SKU: SU.00220372
This Disk contains performance materials for 34 string chamber music masterpieces by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and more, with combinations ranging from 5 to 7 string instruments (Vn, Va, Vcl, Cbs). Included also are articles on the lives of the composers and other relevant entries from the 1911 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Published by: CD Sheet Music
Please note, customers using Macintosh computers running macOS Catalina (version 10.5) have reported hardware compatibility issues with this product. If you encounter these issues, we recommend copying the entire contents of the disk to a contained folder on a thumb drive or other storage device for use on your Mac.
SKU: PR.414411630
ISBN 9781491114551. UPC: 680160089956. 9.5 x 13 inches.
EXCURSIONS is a one-movement work exploring two “characters.†A rhapsodic, descending passage is introduced by the cello, followed by a static, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello. Their individual developments are separated by a slow, contrasting middle section. The composer has written: “This is analogous to situations in life: we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option and forfeiting the other. But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination… or can we? It is symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place.â€.Excursions for violin, cello and piano, is a one-movement work of tripartite structure in which materials explored in the first of three large sections are brought back in the last section. The traditional statement-contrast-restatement form, which is readily suggested by such a description, is, however, not at all in the mold in which the work is cast. Rather, my aim was to subject the essential materials of the piece (two “characters†–the rhapsodic, descending passage played by the cello in the very opening and, later, a static, slow moving, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello) to two entirely different developments separated by a slow, contrasting middle section. This is analogous to an exploration of the ramifications that two divergent choices made by the same person might lead to. In life, as we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option usually means having to forfeit the other. But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination…or can we? It is, I believe, symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place: in composing Excursions, it seemed absolutely inescapable that at the end the slow, contrasting middle sections – both more resigned and peaceful than the battling spirits of the outer parts – should return briefly to end the work. The piano trio combination (once highly favored, but to this composer still as challenging today) is approached here as a collaborative effort of three equal soloists – partners. Of the available pairings, the two strings find themselves occasionally approached as a team pitted against the piano. The cello-piano combination is also not uncommon here, and there is an extended violin cadenza toward the end of the piece. The writing for the three instruments is closely and at times interlinked, but the players are all instructed to play from scores. Excursions was first performed at Brandeis University in 1982.
SKU: PR.114422850
ISBN 9781491137550. UPC: 680160691005.
Amid his beloved catalog of music for low brass, NEWBURYPORT SONATA is Eric Ewazen’s first recital work for tuba. The composer’s preface tells us, “This work was written during the year of Covid quarantine, and it reflects the strong emotions of that time. The final movement is full of energy and a return to life! There is almost a march-like feel to the music, with a lively and even playful rhythm as the tuba lines are bold, strong, and ultimately energetic and exciting.” The work is also available as NEWBURYPORT QUINTET for Tuba and String Quartet.The Newburyport Sonata began life as the NEWBURYPORT QUINTET for Tuba and Strings, commissioned by David Yang, director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts. The quintet version was premiered by members of the festival, featuring tuba soloist Scott Devereaux of the U.S. Army Field Band.I’ve long been a fan of low brass instruments and had the pleasure of attending the very first Tuba/Euphonium Convention at Indiana University, which was a real celebration of low brass! As a former cellist (I’ve long been a fan of instruments with a tenor/bass range, the world of euphoniums and tubas) I wanted to write a piece showcasing both the wonderful virtuosity the instrument is capable of, and also its expressive lyricism, which shaped the NEWBURYPORT QUINTET. This adaptation for tuba and piano consequently has a wide variety of musical gestures and moods, exploring the color of the instruments.The first movement is in compound rhythm, with a lilting, energetic 6/8 feel supporting a cantabile line in the Tuba. In a traditional form, there are contrasting themes, sometimes playful and sometimes heroic, which share a lively, rolling rhythm. The second movement is a heartfelt appassionata, with the Tuba sometimes singing in a soulful minor key, and sometimes expressing powerful emotions.This work was written during the year of Covid quarantine, and it reflects the strong emotions of that time. The final movement is full of energy and a return to life! There is almost a march-like feel to the music, with a lively and even playful rhythm as the tuba lines are bold, strong, and ultimately energetic and exciting.In writing this piece, I collaborated greatly with Scott, who played through passages I wrote and gave me technical suggestions on how to flatter the gorgeous sound of the Tuba, allowing it to really sing!The quintet version is also available from the publisher, www.presser.com/114-42284.
SKU: PR.114418880
ISBN 9781491129289. UPC: 680160668618. 9 x 12 inches.
Idealism, humanity, world peace, and altruism, have been recurring themes and inspirations in many compositions by Eric Ewazen. In 2007, the Sejong Soloists commissioned this work for Cello and Strings to feature Paula Zahn as guest soloist – the celebrated telejournalist is an exceptional cellist, and a frequent and distinguished host for the concerts Sejong performs in New York City. The work was written for a gala concert honoring Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, and therefore the ultimate leader of international peacekeeping efforts. The resulting work, equally suitable for Cello and Piano, is appropriately titled A POEM OF HOPE.
SKU: BR.KM-2491
World premiere: Stuttgart (Festival eclat), February 3, 2002
ISBN 9790004502945. 11.5 x 16.5 inches.
For many years, I have been repeatedly asked by solo guitarists and guitar duos to write pieces for them. The Aleph Guitar Quartet and I have finally brought it off! The piece is called Der entkommene Orpheus (The Escaped Orpheus).In the old equal rights movement everything was treated as equally as possible, right from the beginning. The tones felt democratically happy. Only discontent found cause to complain. It ultimately hated this complex explicitness. The meaning, also in cases of definite tendencies in the piece, should never be able to lead a definite life. This piece, naturally, is just a tiny contribution!In the myth, Orpheus even enchanted stones and trees, turned around too soon to look at his beloved Eurydice (just think of the punctuality fanatic Schonberg - at least according to Richard Buhlig), refused the service of Dionysus - and he, who had plucked the strings of the lyre his whole life long, was now himself torn up by the Thracian Maenads as a punishment. But his head and his lyre floated over the sea and landed on Lesbos. A string is a string is a side!!!Like a coded word, this text is placed at the service of the varied role of the organiser of New Music. Like an equation. Shouldn't an organiser ever actually turn around towards a lover, so that the Furies of present-day responsibility do not drive him into a state of inner conflict?Nicolaus A. HuberTranslation: David Babcock (CD NEOS, 2017)World premiere: Stuttgart (Festival eclat), February 3, 2002.
SKU: HL.48025036
UPC: 196288020813.
The piece was commissioned by a colleague Brett Dean of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the violist Walter Kussner, as part of a CD project with works for solo viola in 1998/99. Since then, the composer himself has played it himself countless times in concerts andlectures. Here it is now in a congenial adaptation for cello. The title Intimate Decisions comes from a painting by Dean's wife, theAustralian painter Heather Betts, and indicates the private nature of the music. According to Dean, writing a piece for a solo string instrument was strangely similar to writing a personal letter or an intense conversation with a close friend. The piece begins with a short series of individual intervals of a rather intangible character, followed by a more emphatic motif of a minor sixth and minor ninth, and later a chain of harmonies whirring down the lower strings. The various developing characters go through an increasingly decisive, ultimately dramatic conversation, in rhapsodic alternation with flighty virtuosity, but also calm and delicacy, only to fade away like an echo at the end.