SKU: PE.EP68671

ISBN 9790300761909. 297 x 420 mm inches. English.

Drawing inspiration from a large-scale canvas by painter Philip Guston, this two-movement, half-hour concerto for two percussionists and orchestra uses strict notation, passages in which certain details of the score are left up to the performers, and even - for the soloists - moments of total freedom. Commissioned by BBC Radio 3, Old Shoe, New Shoe was premiered on 19 May 2019 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov, with percussionists Joey Baron and Robyn Schulkowsky performing the solo parts.

• Concerto for two percussion and orchestra
• A3 Full Score
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Optional improvisation for soloists, no improvisation for orchestra, but they are asked to make decisions regarding durations and sequencing of notes
• Performance notes in English

SKU: PR.476001440

UPC: 680160099665. 9x12 inches.

The aim of this work is not to illustrate a sequence of historical events, but to convey the impressions of one visiting Valley Forge to-day. As the great panorama unfolds, majestic and serene, one's thoughts turn to the human drama of the past; to the unwavering fortitude shown in the face of every deprivation; to the slow return of spiritual strength which turned the tide of victory and culminated in renewed courage and great rejoicing.

SKU: PR.44641192L

UPC: 680160610860. 11 x 14 inches.

One of my greatest pleasures in writing a concerto is exploring the new world that opens for me each time I enter the sometimes alien, but always fascinating, world of a solo instrument or instruments. For me, the challenge is to discover the deepest nature of the solo instrument (its karma, if you will) and to allow that essential character to guide the shape and form of the work and the nature of the interaction between soloists and orchestra. In recent years, many of us have become more aware of the musical world outside the Western tradition of musics that follow different procedures and spring from other aesthetics. And contemporary percussionists have opened many of these worlds to us, as they have ventured around the globe, participating in Brazilian Samba schools, studying Gamelan and African drumming with local experts, collecting instruments from Asia and Africa and South America and the South Pacific, widening our horizons in the process. I will never forget our first meeting in Toronto when Nexus invited me into their world of hundreds of exciting percussion instruments. The vast array of instruments in the collection of the Nexus ensemble is truly global in scope as well as offering a thrilling sound-universe. I was inspired by the incredible range of sound and moved by the fact that so many of these instruments were musical reflections of a spiritual dimension. After long consideration, I decided that it would not only be impossible, but even undesirable for this Western-tradition-steeped composer to attempt to use these instruments in a culturally authentic way. My goal was an existential kind of authenticity: searching instead for universal ideas that would be true to both myself and the performers while acknowledging the traditional uses of the instruments. Since many percussion instruments are associated with various kinds of ritual, I decided that I would allow that concept to shape my piece. Rituals is in four movements, each issuing from a ritual associated with percussion, but with the orchestral interaction providing an essential element in the musical form. I. Invocation alludes to the traditions of invoking the spirit of the instruments, or the gods, or the ancestors before performing. II. Ambulation moves from a processional, through march and dance to fantasy based on all three. III. Remembrances alludes to traditions of memorializing. IV. Contests progresses from friendly competition games, contests to a suggestion of a battle of big band drummers, to warlike exchanges. In the 2nd and 4th movements, another percussion tradition, improvisation, is employed. Written into these movements are a number of seeds for improvisation. Indications in the score call for the soloists to improvise in three different ways, marked A for percussion alone; marked B for percussion with and in response to the orchestra; and C where the percussionists are free to add and embellish the written parts. These improvisations should grow out of and embellish previous motives and gestures in the movement.

SKU: HL.48024348

Her oboe concerto was used by Ursula Mamlok over the course of several decades. The first version with orchestra she wrote between 1974 and 1976, it was first performed in 2013 in Gottingen. In 1980, the composer created the second version for oboe, two piano andpercussion, which is now available here as a purchase edition; this version was premiered in 1982 at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where Ursula Mamlok worked for a long time as a teacher, with the oboist Henry Schuman as a soloist. Finally, Mamlok wrote a third version with chamber orchestra accompaniment in 2003. The three movements played without pause still hint at the structure of the classical solo concert, and the oboe also emerges with several solo cadenzas. However, the tonal language is decidedly modern, with frequent use of multiphonics and dramatic-noisy percussion.

SKU: BT.EMBZ15085

English-Hungarian.

Árpád Solti (born 1986) studied with Zoltán Jeney and Gyula Fekete at the Budapest Academy of Music, where he also studied piano and percussion. He has pursued advanced studies in Bruxelles and Gothenburg. His works - which range from solo pieces through chamber music and the award-winning orchestral composition Aktok [Nudes], which was premiered in 2011 at the New Hungarian Musical Forum's composers' competition - have been programmed featuring prominent Hungarian performers as well as the conductors Chelsea Tipton and Michael Francis and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Solti composed the Sonatina between 2006 and 2008. The piece has since been added to the compulsorycurriculum for percussion students at the Budapest Academy of Music. These pieces for four timpani show classical forms blended with the energetic musical language characteristic of Árpád Solti. The first, Rondino movement demands highly precise pedal work. It is followed by a meditative Intermezzo requiring discipline and depth on the part of the performer. The final Toccata presents percussionists with an excellent opportunity to let their technical skills shine brightly.