Ptah

SKU: BR.EB-9468

ISBN 9790004189481. 9 x 12 inches.

His triptych for guitar quartet takes as inspiration the trilogy of gods of Memphis in ancient Egypt. The work is a poetic journey through the mythological landscapes of their world around 3000 BC. Sakkara is a plateau south of Cairo, where an ideal space for a culture of the afterlife developed, through tombs and the construction of the first pyramids. To this contributed the fundamental role of Imhotep, the great architect in the III Dynasty from the Sakkara area, who was almost a god in his time and most likely responsible for the stepped pyramid of Djoser. The trilogy is formed by the couple Ptah and Sekhmet, and Nefertem, their son. Ptah is the patron of artists, and at the same time the god for measuring time. Sekhmet was the wife and sister of Ptah, goddess of war -- related to the Sun god and associated with the color red. Nefertem, son of both, was the god of fragrance, of perfume and linked to the lotus flower, the symbol of rebirth. The three movements of this composition are musical spaces created on poetic associations around this mythical world and in an area that has always fascinated me: Sakkara. The work is commissioned by the Aleph-Gitarrenquartett, which is also its dedicatee. (Jose M. Sanchez-Verdu, 2022)

World premiere: Karlsruhe, ZKM, January 14, 2023 Commissioned by the Aleph-Gitarrenquartett.

SKU: LM.JJ2183

ISBN 9790230821834.

SKU: FG.55011-717-4

ISBN 9790550117174.

It was through Einar Englund (1916-1999) that the Neoclassicism already familiar elsewhere in the world landed on Finnish shores in the late 1940s. A composer especially of large-scale orchestral and chamber works, Englund is one of the greatest Finnish symphonists.

Sinuh e is an example of a Finnish composition founded on a non-Finnish subject handled in a non-National-Romantic way. This probably partly explains why the score has fallen into oblivion in Finland: the Oriental moods and the Nile do not correspond to the view of a Finnish composition as one favouring topics from the national epic, the Kalevala, and lakeland scenery. The music also incorporates motifs derived from Lapp yoiks used by Englund in his score for the film The White Deer (1952). When it was written, the ballet's combination of a historical subject with an exotic, stylised idiom showed that Englund had his finger on the international pulse, unlike, say, Samuel Barber's ballet Medea (1946) and Aram Khachaturian's ballet Spartacus (1956).

The suite from Sinuhe is in five scenes. It omits the original overture and almost all the music for the second half of the ballet. Sinuhe's hapless love for the courtesan Nefernefer is described with languorous sensuality. His servant Kaptah throws himself into a frenzied dance with the Cretan maidens. The suite ends with the rhythmic war dance of his friend Horemheb.

SKU: HL.49005292

ISBN 9790001056885. German.

SKU: HL.49005298

ISBN 9790001056953.

SKU: HL.49005297

ISBN 9790001056946.

SKU: HL.49031754

ISBN 9790001056892. German.

SKU: HL.49005293

ISBN 9790001056908. German.