Matériel : Partition
Unlike MacMillan’s first three symphonies Symphony no 4 (2014 15) is essentially abstract. Here he is interested in the interplay of different types of material following upon a fascination with music as ritual that has stretched from Monteverdi in the early 17th century through to Boulez and Birtwistle in the present day. There are four distinct archetypes in this work which can be viewed as rituals of movement exhortation petition and joy. It is also a homage to Robert Carver (c1487 after 1566) the most important Scottish composer of the High Renaissance. There are allusions to Carver’s 10-voice Mass Dum sacrum mysterium embedded in the symphony and at anumber of points it emerges from across the centuries in a more discernible form: the vocal lines are muted and muffled literally in the distance as they are played delicately by the back desks of the violas cellos and double basses.
SKU: HL.48024880
ISBN 9781784545154. UPC: 840126918670. 7.25x10.25x0.319 inches.
This publication presents under one cover various short works for sundry orchestral scorings. Larghetto for Orchestra is MacMillan's orchestration (2017) of his celebrated Miserere for a cappella mixed choir (2009), a setting in Latin of Psalm 51, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great mercy', the penitential text famously set in the 17th century by Gregorio Allegri. The Larghetto orchestration was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in celebration of Manfred Honeck's 10th Anniversary as Music Director. Memoire imperiale is one of a number of variations on General John Reids march tune Old Gaul commissioned from Scottish composers to mark the centenary in 1994 of the Faculty of Music at Edinburgh University. The Faculty was established following a bequest by General Reid (1721-1807), a former law student at the University and a renowned flute player and composer of marches for the BritishArmy, and he asked that an annual concert be organised at which one or more of his compositions be played. Composed in 2012 for the Britten Sinfonia, One is a monody in which a single line is passed around the instruments, painting it with different colours as it emerges and develops. Lasting only a few minutes, its singularity is maintained until blossoming in the lastfew bars. For Sonny (2011, orch 2013) and Ein Lamplein verlosch (2018, orch 2019) are short, private memorial tributes originally for string quartet and here rescored for string orchestra. Hirta was composed in 2016 as part of Deccas The Lost Songs of St Kilda project. Nearly a century ago, the last 36 residents were evacuated from the most remote part of the British Isles, St Kilda, an isolated archipelago off the beautiful and rugged western coast of Scotland. After 86 years, the music of St Kilda was rediscovered, recorded in a Scottish care home by Trevor Morrison, an elderly man who had been taught piano by an inhabitant of St Kilda. The songs were 'reimagined' for the Decca album by various.
SKU: HL.48023595
ISBN 9781784540722. UPC: 888680095741. 7.25x10.5 inches.
Concert overture for orchestra, first performed in 2007 by the London Symphony Orchestra.
SKU: HL.48023594
ISBN 9781784540647. UPC: 888680095062. 8.25x11.75 inches.
Composed for large orchestra between 1985-87 and not premiered until 2014 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. 'Keening' is a form of vocal lament and mourning.
SKU: HL.48024344
ISBN 9781784543433. UPC: 888680786823. 7.25x10.25x0.129 inches.
Non-liturgi cal setting of the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei from the Latin Mass, scored for 4-part children's choir and full orchestra. The composer states that each movement is reasonably substantial, with much space for the orchestral music to grow and develop [...] a lot of the vocal writing was imagined as an extension and enhancement of the orchestral palette where the young voicesare 'smudged' into the orchestral sound in an impressionistic manner. Little Mass (2014) was commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society for its 175th Anniversary, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Supported by Sally, Mary and Jonathan Groves to mark the centenary of SirCharles Groves, in the month he would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Suitable for intermediate standard voices and advanced standard orchestra.
SKU: HL.48024117
ISBN 9781784540807. UPC: 888680714680. 9.25x12.0x0.32 inches.
Commissione d by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and first performed in 2013 by Lawrence Power with the LPO, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Cast in three contrasting movements the work is expressive, energetic and highly virtuosic, culminating in a breathless Allegro pitting the soloist against the orchestra. A major addition to the canon of concertante works by this composer, and to the viola repertoire in general. Suitable for advanced standard performers.
