Surface Textures

SKU: PR.11641737S

ISBN 9781491136133. UPC: 680160688432.

Son et lumière (“sound and light,” a kind of show staged for tourists at historic sites or famous buildings) is an orchestral entertainment whose subject is the play of colors, bright surfaces, and shimmery textures. I have tried in this music to recapture the élan and immediacy that regular meters and repetitive rhythms make possible—something forbidden during the modernist regime but recently restored in the post-modern work of composers like John Adams, Steve Reich, and others. Throughout its brief nine-minute span, then, the piece is built almost exclusively of short, busy ostinato figures—my attempt, I suppose, to achieve the rhythmic vitality of minimalism, but without giving in to the over-simple harmonic language that usually comes with it.Surprisingly, the musical materials seemed determined to shape themselves into an approximation of nineteenth-century sonata form. We hear an introduction, a first theme (based on triadic broken chords), a second theme (beginning with the flute solo), and a closing theme (led by two piccolos). In a sort of development section, these materials are recombined in new ways; in a recapitulation, both the first and second themes are recalled more or less intact (part of the second is actually repeated quite literally).Then, in the coda, a second surprise: as if another, different music has been lurking all the while behind the shiny surface, the strings now unexpectedly split off from the rest of the orchestra to assert a new, more passionate, more “serious” voice, transcending the external show of sound and light.Son et lumière, commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was composed between June and December 1988 in Ithaca (N.Y.), in Los Angeles, and at the artists’ colony Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs (N.Y.). David Zinman conducted the first performance in Baltimore on 18 May 1989; André Previn gave the West Coast premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on 18 January, 1990.
Son et lumière (“sound and light,” a kind of show staged for tourists at historic sites or famous buildings) is an orchestral entertainment whose subject is the play of colors, bright surfaces, and shimmery textures. I have tried in this music to recapture the élan and immediacy that regular meters and repetitive rhythms make possible—something forbidden during the modernist regime but recently restored in the post-modern work of composers like John Adams, Steve Reich, and others. Throughout its brief nine-minute span, then, the piece is built almost exclusively of short, busy ostinato figures—my attempt, I suppose, to achieve the rhythmic vitality of minimalism, but without giving in to the over-simple harmonic language that usually comes with it.Surprisingly, the musical materials seemed determined to shape themselves into an approximation of nineteenth-century sonata form. We hear an introduction, a first theme (based on triadic broken chords), a second theme (beginning with the flute solo), and a closing theme (led by two piccolos). In a sort of development section, these materials are recombined in new ways; in a recapitulation, both the first and second themes are recalled more or less intact (part of the second is actually repeated quite literally).Then, in the coda, a second surprise: as if another, different music has been lurking all the while behind the shiny surface, the strings now unexpectedly split off from the rest of the orchestra to assert a new, more passionate, more “serious” voice, transcending the external show of sound and light.Son et lumière, commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was composed between June and December 1988 in Ithaca (N.Y.), in Los Angeles, and at the artists’ colony Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs (N.Y.). David Zinman conducted the first performance in Baltimore on 18 May 1989; André Previn gave the West Coast premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on 18 January, 1990.

SKU: BR.EB-9399

ISBN 9790004188736. 9 x 12 inches.

One of my favourite pieces of music as a child - and I still love it - was Schubert's Trout Quintet. It was partly the wonderful music, of course, so light-hearted and joyful on the surface, yet with twists and turns and murky depths of feeling too. But I also liked the picture of a trout on the album sleeve - such beautiful creatures! Last year, while resident at the Villa Concordia in Bamberg, as I took daily walks along the Regnitz river, I observed the trout as they calmly hovered and swayed in the shallows... But if they felt my shadow they were gone in a split second! If you ever get a chance to look closely at brown trout you see that they are covered in myriad brown/red spots of varied sizes; camouflage I suppose. Now those patterns seem to be mixing in my mind with the shifting colours of the spectral arpeggios that flow through this little piece. It's a watery piece, with rippling waves, shimmering surfaces and textural veils around the melodies which flow through it. But it also takes inspiration (and it's title) from a Pablo Neruda poem: the third stanza of Every Day You Play includes the line The sky is a net crammed with shadowy fish. There's no singer, but I imagine an invisible or imaginary voice somewhere behind (or beyond) the music, and so the score includes a melodic setting of the text. Even though this is not performed by a voice, the melody is always played by the ensemble - especially high register cello - making the piece something like the inverse of a song without words. (Christian Mason)

World premiere: Aix-en-Provence, October 16, 2020 Commissioned by the Grand Theatre de Provence - Aix-en-Provence.

SKU: FG.55011-524-8

ISBN 9790550115248.

In Kirmo Lintinen's Rondo burlesque (2007-2008) for bassoon and piano , the qualitative elements of the bar, with their upbeats, accents and GPs, create a refined musical rhetoric and are very much to the fore. At the premiere, Lintinen's manner of playing, with its sparing use of the pedal obscuring the first beat but not the sense of time, underlined the inherent character of the piece. The roguish poetic metres gambolled jerkily along, and although at surface level the music may appear guileless, Lintinen knows his polyphony, judging by the capital roving of his voices even in the homophonic textures. Kirmo Lintinen (b. 1967) is a man of many musical talents: composer, pianist and conductor. His catalogue encompasses almost all gen-res and categories of composition, from solo work to opera, and he operates with ease from one to another without being a crossover artist; in his case, the versatility is both internalised and innate. He often finds inspiration in French music of the 1920s and its intrinsic musicality. Humour and playfulness are characteristic elements of his music, as are a natural, musicianly approach and an enchantingly effervescent, even tongue-in-cheek texture.

SKU: HL.1142656

Features: • Elegantly displays up to five (5) electric/acoustic guitars or 5-7 cases in studio, living room, showroom floor, classroom, or similar environment in Natural Maple Matte Finish • Adjustable divider pegs with rubberized protective layering keep instruments and cases safely stored and separate from each other • Holds most acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, including instruments with offset bodies • Soft padding on base of cradle prevents guitar bottoms from contacting wood • Sturdy 1″/25mm-thick laminated plywood construction with textured wood grain surface • Convenient cable storage hanger hooks on both sides • Non-slip rubber feet on bottom protects floor from scratches • Safe for standard polyurethane finishes, not tested for compatibility with vintage/lacquer finishes • Ships flat packed with assembly hardware • Product dimensions (assembled): 38″/965mm (L) x 22″/559mm (W) x 36.2″/919mm (H), net weight: 36 lbs./16.3 kg. Interior length: 36″/914mm.

SKU: HL.1142655

Features: • Elegantly displays up to five (5) electric/acoustic guitars or 5-7 cases in studio, living room, showroom floor, classroom, or similar environment in Driftwood Grey Finish • Adjustable divider pegs with rubberized protective layering keep instruments and cases safely stored and separate from each other • Holds most acoustic, electric, and bass guitars, including instruments with offset bodies • Soft padding on base of cradle prevents guitar bottoms from contacting wood • Sturdy 1″/25mm-thick laminated plywood construction with textured wood grain surface • Convenient cable storage hanger hooks on both sides • Non-slip rubber feet on bottom protects floor from scratches • Safe for standard polyurethane finishes, not tested for compatibility with vintage/lacquer finishes • Ships flat packed with assembly hardware • Product dimensions (assembled): 38″/965mm (L) 22″/559mm (W) x 36.2″/919mm (H), net weight: 36 lbs./16.3 kg. Interior length: 36″/914mm.

SKU: HL.44005805

UPC: 884088042752.

Les mouvements interrompus is first and foremost textural music, in which the main role is played by surfaces which change in color, relative smoothness and density. Nevertheless, Vuori does not abandon melody. One special feature of this work is the use of the singing voice. The soprano is used as an instrument alike and equal to the others.