Free Dimension

SKU: HL.4008609

ISBN 9798350112580. UPC: 196288183198.

Nico Samitz has been composing for chamber ensembles since his school days. For over ten years he has been writing works in a wide variety of genres for the “BlechReiz BrassQuintett” ensemble, in which he himself plays trumpet and piano. His field of expertise ranges from classical pieces to jazz and meditative music—and even to pop-oriented compositions. While honing his skills in ear-training and composition at the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Nico became acquainted with a wide repertoire of works as a trumpet player with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bavarian State Opera, all of which have influenced his writing style. The driving force behind his creative work is a winning combination of passion, the fun of music-making and a desire to express, through the medium of music, feelings that are difficult to put into words. Like many of his works, Nico composedThe Joy of Freedom for the “BlechReiz BrassQuintet”. The catchy tune is reworked in a variety of styles throughout the entire work, giving it the quality of a true 'earworm'.

SKU: HL.4008610

ISBN 9798350112597. UPC: 196288183204.

Nico Samitz has been composing for chamber ensembles since his school days. For over ten years he has been writing works in a wide variety of genres for the “BlechReiz BrassQuintett” ensemble, in which he himself plays trumpet and piano. His field of expertise ranges from classical pieces to jazz and meditative music—and even to pop-oriented compositions. While honing his skills in ear-training and composition at the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Nico became acquainted with a wide repertoire of works as a trumpet player with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bavarian State Opera, all of which have influenced his writing style. The driving force behind his creative work is a winning combination of passion, the fun of music-making and a desire to express, through the medium of music, feelings that are difficult to put into words. Like many of his works, Nico composedThe Joy of Freedom for the “BlechReiz BrassQuintet”. The catchy tune is reworked in a variety of styles throughout the entire work, giving it the quality of a true 'earworm'.

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: PE.EP68766

ISBN 9790300762760.

E ach of these five movements for solo cello uses a different technique to extend the performer's control over various dimensions of the music. The composer writes:

There are five pieces. In the first, second and fifth there are phrase sequences with free pauses between them. There are also notations for just dynamics (sounds free), and for just rhythms (free sounds). The third and fourth pieces are on grids of 6 x 6 and 8 x 8 bars, allowing continuities to be chosen in variously free ways.

The fifth piece, consisting of a series of passages that may be performed in any sequence, may also be played as a cello duo, with the second cellist playing a different sequence.

The Anton of the title is the dedicatee, cellist Anton Lukoszevieze, who gave the world premiere of this suite at St James' Church, Islington, London on September 21, 2018. This performing edition is a facsimile of the composer's autograph manuscript. At moderate tempi, the total duration of the work may be approximately 15 minutes.

This product is Printed on Demand and may take several weeks to fulfill. Please order from your favorite retailer.

SKU: FG.55011-857-7

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė tells about the background of Aletheia (2022) for mixed choir (SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB): Aletheia is variously translated from Greek as unconcealedness, revealing or unclosedness. It is uncovering of the Truth - the one we are afraid to face, the truth that can only be expressed directly through the pre-verbal communication. How do you find words for the horrors of the war, for all unimaginable global atrocities? How do you even allow yourself to feel it out? Solely through art, through music that offer a safe space and a formalized framework for processing these accumulated complex emotions and sharing them with others in a moment. This piece has no verbal text and it is based on various combinations of vowels and consonants, thus connecting us on a deeper level through the immediate emotional experience.

The war in Ukraine in spring of 2022 had an impact on all of us and shattered my deeply rooted Lithuanian identity. When the freedom is threatened and innocent people are dying, it is hard to make sense out of the reality. Yet there is poetry even in the worst nightmares. I was imagining that the only instrument people have even in situations of destruction, in the midst of the war, is their VOICE. It brought back memories of my youth when Singing revolution was taking place in the Baltic countries. Human voice was the only weapon that people used to express their determination for freedom and independence. Voice is our first and the very last instrument we have in our lifetime. Thinking in these terms brings almost a sacred dimension to the voice as an expression of the life itself - from the very first baby's scream until the last breath and whisper.

Duration c. 15'

The works of New York -based Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė (b. 1973) have been lauded as breathtaking and profoundly moving. Her stimulating music bristles with energy and tension and revolves often around the subject of beauty, which she calls both a guiding principle and an aesthetic measure for sonic quality.