Format : Sheet music + CD-ROM
SKU: BT.DHP-1115084-020
9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.
It may be surprising to see a fanfare piece commissioned by a Japanese ensemble, since fanfare orchestras are typically found in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, and also France and Switzerland. Senzoku Gakuen is one of the largest and mostprestigious music universities in Japan, and home to a wide variety of ensembles and orchestras. Since 2006 they have had a fanfare orchestra, which was started by Sotaru Fukaishi, a euphonium teacher who felt further performance opportunity wasneeded for saxhorn instruments. Fukaishi had loved the sound of fanfare orchestras ever since visiting the World Music Contest in Kerkrade (Holland) several years earlier. Jan Van der Roost was involved with this new initiative from the beginning,and they were also joined by Manu Mellaerts for certain projects. The Dean of the music department, Professor Kazuo Tomioka, fully supports the ensemble and commissioned Ostinati. The première took place on June 11th at Maeda Hall inMizonokuchi (Kawasaki) where Senzoku Gakuen is based. The piece opens with an impressive timpani solo, followed by brass and saxophone. The rhythmical pulse remains constant and the music is fiery and assertive in character. A pentatonic melodygradually emerges and the music loses its vehemency and softens. The initial percussion ostinati subsequently recurs and the first section of the piece concludes in a similar mood to the opening. The second movement is sweet and melodic, opening witha long passage for the saxophone family in a minor key. The same theme then appears in the major and is developed upon; the music builds to a majestic orchestral forte, reminiscent of a pipe organ in its sonority. The theme returns in the originalminor key with a change in instrumentation leading the movement to a quiet and peaceful end on a soft E minor chord. The finale starts with percussion: a four-bar pattern is repeated several times over which the movement’s melodic themes areintroduced. These melodic elements are varied and used in different versions and the ostinato idea, which characterizes the entire piece, is highlighted. The theme travels through the orchestra, appearing on various instruments and in variousregisters. It captures the listener’s attention and displays the full range of sound and colour within the fanfare orchestra.Het is misschien verrassend dat dit fanfarewerk is geschreven in opdracht van een Japans ensemble, aangezien fanfareorkesten vooral te vinden zijn in België, Nederland en Luxemburg, en ook wel in Frankrijk en Zwitserland. SenzokuGakuen is een van de grootste en meest prestigieuze muziekopleidingen van Japan, en de thuisbasis van een grote verscheidenheid van ensembles en orkesten. In 2006 is er een fanfareorkest opgericht, en wel door Sotaru Fukaishi, eeneuphoniumdocent die vond dat er meer mogelijkheden moesten komen voor optredens met saxhoorninstrumenten. Fukaishi had enkele jaren daarvoor genoten van de fanfareklank toen hij het Wereld Muziek Concours in Kerkrade bezocht. DeBelgische componist Jan Van der Roost was van het begin af aan betrokken bij dit nieuwe initiatief, en ook Manu Mellaerts werd voor een aantal projecten aangetrokken. Het hoofd van de muziekfaculteit, professor Kazuo Tomioka, staatgeheel achter het ensemble en gaf de opdracht tot het schrijven van Ostinati. De première vond plaats op 11 juni in de Maeda Hall in Mizonokuchi (Kawasaki), waar Senzoku Gakuen is gevestigd. Het werk begint met een indrukwekkendepaukensolo, gevolgd door koper en saxofoon. De ritmische puls blijft constant, en de aard van de muziek is vurig en krachtig. Geleidelijk komt er een pentatonische melodie naar voren en wordt de muziek minder heftig, ze wordtzachter van karakter. De aanvankelijke ostinati in het slagwerk verschijnen dan opnieuw, waarna het eerste deel van het werk eindigt in dezelfde sfeer als waarmee het begon. Het tweede deel is lieflijk en melodisch. Het opentmet een lange passage voor de saxofoons in een mineurtoonsoort. Dan klinkt hetzelfde thema in majeur en daar wordt op voortgeborduurd: de muziek ontwikkelt zich tot een majestueus orkestraal forte, dat qua sonoriteit doet denkenEs mag überraschen, dass dieses Fanfareorchesterwerk ausgerechnet von einem japanischen Ensemble in Auftrag gegeben wurde, da Fanfareorchester doch eher in Belgien, den Niederlanden oder Luxemburg oder auch in Frankreich oder Schweiz zu finden sind. Senzoku Gakuen ist eine der größten und renommiertesten Musikschulen Japans und Heimstätte einer Vielfalt an Ensembles und Orchestern. Im Jahr 2006 wurde ein Fanfareorchester gegründet. Den Anstoß gab Sotaru Fukaishi, ein Euphoniumlehrer, der den Instrumenten der Saxhorn-Familie mehr Spielmöglichkeiten bieten wollte. Fukaishi hatte sich einige Jahre zuvor bei der Weltmeisterschaft in Kerkrade (Holland) in den Klang vonFanfareorchestern verliebt. Jan Van der Roost war von Beginn an in die Entwicklung dieser Idee involviert und, einige Projekte betreffend, ebenso Manu Mellaerts. Der Dekan des Musik-Colleges, Professor Kazuo Tomioka, steht voll und ganz hinter dem Ensemble und gab Ostinati in Auftrag. Die Premiere fand am 11. Juni 2011 in der Maeda Hall in Mizonokuchi statt, dem Heimatort der Schule Senzoku Gakuen. Das Stück beginnt mit einem eindrucksvollen Paukensolo, bevor Blechbläser und Saxophon einsetzen. Der rhythmische Puls bleibt konstant unter einer feurigen, nachdrücklichen Musik. Eine pentatonische Melodie bildet sich nach und nach heraus, während die Musik an Heftigkeit verliert und sanfter wird. Die anfänglichen Ostinati im Schlagwerk kehren zurück und so endet der erste Satz des Werkes in einer der Eröffnung ähnlichen Stimmung. Der zweite Satz ist lieblich und melodiös. Er beginnt mit einem langen Abschnitt für die Saxophone in Moll. Dann erscheint das gleiche Thema in Dur und durchläuft eine Entwicklung; die Musik baut sich zu einem majestätischen orchestralen Forte auf, das in seiner Klangfülle an eine Orgel erinnert. Dann kehrt das Thema in seiner ursprünglichen Moll-Tonart und in veränderter Instrumentierung zurück, um den Satz ruhig und friedvoll in einem e-Moll-Akkord enden zu lassen. Il pourrait paraître surprenant qu’un ensemble japonais puisse commander une pièce pour orchestre de fanfare, puisque l’on rencontre surtout ce type de formation en Belgique, aux Pays-Bas et au Luxembourg, ainsi qu’en France et en Suisse. Senzoku Gakuen, l’une des plus grandes et plus prestigieuses académies de musique du Japon, compte une grande variété d’ensembles et d’orchestres. En 2006 s’y est ajouté un orchestre de fanfare fondé par Sotaru Fukaishi, un professeur d’euphonium qui pensait qu’il était nécessaire d’offrir de plus larges possibilités aux cuivres de la région. Depuis qu’il avait assisté au World Music Contest de Kerkrade (Pays-Bas), plusieurs années auparavant,Fukaishi se prit de passion pour le son chaud et généreux de l’orchestre de fanfare, une formation atypique au Japon. Jan Van der Roost a favorablement adhéré cette nouvelle initiative, tandis que Manu Mellaerts collabora avec les deux hommes afin de concrétiser certains projets. Le professeur Kazuo Tomioka, doyen du collège de musique, soutint vigoureusement l’orchestre et commanda Ostinati. La création de l’oeuvre fut donnée le 11 juin 2011 au Maeda Hall de Mizonokuchi (Kawasaki), où se trouve Senzoku Gakuen. La pièce débute avec un impressionnant solo de timbales précédant l’entrée des cuivres et des saxophones. La pulsion rythmique est constante, la musique est énergique et de caractère affirmé. Une mélodie pentatonique émerge graduellement, alors que la trame musicale diminue d’intensité et s’adoucit. L’ostinato la percussion revient fréquemment et la première partie de l’oeuvre se termine dans un climat semblable celui du début. Le deuxième mouvement, doux et romancé, débute avec un long passage en mode mineur joué par les saxophones. Le même thème apparaît alors en mode majeur et se développe peu peu ; la musique s’intensifie pour arriver un majestueux et orchestral forte dont les sonorités rappellent celles d’un orgue d’église. Puis le thème revient sa tonalité mineure d’origine avec un changement d’instrumentation qui mène.
SKU: BT.DHP-1115084-120
SKU: AP.36-A217602
UPC: 659359654565. English.
Among the most frequently performed and well-known of P. I. Tchaikovsky's (1840-1893) works, The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49 (more commonly known as the 1812 Overture) was written in 1880 to commemorate the 1812 defeat of Napoleon's invading French army by the Russians. Despite the composer's lack of enthusiasm about the project at its inception, claiming that he wrote it without any warm and loving feelings, Tchaikovsky acknowledged later that he did well in its composition, saying I absolutely do not know whether my overture (The Year 1812) is good or bad, but I rather think it is the former (pardon my immodesty). It premiered on August 20, 1882, in Moscow at the Art & Industry Exhibition, Ippolit Altani conducting. Famous for its use of cannons in the Finale, the Finale also calls for the inclusion of a military brass band, which is labelled as open instrumentation in the original. This edition by Martin Schmeling spells out specific instrumentation options for the banda. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2+EH.2.2: 4.2+2.3.1: Timp.Perc(5-6): Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set): Banda ad lib [0.0.0.0: 4.2.2.2: Perc(3-4)].
These products are currently being prepared by a new publisher. While many items are ready and will ship on time, some others may see delays of several months.
SKU: AP.36-A217642
ISBN 9798892700634. UPC: 659359532276. English.
SKU: AP.36-A217601
ISBN 9798892700627. UPC: 659359965340. English.
SKU: BT.DHP-1115250-140
The Soldier’s Wife is a short and simple piece commissioned by the Singapore Ministry of Education. It was originally intended as a compulsory piece for the 2012 Singapore Youth Festival. Because many school bands in Singapore are incomplete, the composer was specifically asked to create a work that could equally be played by a limited ensemble—which explains various doubled and optional parts. The warm tones of a melodic passage open this short work: the wife of the wooden soldier sings a kind of lullaby. This lyrical section is followed by a more powerful part which is, however, based on the same melodic material. The rhythm, syncopated at times, infuses thissection with a particular energy. The harmony, too, has some surprising turns—and we must never lose sight of the restrictions imposed by the limited level of difficulty of the piece. Although the work begins softly and sweetly, much more ‘feminine energy’ is projected by the close. The Soldier’s Wife is een kort en eenvoudig werkje dat is geschreven in opdracht van het Singaporese ministerie van Onderwijs. Het was aanvankelijk bedoeld als verplicht werk voor het Singapore Youth Festival 2012. Omdat veelschoolorkesten in Singapore een onvolledige bezetting hebben, kreeg de componist het nadrukkelijke verzoek om het werk zo vorm te geven dat het ook met een beperkt ensemble uitgevoerd kan worden: dat verklaart een aantal verdubbelingenen instrumenten ad libitum.Een warme, melodische passage opent dit korte werkje: de vrouw van het - houten - soldaatje zingt als het ware een wiegeliedje. Nadat dit lyrische deel is afgerond, volgt een energieker gedeeltedat qua melodisch materiaal op dezelfde bouwstenen is gebaseerd. De hier en daar gesyncopeerde ritmiek verleent dit deel een bijzondere energie, en ook harmonisch zijn er een paar verrassende wendingen - waarbij rekening is gehoudenmet de beperkingen die verbonden zijn aan werken voor dit muzikale niveau. Begon het werkje zacht en liefelijk, aan het slot is er heel wat meer ‘girl power’ voelbaar!The Soldier’s Wife ist ein kurzes, einfaches Werk, das im Auftrag des Bildungsministeriums von Singapur geschrieben wurde. Es war zunächst als Pflichtstück für das Singapurer Jugendfestival 2012 gedacht. Da viele Schulblasorchester in Singapur unvollständig besetzt sind, bat man den Komponisten ausdrücklich, das Werk so zu gestalten, dass es auch mit einem begrenzten Ensemble gespielt werden könne: Dies erklärt einige Verdopplungen und optionale Instrumente. Eine warm klingende, melodische Passage eröffnet dieses kurze Werk: Die Frau des - hölzernen- Soldaten singt eine Art Wiegenlied. Nach diesem lyrischen Abschnitt folgt ein kraftvollerer Teil, der aber aufdemselben melodischen Material aufbaut. Der hier und da synkopierte Rhythmus verleiht diesem Teil eine besondere Energie und auch harmonisch gibt es einige überraschende Wendungen - wobei immer an die auferlegten Beschränkungen durch den Schwierigkeitsgrad gedacht werden muss. Ist das Werk zu Beginn noch leise und lieblich, ist zum Schluss doch schon wesentlich mehr weibliche Energie“ spürbar...! The Soldier’s Wife (L’épouse du soldat) est une pièce courte et simple commandée par le Ministère singapourien de l'Education. Cette œuvre a été initialement écrite comme pièce imposée pour le Festival de la Jeunesse se déroulant Singapour en 2012. Comme de nombreuses formations scolaires présentent quelques lacunes au niveau de certains pupitres, Jan van der Roost a été sollicité afin de composer une œuvre qui pourrait également être jouée par une formation incomplète - ce qui explique le doublement de certaines parties et les voix optionnelles.Cette œuvre concise débute par une chaleureuse et expressive mélodie : la femme du soldat chante une sorte deberceuse. Ce passage lyrique est suivi d’une partie plus puissante qui est, cependant, basée sur le même matériel thématique. Le rythme, parfois syncopé, insuffle cette partie de l’œuvre une énergie toute particulière. La trame harmonique, elle aussi, subit quelques surprenantes contorsions sans jamais dépasser les limites imposées par le degré de difficulté de la pièce. Cette composition commence doucement et gentiment, et se termine par un motif empreint d’un dynamisme singulièrement féminin. “Guarda, è la moglie del soldato di legno”! All’inizio, canta una dolce ninnananna, che precede una sezione più potente dai ritmi sincopati e con sorprendenti cambiamenti di armonie. The Soldier’s Wife inizia in modo calmo e dolce per poi trovare un’energia tipicamente femminile verso il finale. The Soldier’s Wife è un brano breve e semplice, perfetto anche per formazioni a organico ridotto grazie alle parti raddoppiate e opzionali.
SKU: HL.14022926
ISBN 9788759852675. 8.25x11.75x0.285 inches. English.
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) was a Danish musician, often seen as his country's greatest composer, who now occupies a distinguished platform in the national and cultural heritage of his native land. The Carl Nielsen Edition is an independent project which aims to publish all of his finished works, in the version last approved by the composer. The Quartet for Strings in G minor (Op. 13) is the earliest of Nielsen's four published quartets, having been composed in 1887-1888, but it was not published for over a decade. It comprises four movements: Allegro Energico - Andante Amoroso - Scherzo. Allegro Molto - Finale. Allegro (Inquieto) .
SKU: BT.EMBZ20017A
English-German-Hungarian.
In 1845 Franz Liszt embarked on a project to compose an Italian opera based on Lord Byron’s tragedy, Sardanapalus (1821). It was central to his ambition to attain status as a major European composer, with premieres variously planned for Milan, Vienna, Paris and London. But he abandoned it half way through, and the music he completed has lain silently for 170 years. Liszt’s difficulty in obtaining a libretto meant that composition only began in April 1850. He completed virtually all the music for Act 1 in an annotated piano-vocal score of 111 pages, contained within his N4 music ‘sketch book’. The unnamed librettist was an Italian poet and political prisoner, seemingly living under house arrest, and a close acquaintance of Cristina Belgiojoso. His libretto survives as underlay in the N4 sketchbook and has been critically reconstructed and translated. Sardanapalo is Liszt’s only mature opera. While he consistently referred to it in French, as Sardanapale, the published title of the Italian opera would almost certainly have used the Italian name, hence this forms the title of the first edition. There are three solo roles and a chorus of concubines. The manuscript was previously thought to be fragmentary and partially illegible, but it was finally deciphered to international acclaim in March 2017. Liszt’s score offers a richly melodic style, with elements from Bellini and Verdi alongside glimmers of Wagner and the symphonic poems ahead: a unique mixture of Italianate pastiche and mid-century harmonic innovation. It remains quintessentially Lisztian. The opera sets Byron’s tragedy about war and peace in ancient Assyria: the last King, effeminate in his tastes, is drawn to wine, concubines and feasts more than politics and war: his subjects find him dishonourable (a ‘man queen’) and military rebels seek to overthrow him, but are pardoned, for the King rejects the ‘deceit of glory’ built on others’ suffering: this leads only to a larger uprising, the Euphrates floods its banks, destroying the castle’s main defensive wall, and defeat is inevitable: the King sends his family away and orders that he be burned alive with his lover, amid scents and spices in a grand inferno. As Byron put it: ‘not a mere pillar formed of cloud and flame, but a light to lessen ages.’ For his part, Liszt told a friend that his finale ‘will even aim to set fire to the entire audience!’ This critical edition includes a detailed study on the genesis of Liszt’s Sardanapalo in English, German, and Hungarian, the libretto in the original Italian as well as in English, German, and Hungarian translation, several facsimile pages of Liszt’s manuscript, and a detailed Critical Report.
SKU: HL.4008662
UPC: 196288189916.
Bright Dawn Overture was commissioned to Franco Cesarini by the Swiss Band Association as part of a project for the renewal and expansion of the artistic repertoire. “There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.”. This sentence by the English philosopher Bernard Williamsinspired Franco Cesarini in composing this overture. In fact, even the darkest night is always followed by the sunrise and metaphorically, in every moment of difficulty, man clings to the hope of a better future. Bright Dawn Overture is written in the classic form of an Italian overture (fast-slow-fast). It is intended as a hymn of hope of recovery after a period of great difficulty. A single theme characterizes the composition, passing through the various registers and presents itself in new forms, while constantly being transformed. In the central part the theme takes on an almost mystical character, while in the finale it presents itself in a heroic guise and the composition concludes with a gesture of decisive optimism. A piece accessible to most concert bands, perfect as an opening work!
SKU: BT.EMBZ12718
English-German.
Throughout his life, Liszt's imagination was almost obsessed with notions of death and mourning. He composed many works on these topics, such as Pensée des morts, Funérailles, the two versions of La lugubre gondola, and Totentanz (Dance of Death), based on the Gregorian Dies irae sequence depicting the horrors of the Last Judgement. The latter project matured over a period of several decades, beginning in 1830, when Liszt heard the premiere of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, whose finale includes the Dies irae theme. Along with this musical impression, Liszt was stirred by horrifying visual representations of the dance of death by Holbein and Buffalmacco. Totentanz, composed asa series of variations, was finally completed during Liszt's Weimar period as one of its most outstanding compositions. Totentanz, composed as a series of variations, was finally completed during Liszt s Weimar period as one of its most outstanding compositions. Of the three versions for piano solo, two pianos, and piano and orchestra, this edition contains the two-hand piano solo version. This revised (2018) version is based on the New Liszt Edition, and provides a revised score, a facsimile reproduction, and critical notes. The new editorial preface orientates the reader in all the major questions regarding the work's genesis.
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).
