Songs and Dances

SKU: HL.234540

9.0x12.0x0.09 inches. English.

'This set of miniatures is based on traditional dance songs of the Yupik Eskimo people of Western Alaska. In their original forms, these melodies would be sung in unison. The first, third and fifth songs would be accompanied by frame drums. The second and fourth are game songs, for jumping rope and juggling pebbles. Aside from the obvious difference in instrumentation, my settings of these songs differ from the Yup'ik originals in other respects. I have extended and varied the melodies, and added countermelodies, ostinato figurations, introductions, interludes and codas. The first four melodies are drawn from the collection Yup'ik Eskimo songs, compiled by Thomas F. Johnston, and Tupou L. Pulu, and published by the University Of Alaska. The fifth was 'loaned' to me by Yup'ik singer and dancer Chuna McIntyre, who learned it in his village of Eek, Alaska. The poems preceding each piece are rough translations of the words to the songs. These verses are often cryptic and enigmatic. Their obscurity is increased because some of the words or their meanings have been lost, over time.' - John Luther Adams.

SKU: HL.14042377

ISBN 9788759815038. English.

Per Nørgård's Maya Dances (-for her unborn son) 
for mixed chorus SATB (1979/1992) - English version.

Original Danish text by Ole Sarvig - from the opera Siddharta. English vocal version by Paula Hostrup-Jesse.

The two melodies of MAYA DANCES was originally composed for children’s chorus and mixed choir with orchestra, respectively, as part of the opera SIDDHARTA (1974-79). The children’s song (bars 1-27) was later incorporated into the first movement of the choral work WIE EIN KIND for mixed chorus from 1979-80 (printed edition WH 29552). 

The presentchoral version for SATB from 1992, edited by Ivan Hansen and the composer, is a combination of the two above mentioned songs from the opera. 

In the opera the children’s singing game describes the sad Queen Maya’s longing for a child. She senses the coming of a new age and is enlivened by dancing a fertility dance for the unborn prince Siddharta. Two themes alternate: the straightforward song of the children, and the comment of Prajapati (Maya’s sister) on Queen Maya’s dance. 

SKU: BR.OB-5273-15

ISBN 9790004332498. 10 x 12.5 inches.

In his Slavonic Dances Op. 46, Dvorak did not draw on pre-existent music, but created something original and new, projecting his own compositional will into the creative process. What we hear are Dvoraks melodies,and that it is due to his creative will that he cast them as in Dance 3, for example in the form of a melodic four-tone model which is common to many folk songs and childrens songs. Finally, it is his rhythmic invention and shaping of the musical character of each dance that breathe life into the elements of Slavonic dance music.