A Symphonic Narrative

SKU: BT.DHP-1043706-010

Remembrance Day (Totengedenken) is a chorale-like piece in memory of those who have died in service. Jacob de Haan composed this work for a concert by the symphonic wind orchestra Symphonic Winds, which he conducted in Germany on Volkstrauertag (national remembrance day). The composition is based on a text from Totengedenken (Commemoration of Those Who Have Died). This narrative text is provided in four languages, and is intended to be spoken (using a microphone) ad libitum during the performance. Choir parts are also available to complement the performance.

Remembrance Day ist ein choralartiges Stück zum Angedenken an die Verstorbenen. Die Komposition basiert auf einem Text aus Totengedenken, herausgegeben vom Volksbund deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge. Ein beiliegender Text kann zur angegebenen Zeit während der Aufführung gesprochen werden. Das Ganze kann ad libitum durch einen gemischten Chor, der lange Töne ohne Text singt, vervollständigt werden. Remembrance Day ist ein recht langsames, erhabenes Werk zur würdevollen Umrahmung von Trauer- oder Gedenkfeiern, zum Volkstrauertag und ähnlichen feierlichen Anlässen. Textauszug A Remembrance DayWir denken heute an die Opfer von Gewalt und Krieg, Kinder, Frauen und Männeraller Völker. Wir gedenken der Soldaten, die in den Weltkriegen starben, der Menschen, die durch Kriegshandlungen oder danach in Gefangenschaft, als Vertriebene und als Flüchtlinge ihr Leben verloren. Wir gedenken derer, die verfolgt und getötet wurden, weil sie einem anderen Volk angehörten, einer anderen Rasse zugerechnet wurden oder deren Leben wegen einer Krankheit oder Behinderung als lebensunwert bezeichnet wurde. Wir gedenken derer, die ums Leben kamen weil sie Widerstand gegen die Gewaltherrschaft geleistet haben, und derer, die den Tod fanden weil sie an ihrer Überzeugung oder an ihrem Glauben festhielten. Wir trauern um die Opfer der Kriege und Bürgerkriege unserer Tage, um die Opfer von Terrorismus und politischer Verfolgung. Wir gedenken heute auch derer, die in diesem Jahr bei uns durch Hass und Gewalt gegen Fremde und Schwache Opfer geworden sind. Wir trauern mit den Müttern und mit allen, die Leid tragen um die Toten. Aber unser Leben steht im Zeichen der Hoffnung auf Versöhnung unter den Menschen und Völkern, und unsere Verantwortung gilt dem Frieden unter den Menschen zu Hause und in der Welt.

SKU: HL.244904

8.25x12.0x0.508 inches.

Quilting, co-commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is my first stand alone work for orchestraand is loosely inspired by the American tradition of quilt making. I composed Quilting while living most of last year in Paris.During my time there, I thought a lot about what it means to compose symphonic music as a young American in the 21st century, when so many of the many masterworks which are programmed year in and out by orchestras across the country are European. I considered which artistic traditions defined the American 19th-century. I began to think of the American crafts-tradition of quilting as a foilto the high-art tradition of European orchestral composition. As the score for my new work began to take shape, I started thinking about the manuscript itself as an object, its vertical and horizontal planes create a kind of patterned geometry of their own. Visually the way a musical score is woven together like patchwork brought to mind quilts and the great American tradition of quilting. I imagined about how conducting an orchestra can feellike stitching a piece together, or sewing together a large number of musical ideas and musicians into a coherent and transcendent whole. Quilting was an integral part of American vernacular in the 18th and 19th centuries, the African-American quilting tradition is especially fascinating, and the quilts tell the stories of the women and communities who made them. The names of the quilt patterns themselves can have their own sense of narrative: 'jacobs ladder', 'drunkards path', 'solomon's puzzle', and (my favorite for its relevance to this piece) 'the road to California. - Bryce Dessner.

SKU: CF.O5368

ISBN 9780825836190. UPC: 798408036195. 9 X 14 inches.

Fábulas (Fables), the first work of Carlos Rodriguez to be published by Pembroke Music (a division of Carl Fischer), was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. It was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen on April 10, 1996. The piece, an extended one-movement structure involving a large orchestra with a very full percussion section, is concerned with narrative forms in purely symphonic terms, ie. - without an actual program. The musical sequence of the piece, in three continuously evolving sections lasting about 15 minutes overall, is derived from the very opening 12-note string chord arrayed in a pattern of perfect 5ths and minor seconds extending over four octaves. The central core of the piece, subtitled Six Anagrams, involves a highly unusual and original application of the 12-note concept. Each pitch in the row is assigned a letter so that the row spells out the phrase voice leading. The six anagrams are re-orderings of this sequence into six new rows, which are then subjected to canonic development. The resulting sophisticated game provides Fábulas, with a rare degree of musical coherence. A fascinating work that rewards detailed analysis, Fábulas, is so brilliantly scored that it dazzles on its own terms, as sound, even without detailed examination of its elaborate underpinnings.