SKU: A0.1196449

This arrangement was made for Saxophone Soprano Duo and Piano. It doesn't contain chords.

SKU: A0.1164091

This adaptation was intended for a small group of string quintet, where the original essence of the piece was kept, however, with a reduction in the duration, where only the main themes of the opening were extracted. As it is simplified, it is intended for beginner students of instrumental music who want to enter orchestral music, even in a simplified and reduced form, and can be used by music teachers with their students in ensemble practice in situations such as academic recitals, didactic concerts, or assessment tests.

The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, known as the Symphony of Destiny, by Ludwig van Beethoven, written between 1804 and 1808, is one of the most popular and best known compositions in the entire repertoire of European music. The four movements are characterized by orchestral homogeneity, being, at the same time, an example of alternation: the first movement, revealing great tension, denounced by the strings and raised to an extreme drama; the second movement reveals solemnity, in a funeral march that rises by its emotion and beauty; the third movement, a crispness; the fourth movement expresses triumph and magnificence.

SKU: HX.1478262

SKU: AX.00-PC-0014302_WPTN1TC

UPC: 038081356198.

Total and extreme development of a four-note motif was the catalyst for the creative seed. Including some contemporary compositional techniques woven within beautiful soaring melodic material generates a highly effective overture. This 'romp' grows into a full ensemble, rich with floating and flowing variations. The finale builds in tempo and grandeur taking our familiar theme and swirling it into a rousing and vibrant conclusion. A sure winner! (5:15).

SKU: A0.1171870

This adaptation was intended for a small group of string quartet, where the original essence of the piece was kept, however, with a reduction in the duration, where only the main themes of the opening were extracted. As it is simplified, it is intended for beginner students of instrumental music who want to enter orchestral music, even in a simplified and reduced form, and can be used by music teachers with their students in ensemble practice in situations such as academic recitals, didactic concerts, or assessment tests.

The Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, known as the Symphony of Destiny, by Ludwig van Beethoven, written between 1804 and 1808, is one of the most popular and best known compositions in the entire repertoire of European music. The four movements are characterized by orchestral homogeneity, being, at the same time, an example of alternation: the first movement, revealing great tension, denounced by the strings and raised to an extreme drama; the second movement reveals solemnity, in a funeral march that rises by its emotion and beauty; the third movement, a crispness; the fourth movement expresses triumph and magnificence.

SKU: A0.1018943

Programme Notes:

 This composition was written to be considered for pairing alongside Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony #3, the Eroica, but can stand on its own virtues as an intense and slow meditation on heroism. The music is like a boiling pot on the stove that’s just began to overflow its bubbles.

 The first part of the title, kommos, is a Classical Greek term from Attic dramaturgy, literally meaning striking but specifically referring to beating oneself up during lamentation--ripping at the hair, gouging out the eyes--like Oedipus--slapping the forehead, and other acts amid moments of extreme emotional turmoil. For example, from Aeschylus's play Agamemnon, a character bewails: Apollo, Apollo! God of the Ways, my destroyer! For you have destroyed me-and utterly [...]What is this fresh woe [...]what monstrous, monstrous horror, beyond love's enduring, beyond all remedy? And help stands far away! We can easily imagine physical accompaniment to the script; rather than bottling up the pain, the hero lets it all explosively come out.  

 The second part of the title, When the world moved on, is an epigraph taken from American author Stephen King’s The Dark Tower epic. The primary setting of the novel, a world similar in many ways to our own, is experiencing a dark age where the glorious past is all but a distant memory and all good things are referred to wistfully as occurring, When the world moved on. Yet, the main protagonist, Roland, the last gunslinger, emphasizes that it is not just a figure of speech, but the literal distances between destinations have increased, the positions of the stars have changed, as well as the occurrence of other unnatural phenomena. The world has become a gulf of isolation from all corners.

 Taken together, this piece is a lamentation for when the world moved on. Truly completed on Yom Kippur during the Covid-19 Pandemic, being unable to fast or go to synagogue, this is my atonement.

About the Composer:

 Benjamin Sajo (b. 1988) is a Canadian composer of contemporary classical music, as well as an educator. Since developing a fiercely independent creative voice upon the completion of his studies at Western (2010) and McGill Universities (2013), he continues to find inspiration from the intersection of mythology, art, and nature upon the contemporary human experience. In 2019, he released his premiere album of original music, The Great War Sextet: Canadian War Poetry with Trombone & Strings, with support from the Ontario Arts Council. He is a member of SOCAN and the League of Canadian Composers.