Format : Sheet music + CD
SKU: HL.49016720
ISBN 9790001144209. UPC: 884088991258. 9.0x12.0x0.056 inches. German.
Football (resp. soccer) has been fascinating for many contemporary composers - maybe because of the unpredictable dramaturgy within a match, the complexity of different combinations, contrasts or complements between different strategies, the soloist-like position of extraordinary players - in short, there are numerous connections to musical ideas.Zeitlupen (Slow-motion replays) reflects football on different layers. The cycle consists of three interlocking parts: four poems from Gottfried Blumenstein's 11 Haikus vom Fussballfeld form the musical core, to which three pantomime-actions with piano accompaniment, showing characteristic situations, are added. (This idea is based on a kind of a slow-motion-soccer, using a balloon instead of a football, that I used to play with my brother in our room, when the weather not allowed to go outside for a match on the playground nearby. The similarity towards far-eastern meditational techniques of these pantomimes also forms a connection to the haiku form of the poems.) The piece is completed by two recitations recalling famous teams and the best and (maybe) worst from german football history: the world champions from 1954 and the team of the unbearable put-up game against Austria during the world championship of 1982. This part also refers to a well-known poem by Peter Handke, Die Aufstellung des 1. FC Nurnberg vom 27. 1. 1968.Behind that, playing with numbers has been important for the structure. The form of the haiku (5-7-5 syllables), a symmetric all-interval-series and many other elements are taken from the number of 12 (eleven players and their coach). Gesture and sound-colours of the piano part are economical but precise; towards the ending percussive sounds dominate it. Directly illustrative moments - like the rhythm of cheers call in Nr. IV - are rather exceptional. The altogether form follows the labyrinthical structure of Pierre Boulez' Le marteau sans maitre, written around the famous year of 1954...Benjamin Schweitzer.
SKU: HL.49019362
ISBN 9790001176552. UPC: 884088924263. 9.0x12.0x0.166 inches.
Used as a place of worship for centuries, first by Christians and then by Muslims (from 1453), the Hagia Sophia (Istanbul) still amazes people from all over the world. Since 1934, it is a museum but more than that, the Hagia Sophia, a unique architectural work of monumental proportions in Christian Antiquity and the Middle Ages, is described as a mystical place. Monumental, yet mysterious, a 'miracle of space', a symbol, a sign. 'Sophia', the holy wisdom, accompanies us through the whole Bible history. The line and sound of Hagia Sophia are based on a symmetrical eight-note row (mode B) with the notes B, C sharp, D, E/F, G, A flat (G sharp), B flat (A sharp). Although the major-minor relations are removed, harmonic connections (colours) emerge nevertheless.
SKU: HL.49045995
ISBN 9790001203692. UPC: 842819100195. 8.25x11.75x0.184 inches. German.
The history of the symphony is full of curiosities, ranging from works that are extremely long or scored for extensive instrumental forces to those of dubious authorship. There are also famous symphonies labelled as No. 0, works with alternate or multiple opus numbers, and a wealth of 'unfinished' symphonies. Krzysztof Pendereckis 6. Sinfonie can also be included in this category, since his Seventh and Eighth were completed decades ago. This work is comprised of eight songs on Chinese texts connected by solo intermezzos played on the Chinese stringed instrument,erhu. As in his two preceding works, the focus here is on vowels. This work, however, is scored for smaller orchestral forces and possesses a more intimate chamber music character, at times with greater melancholy than before. Penderecki has declared this symphony to be his farewell from the genre, although we know from experience that anything is possible with symphonies.