SKU: OU.9780193359673
ISBN 9780193359673. 12 x 8 inches.
For unaccompanied SSA chorus This slightly sombre setting of five poems is homophonic, giving the impression of a single vocal line. The very close harmony throughout conveys a sense of restraint and a longing to escape from the conflicts Mary Webb experiences as a woman.
SKU: CF.CM9714
ISBN 9781491160329. UPC: 680160918904. Key: F major. English. Robert Frost.
About the work ... Few American poems are as well known as The Road Not Taken. Robert Frost, the author, is an international icon, not unlike Pablo Picasso, Winston Churchill or Mark Twain in their own disciplines.The poem is full of contradictions and quirks of form and structure. Perhaps that illusiveness is part of the poem's intrigue. But beyond all of the literary devices that only a few scholars may fully appreciate, this poem has taken on a sort of fanfare for the common person credo - a challenge to individualism, stepping out on one's own, and breaking the mold out of sheer determination if nothing else. Frost connects to the core of the human spirit in just a few stanzas using the analogy of a fork in a road. The message super cedes geography, culture, race or creed. Rather, it is part of the DNA of most every person on the planet - the inner desire to feel empowered to create one's own destiny, to forge a road not taken, and ultimately in doing so, to make a difference. Rehearsal notes ... Research strongly suggests that there is a direct connection between the first rehearsal and the performance. First impressions last. I find it helpful to immediately lock three concepts into place - mechanics (notes/rhythms), text/phrasing (intent and motivation) and color (timbre). Performers need to think musically from the first reading forward (first impression). The cello is very much a collaborative instrument in this work, and should be located in front of the ensemble (not to side). Lastly, let the text speak. The simplest melodic lines are often the most exposed. Keep the voices clear and transparent, floating over the top in softer passages, and singing with vibrancy and forward focus throughout. Z. Randall Stroope A definitive recording was made by the New American Voices, with Randall conducting. This can be found on Spotify, YouTube, his website (www.zrstroope), and other social media. About the composer ... Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer and conductor. His composition teachers were Normand Lockwood and Cecil Effinger, both students of the Nadia Boulanger, the famous French teacher (and student of Gabriel Faure). He is the artistic director of two international summer music festivals, is an Honorary Member of the National Association of Italian Choral Directors, and has conducted in 25 countries. He has directed over 40 times at Carnegie Hall, and is a frequent conductor at other prestigious concert venues. Randall has 190 published works, and his music can be heard on Spotify, YouTube and other platforms, including his website (www.zrstroope.com).About the work ...Few American poems are as well known as The Road Not Taken. Robert Frost, the author, is an international icon, not unlike Pablo Picasso, Winston Churchill or Mark Twain in their own disciplines.The poem is full of contradictions and quirks of form and structure. Perhaps that illusiveness is part of the poem's intrigue. But beyond all of the literary devices that only a few scholars may fully appreciate, this poem has taken on a sort of fanfare for the common person credo - a challenge to individualism, stepping out on one's own, and breaking the mold out of sheer determination if nothing else. Frost connects to the core of the human spirit in just a few stanzas using the analogy of a fork in a road. The message super cedes geography, culture, race or creed. Rather, it is part of the DNA of most every person on the planet - the inner desire to feel empowered to create one's own destiny, to forge a road not taken, and ultimately in doing so, to make a difference.Rehearsal notes ...Research strongly suggests that there is a direct connection between the first rehearsal and the performance. First impressions last. I find it helpful to immediately lock three concepts into place - mechanics (notes/rhythms), text/phrasing (intent and motivation) and color (timbre). Performers need to think musically from the first reading forward (first impression). The cello is very much a collaborative instrument in this work, and should be located in front of the ensemble (not to side). Lastly, let the text speak. The simplest melodic lines are often the most exposed. Keep the voices clear and transparent, floating over the top in softer passages, and singing with vibrancy and forward focus throughout.Z. Randall StroopeA definitive recording was made by the New American Voices, with Randall conducting. This can be found on Spotify, YouTube, his website (www.zrstroope), and other social media.About the composer ...Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer and conductor. His composition teachers were Normand Lockwood and Cecil Effinger, both students of the Nadia Boulanger, the famous French teacher (and student of Gabriel FaureÌ). He is the artistic director of two international summer music festivals, is an Honorary Member of the National Association of Italian Choral Directors, and has conducted in 25 countries. He has directed over 40 times at Carnegie Hall, and is a frequent conductor at other prestigious concert venues. Randall has 190 published works, and his music can be heard on Spotify, YouTube and other platforms, including his website (www.zrstroope.com).
SKU: PR.111402650
UPC: 680160643516. Text: Lorna Goodison. Lorna Goodison.
Angel of Dreamers is a song cycle for bass-baritone (or mezzo-soprano) singer, trombone, and either string orchestra, string quintet, or piano. It is based on the extraordinary poetry of the Jamaican-American poet, Lorna Goodison, whom I have had the great pleasure of getting to know in the course of writing this piece. The work was commissioned by a friend from my undergraduate college years at The Eastman School of Music, Maury Okun, trombonist and director of the Detroit Chamber Winds And Strings. The work was premiered in 2011 by bass-baritone Daniel Washington, trombonist and U. of Michigan faculty member David Jackson, and the string section of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. Daniel and David gave the second performance of the work with Lorna Goodison and Maury Okun in attendance at The Juilliard School the following year. I was approached by Maury Okun and David Jackson to write this piece as a tribute to Maury's father who had recently passed away. They also introduced me to their colleague and friend Lorna Goodison, suggesting her poetry. Reading several volumes of her work, I was absolutely captivated by the vivid imagery and beautiful messages of her words. I chose five of the poems, forming a cycle about life and death and home and parents. Lorna is originally from Jamaica, and the rich, vivid imagery, language and story lines of her poems beautifully reflect her roots. The work, in the tradition of Brahms' songs for voice, viola, and piano, features a singer with an obligato lyric instrumental line, which, in my piece, is the trombone, an instrument that blends so beautifully with the sound of a bass singer. The first song, O Love You So Fear the Dark is hopeful and uplifting, describing enduring love throughout the twists and turns of our lives. The music is strong and declamatory, but also tender. The second song, God A Me actually portrays a fish in Jamaica which is almost amphibious, flying up out of the water onto the land, and somehow, magically, returning to the water! For me this poem depicts the enjoyment of seeing parts of life that are fun and enjoyable and almost magical! The third song, All Souls Day depicts a holiday, somewhat magical, but also full of life and energy. The final two songs are a tribute to our parents -- My Mother's Sea Chanty, recalling a dream of seeing one's mother, with lyrics of tender love and remembrance, and finally, This is my Father's Country which is a tribute to the life of a loving father, recalling his spirit, his love of the music Harry Belafonte, and his enduring spirit. Angel of Dreamers was a special piece for me to write: for and with friends, old and new, collaborating with a poet whose beautiful, meaningful, and touching words were so inspiring, performed by fantastic musicians who poured themselves into the music, and commissioned by a dear friend from years gone by. THIS is why we write and perform music!.
SKU: SU.80101426
Set includes 2 scoresCirce (2010–11), a cantata for soprano and organ, takes a contemporary approach to the genre of the baroque secular solo cantata. As with many baroque works, the subject matter is taken from the classical world; in this case it is the story of Circe, the sorceress (or minor goddess: daughter of the sun god Helios and the sea nymph Perse) from Homer’s Odyssey. However,in the spirit of contemporary adaptation, the texts are three poems by American poet Louise Glück from her book Meadowlands (1996), a large section of which contains poems related to characters from the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men, returning home from the Trojan War, are lured to Circe’s island (Aeaea). Through her magic, Circe transforms Odysseus’s men into animals, but with help from the god Hermes, Odysseus is able to resist her magic himself, and Circe is forced to restore his men to human form. For the next year, Odysseus and his men remain on the island in leisure, and Odysseus becomes Circe’s lover. However, after the year has passed, Odysseus decides to continue the journey home to Ithaca (to return to his wife Penelope, who is patiently waiting for him). Circe reluctantly lets him go. Despite her divine heritage, the Circe of Glück’s poems is consumed with the quite human emotions of longing, bitterness, and jealousy. The musical language of the work is contemporary, though there is a great deal of allusion to baroque style and specific musical forms (including sarabande, loure, ground, plaint, and musette).Soprano and Organ Duration: 9’ Composed: 2010 Published by: Zimbel Press.
SKU: PR.466411770
UPC: 680160640850. 9 x 12 inches.
Mississippi I. Father of Waters: born of the Highlands and the Lakes; the Glaciers, the Mountains, and the Prairies. The picture of your birth is clounded in the ice and mists of ancient ages but your spirit remains our life stream. II. The Red Man knew your bountiful gifts and gave thanks to the Great Spirit on your banks. -- The Spanish and French Fathers brought the glory of Christianity to America on Mississippi. But all men, white and dark; -- Indian, Spaniard, and Negro; Bourbon and Yankee, combined to make Mississippi the heart of America. Saga of the Mississippi Harl McDonald Born near Boulder, Colorado, July 27, 1899 Now living in Philadelphia The original suggestion for a symphonic work on the subject of the Mississippi came indirectly from the late Booth Tarkington who saw in it color and movement and atmosphere translatable into the terms of music. In the course of time, by the mysterious processes of composers' chemistry, it took shape as a tone-poem of two sections, one representing the rise of the great stream from its primeval geologic sources, the other the human history of the river. Mr. McDonald devised the following verbal outline of the general scheme of his diptych: I. Father of Waters: born of the Highlands and the Lakes; the Glaciers, the Mountains, and the Prairies. The picture of your birth is clounded in the ice and mists of ancient ages but your spirit remains our life stream. II. The Red Man knew your bountiful gifts and gave thanks to the Great Spirit on your banks. -- The Spanish and French Fathers brought the glory of Christianity to America on Mississippi. But all men, white and dark; -- Indian, Spaniard, and Negro; Bourbon and Yankee, combined to make Mississippi the heart of America. The first of the two movements, beginning molto andante, is vaguel modal to hint at antiquity. It is built upon the conventional two themes, with an episode, poco piu mosso, misterioso, for prehistoric murk and muck. There are various changes of pace and mood. The second, Allegro ma vigorosamente, prefigures an Indian ceremony. A theme presented by flute, clarinet and bassoon is a Canadian Indian fishing call collected by the late J.B. Beck. A later passage of quasi-Gregorian chant identifies the French and Spanish priests who made the great river their highway. The fishing-call is altered in rhythm and harmony to represent Negro field hands and roustabous. A turbulent close brings all these elemts together in the muddy swirling currents of the Mississippi. The work was begun in the summer of 1945, and was revised and completed in the summer of 1947. Harl McDonald, who is the manager of The Philadelphia Orchestra, has concerned himself with music as an art, as a science and as a business in course of his career. He was born on a cattle ranch in the Rockies, but since his was a musical family, his up-bringing combined piano lessons with ranch life. Years of study and professional experience followed in Los Angeles and in Germany. In 1927 he was appointed lecuter in composition at the University of Pennsylvania and he has since then made is home in Philadelphia. In 1933 under a grant of the Rockefeller FOundation he collaborated with physicists in research dealing with the measurement of instrumental and vocal tone, new scale divisions and the resultant harmonies. In that same year he was named head of the University's music faculty and conductor of its choral organizations. In 1939, having been a member of the Board of Directors for five years, he was appointed manager of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He continus to write, but otherwise his entire attention is now devoted to managerial duties. Chief items in the catalogue of his compositions are four symphonies, three orchestra suites, a half-dozen tone-poems, three concertos and considerable quantity of choral music.
SKU: PE.EP14445
ISBN 9790014135041. 297 x 420 mm inches. German.
ARKA stammt aus dem Sanskrit und bedeutet so viel wie Strahl, Blitz, Sonne, Licht, aber auch Lied, Feuer und Hymnus, und entwickelt in meiner Vorstellung sehr viele unterschiedliche Assoziationsfelder. In ARKA stecken auch die Worter arc (beten) und ka (Wasser), und es kann auch ubersetzt werden mit: ,,Das Wasser stromt aus dem heraus, der mehr weiss.
Mein neues Werk fur Pipa, Oboe, Pauke, Schlagzeug und Orchester entstand im Auftrag der Kammerakademie Neuss und auf Anregung des Oboisten Christian Wetzel. Es entstanden drei Rituale mit zum Teil szenischen Elementen fur die Solisten und das Orchester.
Inspirationsquelle in der Vorbeschaftigung waren zwei Quellen und Bucher. Das Daodejing von Laozi in der hervorragenden Neuubersetzung von Viktor Kalinke, eine der wichtigsten Quellen chinesischen Denkens und der Philosophie dieser grossen Kulturtradition und die chinesische Tradition der 5-Elementelehre und der Wandlungsphasen. Als zweites Buch hat mich ,,Die Glut von Roberto Calasso inspiriert, ein Buch uber die indischen Veden in Verbindung mit den Ursprungen des Buddhismus und den damit verbunden Ritualen.
In den letzten 20 Jahren habe ich mich intensiv mit ostasiatischer Musik, Kunst und Philosophie beschaftigt und habe das auch durch langere Studienreisen und kompositorische Projekte vertiefen konnen. U.a. wurde 2012 mein Chorwerk PRAN in Kolkata in Indien uraufgefuhrt (Goethe-Institut), ebenfalls 2012 ,,in between VI fur Sho und Sheng in Tokyo und 2013 ,,Mirror and Circle fur Pipa, Cello und chinesisches Orchester in Taipeh/Taiwan (Auftragswerk der taiwanesischen Regierung). Mit der chinesischen Pipa-Virtuosin Ya Dong arbeite ich seit 2000 zusammen und habe fur sie mehrfach komponiert (Urauffuhrungen u.a. in Hannover/EXPO 2000, Rottweil 2001, Taipeh 2013, Magdeburg 2016). Auch mit Christian Wetzel arbeite ich seit uber 20 Jahren zusammen und habe ebenfalls haufig fur ihn komponiert (UA u.a. in Bonn 1999, Hannover/EXPO 2000, Rottweil 2001, Darmstadt 2004 und etliche weitere Projekte).
Jedes dieser drei Rituale hat eine Lange von ca. 6-7 Minuten und stellt unterschiedliche Qualitaten und Besonderheiten der beiden Soloinstrumente heraus, immer in Verbindung mit der Interaktion zwischen Soli und Orchester. Die Besetzung war fur mich ausserst reizvoll, da beide Instrumente in dieser Kombination noch nie so erklungen sind. Die Pipa ist ein ungemein modernes und ungewohnliches Instrument, reich an Farben und vor allem an perkussiven Effekten. Das Tonmaterial wurde zum grossten Teil aus den Namen der beiden Solisten gewonnen und ergibt interessanter zwei gespiegelte Viertonmotive. In der asiatischen Kultur spielen der Spiegel und der Kreis eine wichtige Rolle, und so werden die Tone, Rhythmen und Formen eingewoben in diese drei Rituale, welche am Ende des dritten Satzes wieder kreisformig an den Anfang des ersten Rituals anknupfen. Ein von den Streichern und der Pauke erzeugtes Gerausch, verbunden mit dem Rhythmus der grossen Trommel, welcher einen Herzschlag symbolisieren soll. Die drei Untertitel der Rituale Himmel, Erde und (atmospharischer) Raum spielen im vedischen und chinesischen Denken eine grosse Rolle und war fur mich beim Komponieren ebenfalls eine sehr starke Inspirationsquelle. In vielen meiner Kompositionen gibt es Raumeffekte, Annaherungen an das Publikum, das Verschieben von Perspektiven, die Dekonstruktion und das Hinterfragen der ublichen Konzertsituation, so u.a in meinem Beuys-Zyklus oder in den Zyklen ,,CUT und ,,in between.
In ARKA geht es mir besonders um die Interaktion zwischen westlichem und ostlichem Denken, um das gegenseitige Durchdringen dieser auf den ersten Blick so unterschiedlichen Denk- und Lebensweisen, um eine Verschmelzung scheinbarer Gegensatze - um Annaherung!
Bernd Franke. Leipzig, 11.10.2019
for low voice and piano This beautiful collection of 14 songs for low voice offers Christmas settings by some of Oxford's best-loved composers. Suitable for solo singers and unison choirs alike, each song is presented with piano accompaniment, and high-quality, downloadable backing tracks are included on a companion website. With a wonderful selection of pieces, including favourites such as Bob Chilcott's 'The Shepherd's Carol' and John Rutter's 'Candlelight Carol', this is the perfect collection for use in carol services and Christmas concerts or for enjoying at home. Also available in a volume for high voice and piano.
AGNI is the Hindu god of fire; the elemental and transformative force inherent in everything:
Every flame, every fire, every light, every warmth is AGNI.
AGNI is omnipresent, establishing everything and ending everything.
AGNI is often depicted with seven tongues which represent different aspects of his being.
These include: creating, sustaining, cleansing, purifying, priestly, martial, devastating, destructive, and consuming.
Derived from Franke's concerto of the same name, this solo work for bass clarinet compositionally traces the transformative processes initiated by the divine fire. The solo takes seven pieces from the concerto, presenting vivid character pieces exploring the creative possibilities and wide tonal range offered by the bass clarinet.
This version of AGNI for bass clarinet solo was premiered on 4 December 2020 in Leipzig by Volker Hemken, the principal bass clarinetist of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. EP14437a convinces with its excellent and clear notation, making the piece a new standard for bass clarinet.
Ikons, commissioned by the Vancouver Cultural Olympiad 2010, exists in two forms. This 14-minute acoustic version, premiered by the Turning Point Ensemble, calls for an octet of live musicians to execute complex rhythms and quarter-tone harmonies.
The interactive, electronic version, created with visual artist Eric Metcalfe and designed to be presented separately, incorporates samples from this acoustic version into a sculptural environment of seven pyramidal structures that respond sonically to the viewer.
Roxanna Panufnik's Sonnets without Words is a contemporary piece for Horn in F and piano. Written for horn player Ben Goldscheider, Panufnik has reimagined the lyrical vocal lines from three of her previous settings of Shakespeare's sonnets (Mine eye, Music to hear and Sweet Love Remember'd for voice and piano) into a purely instrumental work.
Score and horn part.
Stephen McNeff's Trig is a short 7-minute contemporary work for solo cello, written to celebrate the bicentennial of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022 and in memorium cellist Mike Edwards 1948-2010.
Trig was premiered by Henry Hargreaves on 19 March 2021, livestreamed from the Royal Academy of Music.
to an utterance - study was commissioned by Klangforum Wien for the premiere commercial audio recording on a portrait CD in 2020 and first performed by Joonas Ahonen at the Berlin Philharmonie on 4th September 2020 at the Musikfest Berlin.
Roxanna Panufnik's Spirit Moves, for brass quintet, was commissioned by the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble. This 15-minute piece is scored for two trumpets in Bb (one doubling piccolo trumpet and the other doubling flugel horn), horn in F, trombone and tuba. This brass quintet is so called because the outer movements are highly spirited and the central one is spiritual.
This product consists of score and parts.
A gently flowing 3-minute arrangement by Roderick Williams for SATB (with divisi) with piano accompaniment that captures the beauty of this famous traditional Hebridean love song. The song text uses both old dialect and English, each verse ending with the words, 'Sad am I without thee'.
for high voice and piano This beautiful collection of 14 songs for high voice offers Christmas settings by some of Oxford's best-loved composers. Suitable for solo singers and unison choirs alike, each song is presented with piano accompaniment, and high-quality, downloadable backing tracks are included on a companion website. With a wonderful selection of pieces, including favourites such as Bob Chilcott's 'The Shepherd's Carol' and John Rutter's 'Candlelight Carol', this is the perfect collection for use in carol services and Christmas concerts or for enjoying at home. Also available in a volume for low voice and piano.
for SATB and organ This energetic setting of words by St Ambrose of Milan is a real showstopper. With pop-influences and a sparkling organ part, Young effortlessly fuses modern and traditional sound worlds, while changes in key and metre build up to an invigorating finish. Perfect for accomplished choirs looking for something different.
for SA unaccompanied This simple, charming two-part motet features long melismatic phrases that reflect the text (1 Corinthians 2: 9), such as the rising melodic line over three bars on the word 'ascended' (ascendit).
for SAATB unaccompanied. This glorious musical depiction of the honour, strength, power and authority of the Holy Trinity by Thomas Tallis is the third issue in the CMS's series of great English Responds from the 16th century, edited by Sally Dunkley. Scored for SAATB, it can be performed either as a motet or as a full Responsory with plainsong alternating with polyphony.
Based on a traditional Scottish/Irish 'farewell' song, this short piece is one of six works written to express my love of Scotland. After living there for nearly half my life, and raising a family, I moved back to England in 2018, and remarried in 2019.
Of course, there were many different emotions attached to the move south: especially the joy and excitement of new beginnings, and reconnection with friends from my youth.
But this piece expresses the wrench I experienced after a last family meal in Glasgow, and the realisation of all I was about to leave behind.
I have taken the melody of the original song, and expanded it, exploring the detail of its patterns, so that it becomes a timeless meditation.
The six pieces in the 'farewell' series are for 6 violas, string quintet, string quartet, trio, violin and clarinet duo, and solo clarinet.
The Parting Glass was composed in 2020 during the coronavirus lockdown, which intensified the feeling of separation from my Scottish family, as well as from other musicians.
It was commissioned by Vittorio Ceccanti for the ContempoArtEnsemble.
Maple arose from a commission to write a work for solo cello, to be performed alongside readings from artist John Newling's collection of letters entitled 'Dear Nature'; a poetic manifestation of our relationship with the natural world.
The piece is in eight short sections, to be interspersed with readings of groups of the poems. It may also be performed as a single movement. It begins with a seed - the seed of a maple tree, as it hangs on the mature tree, ready to drop. The seeds are like propellers, sometimes travelling more than a mile before landing on the ground. Maple follows the growth of the tree to maturity - which in reality would take at least a hundred years. 'Roots, shoots' grows downwards and upwards from a pedal note, and the dance-like 'Flowers' is followed by the stately 'Tree', and then the warm, cascading 'Autumn'. Maple is very often the wood of choice for the back of a stringed instrument, and the last section uses open strings to explore the full resonance of the cello.
The piece starts with a 'seed' of only five notes, which grows into different configurations. It is intended to be played in an improvisatory style.
Maple was co-commissioned by Brighton Festival, Ars et Terra Festival with SACEM and Ditchling Arts and Crafts Museum, to be performed by Margarita Balanas as part of the Brighton Festival's 'Dear Nature' project.
First performed by Noriko Kawai for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, in a broadcast from the Radio Theatre, BBC Broadcasting House, November 2020.
Full of beautifully crafted, delicate tintinnabulations - Richard Morrison, The Times
SKU: SU.00220528
This CD Sheet Music™ collection surveys the wealth of American concert music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Includes over 150 works for solo piano, piano duo, and piano four-hands by forty familiar and lesser-known American composers. Includes works by: Beach (Four Sketches, Valse Caprice); Bowles (Folk Preludes); Carpenter (Krazy Kat); Chadwick (Caprice); Colderidge-Taylor (Forest Scenes); Cowell (Three Irish Legends); Crawford ; Farwell; Foote (Five Poems after Omar Kayyam); Foster (Quadrilles, Soirée Polka); Gottschalk (Bamboula, Souvenir de Porto Rico); Grainger (Country Garden, Shepherd's Hey); Griffes (Roman Sketches); Herbert; Ives (Some South-Paw Pitching); MacDowell (Woodland Sketches, New England Idyls); Ornstein; Paine; Persichetti (Poems Vols. 1-3); Piston (Passacaglia); Riegger (Petit Etude); Ruggles (Evocations); Sousa (Hail to the Spirit of Liberty, The Stars and Stripes Forever); and more. Also includes composer biographies and relevant articles from the 1911 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2200+ pages
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: HL.14042515
ISBN 9788759826805. English.
This collection presents five Christina Rosetti poems set by Per Drud Nielsen for unaccompanied SATB choir. Had Christina Rossetti lived 40 years earlier and not written in English but in German, I am convinced that the many Lied-composers in the first half of the 19th century would have gathered around her. And in many ways I have set her poems to music in the spirit of the Lied tradition: I have made use of simple, modified strophic forms. And if you hear a loan from a well-known Schumann-Lied in one of my Rossetti-songs, you are not mistaken. - Per Drud Nielsen.
SKU: FG.55011-455-5
ISBN 9790550114555.
This cycle of carols, to the poetry of Christina Rossetti, was assembled piecemeal over a number of years, gradually acquiring a larger dramatic and harmonic arch shape as new settings were added. I was particularly attracted to Rossetti's conflation of the dark, fallow winter landscape with that of the soul waiting for salvation. The cycle traces the long nights of watchfulness before Christmas, with the great event constantly deferred, only glimpsed periodically in different visions before the music turns inward again to contemplation. The opening carol embodies this spirit, with passages of diffuse, roving harmony interspersed with meditative, lyrical pedals, calling out the night watch and dreaming of a far-off summer of the spirit. Earth Grown Old is a kind of double carol, setting two complete poems, their lines at first presented separately as a still, expectant chorale and a jubilant dance, then progressively interwoven toward a fervent climax before once again receding into quiet. In the bleak mid-winter, which sets a highly compressed version of Rossetti's original poem, presents an enfeebled landscape frozen in time, in dire need of deliverance. A gentle melody weaves its way through static drones, broken by an angels' chorus announcing the joy to come. Love Came Down at Christmas ends the waiting, with its gently falling, overlapping lines building to a final revelation, the mystery of Christmas at last made real.
SKU: BT.PWM8821
Work on this piece began in the spring of 1899 durng Kar owiczs studies in Berlin and he finished it after graduating and returning home in June 1902. Its premiere took place on March 21, 1903 in Berlin, and the Polish premiere on April 7, 1903 in Lviv. The symphony has a classic, four-movement structure, but in terms of architecture it is much closer to symphonic poems. It consists of the movements: 1. Andante. Allegro 2. Andante non troppo 3. Vivace 4. Allegro maestoso. ''In terms of orchestration and instrumentation technique it represents Kar owiczs early, academic period. The composer still used double wind enriched with piccolo flute, unlike in his later orchestral works the symphonic poems. The orchestration of the work indicates that the composer was guided by Tchaikovskys symphonic model. Kar owicz here still willingly operates with various sound blocks of entire instrumental groups, treating them in a choral manner, with tight chordal pillars'' (Leszek Polony). Before the Polish premiere the composer gave a comprehensive literary programme of the work in the Lviv newspaper S owo Polskie, in which he referred to each consecutive movement of the Symphony. In his last words he wrote, ''We hear a hymn of revival, at first quiet and sweet, then wider and wider, and fuller. Already the time has come; to hear the fanfare. Only one more step! And although the spirits fall again in doubt, we hear a powerful and solemn hymn of rebirth.''.
SKU: GI.G-9833
ISBN 9781622773541.
A poem is a powerful thing—it can touch the heart in ways that mere words cannot. But a lyric poem has the benefit of a custom soundtrack, so listeners get to experience the words with the added emotional power of music. The choral art is a magical synergy: the poet's heart, borne aloft by the genius of the composer's music, expertly interpreted by the director, internalized and brought to life by the singers, and then carried as a gift into the spirit of the listener. When it all works like it's supposed to, it is wondrous. — Charles Anthony Silvestri, from the Preface A Silver Thread is a comprehensive collection of Silvestri's lyric poetry, written between 2001–2018, including texts commissioned by choral composers and ensembles, as well as many new and unset poems available here all together for the first time. Lyricist, poet, clinician, artist, and educator, CHARLES ANTHONY SILVESTRI is a lecturer in Ancient and Medieval History at Washburn University. He currently lives with his family in Lawrence, Kansas. For more, visit: www.charlesanthonysilvestri.com.
SKU: CF.CM9750
ISBN 9781491162385. UPC: 680160921133. Key: F major. English. Robert Frost.
About the workFew American poems are as well known as The Road Not Taken. Robert Frost, the author, is an international icon, not unlike Pablo Picasso, Winston Churchill or Mark Twain in their own disciplines. The poem is full of contradictions and quirks of form and structure. Perhaps that illusiveness is part of the poem's intrigue. But beyond all of the literary devices that only a few scholars may fully appreciate, this poem has taken on a sort of fanfare for the common person credo - a challenge to individualism, stepping out on one's own, and breaking the mold out of sheer determination if nothing else. Frost connects to the core of the human spirit in just a few stanzas using the analogy of a fork in a road. The message super cedes geography, culture, race or creed. Rather, it is part of the DNA of most every person on the planet - the inner desire to feel empowered to create one's own destiny, to forge a road not taken, and ultimately in doing so, to make a difference.Rehearsal notesResearch strongly suggests that there is a direct connection between the first rehearsal and the performance. First impressions last. I find it helpful to immediately lock three concepts into place - mechanics (notes/rhythms), text/phrasing (intent and motivation) and color (timbre). Performers need to think musically from the first reading forward (first impression). The cello is very much a collaborative instrument in this work, and should be located in front of the ensemble (not to side). Lastly, let the text speak. The simplest melodic lines are often the most exposed. Keep the voices clear and transparent, floating over the top in softer passages, and singing with vibrancy and forward focus throughout.Z. Randall Stroope.
SKU: HL.49047297
UPC: 196288194484.
“Tomorrow, children, there will be somethingâ€... With search pictures, labyrinths, word snakes, shadow puzzles, Sudoku, letter and arithmetic games, this colorful block offers lots of puzzle fun for the most wonderful time of the year. Well-known tunes and Christmas songs from more recent times, musical Christmas classics and poems bring the puzzles to life audibly. The perfect activity for the holidays – Advent and Christmas spirit guaranteed! For all music-loving puzzle fans aged 5 to 8.
SKU: HL.49018099
ISBN 9790001158428. UPC: 884088567347. 8.25x11.75x0.457 inches. Latin - German.
On letting go(Concerning the selection of the texts) In the selection of the texts, I have allowed myself to be motivated and inspired by the concept of 'letting go'. This appears to me to be one of the essential aspects of dying, but also of life itself. We humans cling far too strongly to successful achievements, whether they have to do with material or ideal values, or relationships of all kinds. We cannot and do not want to let go, almost as if our life depended on it. As we will have to practise the art of letting go at the latest during our hour of death, perhaps we could already make a start on this while we are still alive. Tagore describes this farewell with very simple but strikingly vivid imagery: 'I will return the key of my door'. I have set this text for tenor solo. Here I imagine, and have correspondingly noted in a certain passage of the score, that the protagonist finds himself as though 'in an ocean' of voices in which he is however not drowning, but immersing himself in complete relaxation. The phenomenon of letting go is described even more simply and tersely in Psalm 90, verse 12: 'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom'. This cannot be expressed more plainly.I have begun the requiem with a solo boy's voice singing the beginning of this psalm on a single note, the note A. This in effect says it all. The work comes full circle at the culmination with a repeat of the psalm which subsequently leads into a resplendent 'lux aeterna'. The intermediate texts of the Requiem which highlight the phenomenon of letting go in the widest spectrum of colours originate on the one hand from the Latin liturgy of the Messa da Requiem (In Paradisum, Libera me, Requiem aeternam, Mors stupebit) and on the other hand from poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, Hermann Hesse, Rabindranath Tagore and Rainer Maria Rilke.All texts have a distinctive positive element in common and view death as being an organic process within the great system of the universe, for example when Hermann Hesse writes: 'Entreiss dich, Seele, nun der Zeit, entreiss dich deinen Sorgen und mache dich zum Flug bereit in den ersehnten Morgen' ['Tear yourself way , o soul, from time, tear yourself away from your sorrows and prepare yourself to fly away into the long-awaited morning'] and later: 'Und die Seele unbewacht will in freien Flugen schweben, um im Zauberkreis der Nacht tief und tausendfach zu leben' ['And the unfettered soul strives to soar in free flight to live in the magic sphere of the night, deep and thousandfold']. Or Joseph von Eichendorff whose text evokes a distant song in his lines: 'Und meine Seele spannte weit ihre Flugel aus. Flog durch die stillen Lande, als floge sie nach Haus' ['And my soul spread its wings wide. Flew through the still country as if homeward bound.']Here a strong romantically tinged occidental resonance can be detected which is however also accompanied by a universal spirit going far beyond all cultures and religions. In the beginning was the sound Long before any sort of word or meaningful phrase was uttered by vocal chords, sounds, vibrations and tones already existed. This brings us back to the music. Both during my years of study and at subsequent periods, I had been an active participant in the world of contemporary music, both as percussionist and also as conductor and composer. My early scores had a somewhat adventurous appearance, filled with an abundance of small black dots: no rhythm could be too complicated, no register too extreme and no harmony too dissonant. I devoted myself intensely to the handling of different parameters which in serial music coexist in total equality: I also studied aleatory principles and so-called minimal music.I subsequently emigrated and took up residence in Spain from where I embarked on numerous travels over the years to India, Africa and South America. I spent repeated periods during this time as a resident in non-European countries. This meant that the currents of contemporary music swept past me vaguely and at a great distance. What I instead absorbed during this period were other completely new cultures in which I attempted to immerse myself as intensively as possible.I learned foreign languages and came into contact with musicians of all classes and styles who had a different cultural heritage than my own: I was intoxicated with the diversity of artistic potential.Nevertheless, the further I distanced myself from my own Western musical heritage, the more this returned insistently in my consciousness.The scene can be imagined of sitting somewhere in the middle of the Brazilian jungle surrounded by the wailing of Indians and out of the blue being provided with the opportunity to hear Beethoven's late string quartets: this can be a heart-wrenching experience, akin to an identity crisis. This type of experience can also be described as cathartic. Whatever the circumstances, my 'renewed' occupation with the 'old' country would not permit me to return to the point at which I as an audacious young student had maltreated the musical parameters of so-called contemporary music. A completely different approach would be necessary: an extremely careful approach, inching my way gradually back into the Western world: an approach which would welcome tradition back into the fold, attempt to unfurl the petals and gently infuse this tradition with a breath of contemporary life.Although I am aware that I will not unleash a revolution or scandal with this approach, I am nevertheless confident as, with the musical vocabulary of this Requiem, I am travelling in an orbit in which no ballast or complex structures will be transported or intimated: on the contrary, I have attempted to form the message of the texts in music with the naivety of a 'homecomer'. Harald WeissColonia de San PedroMarch 2009.
SKU: HL.14042682
ISBN 9788759828069. English.
Winter Op.181 by Vagn Holmboe sets poems from A Sojourn of the Spirit and Passages in the Wind by John Gracen Brown. For soprano solo and choir a capella Composed 1989.
SKU: HL.233157
9.25x12.0x0.13 inches.
Includes two copies of the performance score These pieces are inspired by the music and spirit of the Athabascan people of Alaska's boreal forest. The first and third dances are based on songs by Joe Beetus, a Koyukon elder from the village of Huslia. The second dance is based on a short traditional song of the Dena'ing people of the Kenai Peninsula, as remembered by the late Peter Kalifornsky and transcribed by the late Thomas F. Johnston. In their original setting these melodies would be sung in unison, with no harmony or counterpoint. Working as a composer in the Western tradition, I have extended and transformed them in many ways. I have 'borrowed' and 'set' these melodies with permission and with the hope that my treatment of them conveys my profound respect for their origins. The second and third pieces are derived from my setting of poems by Adeline Peter Raboff written in the dialect of her Gwich'in people, who inhabit the country from Arctic Village to Old Crow. I offer this music as a gesture of respect to the first peoples of the Northern Interior and the Kenai Peninsula. - John Luther Adams.
SKU: ST.B882
ISBN 9780852498828.
The pattern of the book finds a place for material exploring a diversity of topics, such as childbirth, teenagers, creativity, women in the Bible, marriage and the breakdown of marriage, cot death, retirement, caring, Alzheimers, HIV and Aids, bereavement, greed, giving, working, worshipping, globalisation, coincidences, miracles, healing and the Spirit, summed up in the final item of the collection, the hymn God the Weaver. In each of the five sections - The Festival Way, The Biblical Way, The Disciples' Way, The Family Way and The Global Way - Marjorie allows us to see the 'working out of many of the texts through her own faith experience as a Methodist Local Preacher, dedicated to seeking out new paths in worship experiences meaningful for Christians today. Fresh musical settings are printed with all hymn texts, including several lively new arrangements of traditional songs. Incisive and observant, the author's unmistakable style will win many new admirers in this first collection of a writer and worship leader increasingly recognised for the breadth and vigour of her creative work.
