SKU: BO.B.3687
In recent years one of the guiding principals of my work as a composer has been the creation of a repertoire of chamber music in which the guitar is treated as a concert instrument and also provides the harmonic basis for the music.Firstly, it is my belief that the special polyphonic capabilities of the guitar can lead to the creation of a unique chamber music repertoire in which the limitations of the instrument are surpassed by the musical dialogue being shared among the various instruments. Secondly, bringing the guitar together with other instruments historically used in chamber music not only benefits the guitar but also allows the guitar to bring to the music different harmonic qualities, distinctive melodies and rhythms and gives the music a unique expressive richness not found in traditional chamber music.The trio Clover was inspired by the small and beautiful plant of the same name. The three movements of the work (the characteristic three clover leaves) are structured according to the classic form: lively-tranquil-lively. The first movement is full of robust determination, the second alludes to the subtle rhythm of a siciliana and the third movement is a scherzo. The work was premiered by Paganini Trio (Joseph Gold, Debbie Dare and myself) during a tour of California (USA) using a Stradivarius violin made in 1690.Lastly, I would like to insist-yet again--on the importance of the fact that guitar technique must be geared to fully utilize the level of volume of which the instrument is capable. With an adequate technique (see Estudio y sistematizacion del conjunto de recursos que posibilitan el desarrollo de una buena tecnica guitarristica [Systematic Study of the Various Resources That Contribute to the Development of a Good Guitar Technique] by J. Torrent -Ed. Boileau), a guitarist is capable of controlling the volume of which the instrument if capable without renouncing the level of volume that is required. Thus, a guitarist may use a wide range of dynamics, giving the player greater expressive possibilities and is thus able to integrate easily within chamber music groups without forcing the other instruments to lower their normal level of volume.
SKU: BT.AMP-173-140
9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.
When writing his tuba concerto, Philip Sparke wanted to create a work which explored the many aspects of the instrument’s technical and vocal qualities but without resorting to caricature. The result is a concerto in two joined movements, which can both be programmed individually, that contains both many lyrical lines together with stunning virtuosic passages. An outstanding concerto that tuba players and brass band audiences alike will enjoy and applaud.De technische en lyrische eigenschappen van het instrument komen in deze compositie optimaal tot hun recht. De componist wilde er namelijk zeker van zijn dat het werk écht een concerto voor tuba zou worden en dat de muziek zou passenbij het instrument in de solistenrol. De solostem in het tweedelige Tuba Concerto bestrijkt bijna drieënhalf octaaf. Beide delen kunnen afzonderlijk worden geprogrammeerd: een langzaam deel en een scherzo.Philip Sparke schuf mit seinem Tuba Concerto ganz bewusst ein Stück, das der Tuba als Soloinstrument voll und ganz gerecht wird. Aus diesem Grund deckt die Solostimme fast dreieinhalb Oktaven ab und nutzt die technischen und klanglichen Qualitäten des Instruments voll und ganz aus. Das Konzert besteht aus zwei zusammenhängenden Sätzen, die beide einzeln aufgeführt werden können: einem langsamen Satz und einem Scherzo. Noten für eine Aufführung mit Tuba und Klavier sind ebenfalls erhältlich.Tuba Concerto est une œuvre de commande pour le facteur allemand Miraphone, spécialisé dans les cuivres. Philip Sparke a composé et dédié cette pièce Markus Theinert, un ami de longue date, qui en a assuré la création le 30 avril 2006 Sigmaringen en Allemagne accompagné par le Brass Band Oberschwaben-Allgäu.L’idée d’un concerto pour tuba a été longuement discutée entre le soliste et le compositeur dont le souci était de créer un véritable concerto développant un matériau parfaitement adapté au rôle solistique de l’instrument, sans tomber dans la caricature. Ainsi, la partie soliste couvre trois octaves et demie et exploite pleinement les qualitéstechniques et expressives de l’instrument.Tuba Concerto est une composition en deux mouvements joints qui peuvent également être joués séparément. Le premier mouvement débute lentement puis s’accélère progressivement. La cadence annonce la réexposition du matériel thématique initial. Le second mouvement, écrit en forme de scherzo, semble plus résolu mais chemine vers plus de légèreté. La reprise du matériel thématique initial offre une conclusion efficace et puissante.Ce concerto est également disponible dans une version pour Tuba solo et Brass Band (AMP 173-030) et Tuba solo et Piano (AMP 187-401).
SKU: BT.AMP-173-010
SKU: PR.114408750
UPC: 680160013289. 8.5 x 11 inches.
This work was commissioned by the Friends of the Phoenix Public Library for the dedication of the new Music Room and made possible in part through the funds from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Meet the Composer-Arizona. Diary of a Journey was composed between July and September 1995 for the group Arpeggio. During the early summer of 1995, my wife and I took a vacation to Prague and Budapest. It was the first trip for both of us to these former Iron Curtain capitals. The train ride through the beautiful country-side, the dilapidated small villages and towns, the magnificent architecture and the feeling of grandeur in the two major cities left an indelible impression on me. I longed to write some kind of an essay about it. Diary of a Journey is the result of some of these thoughts, which were sketched (musically) as we visited each place. There are four 'snapshots' or movements which do not portray a specific scene, but rather try to capture the impressions I gathered from the people we observed and met, and the many awe-inspiring experiences we had. Throughout the journey, I felt that people were clinging to a tenacious hope for a better future, no matter how long it will take to realize it. In the first movement each player portrays a struggle against all odds, and with great energy and even wit tries to overcome the obstacles, ending on one serene high note as a resting point after all the conflict. The second 'snapshot' tries to capture the deep faith of a newly regained religiosity. It is chant-like, and uses as its basic melodic material a famous Czech hymn, penned by the great religious reformer John Huss. This movement is played very freely, without bar-lines and with the hymn shining through the fervent chanting. The third movement is a kind of 'demonic' scherzo. Fast and furious, the three instruments vie with one another in a true perpetual motion frenzy, which is at times relieved by short, more pastoral melodic fragments. A rather wild ending should leave everyone breathless. Finally, in the fourth 'snapshot' the instruments play a bit more as a team, meaning that is that there is more melody with accompaniment, and more imitative music giving the impression of a group effort. The energy is still at a high level but long lyrical lines abound, accompanied and interrupted at times by undulating fast notes still depicting the struggle against the blight which any visitor notices all around these countries, yet also showing the determination of the people to conquer adversity. --Samuel Adler.
SKU: HL.44011072
UPC: 884088646097. 9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.
Diese Suite in c-Moll zollt einem berühmten klassischen Blaserwerk Tribut - der Ersten Suite in Es-Dur von Gustav Holst von 1909 - und erscheint zu deren 100-jahrigem Jubilaum. Die viersatzige Suite erinnert an die Stilistik von Holst, enthalt aber auch charakteristische Klangidiome sowie Strukturmerkmale von Jacob de Haan. Eine erfrischende originale Komposition, inspiriert von einem durchaus nicht angestaubten Klassiker. En 1909, Gustav Holst composa une œuvre audacieuse et novatrice, la Premiere Suite en Mib Majeur, op. 28 ndeg1 (First Suite in Eb major, Op. 28, No. 1), une suite exclusivement ecrite pour instruments a vent. A l'occasion du centenaire de cette piece, devenue un classique du repertoire pour Orchestre d'Harmonie, Jacob de Haan a compose la Memorial Suite en Ut mineur. Cette composition en quatre mouvements fait reference aux qualites stylistiques de l'œuvre de Holst, tout en s'appuyant sur le langage sonore et l'ecriture caracteristiques du style de Jacob de Haan. Le resultat est original.Comme Gustav Holst, Jacob de Haan a choisi d'ouvrir sasuite avec une chaconne, une forme de variation contrapuntique (a l'origine une danse espagnole a trois temps) dans laquelle un theme revient de facon recurrente accompagne a chaque fois par un nouveau contre-chant. Ce theme ostinato est utilise de differentes manieres tout au long des quatre mouvements, assurant ainsi l'unite de l'œuvre. Le second mouvement est un scherzo. Par sa progression et son caractere, il s'apparente a l'intermezzo central de la suite de Holst. Le troisieme mouvement, Song Without Words (Chanson sans paroles), porte le meme titre que le second mouvement de la Deuxieme Suite en Fa, op. 28 ndeg 2 (Second Suite in F, Op. 28, No. 1) composee par Holst en 1911. A mi-chemin de ce mouvement tres expressif apparait un solo de saxophone alto. Jacob de Haan conclut son œuvre par une Marche comme le fit jadis Gustav Holst.
SKU: BA.BA10303-01
ISBN 9790006559503. 33 x 26 cm inches. Key: C minor. Preface: Michael Stegemann.
The third symphony by Camille Saint-Saens, known as the Organ Symphony, is the first publication in a complete historical-critical edition of the French composer's instrumental works.I gave everything I was able to give in this work. [...] What I have done here I will never be able to do again.Camille Saint-Saens was rightly proud of his third Symphony in C minor Op.78, dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt. Called theOrgan Symphonybecause of its novel scoring, the work was a commission from the Philharmonic Society in London, as was Beethoven's Ninth, and was premiered there on 19 May 1886. The first performance in Paris followed on 9 January 1887 and confirmed the composer's reputation asprobably the most significant, and certainly the most independent French symphonistof his time, as Ludwig Finscher wrote in MGG. In fact the work remains the only one in the history of that genre in France to the present day, composed a good half century after the Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz and a good half century before Olivier Messiaen's Turangalila Symphonie.You would think that such a famous, much-performed and much recorded opus could not hold any more secrets, but far from it: in the first historical-critical edition of the Symphony, numerous inconsistencies and mistakes in the Durand edition in general use until now, have been uncovered and corrected. An examination and evaluation of the sources ranged from two early sketches, now preserved in Paris and Washington (in which the Symphony was still in B minor!) via the autograph manuscript and a set of proofs corrected by Saint-Saens himself, to the first and subsequent editions of the full score and parts. The versions for piano duet (by Leon Roques) and for two pianos (by the composer himself) were also consulted. Further crucial information was finally found in his extensive correspondence, encompassing thousands of previously unpublished letters. The discoveries made in producing this edition include the fact that at its London premiere, the Symphony probably looked quite different from its present appearance ...No less exciting than the work itself is the history of its composition and reception, which are described in an extensive foreword. With his Symphony, Saint-Saens entered right into the dispute which divided French musical life into pro and contra Wagner in the 1880s and 1890s. At the same time, the work succeeded in preserving the balance between tradition and modernism in masterly fashion, as a contemporary critic stated:The C minor Symphony by Saint-Saens creates a bridge from the past into the future, from immortal richness to progress, from ideas to their implementation.On 19 March 1886 Saint-Saens wrote to the London Philharmonic Society, which commissioned the work:Work on the symphony is in full swing. But I warn you, it will be terrible. Here is the precise instrumentation: 3 flutes / 2 oboes / 1 cor anglais / 2 clarinets / 1 bass clarinet / 2 bassoons / 1 contrabassoon / 2 natural horns / [3 trumpets / Saint-Saens had forgotten these in his listing.] 2 chromatic horns / 3 trombones / 1 tuba / 3 timpani / organ / 1 piano duet and the strings, of course. Fortunately, there are no harps. Unfortunately it will be difficult. I am doing what I can to mitigate the difficulties.As in my 4th Concerto [for piano] and my [1st] Violin Sonata [in D minor Op.75] at first glance there appear to be just two parts: the first Allegro and the Adagio, the Scherzo and the Finale, each attacca. This fiendish symphony has crept up by a semitone; it did not want to stay in B minor, and is now in C minor.It would be a pleasure for me to conduct this symphony. Whether it would be a pleasure for others to hear it? That is the question. It is you who wanted it, I wash my hands of it. I will bring the orchestral parts carefully corrected with me, and if anyone wants to give me a nice rehearsal for the symphony after the full rehearsal, everything will be fine.When Saint-Saens hit upon the idea of adding an organ and a piano to the usual orchestral scoring is not known. The idea of adding an organ part to a secular orchestral work intended for the concert hall was thoroughly novel - and not without controversy. On the other hand, Franz Liszt, whose music Saint-Saens' Symphony is so close to, had already demonstrated that the organ could easily be an orchestral instrument in his symphonic poem Hunnenschlacht (1856/57). There was also a model for the piano duet part which Saint-Saens knew and may possibly have used quite consciously as an exemplar: theFantaisie sur la Tempetefrom the lyrical monodrama Lelio, ou le retour a la Vie op. 14bis (1831) by Berlioz. The name of the organist at the premiere ist unknown, as, incidentally, was also the case with many of the later performances; the organ part is indeed not soloistic, but should be understood as part of the orchestral texture.In fact the subsequent success of the symphony seems to have represented a kind of breakthrough for the composer, who was then over 50 years of age.My dear composer of a famous symphony, wrote Saint-Saens' friend and pupil Gabriel Faure:You will never be able to imagine what a pleasure I had last Sunday [at the second performance on 16 January 1887]! And I had the score and did not miss a single note of this Symphony, which will endure much longer than we two, even if we were to join together our two lifespans!
About Barenreiter Urtext
What can I expect from a Barenreiter Urtext edition?
MUSICOLOGICALLY SOUND - A reliable musical text based on all available sources - A description of the sources - Information on the genesis and history of the work - Valuable notes on performance practice - Includes an introduction with critical commentary explaining source discrepancies and editorial decisions ... AND PRACTICAL - Page-turns, fold-out pages, and cues where you need them - A well-presented layout and a user-friendly format - Excellent print quality - Superior paper and binding
SKU: ST.Y273
ISBN 9790220222832.
Rhian Samuel's Phantasy Trio is a lively and challenging addition to the repertoire of an instrumental genre infrequently visited by contemporary composers. Its five movements are played without a break, their musical discourse focused by the sustained dynamic interaction of piano, violin and cello. After a preludial opening of filigree arabesques shared between the players, material in the spirit of an Irish jig forms the topic of the second and fourth movements, which enclose a scherzo of violent contrasts. In the finale, thematic elements of much that has gone before are gathered up and assessed, to conclude the score in a mood of quiet fantasy and a hushed final cadence.
