Matériel : Octavo
SKU: CF.FE189S
ISBN 9780825877520. UPC: 798408077525. 9.5 x 13 inches.
Nuptial Scene was commissioned by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the city of Jerusalem for the celebration of the fourth Testimonium, a festival to preserve Jewish heritage. The work was written in September, 1975, and premiered in Jerusalem in February, 1976, with the Jerusalem Symphony, Juan Pablo Izquierdo conducting, and Adi Etzion as soloist. It is dedicated to Recha Freier, the originator and prime mover of the festival. Nuptial Scene is based on a simple medieval poem of prenuptial instruction. Part of it is in Catalan and part in Hebrew. The poem originated in Catalonia, where a highly developed Jewish community existed until the expulsion of 1492. A mother is instructing her daughter in the ways and strategies of marriage and rejoicing with a new song for a new bride. When I initially planned the setting for this lovely poem, I realized that the age of the daughter would be about twelve, for girls in that historical period were married at puberty. This set in motion a scheme for the composition, since my oldest daughter was thirteen at that time, and I used her psyche to give me direction. When a girl of twelve or thirteen thinks of a wedding, she is completely captivated by its frills -- the dress, the party, the dancing. In her imagination, the reality of a husband or any kind of domestic responsibility would be nonexistent. Therefore, during the mother's ardent pleas, instructions, admonitions, and even innuendos, the daughter's mind wanders and dreams of dancing. Musically, the rather straight, somber rhythm and melody of the song are interrupted by an independent, faster dance speed of the bongos and by scattered fragments of an actual medieval Spanish-Jewish dance. At the point where the mother speaks of sensuous marital problems, she herself becomes excited, and in a nostalgic, dreamlike spirit -- with the use of improvised melodic lines for which only the gestural outlines are given -- she goes into a kind of rapturous trance. The daughter, however, seems unmoved, and she falls asleep. The mother calms down, puts her head on the daughter's shoulder, and quietly muses, then also closes her eyes. --Samuel Adler .Nuptial Scene was commissioned by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with the city of Jerusalem for the celebration of the fourth “Testimonium†, a festival to preserve Jewish heritage. The work was written in September, 1975, and premiered in Jerusalem in February, 1976, with the Jerusalem Symphony, Juan Pablo Izquierdo conducting, and Adi Etzion as soloist.  It is dedicated to Recha Freier, the originator and prime mover of the festival.Nuptial Scene is based on a simple medieval poem of prenuptial instruction. Part of it is in Catalan and part in Hebrew. The poem originated in Catalonia, where a highly developed Jewish community existed until the expulsion of 1492. A mother is instructing her daughter in the ways and strategies of marriage and rejoicing with a “new song†for a “new brideâ€.When I initially planned the setting for this lovely poem, I realized that the age of the daughter would be about twelve, for girls in that historical period were married at puberty. This set in motion a scheme for the composition, since my oldest daughter was thirteen at that time, and I used her psyche to give me direction. When a girl of twelve or thirteen thinks of a wedding, she is completely captivated by its frills — the dress, the party, the dancing. In her imagination, the reality of a husband or any kind of domestic responsibility would be nonexistent. Therefore, during the mother’s ardent pleas, instructions, admonitions, and even innuendos, the daughter’s mind wanders and dreams of dancing. Musically, the rather straight, somber rhythm and melody of the song are interrupted by an independent, faster dance speed of the bongos and by scattered fragments of an actual medieval Spanish-Jewish dance. At the point where the mother speaks of sensuous marital problems, she herself becomes excited, and in a nostalgic, dreamlike spirit — with the use of improvised melodic lines for which only the gestural outlines are given — she goes into a kind of rapturous trance. The daughter, however, seems unmoved, and she falls asleep. The mother calms down, puts her head on the daughter’s shoulder, and quietly muses, then also closes her eyes.—Samuel Adler .
SKU: CF.FE189
ISBN 9780825877513. UPC: 798408077518. 9.5 x 13 inches.
SKU: PR.41641613L
UPC: 680160642199. 11 x 17 inches.
On the island of Elba, off the coast of Italy, I composed this work as the sun was rising over the ocean in the mornings and gently sifting through the clouds against the lingering fog. As the piece developed, it took on a shape of its own and gradually became centered around diminished chords and the interval of a tri-tone (diminished 5th). I love these chords for their angst and for their sadness, but also for their flexibility. My piece is very textural in nature; and yes, it does have a melody of sorts, and yet, this melody comes and goes, and is never quite grasped until the end. Portions of it are repeated and spun out creating layers of sound without the heaviness of form. It is indeed a depiction of mist, where one minute you see things and the next they are gone. As you move through the piece, you find that the trumpet is also an antagonist, creeping in with a haunting cry; a reminder of things unsettled. Throughout the piece, we are quietly searching. We search for a tonal center for stability, and also for a melody that will make us feel fulfilled. Once found, we hold them for an instant, and then like the clouds and like life itself, they are gone. We are warmed by their presence and saddened by their loss. I hope that you will reflect upon your own memories of life's quiet moments as we enjoy the world premiere of this new work together. Mist is not a piece to be analyzed, but rather a piece to be experienced and absorbed. As you listen, release your mind, embrace your emotions, close your eyes, and allow the mist to creep in.
SKU: PR.416416130
UPC: 680160642182. 9 x 12 inches.
SKU: HL.49003214
ISBN 9790220117282. UPC: 888680784249. 8.25x11.75x0.052 inches. Latin.
Glorious Hill may be performed by a male choir.Text by Pico della Mirandola (1463-1497) from De Hominis Dignitate.Glorious Hill was commissioned by the Hilliard Ensemble and first performed by them at its summer Festival of Voices in Lewes, Sussex, in August 1988. It was the first piece I wrote for the ensemble and I focused on the singers' unique ability to move with ease from early music to tonal music of the present day. There were techniques which I asked for which I hardly needed to notate - the staggered breathing of the two tenors to supply a continuous unbroken held note for example - and the piece moves between passages for solo voices and sections of highly chromatic homophony, almost as if the music were switching between the 12th century of Perotin and the 16th century of Gesualdo. Each of the four voices is given its own solo passage, sometimes accompanied, sometimes quietly supported by the other voices.The title, Glorious Hill comes from the name of the small-town Mississippi setting of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. I wrote the music for the 1987 production of this play at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre, the first time I had written any incidental music for the stage. Williams makes very specific demands in terms of music and there is one particularly powerful scene, the penultimate one, throughout which music and atmospheric sound effects are continuous. The principle character Alma argues passionately about the vital importance of human choice with the man to whom she has, too late, admitted her love. I watched this section every night throughout the 4 week run of the play watching the different ways in which the actress, Frances Barber, played the scene. There is a powerful emotional and philosophical connection between the imagery of this scene and a passage from the Renaissance philosopher Pico della Mirandola's Oration on the Dignity of Man which forms the text of Glorious Hill. This passage has been described as one of the few passages in Renaissance philosophy to treat human freedom in a modern way. The text, which is sung in Latin, is addressed by God to Adam before the fall from grace.Gavin Bryars.
