The Lost Temple

SKU: AP.45990S

UPC: 038081525716. English.

The Lost Temple captures the intrigue of ancient legends, lost treasures, and adventures into the unknown. A quiet, mysterious theme opens the piece, eventually giving way to a driving adventure theme. A sense of calm and wonder emerges as dangers reveal themselves. A triumphant flourish ends the musical journey. (4:15).

SKU: BA.BA08859-90

ISBN 9790006558155. 27 x 19 cm inches. Text Language: French. Preface: Dubruque, Julien. Text: Voltaire.

Rameau's only surviving opera based on a libretto by Voltaire has survived in two versions (1745 and 1746), whereby the 1745 version was long considered lost. Volume IV.12 of the seriesOpera omnia Rameaupresents a complete edition which enables performances of both versions.

Voltaire refers to Metastasio in his libretto in that he wishes to liberate the opera from the gallant milieu and to make it a moralizing stage work that is equally edifying and political. After a prologue dedicated to envy personified, the tyrants Belus and Bacchus are chased out of the Hall of Fame and finally Trajan is crowned with laurels for defeating the rebels, forgiving them and ultimately turning the Hall of Fame into a public temple.

The music contains many remarkable passages, such as a richly orchestrated overture, the famous monologueProfonds abimes du Tenarewith obbligato bassoons, and Trajan's artful final sceneRamage d'oiseaux.

SKU: PR.11440744S

UPC: 680160011490. 9.5 x 13 inches.

The sextet was written for flute (doubling alto flute), clarinet doubling bass clarinet), violin, cello, piano and percussion (triangle, 3 temple blocks, 2 wood blocks, side drum, cymbal, 4 tom-toms, vibraphone, small tam-tam, median tam-tam and big tam-tam). It presents the composer lost in thought about ancient culture and modern civilization and her thinking about the parallels and contrasts between the East and the West. Near Distance takes us through a journey that covers thousands of miles and thousands of years. Contrasting moments of dense, busy activity with sparse, haunting lines the composer bridges the gap between the timeless history of her homeland and the ever-changing, energetic life in the modern society. The work was originally written under the request of Prof. Jacob Druckman, for a composition workshop at the Aspen Music Festival. It is dedicated to his memory with admiration and respect. Near Distance has been featured in Sound and Silence, a series of ten documentary films on contemporary music, which has been broadcast on the European TV network since 1989, produced by the ISCM, Adamov Films and the Polish TV. It has also been recorded on CRI, released in 1999, under the title Sparkle: Chamber Music of Chen Yi. [now available through New World Records] --Chen Yi   Her piece... generates a vivid and wholly radiant color scheme. Harmonically, too, it seems to float enchantingly, its occasional ventures into microtones gracefully bending away from traditional tonality. Gorgeous music, this; one longs to hear more. --Alan Rich, LA Weekly 'Near Distance' evinced some delicate, dramatic sonorities in its fusion of East Asian and Western musical impulses. --John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune.

SKU: PR.164002480

UPC: 680160038237.

This work is my second for a solo woodwind and a solo percussionist, following Firewing: The Flame and the Moth for oboe and percussion by nine years. The earlier piece followed a specific story line, and pitted the oboe against the percussionist as both adversary and lover. In Spirit Realms, my aim was not only to juxtapose the very different sounds of flute (plus alto flute and piccolo) against a large array of percussion, but also to attempt three different meditative spaces, each named for a different type of spiritual practice. The musical means of expression is very different for each of the three movements (as is the instrumentation), although they share a common scale-source: the looped pentatonic scale I have been developing over the last several years.   The first movement is called Prayer Tunnel, and is named for the Eskimo practice of solo meditation within a tunnel of ice blocks. This is said to be a means of overcoming demons within, and in my musical rendering it takes the form of an unaccompanied alto flute solo. The flute begins rather angrily, full of tension, but in the course of the solo passage manages to slowly unwind. The percussionist then plays the exact same music the alto flute had played....on seven tuned cymbals. Toward the end, the alto flute re-enters, its original meditation having fused with its mirror.   Kiva represents the circular, subterranean pit in which the Anasazi practiced their religion, a form of which still can be found in the Hopi tribes of the American southwest. These are not spaces for solo meditation, but rather a group meeting place in which only the sanctified are permitted. After an introductory invocation (dove call), the music begins. At first, it is flowing, in a repetitive double-five meter. It then traces several sections, with metric shifts forcing the pulse to race faster and faster, until it halves itself in the coda and returns to the exact pulse of the beginning. The flutist here uses the C flute, and the percussionist plays on both pitched (marimba) and unpitched instruments (various drums and struck sources).   Zendo is the meditation room used by Zen Buddhists. My music begins with another invocation (wind chimes, temple cup gongs, and temple blocks), then moves on to a slow subject stated by the flute. The subject is taken up by the vibraphone, and after several modulations and tempo changes, the flutist takes up the piccolo. The music continues higher and higher, and faster and faster (Zen meditation is NOT all about becoming lost!) until it breaks free at the very end. The percussionist is put through his paces in this movement, having to reach a staggering number of instruments in a short time.   Spirit Realms was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, the Armstrong Duo. -- Dan Welcher.

SKU: PR.16400248S

UPC: 680160038244.

This work is my second for a solo woodwind and a solo percussionist, following Firewing: The Flame and the Moth for oboe and percussion by nine years. The earlier piece followed a specific story line, and pitted the oboe against the percussionist as both adversary and lover. In Spirit Realms, my aim was not only to juxtapose the very different sounds of flute (plus alto flute and piccolo) against a large array of percussion, but also to attempt three different meditative spaces, each named for a different type of spiritual practice. The musical means of expression is very different for each of the three movements (as is the instrumentation), although they share a common scale-source: the looped pentatonic scale I have been developing over the last several years.   The first movement is called Prayer Tunnel, and is named for the Eskimo practice of solo meditation within a tunnel of ice blocks. This is said to be a means of overcoming demons within, and in my musical rendering it takes the form of an unaccompanied alto flute solo. The flute begins rather angrily, full of tension, but in the course of the solo passage manages to slowly unwind. The percussionist then plays the exact same music the alto flute had played....on seven tuned cymbals. Toward the end, the alto flute re-enters, its original meditation having fused with its mirror.   Kiva represents the circular, subterranean pit in which the Anasazi practiced their religion, a form of which still can be found in the Hopi tribes of the American southwest. These are not spaces for solo meditation, but rather a group meeting place in which only the sanctified are permitted. After an introductory invocation (dove call), the music begins. At first, it is flowing, in a repetitive double-five meter. It then traces several sections, with metric shifts forcing the pulse to race faster and faster, until it halves itself in the coda and returns to the exact pulse of the beginning. The flutist here uses the C flute, and the percussionist plays on both pitched (marimba) and unpitched instruments (various drums and struck sources).   Zendo is the meditation room used by Zen Buddhists. My music begins with another invocation (wind chimes, temple cup gongs, and temple blocks), then moves on to a slow subject stated by the flute. The subject is taken up by the vibraphone, and after several modulations and tempo changes, the flutist takes up the piccolo. The music continues higher and higher, and faster and faster (Zen meditation is NOT all about becoming lost!) until it breaks free at the very end. The percussionist is put through his paces in this movement, having to reach a staggering number of instruments in a short time.   Spirit Realms was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, the Armstrong Duo. -- Dan Welcher.