SKU: PR.110418260
ISBN 9781491129500. UPC: 680160690411.
Three snapshots of 1930â??s American modernism intermingle with lyrical charm in this set of miniatures. Still finding his path as both a novelist and a composer, Bowles composed SONATINA FRAGMENTARIA at age 23 while vacationing in Europe with his mentor Aaron Copland. Influences of jazz, atonality, formalism, and warm lyricism all play off each other in this brief-yet-satisfying work.
SKU: HL.50602064
ISBN 9781540059109. UPC: 888680953508. 9x12 inches. German-English.
After a journey, for a long time we draw on all the memories, experiences, and encounters with people and the impressions of fascinating creatures and landscapes. The compositions in this edition are snapshots to listen to. For each of them, I remembered a very specific image, experience or feeling I had during one of my trips, reinterpreting it in sounds. Furthermore, the pieces are suitable for introducing and establishing the essential separation of the three fingers of the right hand. The requirements for the left hand are manageable and most chords only involve holding one or two fingers down. –Rainer Schrecklinger.
SKU: PR.114408750
UPC: 680160013289. 8.5 x 11 inches.
This work was commissioned by the Friends of the Phoenix Public Library for the dedication of the new Music Room and made possible in part through the funds from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Meet the Composer-Arizona. Diary of a Journey was composed between July and September 1995 for the group Arpeggio. During the early summer of 1995, my wife and I took a vacation to Prague and Budapest. It was the first trip for both of us to these former Iron Curtain capitals. The train ride through the beautiful country-side, the dilapidated small villages and towns, the magnificent architecture and the feeling of grandeur in the two major cities left an indelible impression on me. I longed to write some kind of an essay about it. Diary of a Journey is the result of some of these thoughts, which were sketched (musically) as we visited each place. There are four 'snapshots' or movements which do not portray a specific scene, but rather try to capture the impressions I gathered from the people we observed and met, and the many awe-inspiring experiences we had. Throughout the journey, I felt that people were clinging to a tenacious hope for a better future, no matter how long it will take to realize it. In the first movement each player portrays a struggle against all odds, and with great energy and even wit tries to overcome the obstacles, ending on one serene high note as a resting point after all the conflict. The second 'snapshot' tries to capture the deep faith of a newly regained religiosity. It is chant-like, and uses as its basic melodic material a famous Czech hymn, penned by the great religious reformer John Huss. This movement is played very freely, without bar-lines and with the hymn shining through the fervent chanting. The third movement is a kind of 'demonic' scherzo. Fast and furious, the three instruments vie with one another in a true perpetual motion frenzy, which is at times relieved by short, more pastoral melodic fragments. A rather wild ending should leave everyone breathless. Finally, in the fourth 'snapshot' the instruments play a bit more as a team, meaning that is that there is more melody with accompaniment, and more imitative music giving the impression of a group effort. The energy is still at a high level but long lyrical lines abound, accompanied and interrupted at times by undulating fast notes still depicting the struggle against the blight which any visitor notices all around these countries, yet also showing the determination of the people to conquer adversity. --Samuel Adler.
