Discourse

SKU: PR.164002390

UPC: 680160038091.

I became interested in the work of Plato through my friend and collaborator, the writer and philosopher Paul Woodruff. Paul's new translation, with Alexander Nehamas, of the Symposium gave me insights into ancient Greek ways of thinking about Love, Beauty, and Wisdom -- and managed to keep the earthy, and often bawdy side of it all in full view. But their new translation of Plato's later dialogue Phaedrus went even further: the beauty of the speeches is breathtaking, and the discourse itself is enough to keep one awake at night. Basically the Great Speech of Socrates in the Phaedrus dialogue has to do with the place of Eros in the world, and with the conflict in the soul between fleshly pleasure and philosophic discovery. I will not attempt to encapsulate this brilliant discourse in a program note: suffice it to say that reading it gave rise to my two-sided work for clarinet, violin, and piano, Phaedrus. The first movement represents the Philosophic life, and is thus subtitled Apollo's Lyre (Invocation and Hymn). It begins with an unaccompanied melody for the clarinet, which (after a pair of harp-like flourishes for the piano, expands into an accompanied canon. The voices in the dialogue (clarinet and violin) follow each other by a prescribed number of beats, but the music is totally devoid of any meter at all. The piano, representing the lyre, accompanies this lyric love-feast with repeated strummed chords. The canon has three large sections, and ends with violin echoing the unaccompanied clarinet invocation as the sound of the lyre fades. The second movement, called Dionysus' Dream-Orgy (Ritual Dance) presents, after a brief introduction, another kind of unmetered music. Rather than long lyric flights of philosophic song, however, this time we hear a unison dance of unbridled energy and sensual transport. The piece soon forms itself into a loose arch form, with contrasting metered dance sections divided by the unison unmetered orgy tune. Midway through the movement, Apollo's melody returns from the first movement, but it is a temporary reminiscence. The orgiastic dance returns, reaches a climax, and ends with a stomping of feet. While Plato asserts that a proper balance between lust and reason is necessary in all men, he (naturally) gives the nod to Philosophy as the better choice in which to live. Not so in my music: the two sides are meant to coexist and to complement each other. No sides are taken. Phaedrus was commissioned of the Verdehr Trio by Michigan State University. It is dedicated to the Vedehr Trio with great affection and admiration.

SKU: SU.50028370

Copyright 1975. Published by: Seesaw Music.

SKU: HL.50513341

SKU: BO.B.3292

English comments:
This is the definitive version of Biogenesis, a piece that Cervello had written in 1976, together with his friend Jorge Wagensberg, and which was awarded the First Prize at the Spanish Ministry for Education and Science's Permanent Composition and Musical Research Competition. The new version was made at 1984-85 Lux et umbra is written for a string group consisting of four first and four second violins, three violas, three cellos and a double bass. The conceptual battle between darkness and light is represented by the instability between the notes B and C, and by the compartmentation of the group of fifteen strings into divisi that provide an independent arrangement for each instrument, thus bestowing great substance upon the texture of the music. A cello cadence emerges from a slow and straightforward beginning. A process of contrasts then begins, culminating in a molto vivace passage of a scherzando nature, which alludes to the Baroque concerti grossi. The music once again plays with chiaroscuro until reaching its climax, from which point the conclusion slowly begins, establishing itself in the high register until fading away. The work was first performed at Barcelona's Palau de la Musica by the English Chamber Orchestra, directed by Enrique Garcia Asensio, in 1987. That same year, in the newspaper El Pais, the observations of the composer and critic Francesc Taverna-Bech paid tribute to the work's intelligence as regards the use of and search for instrumental resources (in this case, string instruments, about which Cervello knows a great deal), the skill involved in endowing the lyrical line with tension, and a singular touch that confers formal essence upon the musical discourse. In La Vanguardia, Jordi Llovet wrote that this is a work in which, as is the case with most of Cervello's compositions, the listener finds something covertly religious, a mysterious secret, a transcendence linked to the origins of communication requiring more than a single being, which provides excitement. In 1990, when the Orquesta de Granada (Orchestra of Granada) performed the work at Barcelona's Grec festival, the critic Cesar Calmell opined, in the same newspaper, that inch by inch, surely and imperturbably, Cervello built up a perfect world that reflects the image of the craftsman who, so astonished at the delights of his trade, is unable to do anything but turn the very backdrop of tragedy into something pleasant. Lux et umbra was recorded by the Orchestra Estatal of the Hermitage, conducted by Alexis Soriano (CD SA01210 Fundacion Autor). --Xavier Casanoves Danes Music critic

Comentari os del Espanol:
Se trata de la version definitiva de Biogenesis, obra que habia escrito en 1976 en colaboracion con su amigo Jorge Wagensberg y que obtuvo el Primer Premio, en el ano de su creacion, en el Concurso Permanente de Composicion e Investigacion Musical del Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia. La nueva version fue realizada en 1984-85. Lux et umbra esta escrita para un grupo de cuerda integrado por cuatro primeros violines, cuatro segundos, tres violas, tres violoncelos y un contrabajo. El combate filosofico entre la oscuridad y la luz lo lleva a cabo la inestabilidad entre las notas si y do y la compartimentacion del grupo de quince cuerdas en unos divisi que llegan a una escritura independiente para cada instrumento, otorgando una gran importancia a la textura sonora. De un principio lento y descarnado emerge una cadencia del violonchelo. A continuacion da comienzo un proceso de contrastes que culmina en un pasaje molto vivace de caracter scherzando que alude a los concerti grossi del barroco. La musica juega de nuevo con el claroscuro hasta llegar a la cumbre sonora iniciando el final lentamente que se instala en el registro agudo hasta desvanecerse. La estreno en el Palau de la Musica de Barcelona la English Chamber Orchestra en el ano 1987 bajo la direccion de Enrique Garcia Asensio. Ese mismo ano, en el periodico El Pais, el compositor y critico Francesc Taverna-Bech reconocia en sus comentarios la inteligencia en el uso y la busqueda de los recursos instrumentales -en este caso la cuerda, de la que Cervello es profundo conocedor-, la destreza para revestir de tension la linea lirica y un tacto particular para conferir entidad formal al discurso sonoro. Jordi Llovet, en La Vanguardia, escribia que en esta obra, se encuentra, como en la mayor parte de la produccion de Cervello, algo secretamente religioso, un arcano misterioso, una trascendencia vinculada a los origenes de la comunicacion impracticable con el ser unico que resulta apasionante. En el ano 1990, cuando la Orquesta de Granada la toco en el Grec de Barcelona, era el critico Cesar Calmell quien, en el mismo periodico consideraba que Cervello construyo palmo a palmo, segura e imperturbablemente, un mundo perfecto que refleja la imagen del artesano que, de tan admirado con las delicias de su oficio, no puede hacer otra cosa que convertir en agradable el fondo mismo de la tragedia. Lux et umbra esta grabada por la Orquesta Estatal del Hermitage, dirigida por Alexis Soriano (CD SA01210 Fundacion Autor). --Xavier Casanoves Danes Critico musical.

SKU: ST.Y273

ISBN 9790220222832.

Rhia n 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.

SKU: HL.14009024

SKU: BO.B.3452

English comments: Despite the difficulties that he claims to have in conceiving a guitaristic language, Xavier Benguerel is composer notorious for his prolific guitar writing. If in the course of its history the language of this instrument has oscillated between melodic writing with violonistic roots and a fundamentally pianistic harmonic writing. Benguerel achieves a perfect balance between both tendencies. This opportune convergence allows the performer to employ a wide array of markedly contrasted virtuoso techniques and instrumental resources and at the same time presents the listener a guitaristic discourse with a musical richness that is perfectly balanced with the string quartet or string orchestra.

The Autumn Concerto gathers together, from a renewed perspective, some of the best discoveries the composer has offered throughout his production for guitar. Its open dialog, formal structure, instrumental efficiency and textural variety make this work very appealing when it comes to including it in a concert programme.
--Jaume Torrent. Barcelona, March 2006

Comentarios del Espanol: Pese a las dificultades que confiesa tener para concebir un lenguaje guitarristico, Xavier Benguerel se ha convertido en un compositor notoriamente prolifico en su produccion para guitarra. Si a lo largo de la historia el lenguaje de este instrumento ha basculado entre la escritura melodica de raices violinisticas y la armonica de fundamentos pianisticos, Benguerel consigue un perfecto equilibrio entre ambas tendencias. Esta feliz confluencia posibilita al interprete gozar de un despliegue de tecnicas virtuosisticas y recursos instrumentales marcadamente contrastados y, a la vez, proporciona al oyente un discurso guitarristico con una plenitud sonora perfectamente equilibrada con las propuestas del cuarteto o de la orquesta de cuerda.

El Concierto de Otono recoge -con vision renovada- algunas de los mejores hallazgos que el compositor nos ha ido ofreciendo a lo largo de su produccion para guitarra y su caracter dialogante, estructura formal, eficacia instrumental y variedad de texturas hacen de esta una obra de gran atractivo a la hora de formar parte de la programacion de un concierto.
--Jaume Torrent. Barcelona, marzo de 2006

SKU: BO.B.3429

English comments: In 2003, I wrote Introspeccion for solo clarinet and, although I had already used the clarinet many years ago (in 1963 with a Duo for clarinet and piano), I felt the need to return to that instrument again: malleable, dynamic, with a considerable tessitura and an expressive and effective timbre both in pianissimo and fortissimo.

Apart from the Piano concerto I wrote in 2003, over the last four years I have preferred to work with chamber music. In 2005 I used the clarinet again, this time alongside the classic string quartet, a combination that has always caught my attention. So this is how the Quinteto de la Sala de Llevant arose, as a work designed in a single tempo that I think follows along the same lines marked by my compositions in recent years, in the sense that all superfluous elements are removed to leave a strict musical discourse that I hope can be considered markedly expressive.

The Quinteto de la Sala de Llevant was first performed on 29 June 2005 at the Sala de Llevant in the Library of Catalonia, when I loaned my musical archives to this institution. It was played by Josep Fuster (to whom the work is dedicated) on the clarinet and the Glinka Quartet (Ala Voronkova, Guerassim Voronkov, violins, Bernat Bofarull, viola, Nabi Cabestany).
--The author

Comentarios del Espanol: En el ano 2003, escribo Introspeccion para clarinete solo y, si bien ya habia usado el clarinete hace muchos anos (en 1963 con un Duo para clarinete y piano) senti la necesidad de volver al mismo instrumento: ductil, agil, de una tesitura considerable y de un timbre expresivo y eficaz tanto en el pianissimo como en el fortisimo.

Exceptua ndo el Concierto para piano del 2003, en estos ultimos cuatro anos he trabajado preferentemente la musica de camara. En el 2005 vuelvo a usar el clarinete, ahora junto al clasico cuarteto de cuerda, conjuncion que siempre me habia llamado la atencion. Nace, pues, el Quinteto de la Sala de Llevant, obra concebida en un solo tiempo y que creo que continua con la linea marcada por el autor durante estos ultimos anos, en el sentido de eliminar todo elemento superfluo para seguir un discurso musical riguroso y que querria marcadamente expresivo.

El estreno del Quinteto de la Sala de Llevant tuvo lugar el 29 de junio del 2005 en la Sala de Llevant de la Biblioteca de Catalunya, en ocasion de la cesion de mi archivo musical a esta misma institucion. Josep Fuster (a quien la obra esta dedicada), clarinete, y el Cuarteto Glinka (Ala Voronkova, Guerassim Voronkov, violines, Bernat Bofarull, viola, Nabi Cabestany) fueron sus interpretes.
--El autor

SKU: PR.11441160S

UPC: 680160016853.

SKU: HL.49046610

ISBN 9781705134733. UPC: 840126959468. 11.0x14.0x4.0 inches.

SKU: HF.FH-2300

ISBN 9790203423003. 8.3 x 11.7 inches.

SKU: BO.B.3338

English comments: I finished writing the Porta Ferrada Double Concerto at the beginning of 2004. I was commissioned to write it for the Porta Ferrada International Music Festival (in Sant Feliu de Guixols).This double concerto for violin, cello and chamber ensemble represents the start of a period in which the pieces that I am working on are all for small ensembles: Davallament, for soprano and piano; Quinteto de la sala de Levante, for clarinet and string quartet; Palau d'hivern, for soprano, clarinet and string quartet; and Concertino Geminis for solo violin and 15 string instruments.Having written large-scale works, I have now gone back to writing chamber music.

We can see how, throughout my career, the sinfonia concertante form is omnipresent in almost all my earlier periods. I still haven't found a satisfactory answer to why I choose a dialogue between a soloist and an instrumental group so often. I would perhaps say that with a solo instrument it seems as if my music has to flow more effortlessly, allowing me to work more easily. Having a main character in the piece's discourse greatly helps me to develop the idea I have about the piece I want to write.

In this case there are two string soloists, the violin and the cello, which of course play a major part, but without this becoming a virtuosic. As for its form, the piece is based on three parts that meet without interruption.It was first performed on 10 August 2005 at the Teatre Auditori Municipal in Sant Feliu de Guixols as part of the 43rd edition of the Porta Ferrada International Festival, by the Porta Ferrada Simfonietta orchestra and the soloists Melodie Giot and Manon Philippe, conducted by Daniel Tosi.

Comentarios del Espanol: Acabe de escribir el Doble Concierto de la Porta Ferrada a principios del ano 2004. Nace como un encargo del Festival Internacional de Musica de la Porta Ferrada (Sant Feliu de Guixols).Este doble concierto, para violin, violonchelo y un conjunto de camara, abre un periodo en el que las obras que trabajo son todas para pequenos conjuntos: Davallament, para soprano y piano; Quinteto de la sala de Levante, para clarinete y cuarteto de cuerda; Palau d'hivern, para soprano, clarinete y cuarteto de cuerda; Concertino Geminis para violin solista y 15 instrumentos de cuerda.Despues de haber escrito obras de gran formato, ahora vuelvo a la musica de camara.

Podemos ver como la forma concertante, a lo largo de toda mi produccion, es omnipresente en casi todas las epocas precedentes. No he encontrado una respuesta satisfactoria al porque de elegir tan a menudo el dialogo entre un solista y un grupo instrumental. Como aproximacion, diria que con un instrumento solista parece ser que mi musica tenga que fluir mas facilmente y que pueda trabajar con mas comodidad. El hecho de tener un personaje principal en el discurso de la partitura me ayuda mucho a desarrollar la idea que tengo sobre la obra que quiero escribir.

En este caso se trata de dos solistas de cuerda, el violin y el violonchelo, que, como es natural, toman un papel primordial sin que, sin embargo, lleguen a alcanzar una parte virtuosistica. La obra, formalmente, se basa en tres partes que se tocan sin interrupcion.

El estreno tuvo lugar el 10 de agosto de 2005 en el Teatre Auditori Municipal de Sant Feliu de Guixols, en el marco del 43 Festival Internacional de la Porta Ferrada, por la orquesta Simfonietta Porta Ferrada y las solistas Melodie Giot y Manon Philippe, bajo la direccion de Daniel Tosi.

SKU: HL.4008644

ISBN 9798350115024. UPC: 196288189695.

The Passacaglia is a set of instrumental variations based on an ostinato bass. Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C-minor for organ represents the pinnacle of what had been achieved in this compositional form at that time. In Franco Cesarini’s arrangement for large wind orchestra, the particularly careful interpretation of the original piece enables him to exploit all the sound colors at his disposal, and in this sumptuous guise Bach's work also takes on a grandiose dimension, albeit tinged with late-Romanticism. The exposition of the beautiful theme begins in the bass part, immediately creating a solemn and serious atmosphere which is accentuated by the intensely pathetic character of the first variations. Up to the tenth variation it remains confined to the bass, but in subsequent ones it also passes to the soprano and alto register. The integrity of the theme is also embellished with elegant arpeggios, in whose lower and higher extensions the theme can be distinguished. Towards the end it returns to the bass in an impressive thickening of the polyphonic texture that swiftly re-establishes the key of C-minor. The “Thema fugatum” which follows immediately does not constitute a Fugue in its own right, rather it is nothing but the twenty-first and most extensive variation of the Passacaglia. This time Bach uses only the first half of the theme, superimposing a rhythmic countersubject that considerably enlivens the entire development of the composition. The polyphonic discourse becomes increasingly dense, until the building tension peaks in a powerful “Neapolitan sixth” chord, followed by a sudden pause. This culminating moment then leads to the coda and final cadence on a bright C-major chord.

SKU: PR.11440560S

UPC: 680160009015.

SKU: GI.G-8961

UPC: 785147896104. English. Text Source: Based on John 14-17, alt. Michel Guimont. Scripture: John 14–17.

Miche l Guimont supplies four different refrains to pair with intimate verses adapted from Jesus’ Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper (John 14—17). Originally written for the ordination of a bishop, the expanded piece for SATB choir, cantor, and assembly is especially well suited for the Easter Season. The accompaniment is compatible for both organ and piano.

SKU: HL.14040983

French.

The Modal Column is a cycle of paired pieces for piano, starting from the classical structure- prelude-fugue - used by Bach in Das wohltemperierte Klavier. The modes that are being used have a relatively simple octavizing structure, hence an almost infinite variety of combinations that can generate a large number of pieces, impossible to exhaust by a composer. Therein lies the idea of a column, in the sense given by Brancusi, i.e. an endless succession of modules.

In the vision of the author, the mechanism of the mode is a secondary (ancillary) aspect, the primary goal is deciphering the ethos incorporated in it.

The prelude-fugue structure hypostatizesthe musical discourse at the two possible extremes. free-constructed. While Romanian music rules in free areas, like any old music with an (especially oral) tradition, the constructed pieces start from Dutch (Flemish) or Venetian polyphony, which precedes the idea of fugue, understood as a technology of the movement (dynamics) of sound, after the models of Giovanni Gabrieli or Ockeghem.

The Modal Column is first of all the presentation of a melodic world but, as the subtitle indicates, also an investigation into the ethos of Romanian music. The forms in which the pieces are thought are simple, non-ostentatious, the whole cycle being in fact a musical workshop, whose better parts may be worth including in ampler works. Before the succinct description of the six couples in Books I and II, a few observations, necessary from a musicological point of view:

• 1. The modes are rich in nostalgia, with even graver nuances in the livelier movements.
• 2. It is well-known, that all the columns - Egyptian obelisks, ancient ornamental columns - have scenarios engraved on them. Trajan's Column describes the wars against the Dacians and their defeat. George Calinescu says, 'Trajan's Column is beautiful, but let us not forget that the Dacians are in chains on it.' The Romanian melos is millennia-old and was but little influenced by historical.
  
  

SKU: PR.114405610

UPC: 680160009022. 9.5 x 13 inches.

SKU: PR.11440561S

UPC: 680160009039.

The three movements examine the same materials from different points of view; in the first, the ideas are chronologically separated, but they alternate and develop through the instruments in an intensifying way that generates a rather imposing and grandiose rhetoric. The second, with its hypnoti, incessant reiterations at maximum volume of a simultaneous combination of motives of different l lengths and shapes, ends just short of becoming unbearable... In the last movement the flute, clarinet and violin slowly unfold a continuous texture that combines several of the earlier elements, while the piano softly interjects the echo of its first movement triplets.