Symphony For Drums

Niels Marthinsen's Symphony No. 2 - Snapshot Symphony (2009). 1st movement Fiesta Mexicana: fortissimo accelerando (ca. 6 minutes) 2nd movement Arabian Nights: adagio intensivo e furioso (ca. 11 minutes) 3rd movement Great Fireworks in China: giocoso esplosivo e marcatissimo (ca. 8 minutes)   Programme note I’ve never been to Mexico and Arabia or to China. But I love the way those countries sound in Hollywood movies and inpop culture generally: When Clint Eastwood rides south of the border when Disney’s Alladin or Mulan takes me far east when arabic pop music roars past me out of the open windows of a car... and bull fighter music and the sound of acrobatic beat-em-up’s in John Woo’s Hong Kong karate movies – and so on: powerful images splashed all over my eye balls and ear drums. My recollections of this ethnic-pop-film-music has turned itself into a symphony. And I don’t even have to just remember what I have heard: A few internet clicks gives me access to incredible sound libraries containing live-and-kicking ethnic music from my three favorite countries just waiting to be put together in new combinations and energize my personal imagery.  The symphony is like a huge slide show – musical snapshots from my travels in the western pop culture versions of three exotic locations: Mexico Arabia and China – original and popular melodies welded together by my personal musical language and associations. I use all the effects of modern pling-plong-music plus a few of my own inventions to create a spectacular contemporary orchestral sound sporting a bee hive of melodies from either East or West played simultaneously in different keys and differents tempos at once while kept firmly in place by

Par DUTILLEUX HENRI. Composed in 1978 by Henri Dutilleux, Timbres, Espace, Mouvement Ou La Nuit Etoileé is a work for Orchestra, also named “The Starry Night” after the painting by Van Gogh. It was commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich for the National Symphony Orchestraof Washington and is dedicated to Charles Münch. This work for Orchestra lasts approximately 20 minutes and depicts the content of the painting. It is scored for a full Orchestra without Violins or Violas. The Cellos serve to represent space, with swirling solos alongside calmer sections, while thelack of Violins and Violas epitomises for the quiet and motionless sections of the painting. The solo of the Wind instruments and Drums characterizes the clouds and the light of the moon and stars. It is divided into two parts: 1. Nébuleuse (Nebula) and 2. Constellations, which are divided by a Cello interlude. Composed in 1978 by Henri Dutilleux, Timbres, Espace, Mouvement Ou La Nuit Etoilee is a work for Orchestra, also named ; The Starry Night after the painting by Van Gogh. It was commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich for the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington and is dedicated to Charles Munch. This work for Orchestra lasts approximately 20 minutes and depicts the content of the painting. It is scored for a full Orchestra without Violins or Violas. The Cellos serve to represent space, with swirling solos alongside calmer sections, while the lack of Violins and Violas epitomises for the quiet andmotionless sections of the painting. The solo of the Wind instruments and Drums characterizes the clouds and the light of the moon and stars. It is divided into two parts: 1. Nebuleuse (Nebula) and 2. Constellations, which are divided by a Cello interlude. Henri Dutilleux was internationally acclaimed for his work, winning prizes such as the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the UNESCO's International Rostrum of Composers, among many others. His work also includes a Piano sonata, two symphonies, the Violin concerto 'L'Arbre Des Songes' (The Tree Of Dreams) and the Cello concerto 'Tout Un Monde Lointain' (A Whole Distant Word)./ Répertoire / Orchestre

Shadow of Paradise was written specially for Melinda Maxwell. The work was completed in 2005 the same year that she recorded the work together with Richard Benjafield (percussion) for the Dutton label.'The work is based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Kubla Khan and I have attempted to capture some of the spirit of his highly evocative text in my music.It is structured in three main sections: the opening section (And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war) is dramatic in nature with the oboe announcing two ideas - the first a high repeated note rhythmic pattern (later with multiphonics) answered by six differentlypitched drums and temple blocks and the second a short lyrical phrase mainly built on thirds.In the second section (A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw…Could I revive within me Her symphony and song) the solo oboe transforms the repeated notes and thirds of the first section into a love song underpinned by the percussionist’s vibraphone and crotales.A short reprise of the very opening leads into the final section (Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice…) which mirrors the text with three short dances in chain form folk-like in character and increasingly climactic. A final reprise of the opening seems to suggest a violent end but the oboe’s echo of the love song answered by the percussionist’s crotales brings the work to a gentler conclusion.'            Edward Gregson - December 2011Instrumentation:Solo oboeSolo percussion (6 temple blocks 2 bongos 4 tom-toms vibraphone crotales 2 tambourines)

for Symphonic Band-Rio Grande (2015) for symphonic band is Grammy award winning composer Michael Daughertys follow-up to his iconic Niagara Falls (1997). The title refers to the legendary 1 250-mile river that flows from the mountains of southern Colorado to the Gulfof Mexico near Brownsville Texas. In Rio Grande the composer has created a powerful musical landscape that is magical and majestic. The percussion section comprised of timpani bongos woodblocks tom toms and bass drums creates a rhythmicundercurrent to an angular motif that is first heard in the woodwinds emerging high above the musical precipice. This jagged motif is passed on to individual instruments such as the tuba and eventually in various colorful guises to the entiresymphonic band. Reminding us of the long cultural history associated with the great river we also hear ghostly Mexican mariachi music echoing faraway through the canyons. In the coda all the musical material is combined to create a grandiose endingto our journey down the timeless Rio Grande. A resounding success at the world premiere given by the North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon conductor) Rio Grande should prove to be one of Daughertys most popular and performed bandworks for years to come.

John Luther Adams' Qilyaun for four Bass Drums. Composed in 1998. Score and parts. 'Qilyaun' is the Iñupiaq word for the shaman’s drum. Translated literally it means 'device ofpower'. The drum is the shaman’s vehicle for spirit journeys. The shaman rides the sound of the drum to and from the spirit world. Qilyaun (1998) may be performed by four drummers each playing a bass drum or by a single drummer with electronic delay. Commissioned by the Fairbanks Symphony Association the piece is dedicated to Scott Deal who gave its first performances. Qilyaun traverses a continuum of rhythm.From the rapid-fire streams of the opening the drummers gradually decelerate to sustained rolls in the middle and then gradually accelerate again to the unison ending. - John Luther Adams

Third edition of the world's biggest songbook. This is a vast bumper collection, perfect for buskers, of 1001 all-time hit songs.Whatever your taste, there's guaranteed to be tonnes of songs you'll want to play, this book will last you years!Inside the spiral bound cover you will find a generous selection of hit songs, golden standards, jazz and blues numbers, classical pieces, hymns, gospel songs, stage, film and musical music! Arranged here in Melody line arrangements for Piano, Organ, Electronic Keyboards, Guitar and all C instruments, complete with lyrics and chord symbols. / Ligne Mélodique, Paroles Et Accords (Avec Grilles D'Accords)