Judith Weir

Sinfonia Comatica is a composition by Judith Weir which is scored for flexible ensemble meaning music directors are able to make use of a variety of instruments tailoring the parts to their choseninstrumentation. A truly innovative idea this piece lasts around 1 and a half minutes and includes the Score and Parts. Originally commissioned by Contemporary Music for All (CoMA) it was also premiered bythem on the 25th of October 2014 at St John's Smith Square in London. As for the scoring a chart is included which detailed the range of each part and suggested instruments but the list can be expanded creatively to produceinnovative and unique performances of this work.

Scored for Children's Chorus Women's Chorus and ensemble. (3 Flutes 3 Cellos 3 Percussion players). A five movement piece based on the composer's 35 word version of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. First performed on 18thNovember 1997 Birmingham. Duration 20 minutes. Instrumental and chorus parts are available on hire.

These three pieces form a very short instrumental opera based on the life of James Reid a bagpiper in Prince Charlie's Jacobite army who was captured by the English in 1746 and executed after a judge had classified the bagpipes as a weapon. This piece is a string trio version of Sketches from a Bagpiper's Album (1984) for clarinet and piano scored for Violin Cello and Viola. Duration: c. 8 minutes. Score and parts included.

A Song Of Departure. Composed for the Schubert Ensemble?s farewell tour and modelled on ?Abschied? from Schubert?s Schwanengesang, this four-minute piece gives each player a brief solo before the work?s close. A light-hearted piece that is ideal for the end of a concert programme or as an encore.

With a libretto written by Weir herself based on the cryptic supernatural short story Der Blonde Eckbert by Ludwig Tieck. This one act pocket version of the opera makes use of a Chamber group rather thana full Orchestra and omits the chorus.'Eckbert and his wife Berthe live in seclusion in the Harz Moutains. One stormy night Eckbert's friend Walther arrives and to while away the time Berthe tells him her lifestory.Walther mysteriously knows a great deal about Berthe' s early life and Eckbert's suspicions grow eventually leading him to murder Walther during a hunting expediton.Consumed by terror and suspicion Eckbert retreats into seclusion and revisits the fairy-tale scenes of Berthe's childhood accompanied by a magical singing bird. He encounters the old woman who raised Berthe and at last learns the terrible truth about Walther Berthe and himself.' - Judith Weir

Judith Weir's The Vanishing Bridegroom. Opera scored for Soprano Mezzo-Soprano Tenor and 2 Baritone Soli SSAATTBB Chorus and Orchestra. Text: from Popular Tales of the West Highlands.

I Give You The End Of A Golden String was commissioned in 2013 by the Royal Philharmonic Society/Britten-Pears Foundation to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Brittenand the bicentenary of thefoundation of the Royal Philharmonic Society.The piece was first performed on 8th June 2013 by the Britten Sinfonia conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.'My aim when I began this piece was to create a long length ofstring music out of a single strand of melody.While experimenting at the beginning shaping and extending a melody in many possible directions I cameacross William Blake???s lines???I give you the end of a goldenstring;Only wind it into a ball It will lead you in at Heaven???s gate Built in Jerusalem???s wall???and this became my working method winding a single tune around itself so that it gradually formed itselfinto amuch richer more complex texture. The process happens three times producing the equivalent of acontinuous three-movement concerto.The ???first movement??? is engendered by two solo violas (the melody at the beginning alreadyentwined witha slightly alternative version of itself). The ???slow movement??? (a more extended more decorated developmentof the opening tune) is introduced by a solo cello (soon winding itself into a quartet of celli). The fast???finale??? led by two solo violins focuses on decorations within the melody rolling out ribbons of (Britten-like') thirds.' - Judith WeirSuggested minimum strings: 8.6.4.4.2 players

Written for the Endellion Quartet in 1990. Duration 13 minutes. Score available: SOS03075

Judith Weir: My Piano Quartet (2000) is part of an extended series of works for piano and strings which I have written over the last twenty years - although I didn¹t know it was going to be a series when I wrote the first of these works Music for 247 Strings in 1980. During this period it has been far more usual for composers to write for mixed wind and string ensembles. But I continued (and still continue) to be fascinated by the potential of strings and piano; particularly the chance to write for the instruments as soloists or as a group and often to use both these options simultaneously.String Parts.Premiered July 2000 at the Cheltenham Festival by the SchubertEnsemble.Piano Score available: CH61794

POD-Judith Weir's National Anthem With Leicester Fanfare is a work commissioned by Leicester Cathedral and first performed there at the Service of Reinterment of the Remains of King Richard III on 26th March2015. Scored for 4 Horns in F Unison Chorus and Organ Accompaniment a full performance lasts around 2 minutes. This is the Full Score. Note: this work was originally scored for Organ and four Horns in F.However the set of parts on sale includes alternatives for each of the Horn parts as follows: Horn 1 in F or E Flat Tenor Horn or Trombone Tenor Clef or Trombone/Euphonium/Baritone Treble ClefHorn 2 in F or Trombone Bass Clef or Trombone/Euphonium/Baritone Treble Clef Horn 3 in F or E Flat Tenor Horn or Trombone Tenor Clef or Trombone/Euphonium/Baritone Treble Clef Horn4 in F or Trombone Bass Clef or Trombone/Euphonium/Baritone Treble Clef

A Few Words Of Thanks is a work by Judith Weir for Flute Oboe Clarinet Viola and Cello. This is the Score/Parts and a full performance lasts around 1.5 minutes.