Elegiac Variations

Score available (NOV120161).This work was written during the spring of 1964 and was commissioned by the artist Maurice de Sausmarez in memory of his mother Jessie Rose de Sausmarez. The first performance took place in London during the same year. The work is a kind of epitaph or memorial and each movement tries to express a different aspect of grief culminating in a more extended elegiac fugue. All seven variations are based on a single series of notes and the series is used both thematically and as a structural basis. There is therefore no 'theme' in the traditional sense and in this respect the work follows the practice of many modern essays in variation form.

Classical guitarists, both students and professional performers, require the same high-quality editions that their pianist colleagues have come to expect from Alfred Music. Our Classical Guitar Masterwork Editions continue the Alfred Music tradition of providing carefully edited, beautifully presented music for practice and performance. This edition presents some of Fernando Sor's most-loved, most-often performed works, including the Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart, Op. 9 - Sonata in C Major, Op. 15b - Sonata 'Grand Solo' in D Major, Op. 14 - Theme and Variations on the Folias and Minuet, Op. 15a - Introduction and Variations on 'Marlborough s'en va-t-en-guerre,' Op. 28 - Elegiac Fantasy, Op. 59 - Fantasy and Variations on the Scottish Air 'Ye Banks and Braes,' Op. 40 - Largo from Fantasy #2 in C Minor, Op. 7 - and 'Andante Largo' from Six Petite Pieces, Op. 5. Thoughtfully fingered by renowned performer and teacher Marc Teicholz, this edition is a must-have for any classical guitarist. / Guitare

Soliloquy for a Passing Century - Score-'All music be it 'abstract' or 'descriptive ' or 'popular' or 'serious ' must speak for itself. Words about it are irrelevant unless they be lyrics or narration. That being said I will attempt a few words about my piece because I was asked to do so and the very special nature of the event in which this first performance takes place. Therefore I offer a guide to the musical gestures and terrain that make up the work and hopefully helpcommunicate my music to the listener.'Remembrance Day' opens softly with a prologue evoking a distant nostalgic Lullaby. As it fades a sudden loud chime combines with high Clarinets in an anguishedsequence that cries out a musical pattern establishing and shaping the body of the work. The music alternates between elegiac thematic references and the pulsations and accents of chimes and tolling bells. A slight pause-thensubdued but menacing sounds from muted Trombones Tuba and Percussion. Over this is a variant of the Clarinets initial 'cry of anguish'- but this time in quiet grief-turning into a funeral cortege. The cortege proceeds to chantsand responses that grow in intensity changing to hymn-like swelling and embellishments. A sudden explosive interruption brutal and violent-the previous menacing muted trombone motif now unleashed. This leads to a full-blown andaffirmative chorale. Following this climax the work winds down diminishing in intensity. There are passing references to what was heard before. Now comes a last variation on the chant and a pianissimo echo variant in mutedTrumpets and then Woodwinds of the hymns and chorales. As this recedes comes the plaintive cry of anguish again-unresolved. Once again quiet pulsations a short silence-and the epilogue-a few fragments of the opening lullaby-somefinal pulsings-a few timpani beats-silence.I am honored to have been asked to write this work and I thank the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation for making this possible. I also hope that our children's