Par BENJAMIN GEORGE. Picture a day like this is the fourth collaboration between George Benjamin and Martin Crimp, whose acclaimed partnership produced Written on Skin, Lessons in Love and Violence, and Into the Little Hill. The opera – “a kind of Alice in Wonderland, but for adults”, says Crimp – lasts just over an hour and is cast in seven scenes. It is scored for five voices (S-S-MS-CT-Bar) and…

Par BENJAMIN GEORGE. George Benjamin’s Sometime Voices for baritone, chorus and orchestra is a setting of Caliban’s famous speech in Act III Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Composed in 1996, the 9-minute work places long, forceful baritone lines above an orchestra that drifts between an eerie tranquillity and mercurial activity. Behind this, the chorus, acting as spirits – sometimes benign, …

Par WILLIS WALLACE. A very clever treatment of this well-known traditional spiritual, the opening statement is a slow chorale moving into an easy shuffle played around 138 BPM. The melody bounces between sections then into a driving shuffle that swings. Solos are provided for trombone 1 and alto 1, lead trumpet range is to written G. This chart is excellent! / Date parution : 2025-05-20/ Répertoir…

Hercules at the crossroads (Dramma per musica) - BWV 213. Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. What does Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio¨ have to do with Hercules? More than you might think at first glance. In the fall of 1733, with the eleventh birthday of the Saxon Crown Prince Friedrich Christian fast approaching, Johann Sebastian Bach composed the secular cantata “Lasst uns sorgen, lasst uns wachen” (Let us …

for voice and piano. Par ROTA NINO. Between 1921 and 1938 Nino Rota composed twenty-one pieces for voice and piano, five of which he approved for printing. These early works made him known in the music world. The lyrics are of different origin: poems by the Indian Nobel Prize winner Tagore, a sonnet by Petrarch as well as a Tuscan folksong which was at the same time his last vocal chamber music wo…

Par SEITHER CHARLOTTE. “Lauschgut” (2018/19) follows the idea of freeing the piano from its chordal tradition. Instead, the single note is fringed so far inwards that pitch and noise can meet in “fanned-out unanimity”. The piece consists of five short fragments reduced to very little material. They are further dispersed by extensive silences between the movements: what is once said stands irretrie…

Par RAVEL MAURICE. I came up with the idea to transcribe Boléro for solo piano when I was creating my recital programmes for the 2024–2025 season. 2025 is the 150th anniversary year of of Ravel’s birth. It would be a year of many piano recitals across the world with works including Gaspard de la Nuit, Valses nobles et sentimentale”, etc. Boléro would be featured less, as the original is written fo…

Five Variations on the 'Brugg Song'. Par SPARKE PHILIP. Kaleidoscope is a set of five variations of on the ‘Brugger Lied’ (Brugg Song) which is the traditional song of the town of Brugg. The lyrics tell of the geography, people and traditions of this charming and historic town, which is situated in the north of Switzerland, near to the German border, about halfway between Basel and Zurich. Each va…

Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. Without any doubt J.S. Bach’s cycle of the three Sonatas and Partitas BWV 1001-1006 represents one of the pinnacles of classical European music. According to C.P.E. Bach a contemporary voice stated that there was „nothing more accomplished in order to become a good violinist“ than his father’s works. The cycle reflects the entire harmonic and polyphonic musical universe …

Par HAWES PATRICK. These four motets aim to create a fresh and dramatic approach to well known ancient texts. They are intended to be sung either as a complete set in the context of a concert or as individual items within a carol service or other liturgical setting. Virga Jesse calls for an atmosphere of timelessness and deep prayer which may be made all the more meditative by the hushed allelui…

These 12 brand new jazz piano solos vividly evoke the days when popular songs where built around sophisticated melodies and harmonies. Each piece has been composed to suggest a certain mood or atmosphere which encourages the intermediate level player to perform it with maximum feeling. With chord symbols included, this memorable collection combines an enjoyable celebration of a timeless genre with…

Intermediate to Upper Intermediate Level. Par . 'Upon embarking on this project, I had little idea of what I would find. There were, of course, the 'usual suspects:' women composers whose name and whose music have stood the test of time and are familiar to many. There were also those whose names ring a bell but whose music does not. The real unknowns were, well, the unknowns. How many women compos…

Music Of Our Time. Par BRYARS GAVIN. “Apart from the ten 5-minute string quartets that I wrote in 1992 as the original version of A Man in a Room, Gambling, there are 8 years between my second and third quartets. Another element which finds its way into the quartet comes from my work with groups from the world of early music, particularly from the experience of writing for a consort of viols …. In…

Score and parts for Saariaho's Cendres , arranged for Alto Flute, Cello and Piano. Quoting Saariaho: While writing Cendres , I was mainly concentrating on the interpretation of particular musical ideas by the three different instruments of the trio, each of which has its unique character and palette of colours. Musical tension is created and regulated by sometimes bringing the instruments as close…

Par PART ARVO. The basic musical material of 'Pari intervallo' by Arvo Pärt consists of two parts which move exactly parallel to each other, so that the interval between them is always the same- hence the title. 'Pari Intervallo' is reminiscent of achorale prelude which might be prefaced with the lines from Romans 14/8: 'lf we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.' Now for…