Take That : The Circus

SKU: PR.446413400

UPC: 680160667406. 9 x 12 inches.

Tightrope Walker is my first piece for full orchestra. Given the large forces available to me, I wanted to write something exciting, colorful and visceral. I remembered back to when I was a kid going to see the Cirque du Soleil. That trip made a big impression on me, especially the high wire performers. These were artists performing super-human feats high in the air, where even the slightest mistake guaranteed a fatal ending. This idea of danger, of risking one's life to entertain an audience has stayed with me, and Tightrope Walker is my attempt at recreating that special childhood experience. The opening of the piece hints at what's to come - a steady, walking pulse interrupted by missteps in the woodwinds. These missteps increase until the entire orchestra comes crashing down - not a good sign for our Tightrope Walker. The tempo slows and the atmosphere becomes tense. The primary themes of the piece are presented in fragments, most notably the Tightrope Walker's theme in the horns. The orchestra gradually recovers from the previous fall, becoming more lively and coherent until the original, faster tempo is restored. We are now at the circus, excited and expectant, and the fragmentary themes heard previously are now presented in their full forms. The anticipation builds until we hear a solo drum roll - the main act is about to begin. The second half of the piece depicts the Tightrope Walker performing for his audience. But from the outset, as in the beginning of the piece, we hear there are problems. The pressure mounts, the audience clamoring for more, until Tightrope Walker comes to a decisive and potentially fatal end.
Tightrope Walker is my first piece for full orchestra.  Given the large forces available to me, I wanted to write something exciting, colorful and visceral.  I remembered back to when I was a kid going to see the Cirque du Soleil.  That trip made a big impression on me, especially the high wire performers.  These were artists performing super-human feats high in the air, where even the slightest mistake guaranteed a fatal ending.  This idea of danger, of risking one’s life to entertain an audience has stayed with me, and Tightrope Walker is my attempt at recreating that special childhood experience.The opening of the piece hints at what's to come - a steady, walking pulse interrupted by missteps in the woodwinds.  These missteps increase until the entire orchestra comes crashing down - not a good sign for our Tightrope Walker.  The tempo slows and the atmosphere becomes tense.  The primary themes of the piece are presented in fragments, most notably the Tightrope Walker's theme in the horns.  The orchestra gradually recovers from the previous fall, becoming more lively and coherent until the original, faster tempo is restored.We are now at the circus, excited and expectant, and the fragmentary themes heard previously are now presented in their full forms.  The anticipation builds until we hear a solo drum roll - the main act is about to begin.  The second half of the piece depicts the Tightrope Walker performing for his audience.  But from the outset, as in the beginning of the piece, we hear there are problems.  The pressure mounts, the audience clamoring for more, until Tightrope Walker comes to a decisive and potentially fatal end.

SKU: BR.EB-9253

World premiere of the orchestral version: Stuttgart, January 1, 2018World premiere of the piano version: Mito, June 17, 2017

Have a look into EB 9283.

ISBN 9790004185537. 9 x 12 inches.

Marche fatale is an incautiously daring escapade that may annoy the fans of my compositions more than my earlier works, many of which have prevailed only after scandals at their world premieres. My Marche fatale has, though, little stylistically to do with my previous compositional path; it presents itself without restraint, if not as a regression, then still as a recourse to those empty phrases to which modern civilization still clings in its daily utility music, whereas music in the 20th and 21st centuries has long since advanced to new, unfamiliar soundscapes and expressive possibilities. The key term is banality. As creators we despise it, we try to avoid it - though we are not safe from the cheap banal even within new aesthetic achievements.Many composers have incidentally accepted the banal. Mozart wrote Ein musikalischer Spass [A Musical Jape], a deliberately amateurishly miscarried sextet. Beethoven's Bagatellen op. 119 were rejected by the publisher on the grounds that few will believe that this minor work is by the famous Beethoven. Mauricio Kagel wrote, tongue in cheek, so to speak, Marsche, um den Sieg zu verfehlen [Marches for being Unvictorious], Ligeti wrote Hungarian Rock; in his Circus Polka Stravinsky quoted and distorted the famous, all too popular Schubert military march, composed at the time for piano duet. I myself do not know, though, whether I ought to rank my Marche fatale alongside these examples: I accept the humor in daily life, the more so as this daily life for some of us is not otherwise to be borne. In music, I mistrust it, considering myself all the closer to the profounder idea of cheerfulness having little to do with humor. However: Isn't a march with its compelling claim to a collectively martial or festive mood absurd, a priori? Is it even music at all? Can one march and at the same time listen? Eventually, I resolved to take the absurd seriously - perhaps bitterly seriously - as a debunking emblem of our civilization that is standing on the brink. The way - seemingly unstoppable - into the black hole of all debilitating demons: that can become serene. My old request of myself and my music-creating surroundings is to write a non-music, whence the familiar concept of music is repeatedly re-defined anew and differently, so that derailed here - perhaps? - in a treacherous way, the concert hall becomes the place of mind-opening adventures instead of a refuge in illusory security. How could that happen? The rest is - thinking.(Helmut Lachenmann, 2017)CD (Version for Piano):Nicolas Hodges CD Wergo WER 7393 2 Bibliography:Ich bin nicht ,,pietistisch verformt. Ein Gesprach [von Jan Brachmann] mit dem Komponisten Helmut Lachenmann, in: FAZ vom 7. Juni 2018, p. 15.

World premiere of the piano version: Mito/Japan, June 17, 2017, World premiere of the orchestral version: Stuttgart, January 1, 2018, World premiere of the ensemble version: Frankfurt, December 9, 2020.

SKU: BT.AMP-356-400

ISBN 9789043138796. 9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.

Philip Sparke’s Skilful Solos is the second volume of a progressive series of solo books that takes the young wind player from beginner to accomplished musician. Following on from the first book in the series Starter Solos this collection generally contains longer pieces suitable for the developing young musician. Specifically tailored for each instrument, Skilful Solos introduces the concept of phrasing by suggesting suitable breathing points and takes the player into new keys with extended instrumental ranges, new notes being introduced in a gradual and logical manner.Skilful Solos comes with a play-along CD. The advantages of playing eitherwith piano or CD accompaniment are that the beginning player can now experience the important aspects of ensemble playing from their earliest lessons, thus developing the essential skills of listening while they play and maintaining strict tempo, which is not always achieved when playing alone.

Skilful Solos past in het rijtje Starter Studies, Skilful Studies, Super Studies en Starter Solos, een succesvolle reeks van Philip Sparke. Net als de eerdergenoemde uitgaven bevat Skilful Solos waardevol,motiverend speelmateriaal dat de keuze voor een methode aanvult. Nieuwe muzikale elementen komen in een logische volgorde aan de orde - om de ontwikkeling van de complete muzikant te bevorderen. Uitgave met cd: De voordelen van het spelen metbegeleiding - hetzij op de piano, hetzij op de cd - zijn dat de beginnende speler de belangrijke aspecten van het ensemblespel kan ervaren vanaf de eerste lessen en essentiële vaardigheden kan aanleren: het luisteren tijdens het spelen en hethandhaven van een strak tempo. Bij het alleen spelen komen deze factoren minder aan de orde.

Das frühe Lernstadium ist, neben einem guten Lehrer im Unterricht, für jedes Instrument zweifellos das Wichtigste. Von großer Bedeutung ist aber auch motivierendes Lehrmaterial.
Für diese zwei Solobücher beriet sich Philip Sparke mit vielen Lehrern, wie man am besten neue Noten einführt und zugleich einen Rahmen schafft, in den sich neue musikalische Elemente in sinnvoller Reihenfolge einfügen lassen. Unterstützt von diesenSoli und Etüden in drei verschiedenen Schwierigkeitsstufen können Instrumentalschüler schnell zu richtigen Musikern heranreifen. Jedes Buch ist genau auf die Bedürfnisse und Anforderungen des einzelnen Instrumentes zugeschnitten.
STARTER SOLOS und SKILFUL SOLOS können dank der im Buch und auf der CD enthaltenen Begleitungen auch gut alleine oder mit einem Pianisten einstudiert und aufgeführt werden. Der Vorteil dabei ist, dass Anfänger so nicht nur die wichtigsten Aspekte desEnsemblespiels erfahren sondern auch von Anfang an die Fähigkeit entwickeln, zu hören während sie spielen und das Tempo zu halten.

Inhalt: Nice to See You Again -Pony and Trap -Summer Siesta -Spring (Vivaldi) -A Victorian Ballad -Trumpet Tune -Promenade -Greensleeves -Could You Repeat That? -Alladale Aria -Scales of Justice -Largo from Winter (Vivaldi) -Waltz with Variations -Atthe Circus - Adagio (Mozart) - Marche Militaire (Schubert) - Thinking of You - Fives and Threes - Daydream - Rhode Island Rag