SKU: HL.49047209
UPC: 196288159513.
In my sixth work for a string quartet, there is a very simple melody concealed in the background. That melody (distant voices) is played within an extremely slow tempo, and the notes which form the melody gain different textures by becoming disassembled, and played by different techniques. In our daily lives, our inner voices become concealed by our daily customs. The act of composing, tome, is to find out that concealed distant voices, make those voices spatialized and construct them within the musical time. This work is dedicated to Alois Lageder. Toshio Hosokawa.
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SKU: HL.49015533
ISBN 9783795703288. German.
Wie in keinem anderen Werk versammelt Hans Werner Henze in seinem Vokalzyklus Voices eine reiche Mannigfaltigkeit von Idiomen, Stilmitteln, Genres und vokalen wie instrumentalen Verfahrensweisen. Zudem spiegelt sich in der Auswahl der Dichtungen und Liedtypen durch ihre Bezuge zur gesellschaftlichen Situation der Gegenwart und zu historischen musikalischen Modellen sein umfassendes politisch-soziales Engagement. Herausgeber und Autoren haben es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, die Vielfalt dieses in mehrfacher Hinsicht exemplarischen Werkes im methodisch und stilistisch breiten Spektrum ihrer Beitrage aufzufangen. Entstanden ist ein Sammelband, der, angeregt durch Henzes Traktat uber das Liederschreiben in unserer Zeit, neben dem interpretierenden Blick auf die Musik auch eine kritische Sicht auf heutige Gesellschaftsrealitaten und -utopien und deren Reflex im Kunstlerischen wagt.
SKU: HL.49006204
ISBN 9790001067454. 9.25x12.0x1.015 inches. German - English - Italian - Spanish.
Picc. * 1 * Altfl. * Bengal. Fl. * Inkafl. * Lotosfl. (oder Klar. in A) * 2 Bambusfl. * 1 * Engl. Hr. * 2 Blfl. * 1 * Es-Klar. * Bassklar. * Bassetthr. * 1 * Kfg. - 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 - P. S. (hg. Beck. * Hi-Hat * Tamt. * Gongs * Tamb. * kl. Tr. * Bong. * Trinidad Steel Drum * gr. Tr. * Boo-bams * Log Drums * Marimba * Mar. * Guiro * Matraca * Reibetr. * Woodbl. * Kette * Marimbula [chrom.] * Vibr. * Bassmetallophon * hg. Glasstabe * Shell chimes * versch. Donnerbleche * Handgl. * Dobaci * Kuhgl. * Rohrengl.) - Mand. * Git. * E-Git. * Tenorbanjo * Cel. * Klav. * Akk. * Hammondorg. * Mundharm. * Okarina (oder Blockfl. mit Kontaktmikr.) * Glaserspiel * Glasharfe * Maultr. * Zinnpfeifchen * Rugbypfeife - 4 Verstarker - Str. (1 [auch Va.] * 0 * 1 [auch Vl. u. Va. d'am.] * 1 * 1)Das Instrumentarium ist auf 15 Spieler verteilt.Picc. * 1 * Altfl. * Bengal. Fl. * Inkafl. * Lotosfl. (oder Klar. in A) * 2 Bambusfl. * 1 * Engl. Hr. * 2 Blfl. * 1 * Es-Klar. * Bassklar. * Bassetthr. * 1 * Kfg. - 1 * 1 * 1 * 1 - P. S. (hg. Beck. * Hi-Hat * Tamt. * Gongs * Tamb. * kl. Tr. * Bong. * Trinidad Steel Drum * gr. Tr. * Boo-bams * Log Drums * Marimba * Mar. * Guiro * Matraca * Reibetr. * Woodbl. * Kette * Marimbula [chrom.] * Vibr. * Bassmetallophon * hg. Glasstabe * Shell chimes * versch. Donnerbleche * Handgl. * Dobaci * Kuhgl. * Rohrengl.) - Mand. * Git. * E-Git. * Tenorbanjo * Cel. * Klav. * Akk. * Hammondorg. * Mundharm. * Okarina (oder Blockfl. mit Kontaktmikr.) * Glaserspiel * Glasharfe * Maultr. * Zinnpfeifchen * Rugbypfeife - 4 Verstarker - Str. (1 [auch Va.] * 0 * 1 [auch Vl. u. Va. d'am.] * 1 * 1)Das Instrumentarium ist auf 15 Spieler verteilt.
SKU: CF.SPS94
ISBN 9781491161449. UPC: 680160920037.
On November 5th, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six innocent people lost their lives that day, including an unborn child. Overture to a Small Town is dedicated to these victims and the loved ones they left behind. From the biggest cities to the smallest towns, the senseless bloodshed must end. Despite the darkness of this tragedy, it is my intent through this music to portray a sense of hope, dignity, and innocence deserved by all America's cities and towns. The opening moments of this piece should be treated delicately, ensuring that the brass section moves together in one unified voice, and that the crotales evoke distant flickers of light. Similarly, in mm. 120-127, articulations in the flutes, trumpets and mallets should be strong enough to be heard, but without being aggressive. The textural layering in mm. 48-53 should be executed with machine-like precision of both rhythm and articulation. This passage should evoke the sound of many voices rising together. There should be a great contrast between the opening Piano dynamic and the final Forte dynamic. In mm. 65-69, both mallet percussionists may play the indicated notes in any octave they choose. Both players should move rapidly between notes in any order. This passage should sound fluid and ethereal. In mm. 69-73: If there is no English Horn available to the ensemble, the Trumpet should play this passage solo. If there is an English Horn, both instruments should play the passage together. This impressionistic composition about these vanished structures, although written for more advanced ensembles, has only one flute, clarinet, trumpet, horn and trombone part. As a result, smaller bands can play this composition without having to look for a flex-band arrangement. Use this to develop the essential skills of syncopation and counting while also offering the security of only having one part for each instrument voice. An exciting contrasting selection for bands looking for a harmonically interesting composition, this also works well as a contest selection.  .On November 5th, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six innocent people lost their lives that day, including an unborn child. Overture to a Small Town is dedicated to these victims and the loved ones they left behind. From the biggest cities to the smallest towns, the senseless bloodshed must end. Despite the darkness of this tragedy, it is my intent through this music to portray a sense of hope, dignity, and innocence deserved by all America’s cities and towns. The opening moments of this piece should be treated delicately, ensuring that the brass section moves together in one unified voice, and that the crotales evoke distant flickers of light. Similarly, in mm. 120-127, articulations in the flutes, trumpets and mallets should be strong enough to be heard, but without being aggressive. The textural layering in mm. 48-53 should be executed with machine-like precision of both rhythm and articulation. This passage should evoke the sound of many voices rising together. There should be a great contrast between the opening Piano dynamic and the final Forte dynamic. In mm. 65-69, both mallet percussionists may play the indicated notes in any octave they choose. Both players should move rapidly between notes in any order. This passage should sound fluid and ethereal. In mm. 69-73: If there is no English Horn available to the ensemble, the Trumpet should play this passage solo. If there is an English Horn, both instruments should play the passage together.This impressionistic composition about these vanished structures, although written for more advanced ensembles, has only one flute, clarinet, trumpet, horn and trombone part. As a result, smaller bands can play this composition without having to look for a flex-band arrangement. Use this to develop the essential skills of syncopation and counting while also offering the security of only having one part for each instrument voice. An exciting contrasting selection for bands looking for a harmonically interesting composition, this also works well as a contest selection. .
SKU: CF.SPS94F
ISBN 9781491161838. UPC: 680160920518.
On November 5th, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six innocent people lost their lives that day, including an unborn child. Overture to a Small Town is dedicated to these victims and the loved ones they left behind. From the biggest cities to the smallest towns, the senseless bloodshed must end. Despite the darkness of this tragedy, it is my intent through this music to portray a sense of hope, dignity, and innocence deserved by all America's cities and towns. The opening moments of this piece should be treated delicately, ensuring that the brass section moves together in one unified voice, and that the crotales evoke distant flickers of light. Similarly, in mm. 120-127, articulations in the flutes, trumpets and mallets should be strong enough to be heard, but without being aggressive. The textural layering in mm. 48-53 should be executed with machine-like precision of both rhythm and articulation. This passage should evoke the sound of many voices rising together. There should be a great contrast between the opening Piano dynamic and the final Forte dynamic. In mm. 65-69, both mallet percussionists may play the indicated notes in any octave they choose. Both players should move rapidly between notes in any order. This passage should sound fluid and ethereal. In mm. 69-73: If there is no English Horn available to the ensemble, the Trumpet should play this passage solo. If there is an English Horn, both instruments should play the passage together.On November 5th, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six innocent people lost their lives that day, including an unborn child. Overture to a Small Town is dedicated to these victims and the loved ones they left behind. From the biggest cities to the smallest towns, the senseless bloodshed must end. Despite the darkness of this tragedy, it is my intent through this music to portray a sense of hope, dignity, and innocence deserved by all America’s cities and towns. The opening moments of this piece should be treated delicately, ensuring that the brass section moves together in one unified voice, and that the crotales evoke distant flickers of light. Similarly, in mm. 120-127, articulations in the flutes, trumpets and mallets should be strong enough to be heard, but without being aggressive. The textural layering in mm. 48-53 should be executed with machine-like precision of both rhythm and articulation. This passage should evoke the sound of many voices rising together. There should be a great contrast between the opening Piano dynamic and the final Forte dynamic. In mm. 65-69, both mallet percussionists may play the indicated notes in any octave they choose. Both players should move rapidly between notes in any order. This passage should sound fluid and ethereal. In mm. 69-73: If there is no English Horn available to the ensemble, the Trumpet should play this passage solo. If there is an English Horn, both instruments should play the passage together.
SKU: HL.366160
ISBN 9781705137383. UPC: 840126963434.
Mahámátar is written for Oriental or Middle-Eastern female voice, distant boys' voices (in a vast acoustic), tubular bells and muted strings. The music is an invocation to the Great Mother Mahámátar in Sanskrit, and to the Theotóke (God-bearer) in Greek. Originally written to accompany a film by Werner Herzog which deals with South American Indians who travel for many miles on their knees to venerate the miraculous Ikon of The Mother of God of Guadalupe. Mahámátar may be performed by a solo voice or alternatively the melody could be played by a solo cello, with decorations and improvisations by the singer.
SKU: PE.EP72785A
ISBN 9790577011349. 210 x 297mm inches. English.
From the composer:
How did it all begin? And what happened next?
I found myself pondering these questions in an art gallery in Bremen, in a James Turrell installation that carved through three storeys of the gallery. Looking down from the top floor through great circles of colour-changing light to the distant sparkling points in a dark ellipse on the ground floor, I felt that I was looking back in time to the origins of the universe – and I started to hear children’s voices in my mind’s ear, accompanied by twinkling metal percussion.
It occurred to me that the beginning of our world was a good story to be sung by children, especially the unique Hallé Children’s Choir, and accompanied by the magnificent Hallé Orchestra.
Haydn’s Creation immediately comes to mind as a precedent, but that is a setting and elaboration of the Book of Genesis. I thought we should tell the modern version of our story, and be as scientifically accurate as possible.
That’s easier said than done! For a start, it’s hard to find a modern account of creation that is anything like as compact as the one in Genesis. I talked about it with my regular collaborator, Alasdair Middleton. Neither of us could remember being taught anything about the Big Bang or Evolution at school, although I had certainly spent many happy hours making papier-mâché dinosaurs. So the first thing we had to do was a lot of research – reading books for grown-ups, books for children, looking at charts and diagrams and watching films. There was a wonderful moment, reading Adam Rutherford’s The Origin of Life, when I had the glorious feeling I understood everything – but that quickly evaporated as soon as I put the book down.
Scientific ideas seem to date very quickly, so this account of the beginning of our world is necessarily provisional. It&rs.
SKU: HL.49046544
ISBN 9781705122655. UPC: 842819108726. 9.0x12.0x0.224 inches.
I composed the Piano Concerto in two stages: the first three movements during the years 1985-86, the next two in 1987, the final autograph of the last movement was ready by January, 1988. The concerto is dedicated to the American conductor Mario di Bonaventura. The markings of the movements are the following: 1. Vivace molto ritmico e preciso 2. Lento e deserto 3. Vivace cantabile 4. Allegro risoluto 5. Presto luminoso.The first performance of the three-movement Concerto was on October 23rd, 1986 in Graz. Mario di Bonaventura conducted while his brother, Anthony di Bonaventura, was the soloist. Two days later the performance was repeated in the Vienna Konzerthaus. After hearing the work twice, I came to the conclusion that the third movement is not an adequate finale; my feeling of form demanded continuation, a supplement. That led to the composing of the next two movements. The premiere of the whole cycle took place on February 29th, 1988, in the Vienna Konzerthaus with the same conductor and the same pianist. The orchestra consisted of the following: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, tenor trombone, percussion and strings. The flautist also plays the piccoIo, the clarinetist, the alto ocarina. The percussion is made up of diverse instruments, which one musician-virtuoso can play. It is more practical, however, if two or three musicians share the instruments. Besides traditional instruments the percussion part calls also for two simple wind instruments: the swanee whistle and the harmonica. The string instrument parts (two violins, viola, cello and doubles bass) can be performed soloistic since they do not contain divisi. For balance, however, the ensemble playing is recommended, for example 6-8 first violins, 6-8 second, 4-6 violas, 4-6 cellos, 3-4 double basses. In the Piano Concerto I realized new concepts of harmony and rhythm. The first movement is entirely written in bimetry: simultaneously 12/8 and 4/4 (8/8). This relates to the known triplet on a doule relation and in itself is nothing new. Because, however, I articulate 12 triola and 8 duola pulses, an entangled, up till now unheard kind of polymetry is created. The rhythm is additionally complicated because of asymmetric groupings inside two speed layers, which means accents are asymmetrically distributed. These groups, as in the talea technique, have a fixed, continuously repeating rhythmic structures of varying lengths in speed layers of 12/8 and 4/4. This means that the repeating pattern in the 12/8 level and the pattern in the 4/4 level do not coincide and continuously give a kaleidoscope of renewing combinations. In our perception we quickly resign from following particular rhythmical successions and that what is going on in time appears for us as something static, resting. This music, if it is played properly, in the right tempo and with the right accents inside particular layers, after a certain time 'rises, as it were, as a plane after taking off: the rhythmic action, too complex to be able to follow in detail, begins flying. This diffusion of individual structures into a different global structure is one of my basic compositional concepts: from the end of the fifties, from the orchestral works Apparitions and Atmospheres I continuously have been looking for new ways of resolving this basic question. The harmony of the first movement is based on mixtures, hence on the parallel leading of voices. This technique is used here in a rather simple form; later in the fourth movement it will be considerably developed. The second movement (the only slow one amongst five movements) also has a talea type of structure, it is however much simpler rhythmically, because it contains only one speed layer. The melody is consisted in the development of a rigorous interval mode in which two minor seconds and one major second alternate therefore nine notes inside an octave. This mode is transposed into different degrees and it also determines the harmony of the movement; however, in closing episode in the piano part there is a combination of diatonics (white keys) and pentatonics (black keys) led in brilliant, sparkling quasimixtures, while the orchestra continues to play in the nine tone mode. In this movement I used isolated sounds and extreme registers (piccolo in a very low register, bassoon in a very high register, canons played by the swanee whistle, the alto ocarina and brass with a harmon-mute' damper, cutting sound combinations of the piccolo, clarinet and oboe in an extremely high register, also alternating of a whistle-siren and xylophone). The third movement also has one speed layer and because of this it appears as simpler than the first, but actually the rhythm is very complicated in a different way here. Above the uninterrupted, fast and regular basic pulse, thanks to the asymmetric distribution of accents, different types of hemiolas and inherent melodical patterns appear (the term was coined by Gerhard Kubik in relation to central African music). If this movement is played with the adequate speed and with very clear accentuation, illusory rhythmic-melodical figures appear. These figures are not played directly; they do not appear in the score, but exist only in our perception as a result of co-operation of different voices. Already earlier I had experimented with illusory rhythmics, namely in Poeme symphonique for 100 metronomes (1962), in Continuum for harpsichord (1968), in Monument for two pianos (1976), and especially in the first and sixth piano etude Desordre and Automne a Varsovie (1985). The third movement of the Piano Concerto is up to now the clearest example of illusory rhythmics and illusory melody. In intervallic and chordal structure this movement is based on alternation, and also inter-relation of various modal and quasi-equidistant harmony spaces. The tempered twelve-part division of the octave allows for diatonical and other modal interval successions, which are not equidistant, but are based on the alternation of major and minor seconds in different groups. The tempered system also allows for the use of the anhemitonic pentatonic scale (the black keys of the piano). From equidistant scales, therefore interval formations which are based on the division of an octave in equal distances, the twelve-tone tempered system allows only chromatics (only minor seconds) and the six-tone scale (the whole-tone: only major seconds). Moreover, the division of the octave into four parts only minor thirds) and three parts (three major thirds) is possible. In several music cultures different equidistant divisions of an octave are accepted, for example, in the Javanese slendro into five parts, in Melanesia into seven parts, popular also in southeastern Asia, and apart from this, in southern Africa. This does not mean an exact equidistance: there is a certain tolerance for the inaccurateness of the interval tuning. These exotic for us, Europeans, harmony and melody have attracted me for several years. However I did not want to re-tune the piano (microtone deviations appear in the concerto only in a few places in the horn and trombone parts led in natural tones). After the period of experimenting, I got to pseudo- or quasiequidistant intervals, which is neither whole-tone nor chromatic: in the twelve-tone system, two whole-tone scales are possible, shifted a minor second apart from each other. Therefore, I connect these two scales (or sound resources), and for example, places occur where the melodies and figurations in the piano part are created from both whole tone scales; in one band one six-tone sound resource is utilized, and in the other hand, the complementary. In this way whole-tonality and chromaticism mutually reduce themselves: a type of deformed equidistancism is formed, strangely brilliant and at the same time slanting; illusory harmony, indeed being created inside the tempered twelve-tone system, but in sound quality not belonging to it anymore. The appearance of such slantedequidistant harmony fields alternating with modal fields and based on chords built on fifths (mainly in the piano part), complemented with mixtures built on fifths in the orchestra, gives this movement an individual, soft-metallic colour (a metallic sound resulting from harmonics). The fourth movement was meant to be the central movement of the Concerto. Its melodc-rhythmic elements (embryos or fragments of motives) in themselves are simple. The movement also begins simply, with a succession of overlapping of these elements in the mixture type structures. Also here a kaleidoscope is created, due to a limited number of these elements - of these pebbles in the kaleidoscope - which continuously return in augmentations and diminutions. Step by step, however, so that in the beginning we cannot hear it, a compiled rhythmic organization of the talea type gradually comes into daylight, based on the simultaneity of two mutually shifted to each other speed layers (also triplet and duoles, however, with different asymmetric structures than in the first movement). While longer rests are gradually filled in with motive fragments, we slowly come to the conclusion that we have found ourselves inside a rhythmic-melodical whirl: without change in tempo, only through increasing the density of the musical events, a rotation is created in the stream of successive and compiled, augmented and diminished motive fragments, and increasing the density suggests acceleration. Thanks to the periodical structure of the composition, always new but however of the same (all the motivic cells are similar to earlier ones but none of them are exactly repeated; the general structure is therefore self-similar), an impression is created of a gigantic, indissoluble network. Also, rhythmic structures at first hidden gradually begin to emerge, two independent speed layers with their various internal accentuations. This great, self-similar whirl in a very indirect way relates to musical associations, which came to my mind while watching the graphic projection of the mathematical sets of Julia and of Mandelbrot made with the help of a computer. I saw these wonderful pictures of fractal creations, made by scientists from Brema, Peitgen and Richter, for the first time in 1984. From that time they have played a great role in my musical concepts. This does not mean, however, that composing the fourth movement I used mathematical methods or iterative calculus; indeed, I did use constructions which, however, are not based on mathematical thinking, but are rather craftman's constructions (in this respect, my attitude towards mathematics is similar to that of the graphic artist Maurits Escher). I am concerned rather with intuitional, poetic, synesthetic correspondence, not on the scientific, but on the poetic level of thinking. The fifth, very short Presto movement is harmonically very simple, but all the more complicated in its rhythmic structure: it is based on the further development of ''inherent patterns of the third movement. The quasi-equidistance system dominates harmonically and melodically in this movement, as in the third, alternating with harmonic fields, which are based on the division of the chromatic whole into diatonics and anhemitonic pentatonics. Polyrhythms and harmonic mixtures reach their greatest density, and at the same time this movement is strikingly light, enlightened with very bright colours: at first it seems chaotic, but after listening to it for a few times it is easy to grasp its content: many autonomous but self-similar figures which crossing themselves. I present my artistic credo in the Piano Concerto: I demonstrate my independence from criteria of the traditional avantgarde, as well as the fashionable postmodernism. Musical illusions which I consider to be also so important are not a goal in itself for me, but a foundation for my aesthetical attitude. I prefer musical forms which have a more object-like than processual character. Music as frozen time, as an object in imaginary space evoked by music in our imagination, as a creation which really develops in time, but in imagination it exists simultaneously in all its moments. The spell of time, the enduring its passing by, closing it in a moment of the present is my main intention as a composer. (Gyorgy Ligeti).
SKU: HL.49045179
ISBN 9790220136801. UPC: 841886027442. 9.0x12.0x0.115 inches.
Stolen Airs takes as its starting point an episode from Sylvie and the Songman, an opera I am writing in collaboration with the novelist Tim Binding. The Songman has developed the technique of stealing the voices and songs of birds and animals, and eventually humans. Slowly stealing Sylvie's voice, the Songman offers to give back her song if she will tell him the secret of a group of instruments invented by her father that have produced an all-powerful single sonority. Using this scenario, the music of Stolen Airsmoves from a dark place towards three simple airs, with a distant, different air as a quiet coda. -John Casken.
SKU: GI.G-EH1010
William Wordsworth's reflection of a time gone by acknowledges past heartaches while creating a dream world where beautiful memories reign. As the voices subtly rise and fall to trace a distant rainbow, an ethereal piano accompaniment glistens above. Then together, they soar to new heights to “find strength in what remains behind.” .
SKU: CA.739300
ISBN 9790007172268. Text language: Latin.
Veni was composed by Kay Johannsen in November 2015. Similar to his 2010 work Et vidimus gloriam eius for four choral groups (SSA, TTB, SATB, SATB) and organ based on the beginning of St John's Gospel, Veni requires a spatial separation of three four-part choirs. The starting point of the composition is the 12th century hymn Veni redemptor gentium by St Ambrose of Milan, which Martin Luther used as the basis of his 1524 hymn Nun komm, der Heiland. The four sections of the cantus firmus are sung in turn by all the basses, altos, sopranos, and tenors, each part at a louder dynamic than the other parts. For the accompanying voices Johannsen uses different principles of canonic technique and motivic variation, with most of the material derived from the cantus firmus. The organ part of this 12-part chorale arrangement provides a harmonic orientation, but is completely independent and introduces both moments of rhythmic accentuation and elements of veiling. The choral writing is also deepened and elevated by the organ sounds derived from the text. Despite all the motivic links between the parts, the music has a direct sensual effect as a sound collage. The work ends with three increasingly distant, homophonic invocations of Veni: the plea Komm occurs at the beginning as at the end.
SKU: HL.49018099
ISBN 9790001158428. UPC: 884088567347. 8.25x11.75x0.457 inches. Latin - German.
On letting go(Concerning the selection of the texts) In the selection of the texts, I have allowed myself to be motivated and inspired by the concept of 'letting go'. This appears to me to be one of the essential aspects of dying, but also of life itself. We humans cling far too strongly to successful achievements, whether they have to do with material or ideal values, or relationships of all kinds. We cannot and do not want to let go, almost as if our life depended on it. As we will have to practise the art of letting go at the latest during our hour of death, perhaps we could already make a start on this while we are still alive. Tagore describes this farewell with very simple but strikingly vivid imagery: 'I will return the key of my door'. I have set this text for tenor solo. Here I imagine, and have correspondingly noted in a certain passage of the score, that the protagonist finds himself as though 'in an ocean' of voices in which he is however not drowning, but immersing himself in complete relaxation. The phenomenon of letting go is described even more simply and tersely in Psalm 90, verse 12: 'So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom'. This cannot be expressed more plainly.I have begun the requiem with a solo boy's voice singing the beginning of this psalm on a single note, the note A. This in effect says it all. The work comes full circle at the culmination with a repeat of the psalm which subsequently leads into a resplendent 'lux aeterna'. The intermediate texts of the Requiem which highlight the phenomenon of letting go in the widest spectrum of colours originate on the one hand from the Latin liturgy of the Messa da Requiem (In Paradisum, Libera me, Requiem aeternam, Mors stupebit) and on the other hand from poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, Hermann Hesse, Rabindranath Tagore and Rainer Maria Rilke.All texts have a distinctive positive element in common and view death as being an organic process within the great system of the universe, for example when Hermann Hesse writes: 'Entreiss dich, Seele, nun der Zeit, entreiss dich deinen Sorgen und mache dich zum Flug bereit in den ersehnten Morgen' ['Tear yourself way , o soul, from time, tear yourself away from your sorrows and prepare yourself to fly away into the long-awaited morning'] and later: 'Und die Seele unbewacht will in freien Flugen schweben, um im Zauberkreis der Nacht tief und tausendfach zu leben' ['And the unfettered soul strives to soar in free flight to live in the magic sphere of the night, deep and thousandfold']. Or Joseph von Eichendorff whose text evokes a distant song in his lines: 'Und meine Seele spannte weit ihre Flugel aus. Flog durch die stillen Lande, als floge sie nach Haus' ['And my soul spread its wings wide. Flew through the still country as if homeward bound.']Here a strong romantically tinged occidental resonance can be detected which is however also accompanied by a universal spirit going far beyond all cultures and religions. In the beginning was the sound Long before any sort of word or meaningful phrase was uttered by vocal chords, sounds, vibrations and tones already existed. This brings us back to the music. Both during my years of study and at subsequent periods, I had been an active participant in the world of contemporary music, both as percussionist and also as conductor and composer. My early scores had a somewhat adventurous appearance, filled with an abundance of small black dots: no rhythm could be too complicated, no register too extreme and no harmony too dissonant. I devoted myself intensely to the handling of different parameters which in serial music coexist in total equality: I also studied aleatory principles and so-called minimal music.I subsequently emigrated and took up residence in Spain from where I embarked on numerous travels over the years to India, Africa and South America. I spent repeated periods during this time as a resident in non-European countries. This meant that the currents of contemporary music swept past me vaguely and at a great distance. What I instead absorbed during this period were other completely new cultures in which I attempted to immerse myself as intensively as possible.I learned foreign languages and came into contact with musicians of all classes and styles who had a different cultural heritage than my own: I was intoxicated with the diversity of artistic potential.Nevertheless, the further I distanced myself from my own Western musical heritage, the more this returned insistently in my consciousness.The scene can be imagined of sitting somewhere in the middle of the Brazilian jungle surrounded by the wailing of Indians and out of the blue being provided with the opportunity to hear Beethoven's late string quartets: this can be a heart-wrenching experience, akin to an identity crisis. This type of experience can also be described as cathartic. Whatever the circumstances, my 'renewed' occupation with the 'old' country would not permit me to return to the point at which I as an audacious young student had maltreated the musical parameters of so-called contemporary music. A completely different approach would be necessary: an extremely careful approach, inching my way gradually back into the Western world: an approach which would welcome tradition back into the fold, attempt to unfurl the petals and gently infuse this tradition with a breath of contemporary life.Although I am aware that I will not unleash a revolution or scandal with this approach, I am nevertheless confident as, with the musical vocabulary of this Requiem, I am travelling in an orbit in which no ballast or complex structures will be transported or intimated: on the contrary, I have attempted to form the message of the texts in music with the naivety of a 'homecomer'. Harald WeissColonia de San PedroMarch 2009.
SKU: HL.14008459
ISBN 9780711986725.
Melodrama for Narrator, Children's Choir and Ten Instruments. Gualtierro Dazzi: The texts underlying these fragments are passages from a long poem by Armand Gatti entitled L'Enclos. Through memories, this long poetic narrative recounts the course of a generation that strove to resist against the rise of fascism in the 1930s Europe. This resistance often led them to the concentration camps and, for most of them, to death.Thanks to the great emotional intensity of his poetic writing, Armand Gatti makes us share his grief for the loss of some dear friends who were barely 20 years old.The fragments selected for the children's choir are moments where poetry becomes more distant, as if lost and suspended in its own beauty. The white voices embody those terrible memories by vanishing into an angelic sphere. The work is a melodrama for narrator, children's choir and small instrumental ensemble. Thus, the poem is to be read, accompanied by the instrumental music and placed in between the choral parts.This project is dedicated to the memory of Jean Moulin, prefect of Eure-et-Loir, leader of the Resistance movement, for his antifascist struggle.