two contrasting elements that form the basic material for the piece: a clear, sharp chord, followed by fragile, dim sounds. The changes between these elements as well as their combination and amalgamation produce an enormous spectrum of colours and gesture. After this 'motto-like' opening follow four quite clearly separated short sections, each of them being characterised by a well-defined texture: a partly almost imperceptible air-sound passage, a short sequence of microintervallic notes, a burst of virtuosity and a recourse to the fragile sounds of the beginning.The second, longer main part consists of three sections merging subtly into each other: a short unisono-passage, marked elastic [federnd], is being dissolved into its basic elements; from these remainders, a confrontation of low, 'arcane' bassoon and piano sounds and a strongly ornamented melodic line of the oboe emerges, leading to a short but powerful climax. The piece is concluded by an extended, relaxed epilogue, containing a short piano solo and a duet of oboe and bassoon and, finally, a quotation of the 'elastic' character of the middle section.Benjamin Schweitzer.

SKU: HL.48024204

ISBN 9781784542672. UPC: 888680751647. 9x12 inches.

The composer states: “Acequia Madre demonstrates an approach which was somewhat new to the style of my musical expression at the time of its composition [2012]: structuring a work with the focus on its melodic aspects. I drew inspiration from other creative artists through one of my 'rituals': I surrounded myself with the scores of composers who, for one reason or another, were on my mind at the time, like Iannis Xenakis, Alban Berg's 'Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano,' and 'Contrasts for violin, clarinet and piano' by Bela Bartok, plus Schubert's haunting final 'String Quartet No. 15.' Conquering technical difficulties is something I find particularly rewarding when playing acoustic instruments: fully aware that today's electronics can triumph over a composer's most demanding technical challenges, I love the idea of performers encountering their instruments with virtuosity ... doing something that seems to defy physical boundaries.&rdquo.

SKU: P2.30086

In the beginning of January, 2000 I completed a large-scale work for clarinet and orchestra. Upon its completion, I felt somewhat exhausted by the flashy and virtuoso style of writing which tends to typify the solo parts of concerti. This time... I decided to forfeit any pyrotechnical exhibitions by the soloist in favor of incorporating the instrument into the larger fabric of the orchestra. Concurrent with starting to work on this new piece, I was engaged in an altogether different project involving, among others, a Swedish deejay whose field of expertise is popular, modern dance-music.... During numerous evenings of CD listening to this genre of music, I was drawn to the way that rhythmically contrasting layers of music were constantly alternating between background and foreground. The resulting effect was of a continuously changing 'groove-pattern' even though the 'beat' of the music remained constant. I used this style of writing mainly in the fast, second section of the piece, which I felt gave it a distinct technotronic flavor. The mood of the opening movement is, however, undeniably romantic: thus the title of the piece, Romantatronic.