October Mountain

SKU: BT.DHP-1001913-060

ISBN 9789043131650.

In October 1997, Jacob de Haan visited the Swiss village of St. Moritz, where he worked as a conductor. The Mountains around St. Moritz were covered in marvelous autumn colors. The Colors, the quietness and nature itself inspired Jacob de Haan to compose this lyrical composition.

In oktober 1997 bezocht Jacob de Haan het Zwitserse St. Moritz. De bergen rondom waren getooid in schitterende herfstkleuren. De componist raakte in deze omgeving ge nspireerd door de kleuren, de rust en de natuur en schreef daaropzijn lyrische compositie Yellow Mountains, dat door Foppe Jacobi fraai is gearrangeerd voor accordeonorkest.

Herbst im schweizerischen St. Moritz: Die Berge sind in die unterschiedlichsten Herbstfarben getaucht und die Natur strahlt eine gelassene Ruhe aus. Jacob de Haan war im Oktober 1997 in dieser Umgebung und schrieb dort, von den Farben, der Ruhe und der Natur inspiriert, seine lyrische Komposition Yellow Mountains.

En octobre 1997, Jacob de Haan se rend Saint-Moritz en Suisse. La nature a quitté ses habits dâ??été pour revêtir une extraordinaire palette de couleurs. Les montagnes radieuses retiennent leur souffle dans lâ??attente des premières neiges et le paysage tout entier diffuse un sentiment de paix et de sérénité. Le modèle est idéal et inspire Jacob de Haan cette pièce aux couleurs tonales variées. Tel un peintre, il créé une oeuvre aux traits fluides et souples, où les arrondis donnent naissance des teintes chaleureuses.

SKU: KU.GM-1911

ISBN 9790206202384. 9 x 12 inches.

Monumentum, Music for String Sextet, was written in 2014 to a commission from the Moritzburg Festival, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center New York and the Kathe Kollwitz House in Moritzburg. It is dedicated to the cellist Jan Vogler. The world premiere took place on 19 August 2014 at the Moritzburg Festival, performed by Timothy Chooi & Mira Wang (violins), Roberto Diaz & Hartmut Rohde (violas), Jan Vogler & Harriet Krijgh (cellos). The American premiere took place on 7 May 2015 in the Lincoln Center with the Amphion String Quartet, the violist Yura Lee and the cellist Jan Vogler.

The String Sextet Momentum commemorates the outbreak of the First World War, the death of Peter Kollwitz – who died as a volunteer, aged just 18, in the early weeks of the war – and the manner in which his mother, the artist Kathe Kollwitz, mourned the loss of her son. The artist worked through her pain by creating her most famous sculpture, The Mourning Parents. It stands today at the German soldiers’ cemetery at Vladslo in western Flanders, where her son Peter also lies buried. During the 18 years that she worked on the Parents, Kathe Kollwitz attended several concerts at the Volksbuhne in Berlin, where from January to February 1927 she heard Arthur Schnabel’s cycle of all the Beethoven piano sonatas. Schnabel performed the Sonata op. 111 in c minor on 26 February 1927, and this work touched her in particular, as we can read in her diary: “The strange flickering notes turned into flames – a moment of rapture, taking one into a different sphere, and the heavens opened almost as in the Ninth (Symphony). Then one found one’s way back – but it was a return after having been assured that there is a heaven. These notes are serene – confident – and good. Thank you, Schnabel!” This encounter with Beethoven’s last sonata inspired the artist to take up work again on her sculpture after a long interruption and to consider different possibilities for arranging the two figures. For this reason, the first minutes ofMomentum are derived from this sonata by Beethoven – though without it being quoted in an audible manner – and they leave their mark on the form of the Sextet. The number 18 and the date of Peter Kollwitz’s death (23 October 1914) also have a direct impact on the work’s dramaturgy. This music is mostly calm in nature, but is time and again interrupted unexpectedly, being disturbed by unruly sounds and vehement eruptions until time itself seems to dissolve in an aleatoric passage. The work ends with an extended lament on “seed corn should not be ground”, a line from Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Journeyman Years. Kathe Kollwitz often quoted this phrase to argue for peace, and also took it as the title for a lithograph that she made in 1942. - David Philip Hefti

SKU: HL.14032603

ISBN 9781847720061. 9.0x12.0x0.25 inches.

Joby Talbot's Trumpet Concerto, Desolation Wilderness was commissioned by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. First performed on 28th October 2006 by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool with Alison Balsom (to whom the work is dedicated) as soloist, and JoAnn Falletta, conductor. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra gave the Finnish premiere performances on 23rd and 24th November 2006. The Piano reduction of Desolation Wilderness includes Trumpet parts in B flat and C. (Suitable for advanced players). In Early November 2005 my family and some friends visited the high Sierra Nevada in Northern California. As on former trips to the area I was struck by the strange and disarming contrast between the bright sunshine, perfect blue sky, and warm mountain air of the Sierran autumn; and the occasional icy chill - sudden drops of temperature when the sun vanished behind the mountains, momentary glimpses through the trees of distant snow clouds over the highest peaks. Nowhere was this dichotomy more apparent than in the vast area of forests, lakes and mountains known as Desolation Wilderness. Here the twisted shapes of the aspens are testament to the destructive power of winter. Sure enough, that night the first snows fell, and the high mountain passes we'd just crossed were closed till spring.

SKU: PR.114418470

UPC: 680160641741.

MARS HILL FANTASIA was commissioned by and is gratefully dedicated to Mars Hill College (now Mars Hill University), as part of the festivities celebrating their Sesquicentennial in 2006. The work was commissioned by their Low Brass instructor, and my friend, Dr. James Sparrow. The university is located right in the heart of the beautiful mountain area of Western North Carolina, and I wrote a work which both celebrates the long and distinguished history of Mars Hill University and its lovely mountain setting. The work is scored for two combined ensembles -- an 8-part low brass ensemble of trombones, euphoniums, and tubas, and an 8-part percussion ensemble of both mallet and non-pitched percussion instruments. The music contains rich, sonorous, and joyful gestures, with stentorian fanfares, resonant chords, and lyrical melodies. It was given a truly exciting and festive premiere in October 2006 by the combined low brass and percussion ensembles of the music department of Mars Hill.
MARS HILL FANTASIA was commissioned by and is gratefully dedicated to Mars Hill College (now Mars Hill University), as part of the festivities celebrating their Sesquicentennial in 2006.The work was commissioned by their Low Brass instructor, and my friend, Dr. James Sparrow. The university is located right in the heart of the beautiful mountain area of Western North Carolina, and I wrote a work which both celebrates the long and distinguished history of Mars Hill University and its lovely mountain setting.The work is scored for two combined ensembles — an 8-part low brass ensemble of trombones, euphoniums, and tubas, and an 8-part percussion ensemble of both mallet and non-pitched percussion instruments. The music contains rich, sonorous, and joyful gestures, with stentorian fanfares, resonant chords, and lyrical melodies. It was given a truly exciting and festive premiere in October 2006 by the combined low brass and percussion ensembles of the music department of Mars Hill.

SKU: BR.EB-9145

World premiere: Melbourne, October 27, 1996

ISBN 9790004183014. 11.5 x 15 inches.

Prelude fur Ensemble - Canto I fur Klavier, Blaserquintett, Streichtrio und Schlagzeug - Intermezzo: Doubles (a2) fur Klarinette und Bassklarinette - Canto II fur Ensemble Die Stucke sind eine Umarbeitung meiner Vier Stucke fur Akkordeon. Beruhrungspunkt bzw. Ausgangspunkt fur die Ensemblefassung ist die Idee des Akkordeons als Blasinstrument, also Balglange = Atemlange, und die Analogie von Balg offnen / schliessen und Streicher-Ab / Aufstrich. Dies aber nur als Einstieg fur mich. Von dort aus verselbstandigt sich die Ensemble-Idee (bis hin zum solistischen Klarinetten-Duo): also nicht einfache Instrumentierung, sondern Um- und Neuformulierung, quasi Ruckgriff mit Blick nach vorn. Allen Stucken gemeinsam ist der Versuch, jeweils von einer quasi objektiven, also nicht von mir erfundenen, ja eigentlich nicht einmal individuell besonders ausformulierten Tonhohenvorordnung auszugehen. So ergibt sich das Tonhohenmaterial des ersten und vierten Stuckes durch mehrfache Spiegelung eines Allintervallakkords. Im zweiten und dritten Stuck werden diese Intervallqualitaten nach innen gekehrt und zum Cluster bzw. zu Skalenausschnitten eingeebnet. Diese Vorordnungen werden nun von der Musik auf immer andere Weise durchlaufen, abgetastet, ausgehorcht, wobei besonders die Instrumentalbehandlung versucht, die Aufmerksamkeit vom Tonhohensatz weg auf andere Wahrnehmungsbereiche zu lenken, d.h. ein eigenes Netz von Beziehungen, Klangabstufungs- und Umformungsprozessen zu entwickeln und dadurch die Objektivitat der Vorordnungen aufzubrechen. (z.B. bringen subjektive Lagen der Instrumente Korperlichkeit ins Spiel usw.) Es handelt sich also um den Versuch, innerhalb eines eng abgesteckten Rahmens eine moglichst grosse Skala von Ausdrucksebenen zu schaffen, vom atemlos drangenden ersten (vergl. Chopins Prelude op.28, 1) uber den fast erstarrten Zustand des zweiten, das halsbrecherische, dabei standig in sich selbst rotierende Umschiffen griff- und atemtechnischer Klippen im dritten bis hin zum leise singend beginnenden vierten Stuck. Neben diesem emotionalen Wahrnehmen bzw. in gegenseitiger Abhangigkeit ist aber immer auch ein reflektierendes Horen intendiert. In diesem Sinn beziehen sich die Stucke -besonders deutlich horbar im ersten- auch auf eine Technik Beethovens (Bagatelle op.119, VII): Ein Stuck ist zu Ende, wenn ein Gedankengang zu Ende gefuhrt ist. Im zweiten Stuck variieren die an der Klangoberflache eher starren Klavier-Melodien bei jeder Wiederholung geringfugig Anzahl und Reihenfolge ihrer Tone und die Dauern der Pausen und lenken so das Horen weg vom momentanen klanglichen Direkteindruck auf die entstehenden formalen Schwebungen. Die Stucke sind also auch innerhalb (scheinbar) vertrauten Klangmaterials immer horchend auf der Suche nach anderen, neuen Sensibilitaten. (Jorg Birkenkotter)

World premiere: Melbourne, October 27, 1996.

SKU: BO.B.3624

The Suite on Galician songs was written in 1899 and debuted on 31 October that same year, as part of a series of concerts organised by the Philharmonic Society of Barcelona at the Teatro Lirico, under the direction of Joan Lamote de Grignon.

The work is made up of four movements: I. Canto de la manana (‘Morning song'), also known as En la montana (‘In the mountains'), II. Danza Scherzo (Galician folk dance), III. Morrina (‘Homesickness') and IV. La Fiesta (finale). The entire composition is laced with Galician folk melodies, which serve as the pretext for developing a piece that is entirely descriptive and scenic in nature, by means of a meticulous and precise orchestration of great technical and folkloric interest. The work reveals not only Granados' great technical expertise as orchestrator, but also his imagination and intelligence when recreating the most distinctive sounds of traditional Galician folk music. He achieves this effect through a masterful use of instrumentation and experimentation throughout the 23 minute duration of this magnificent suite.