SKU: HH.HH029-IPT
ISBN 9790708024781.
This fine concerto shares its motto with Tomaso Albinoni's oboe concerto in G minor Op. 9 No. 8, published in 1722, and with Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerto in G minor, RV 317, published in 1729 as Op. 12 No. 1. It is very likely that Zani deliberately borrowed the beautiful motto as a homage to the famous masters; and the same motive recurs in the third movement in a subtle variant.
SKU: HH.HH211-SOL
ISBN 9790708059424.
This work was commissioned by marimbist Catherine Meunier. It was composed in residence at the Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur of Montreal with financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
SKU: HH.HH029-STR
SKU: HH.HH208-FSC
ISBN 9790708059219.
Idé es fixes, réminiscences et résidus was commissioned by the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal with funds from the Canada Arts Council. The work was premiered by the ECM and its conductor Véronique Lacroix on the 14th November 2004, in Vancouver.
SKU: HH.HH202-FSP
ISBN 9790708041900.
The present work features a kind of pentatonic music that is often associated with a far eastern landscape. However, it has no genuine compositional connection with Asian music. In this piece pentatonicism is conducive to frictionless intervals and transparency of sound; these are produced in an ideal manner on stringed instruments by means of natural harmonics. The contrasting central section brings dense textures and sharp dissonance, which sound with full intensity and combine with portamento to produce extreme emotional expression and narrative gestures.
SKU: HH.HH249-KBD
ISBN 9790708092056.
As a confirmed Mozartian it is natural that Müller's concertos for flute and orchestra should follow the classical pattern, and the E minor work published here for the first time since 1801 is an attractive and virtuoso piece in the less usual minor tonality. It is edited by Nikolai Jaeger and Christopher Hogwood with a useful introduction including points of performance practice drawn from Müller’s flute tutor. A keyboard reduction of the orchestral part is also available.
SKU: HH.HH250-CON
ISBN 9790708059998.
Writ ten for the Wirral Schools' Concert Band in 1987, Strong Winds, Gentle Airs is built, as the title suggests, from two types of material – one forceful and rhythmic, the other more relaxed, with slow moving, almost static harmonies. In revising the piece for publication, the composer has endeavoured to retain as much of the original character as possible.
SKU: HH.HH403-FSC
ISBN 9790708059868.
The autograph, regrettably, has not survived. The source on which the present edition is based consists of the principal and other violin parts, in the hand of an unknown copyist, preserved in the music collection of the Benedictine abbey of Melk (Stift Melk) in Austria (the work’s nickname derives from this location). The Melker Concerto in A Major, Hob. VII a: 3, is one of the few violin concertos by Joseph Haydn regarded as authentic. Listed in the Breitkopf catalogue in 1771, it was probably composed some time between 1765 and 1770.
SKU: HH.HH025-BCS
ISBN 9790708024491.
Char acterized by galant expression and remarkably experimental design: sectional movement structures often exhibiting, within the framework of binary form, the tendencies of incipient sonata form, anticipating the classical symphony.
SKU: HH.HH050-STR
The present concerto, RV 762, is here published for the first time in its original key and in an edition based on an authoritative source. It is one of numerous concertos by Vivaldi known to have been played by Anna Maria, the most celebrated of the many remarkable performers produced by the Ospedale della Pietà, the Venetian charitable institution with which the composer was associated for much of his career. And yet it is, besides RV 286 in F major, the only violin concerto of his for which a source inscribed with the name of the virtuosa has survived complete.
SKU: HH.HH031-SOL
ISBN 9790708024774.
Apos trophen is solo music of rare intensity and beauty.
SKU: HH.HH142-FSP
ISBN 9790708041931.
This cantata, from an important manuscript in Berlin containing 18 Albinoni cantatas for soprano and continuo, is on the subject of the parting of lovers. Dalinda, forced to part from Tirsi, vows fidelity to him and asks for the same in return. With not only two da capo arias but also a final cavata (a fugue like section), this is one of Albinoni's more extended chamber cantatas, full of harmonic and tonal variety.
SKU: HH.HH188-FSP
ISBN 9790708059639.
The present set of three string quartets, published in Vienna in 1799 by André, are arranged from two violin sonatas and a piano trio; a certain independence is noticeable in the anonymous arranger, but the result is three strikingly effective new quartets to add to the Mozart oeuvre which will delight all players familiar with the originals and prove a gracious alternative to quartets who look for some escape from the familiar and over exposed repertoire.
SKU: HH.HH270-VOC
ISBN 9790708059622.
Unea sy Vespers for choir, soloists and orchestra. Part I of this work was completed and performed in 1991 as part of a commission for Liverpool Philharmonic's 150th anniversary celebrations. Newly composed, Part II completes the Liverpool composer’s searching exploration of the contemporary choral soundscape. Be prepared for the first performance with this vocal score.
SKU: HH.HH220-FSP
ISBN 9790708059288.
Thes e two sonatas/sinfonias survive in Durham Cathedral Library as part of a collection of numerous late 17th and early 18th century Italian instrumental compositions which contain a substantial amount of music by other composers with Mantuan connections, Tomaso Albinoni and Marc’Antonio Ziani. MS M.175 contains a score of these works whilst MS M.193 holds a set of parts, although sadly the tenor viola part is missing. The parts, which are in the north European portrait format, were probably copied from the scores which are in the Italian oblong format and in a different hand. The scores possibly hail from a source close to the composer judging from the high degree of accuracy on behalf of the copyist and also due to the biographical information contained therein; the work in A minor records the date of 1697 and his post at the Mantuan court – Maestro di Cappella di S.A.S. di Mantova, whilst the work in C is inscribed Fatta per la Signora Cati, probably alluding to one of the ladies of the court.
SKU: HH.HH022-IPT
ISBN 9790708024064.
Late 20th century chamber music radiating energy, colour and life!
SKU: HH.HH090-FSP
ISBN 9790708041795.
The structural focus of this work is the gradual process of inversion of a simple musical phrase. But the ‘polar inversion’ referred to in the title has a meaning beyond the purely musical, suggesting the reversal of the earth’s own magnetic poles. Cent dix sept jours avant l’inversion des pôles thus stands as a metaphor for the end of the world.
SKU: HH.HH208-MIN
ISBN 9790708059233.
SKU: HH.HH089-SSC
ISBN 9790708041399.
Alca lay, herself an accomplished pianist, here combines virtuosic pianism with masterful colouristic orchestration.
SKU: HH.HH432-FSP
ISBN 9790708146377.
Only a handful of Schreivogel’s compositions for his instrument have survived. Among them is this impressive and forward-looking three-movement sonata for violin and continuo in E minor, evidently composed in the mid-1710s, which betrays the influence of Venetian composers such as Vivaldi and Albinoni. Schreivogel writes very idiomatically for the violin, but never at the cost of musical eloquence and solidity of structure.
SKU: HH.HH577-FSP
ISBN 9790708185932.
In these sonatas he betrays his Italian leanings and especially his debt to the Italian violinist Carbonelli, who was his friend and possibly also teacher. Mixed in with the Italian elements are ones taken from English song, where Holcombe excelled. The result is a fascinating stylistic synthesis and a valuable contribution to violin literature.
SKU: HH.HH481-SOL
ISBN 9790708146926.
This set of six short two-movement keyboard sonatinas, or ‘lessons’ (in the traditional English manner), come from a hitherto overlooked 1755 publication by a composer already well known and appreciated for his slightly earlier oboe sonatas. Vincent’s melodic gifts and skill in musical construction, clearly evident in the wind sonatas, are here complemented by an obvious flair for effective keyboard writing and an ability to spring welcome musical surprises.
SKU: HH.HH364-FSP
ISBN 9790708092940.
Part ly on account of their instrumentation, the Op. 18 sonatas are closely modelled on Corelli's Opp. 1aEUR4, both in terms of style and violin technique. Each consists of four or five movements, at least one being a dance; most of the slow movements feature the familiar Corellian walking bass, while one of the fast movements in each sonata is fugal or based on imitative entries. In spite of their adherence to Italian models, however, the sonatas do display certain French elements, along with characteristics of Boismortier's individual style. The harmonic language is particularly rich, with a marked predilection for chords of the seventh, and two of the sonatas feature the composer's own version of a (loosely constructed) double fugue.
SKU: HH.HH589-FSP
ISBN 9790708213048.
Magi to's sonatas are at once beautifully melodic and virtuosic. They were unmistakably composed by a composer who knew the technical possibilities of the instrument. They bear a resemblance to the Opus 8 & 13 sonatas by another Dutch composer, Willem de Fesch, insofar as many of the last movements are minuets.
SKU: HH.HH431-FSP
ISBN 9790708146339.
Only a handful of Schreivogel’s compositions for his instrument have survived. Among them is this sparkling three-movement sonata for violin and continuo in E flat major, evidently composed late in his life, which represents the Italian galantstyle at its most resourceful, musically as well as technically. Some moments recall Vivaldi, others Tartini, but this sonata does not lack individual touches, especially in its complex harmony and rhythm.
SKU: HH.HH462-FSP
ISBN 9790708146711.
Cica da larvae live underground for years, creeping about slowly and peacefully in the darkness until that sudden, beautiful brief moment when, one warm, damp summer’s eve, they emerge, metamorphosed into a highly mobile life form. Gaily they dance in the sunshine, singing ardently to the trees in all their greenery --- but only for a short while, for, just as suddenly, they are gone. The same process repeats year upon year. The life cycle of this string quartet resembles that of the cicada. Initially, two embryonic cells remain hidden within dense, gloomy note-clusters; over time they evolve into buds, grow and then blossom. They appear for the first time in their adult form in the fast middle section, where they assume the shape of two very popular Chinese folk melodies, Jasmine and Old Six Blows, albeit in wholly chromaticized and defamiliarized variants. After their grand efflorescence, these forms gradually dissolve into transparent wisps of sound.
SKU: HH.HH593-SSC
ISBN 9790708213086.
More Imaginary Folksongs (for violin and orchestra) should be seen as a companion piece to my Three Imaginary Folksongs (for clarinet and orchestra), written in 2017. Both have been written to feature a member of the orchestra which commissioned the pieces – in the clarinet pieces it was the principal clarinettist, Jacqueline Thomas, and in the present piece, the leader, Leo Byrne. As with the clarinet pieces, the present pieces might be heard as coming from imaginary places, referencing elements of the styles of earlier folksong-inspired composers. The plaintive tone of the first folksong contrasts with the livelier, dance-like patterns of the second.
SKU: HH.HH521-FSP
ISBN 9790708185321.
This remarkable collection of 10 Passagagli, the only known composition by the Neapolitan string teacher Gaetano Francone (fl. 1688–1717), is a unique example of a virtuoso school for the cello, as well as an extraordinary source of knowledge on improvisation for scholars and for performers, on both baroque and modern instruments. Although the term ‘violoncello’ appears in the work’s title, the music indicates that the composer was writing for a non-standard instrument, one tuned a tone lower than the modern cello. To perform these works with the original left-hand position, today’s players should either adopt the Bb1–F–c–g tuning or transpose each work one tone higher. Francone’s method stands as precious testimony to the advanced technical level of cello playing in 17th-century Naples.
SKU: HH.HH332-FSP
ISBN 9790708092919.
The sonata in D minor captures the traditional mood of this key: serious minded and a little plaintive. The second of its four movements, a corrente like fast movement in triple metre, reminds one of Vivaldi in its insistence on a tiny, constantly repeated musical figure. In the other movements, however, Bitti shows a more typical side of his style where the free spinning out of melody, exquisitely shaped, dominates over strict repetition.
