Toccata from Sonata in A

SKU: PR.114423350

ISBN 9781491135112. UPC: 680160686339.

This stunning addition to the bassoon repertory features dramatic outer movements framing a slow and plaintive aria. Harberg’s program notes put the drama and its crying-out high notes in the context of writing in 2021: “The composition was deeply influenced by disruptive forces unfolding around us. While this unrest made writing difficult at times and brought me to uncomfortable places within myself, the process was also full of unexpected discoveries and musical solutions I never would have found in less troubled times.”.
Connections are all around us. I first met bassoonist Adrian Morejon while writing my Suite for Wind Quintet for the Dorian Wind Quintet in 2017. He and I quickly became fast friends and decided to collaborate on a new piece. Over the next two years, Adrian assembled a phenomenal group of 28 bassoonists from around the world to be co-commissioners. Adrian and I premiered the resulting sonata at the International Double Reed Society’s 2021 Virtual Symposium.The SONATA was composed between January and June 2021. In composing it, my goal was to offer bassoonists a substantial work that would show off the instrument’s remarkable strengths including its athletic agility, gorgeous singing qualities, and enormous range. While I generally avoid being programmatic, this composition was deeply influenced by the disruptive forces unfolding around us. While this unrest made writing difficult at times and often brought me to uncomfortable places within myself, the process was also full of unexpected discoveries and musical solutions I never would have found in less troubled times.I am deeply grateful to Adrian for our collaboration, and to everyone in the consortium for making the SONATA possible.

SKU: HL.49007670

ISBN 9790001082273. 9.25x12.0x0.12 inches.

The nature of jazz has its roots in improvisation. The Jazz Sonata contains written-out pieces which correspond with improvised figures and formulae of jazz, while at the same time combining specific technical practice material with formal structures borrowed from 'art music'. With these features, the pieces are intended not only for practising jazz musicians but-perhaps even more-for pianists and teachers who, to complement their involvement with popular music, are looking for information and connections with jazz and its practice methods. The pieces are valid as individual pieces for teaching purposes or for use in a programme.

SKU: PR.110406720

UPC: 680160001316.

I have always been fond of writing works for specific people or organizations. It has been my good fortune during most of my creative career to be asked to compose for many extraordinary performers. The Sonata for Harpsichord Solo is such a case in point: it was written in 1982 for Barbara Harbach, a superb performer, close friend, and collaborator on many musical projects. The Sonata was premiered on March 2, 1984, in a recital given by Dr. Harbach at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. During my formative years as a composer, one seldom heard of the harpsichord as a modern instrument, though while I attended undergraduate school at Boston University, some of us banded together to construct a small harpsichord from one of the first do-it-yourself kits which began to appear in the late '40s. It was also during this time that I heard the Sonatina for Violin and Harpsichord by my teacher Walter Piston and consequently specified that the accompanying instrument for my second violin sonata could either be a piano or a harpsichord. It was not until recently, however, that my interest in the harpsichord as a solo instrument for new music was aroused. This was because of the emergence of so many young virtuosi, such as Barbara Harbach, who are interested in the performance of new music besides the great harpsichord music of the Classical, Baroque, and pre-Baroque eras. The keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti has always intrigued and fascinated me. The brevity, excitement, and clarity of this sparkling music is charming as well as exhilarating. It is this type of Baroque sonata that inspired the conception and form of my harpsichord sonata. The entire work is loosely based on the musical translation of Barabara Harbach's name, especially the conflict of the B (B-flat) and H (B-natural in German notation). This secondo rub or dissonance especially pervades the first movement, which is in a modified sonata form, pitting jagged and tense melodic elements against most lyrical and smooth lines. This second movement is a song-like melody accompanied by rolled chords which may be played on the lute stop of the instrument if this sonata is performed on a two-manual harpsichord. The final movement is an ever-driving joyous toccata which brings the work to an exciting close with a coda made up of accelerating repeated chords. --Samuel Adler.