orch estra 19 77-2007 - music sales...

ORCHESTRA

A SELEC T I O N O F MUS I C F OR ORCHES T R A

PUB L I S H ED B Y TH E MUS I C S A L E S GROUP

1977-2007

MUSIC SALES

ORCHESTRA

David LangNicola LeFanu

Kenneth LeightonPeter LiebersonMagnus LindbergBent Lorentzen

Witold LutoslawskiJohnMcCabe

Elizabeth MaconchyStuart MacRaeRoger Marsh

Benedict MasonPeter Maxwell Davies

Nico MuhlyTheaMusgrave

Anders NordentoftArne NordheimPer NørgårdIb Nørholm

Michael NymanTarik O’ReganAnthony PayneFrancis Poulenc

Mel PowellAndre Previn

Karl Aage RasmussenRobert X Rodríguez

Niels Rosing-SchowPoul RudersKaija SaariahoAulis Sallinen

Esa-Pekka SalonenRobert SaxtonGunther SchullerBright ShengJean SibeliusRoberto SierraBent Sørensen

Nathaniel StookeyIgor StravinskyCarlos SurinachGiles SwayneJoby TalbotTan Dun

Karen TanakaJohn Tavener

Augusta Read ThomasMichael Tilson Thomas

Joan TowerParam VirRolf WallinJudith Weir

JamesWhitbournJulia WolfeHughWoodYehudi Wyner

MUSIC SALES

Hans AbrahamsenMark AdamoJohn Adams

Stephen AlbertGeorge AntheilMalcolm ArnoldSimon BainbridgeSamuel Barber

Richard Rodney BennettNiels Viggo Bentzon

Erik BergmanLennox BerkeleyAntonio Bibalo

Anders BrødsgaardChristopher Brown

Peter BruunGeoffrey BurgonElliott CarterDaniel CatánJustin ConnollyJohn Corigliano

Richard DanielpourAnthony DavisDavid DiamondAvner Dorman

Ludovico EinaudiBrian Elias

Danny ElfmanDuke EllingtonManuel de Falla

Gabriela Lena FrankKarsten FundalPhilip Glass

Michael GordonHenryk Mikolaj Górecki

Morton GouldEdward Gregson

Pelle Gudmundsen-HolmgreenBarry Guy

Haflidi HallgrímssonJohn HarbisonDave Heath

HansWerner HenzeVagn HolmboeSimon Holt

Joseph HorovitzKarel HusaCharles Ives

Jouni KaipainenRobert KapilowAaron Jay KernisTristan KeurisLeon KirchnerAnders KoppelEzra Laderman

JapanYamahaMusic Media CorporationSakuragaoka-cho 8-27, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150, JapanTelephone: +81 (3) 3462 6210Fax: +81 (3) 3462 6225E-mail: [email protected]

NB for works published by Dunvagen, see United Kingdom

LuxembourgEditions Mario Bois SA (hire)See France

Chester Music France (grand rights)See France


MexicoG. Schirmer, Inc.See United States of America

MonacoEditions Mario Bois SA (hire)See France



The NetherlandsMuziekhandel Albersen & CoGroot Hertoginnelaan 182, 2517 EV Den Haag, HollandTelephone: +31 (70) 34 56 000Fax: +31 (70) 36 14 528E-mail: [email protected]

New ZealandAllans Publishing (hire)See Australia

G. Schirmer Pty Limited (grand rights)See Australia

South AfricaAccent Music CCPO Box 30634, Braamfontein 2017, South AfricaTelephone: +27 11 339 1431Fax: +27 11 339 7365E-mail: [email protected]


South America(except Argentina, Chile and Uruguay)G. Schirmer, Inc.See United States of America

South KoreaMusic Sales LimitedSee United Kingdom

SpainMonge e Boceta, SLGoya 103, 28009Madrid, SpainTelephone: +34 (91) 431 6505Fax: +34 (91) 577 9166


SwedenEdition Wilhelm Hansen ASSee Denmark

SwitzerlandInternationale Musikverlage Hans SikorskiSee Germany


United KingdomMusic Sales LimitedNewmarket Road, Bury St Edmunds,Suffolk IP33 3YB, EnglandTelephone: +44 (1284) 705705Fax: +44 (1284) 703401E-mail: [email protected] (hire);[email protected] (grand rights)

United States of AmericaG. Schirmer, Inc.Rental and Performance DepartmentPO Box 572, 445 Bellevale Road,Chester NY 10918, USATelephone: +1 (845) 469 4699Fax: +1 (845) 469 7544E-mail: [email protected]

UruguayG. Schirmer, Inc. (hire)See United States of America

Osma Songs (grand rights)See Argentina

For countries not listed above,please contact the company

which deals with the publisherof the work you wish to hire,

as listed below...

Chester Music, J. Curwen, Dunvagen,G. Schirmer (Australia), Novello,

Nordiska Musikförlaget,Paterson’s Publications,Unión Musical Ediciones

Music Sales LimitedSee United Kingdom

Alhambra RXR, Associated Music Publishers,Boosey & Hawkes, Carlanita Music,

EMI, GunMar Music, G. Schirmer, Inc,MalcolmMusic, Red Poppy,

Schirmer Russian Music,Shawnee Press, VAAP

G. Schirmer, Inc.See United States of America

Edition Wilhelm HansenEdition Wilhelm Hansen

See Denmark

Hire and grand rights representationThe companies of the Music Sales Groups arerepresented according to territory as follows...

ArgentinaRoberto Barry (hire)Av. Rogue Sáenz Peña 1185 – 8° “N”,1035 Buenos Aires, ArgentinaTelephone: +54 (1) 382 3230Fax: +54 (1) 383 3946

Osma Songs (grand rights)Av. Rogue Sáenz Peña 1185 – 8° “N”,1035 Buenos Aires, ArgentinaTelephone: +54 (1) 382 3230Fax: +54 (1) 383 3946


Asia(except China, India, Japan, South Korea)Allans Publishing (hire)See Australia

G. Schirmer Pty LimitedSee Australia

AustraliaAllans Publishing (hire)Level 1, Building 6, Palmer Parade, 64 Balmain Street,Richmond VIC 3121, AustraliaTelephone: +61 (3) 8415 8026Fax: +61 (3) 8415 8088E-mail: [email protected]

G. Schirmer Pty Limited (grand rights)4th Floor, Lisgar House, 32 Carrington Street,Sydney NSW 2000, AustraliaTelephone: +61 (2) 9299 8877Fax: +61 (2) 9299 6564E-mail: [email protected]

AustriaInternationale Musikverlage Hans SikorskiSee Germany


BelgiumEditions Mario Bois SA (hire)See France



CanadaG. Schirmer, Inc.See United States of America

ChileG. Schirmer, Inc. (hire)See United States of America

Osma Songs (grand rights)See Argentina

ChinaMusic Sales LimitedSee United Kingdom

DenmarkEdition Wilhelm Hansen ASBornholmsgade 1, 1266 Copenhagen K, DenmarkTelephone: +45 (33) 11 78 88Fax: +45 (33) 14 81 78E-mail: [email protected] (hire); [email protected] (grand rights)

Faroe IslandsEdition Wilhelm Hansen ASSee Denmark

FinlandFennica Gehrman Oy AB (hire)Lönnrotinkatu 20 B, 00121 Helsinki, FinlandTelephone: +358 (9) 7590 6311Fax: +358 (9) 7590 6312E-mail: [email protected]

For grand rights, please contact the company whichdeals with the publisher of the work you wish to hire,as listed below

FranceEditions Mario Bois SA (hire)19 rue de Rocroy, 75010 Paris, FranceTelephone: +33 (1) 42 82 10 46Fax: +33 (1) 42 82 10 19E-mail: [email protected]

Chester Music France (grand rights)10 rue de la Grange-Batelière, 75009 Paris, FranceTelephone: +33 (1) 53 24 68 52Fax: +33 (1) 53 24 68 49E-mail: [email protected]

GermanyInternationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski20139 Hamburg, GermanyTelephone: +49 (40) 4141 0029Fax: +49 (40) 4141 0050E-mail: [email protected] (hire);[email protected] (grand rights)


GreenlandEdition Wilhelm Hansen ASSee Denmark

IndiaMusic Sales LimitedSee United Kingdom

IrelandMusic Sales LimitedSee United Kingdom

ItalyBMG Ricordi S.p.A.Rental DepartmentVia Liguria 4, Frazione Sesto Ulteriano,20098 San Giuliano Milanese (MI), ItalyTelephone: +39 (0)2 98813 4213Fax: +39 (0)2 98813 4258E-mail: [email protected]


Explanation of intrumentation of scores asshown in the listings

Orchestra and ensemble instrumentation appear in scoreorder as follows...

flute.oboe.clarinet.saxophone.bassoon/horn.trumpet.trombone.tuba/percussion/harp.keyboard/other plucked strings/violin1.violin2.viola.cello.doublebass/continuo/electronic tape/

Another example...pic(afl).1[=ca].1+bcl.1/2100/perc.[timp]/str

pic(afl).1[=ca].1+bcl.1

1 piccolo (doubling alto flute), 1 oboe (or cor anglais), 1clarinet plus 1 bass clarinet, 1 bassoon

2100

2 horns, 1 trumpet

perc.[timp]

1 percussion player, 1 optional timpanist

str

string group of 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellosand double basses, without any specific demandsas to the number of strings

Title of Work (date)Duration: 17’2(pic,afl)2(ca)2(Ebcl:bcl)2/4.1[=cnt].2+btbn.[1]/hp.2pf/str(14.12.10.8.6)Premiere: February 17 1977, New YorkNew York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez, conductor

The brief description of the piece, completed on the last dayof 1976, this score was commissioned to mark the U.S.bicentennial. Hence the composer’s recourse to a poemhe had long contemplated setting: Hart Crane’s sixty-pageThe Bridge, a vision of America as a metaphysical ideal:the realization of liberty and home of contraries. Crane’sopening image of a gull wheeling high above Brooklyn Bridgeis marvellously evoked in a long, looping trumpet solo nearthe start, and later the work seems to re-conceive Crane’sdepictions of multitudes, of speed, of heavy industry and ofhistory metamorphosed into myth. It is the interweaving ofstrands that requires three orchestras.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

A plus in front of theinstrument indicatesuse of an additionalinstrument.Here, 2+btbn signifiesthat there are two trom-bone players and a basstrombone player.

Doublings separated bya comma indicate thatthe doublings are takenby one player.Here, 2(afl,pic) signifiesthat one of the flutesdoubles both alto fluteand piccolo.

Instruments in anordinary bracketindicate doubling.Here, 2(ca) signifies thatthe oboe player alsoplays the cor anglais.

Instruments in squarebrackets indicatesthat the instrumentis optional:Here, [1] signifies thatthe tuba is optional.

Doublings separated bya colon indicate thatthe doublings are takenby different players.Here, 2(Ebcl:bcl)signifies that oneclarinet doubles the Ebclarinet and the otherdoubles bass clarinet.

Instruments precededby an equals signin square bracketsindicate alternatives.Here, 1[=cnt] signifiesthat the trumpet can bereplaced by a cornet.

Abbreviations used in the listings

A, a Alto (voice), alto (prefix)acn accordionacc accompaniedacl alto clarinetafl alto fluteamp amplifiedarr arrangedasx alto saxophone

B, b Bass (voice), bass (instrument), bornBar, bar Baritone (voice), baritone (instrument)barsx baritone saxophonebc basso continuobcl bass clarinetBD bass drumbfl bass flutebgtr bass guitarbjo banjobn bassoonbr brassbtbn bass trombonebthn basset hornbvn bass violin

C Contralto (voice)ca cor anglaiscbcl contrabass clarinetcbn contrabassooncel celestechm chimescimb cimbalomcl clarinetconc concertantecont continuocond conductorcrot crotalesCt Countertenor (voice)ctpt trumpet in Ccym cymbals

d double (prefix)db doublebassdigpf digital pianodiv divisidm drumdmkit drumkit

Ebcl E flat clarinetEbtpt E flat trumpetedb electric double bassegtr electric guitarepf electric pianoed edited byens ensembleeorg electric organeuph euphoniumevn electric violin

fl fluteflg flugelhorn

glock glockenspielgtr guitar

hca harmonicahmn harmoniumhn hornHorg Hammond organhp harphpd harpsichord

inst instruments

man mandolinmba marimbamed mediummin minimumMz Mezzo soprano

Narr narrator

ob oboeobda oboe d’amoreobbl obbligatoom ondes martenotopt optionalorch orchestraorg organ

perc percussionpf pianopic piccolopictpt piccolo trumpetpr preparedpt part

real realisedrec recorderreconstr reconstructed byred reducedrev revised

S Soprano (voice)sarrus sarrusophonesc scoresd snare drumssx soprano saxophonestr stringsstr4tet string quartetstr5tet string quintetsyn synthesiser

T Tenor (voice)tab tabortam tam-tamtamb tambourinetba tubatbells tubular bellstbn trombonetgl triangletimp timpanitp tapetpt trumpetTr Treble (voice)transcr transcribedtrec tenor recordertsx tenor saxophonettbn tenor trombone

uke ukelele

va violavadg viola da gambavc cellovib vibraphonevn violin

Wtba Wagner tubaww woodwind

xyl xylophone

ORCHESTRA1977-2007

8

This catalogue lists leading orchestral worksfrom the last thirty years that are availablefrom the Music Sales Group, through ourinternational network of publishing houses.The works are listed in chronological order oftheir world premieres. You can read thecatalogue from start to finish for a pottedhistory of how the orchestral world haschanged since 1977. Alternatively, you canuse the indices at the back of this catalogueto home in on works by particular composers,or works for particular instrumental forces.

For further information about the completerange of composers and music represented bythe Music Sales Group please contact any ofour worldwide offices listed on the previouspage and on the inside back cover.

1977Pieces from the fathers of modern Danish and Americanmusic, four virtuosic concertos for the leading soloists ofthe day, one short, humorous work written for a line-up offamous names, and one long, serious, work that made thecomposer himself famous some 15 years later…

Elliott CarterSymphony of Three Orchestras (1976)Duration: 17’Orch I: 0000/322+btbn.1/timp/str(8.0.4.3.2)Orch II: 002(bcl)+Ebcl.0/0000/chm.vib.xyl/mba/str(2.0.0.3.1)Orch III: 2+pic.2+ca.02+cbn/2000/perc/str(8.0.4.0.2)Premiere: February 17 1977, New YorkNew York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez, conductor

Completed on the last day of 1976, this score wascommissioned to mark the U.S. bicentennial. Hence thecomposer’s recourse to a poem he had long contemplatedsetting, Hart Crane’s sixty-page The Bridge: a vision ofAmerica as a realization of liberty and home of contraries.Crane’s opening image of a gull wheeling high aboveBrooklyn Bridge is marvellously evoked in a long, loopingtrumpet solo near the start, while later the work seems tore-conceive Crane’s depictions of multitudes, of speed, ofheavy industry and of history metamorphosed into myth. Itis the interweaving of strands that requires ‘threeorchestras’, i.e. a standard symphony orchestra split intothree divisions placed across the platform.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Per Nørgård

Twilight (1976-1977 rev. 1979)Duration: 17’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf.cel/strPremiere: March 18 1977, De Doelen, RotterdamRotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Tamás Vetö, conductor

Composed to a commission by the Rotterdam Philharmonic,Nørgård’s short work carries a title taken from a quote bythe Brazilian-born American author and anthropologistCarlos Castaneda: “The world is a mysterious place…especially at twilight”. The Latin-American influence can beheard in the conga drum, but the piece also displays a lessliteral inspiration – it is full of all kinds of “twilights”, in theshape of a series of examinations of the thresholdsbetween a variety of musical phenomena. Melodies,rhythms and textures imperceptibly merge; before one isover, the next one is already present.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Henryk Mikolaj GóreckiSymphony No.3 ‘Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs’ (1976)Duration: 54’solo soprano4(2pic)042+2cbn/4040/hp.pf/str(16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: April 4 1977, RoyanStefania Woytowicz, soprano; Symphony Orchestra of South German RadioBaden-Baden; Ernest Bour, conductor

The first performance of this monumental work wassavaged by critics, and the piece seemed destined forobscurity. But somehow the performances and broadcastskept coming, and in the early 1990s the recording by DawnUpshaw and the London Sinfonietta sold over a millioncopies worldwide, establishing the piece as a modernclassic. Over the years both its ‘message’ and style havegenerated endless debate – is it a memorial to Polishsuffering under Hitler? A betrayal of the avant-garde?Górecki himself has steadfastly steered clear of all thecontroversy, stating: “it’s a normal Symphony of SorrowfulSongs”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

Joseph HorovitzJubilee Toy Symphony (1977)Duration: 7’17perc (min)/pf/str(1.1.1.1.0)[+db]Premiere: June 5 1977, Gala Concert for Youth and Music,Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, LondonA gathering of distinguished musicians and actors;Sir Colin Davis, conductor

This celebratory, comedic piece from a composer wellknown for his wit and invention was commissioned by theLondon Celebrations Committee for the Queen’s SilverJubilee, especially for the Gala Concert given by Youth &Music at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Anextraordinary line-up of musical celebrities participated inthe premiere, including Graham Johnson and Melvyn Tan onchime bars, Ann Murray and MalcolmWilliamson on jingle-bells, Nigel Kennedy on wood blocks, Richard RodneyBennett on castanets, Jack Brymer on tambourine, andYehudi Menuhin on drum.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

John McCabePiano Concerto No.3 ‘Dialogues’ (1976)Duration: 37’solo Piano3(pic)33(bcl)3(cbn)/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: August 5 1977, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, UKIlan Rogoff, piano; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra;Sir Charles Groves, conductor

John McCabe is equally well-known as composer andpianist, and this, his latest and largest piano concerto,represents his most ambitious work for the instrument heknows best. The piece explores every possible relationshipbetween soloist and orchestra – the pianist exchangesideas with the orchestra, plays chamber music with a groupof nine soloists, and in the final movement comes todominate the orchestra in spectacularly virtuosic fashion.This highly significant work was commissioned for anappropriately significant occasion – the farewell concertof Sir Charles Groves, ending his famous fourteen-yearassociation with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

1977 ORCHESTRA

11

Facing page: Elliott Carter(see Symphony of Three Orchestras above)

Richard Rodney BennettActaeon (Metamorphosis I) (1977)Duration: 20’solo horn2(pic)2(ca)2(Ebcl,bcl)2/3.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: August 12 1977, BBC Promenade Concerts, Royal Albert HallBarry Tuckwell, horn; BBC Symphony Orchestra;Walter Susskind, conductor

Actaeon is perhaps best described as a tone-poem for hornand symphony orchestra, based on one of the many legendsin Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The huntsman Actaeon comesby chance to a pool in the woods where the goddessArtemis is bathing. Offended at his intrusion, she decidesto punish him by turning him into a stag, whereupon,deprived of the power of speech and unable to identifyhimself, he is hunted down and killed by his own hounds.Actaeon was written at the request of Barry Tuckwell, towhom it is dedicated, and whose virtuosity inspired itsexpressive use of unusual horn techniques.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Aulis SallinenCello Concerto (1976)Duration: 23’solo cello2(pic)22(bcl)2/4220/timp.2perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: September 6 1977, Lucerne Music FestivalArto Noras, cello; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Jorma Panula, conductor

Sallinen’s Cello Concerto is one of those rare pieces tohave stayed in the repertoire ever since its premiere.Sallinen has said that the cello is his favourite instrument,and in this work in particular he exploits the cello’s abilityto produce long, expressive, melodic lines. The work hasa very unusual structure – a long first movement beginswith a set of variations and closes with a funeral march,while the second movement is a short, lively finale. TheCello Concerto displays the lyricism, and juxtaposition ofdramatic extremes, that has made Sallinen one of the mostperformed opera composers of the last thirty years.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Per NørgårdTowards Freedom? (1977)Duration: 5’2.2.2.2/4.2.2.0/timp.2perc/strPremiere: November 20 1977, Tivoli Concert Hall, CopenhagenCopenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra; John Frandsen, conductor

Per Nørgård’s short orchestral work was commissioned byAmnesty International, and is the perfect response totoday’s uncertain world. The piece has two alternativeendings, inviting the possibility that it can be performedtwice in the same concert – the first time with the ending thatis rather ambiguous, then the second time with a clearerending, and without the question mark in the title. In otherwords, the piece becomes the answer to the question that itposes, and offers hope for people who are uncertain of theirliberty. As relevant a piece in 2007as it was thirty years ago.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John CoriglianoConcerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (1977)Duration: 29’Solo clarinet3+pic.3+ca.3+bcl.3+cbn/6431/timp.3perc/hp.pf/str(14.14.12.12.6 players min)Premiere: December 6 1977, New YorkNew York Philharmonic, Stanley Drucker, clarinet,Leonard Bernstein, conductor

Colourful, eclectic and fantastically entertaining, JohnCorigliano’s Concerto received a standing ovation at everyone of its initial five performances, and has passed into the

repertoire to stand alongside the Copland as one of thegreat American works for clarinet. Audiences are wowed bythe virtuosic clarinet writing and the dramatic exchangeswith the orchestral horns, but a piece could not become thispopular without real depth. This is provided in the secondmovement “Elegy”, with its lengthy violin solo that is atribute to Corigliano’s father, concertmaster of the NewYork Philharmonic for 23 years, who had died just two yearspreviously.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

1978A year of encounters – East meets West, jocularity meetsseverity, the ‘king of instruments’ encounters a symphonyorchestra, formal serialismmeets romantic lyricism. Also ayear of homage – three large-scale British works pay tributeto Haydn, Dürer, and the symphonic tradition itself.

Gunther SchullerDeaï (Encounters) (1978)Duration: 35’2 Sopranos, Mezzo Soprano, Alto, Tenor, 2 Baritones, BassThree orchestras and conductorsOrch I (on-stage): 4(pic)4(ca)6(2bcl,cbcl)4(cbn)/5541/timp.2perc/cel.2hp.pf/strOrch II (off-stage): 222(bcl)2/2220/perc/hp/strOrch III (off-stage): 2(pic)2(ca)22/2210/perc/cel/strPremiere: March 17 1978, Boston Symphony Orchestra,Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Schuller, named by one critic as ‘the great Americaneclectic’, has created in his work Deaï, (translated from theJapanese as ‘Encounters’), a work that is both immenselymusical and physical. Alongside the rich juxtaposition ofborrowed and original musical happenings – beginning, forexample, with echoes of the three backstage orchestras inDon Giovanni’s dinner scene – Schuller focused on thevisual effect, having the off-stage players, whose role itwas to challenge and answer the main orchestra, filteronstage during the performance. The composer envisagedthis as a symbol of the recent trend of Asian musicians‘infiltrating’ Western Orchestras, the final merging ofmusical groups interpreted as a ‘symbolic handshake’between East and West.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Vagn HolmboeConcerto giocondo e severo (1977)Duration: 10’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.perc/strPremiere: April 18 1978, Gothenburg, SwedenAarhus Orchestra; Jorma Panula., conductor

As one might expect from the great innovator of Danishmusic in generation after Nielsen, this short “concerto fororchestra” is not a typical essay in the genre. Theorchestration is relatively transparent, and this is not agrand showpiece. The piece is cast in one movement,divided into a succession of different tempi and sectionsthat contrast with each other in character. A fortissimochord from the whole orchestra starts the slow, somewhattentative “severo” introduction. But another fortissimooutbreak cuts this short, before strings and the woodwindstogether pronounce the beginning of the first rapid(“giocondo”) section.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

ORCHESTRA 1977-1978

12

Facing page: Richard Rodney Bennett(see above and pages 34, 43 and 51)

15

1978 ORCHESTRA

Lennox BerkeleySymphony No.4 (1978)Duration: 30’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.perc/hp/strPremiere: May 30 1978, Royal Festival Hall, LondonRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Charles Groves, conductor

Berkeley’s 4th was not only his final Symphony, but the finallarge-scale work that he completed. The piece can be seenas a full realisation of the ideas of the 3rd Symphony,but whereas that was a 15-minute single-movement work,in the following piece Berkeley’s late, intense style is drawnover a three-movement, 30-minute span. As usual withBerkeley’s music, there is a wonderful economy of means,as a huge amount of material is generated from a tinyinterval or figure – in this case a motif built of rising thirdsthat seems to drive the music forward.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John McCabeSymphony No.3 ‘Hommages’ (1978)Duration: 24’3(pic)333(cbn)/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: July 11 1978, Royal Festival Hall, LondonRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra; Charles Dutoit, conductor

This symphony pays homage not only to the composersMcCabe feels indebted to, particularly Haydn and Nielsen,but also to the symphony itself. The first movement is afree, fantasia-like treatment of an open sonata form; thisoverlaps with a slow movement that can be seen as acommentary on the slow movement of Haydn’s StringQuartet Op.76 No.6. The finale grows indiscernibly out ofthe slow movement, and combines variation technique withthe form of a fugue. As the music progresses the tempoquickens, leading to a final statement of the work’s openingtheme that affirms its relationship with both the fuguetheme and that of the slow movement.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Justin ConnollyDiaphony (1977)Duration: 30’solo organ33(ca)33(cbn)/4441/timp.3perc/pf/strPremiere: August 31 1978, Winchester CathedralGillian Weir, organ; Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra;Norman Del Mar, conductor

This major work has at its core the fascinating concept of‘timbral dissonance’. Connolly writes, “Despite attemptsto create organs which produced sounds analogous toorchestral timbres, the fact remains that, from the pointof view of tonal properties, organ and orchestra are polaropposites”. The composer accentuates this by givingdifferent material to the organ and orchestra, sometimesplayed simultaneously and sometimes alternately,producing a work rich in colour and interest. Shortlyafter its premiere at Winchester Cathedral the work wasrepeated at the BBC Proms in the Albert Hall, an appropriatefurther polar opposite of locations.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Leon KirchnerMusic for Flute and Orchestra (1978)Duration: 13’3333/4331/timp.5[+]perc/pf(cel,[epf]).hp/strPremiere: October 20 1978, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra,Paula Robinson, flute, John Nelson, conductor

Leon Kirchner is one of the great links between theEuropean and American traditions. Born in the US toRussian parents, he studied with Schoenberg and becameone of the great exponents of serial technique in thesecond half of the twentieth century. His two great single-movement works for solo instrument and large orchestra –Music for Flute and Orchestra (1978) andMusic for Celloand Orchestra (1992) have been described as exemplifying“the twilight of romanticism”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Christopher BrownTriptych (1978)Duration: 34’3(pic).2+ca.3(Ebcl:bcl).2+cbn/4331/timp.6perc/hp.pf(cel).[org]/strPremiere: December 7 1978, Birmingham Town Hall, UKCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Vernon Handley, conductor

Taking as his starting point the woodcuts and engravings ofAlbrecht Dürer, whose simple yet expressive mastery hadlong inspired him, Brown created a work inspired by Dürer’sart, though never directly programmatic. The first movementprovides the focal point of the work with the subsequent twoshorter movements developing material taken from it, as ifstudying a common subject from different viewpoints. Thepiece ends with a theme and variations which at its climaxquotes fromMartin Luther’s great chorale ‘Ein feste Burg’.Fittingly, Triptych was completed 450 years to the day ofDürer’s death.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Facing page: John McCabe(see left and pages 11, 24 and 83)

1979Two major ballet scores, one short string piece, threesymphonies and three concertos, including four award-winning, pluralist works by the elder statesmen of Danishand Norwegian music…

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen

Symphony Antiphony (1977)Duration: 26’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.7perc/hp/pf/man/strPremiere: January 21 1979, Tivoli Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Michael Schønwandt, conductor

Gudmundsen-Holmgreen is one of the most innovative andhighly respected Danish composers of his generation.Having been influenced by neoclassicism, absurdism andDarmstadt total serialism, he then became one of thefounding fathers of the Danish ‘New Simplicity’ movement.The large-scale orchestral work Symphony Antiphony is animpressive synthesis of all his work to date, and wasawarded the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1980. Thecomposer describes the piece as “a strange pair of twins:they share the same basic substance, but SYM is 2½minutes long and ANTI is 24 minutes long.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John TavenerPalintropos (1978)Duration: 24’solo piano2hn.2tpt/timp.perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: March 1 1979, Town Hall, BirminghamStephen Bishop-Kovacevich, piano; City of Birmingham SymphonyOrchestra; Lawrence Foster, conductor

This innovative work is a tribute to a performer and a place.The title Palintroposmeans ‘a turning-back structure’ andthis idea of turning back is essential to the piece. It is builtof four virtually continuous and contrasting sections,divided by musical columns characterised by pulsatingbrasses and tam-tam, with widely spaced strings. The pieceis dedicated to Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich and to theGreek island of Patmos, where the work was composed –Tavener saw a relation between the changing colours ofthe resonant piano part (which makes much use of thesustaining pedal), and the changing colours of the island.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Bent LorentzenPartita Populare (1976, rev. 1994)Duration: 12’tbells/strPremiere: March 14 1979, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Frans Rasmussen, conductor

Perhaps best known as the most successful postwarDanish composer of chamber operas, Lorentzen has alsowritten a number of orchestral works and concertos. HisPartita was originally scored for string orchestra alone, andwas performed in this version for many years. However in1994 the composer revised the work and added tubularbells, and in this version the piece has continued to live upto its title as a popular work.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Carlos SurinachBodas de SangreDuration: 45’1(pic)1(ca)2(bcl)1/1210/timp.perc/pf/strPremiere: April 25 1979, OklahomaUniversity of Oklahoma Ballet, Miguel Terekhov, director

The ballet Bodas de Sangre is based on the play by Lorca.The action begins in rural Spain during the early 1930s,where the original cause of a feud between families is re-enacted. Leonardo’s father kills the Bride’s father in a knifefight. In the present, we observe the expression of twoloves: the sensuality of the Bride’s secret lover, Leonardo,and the proper love of the Bridegroom, while death waits inthe background. During the wedding celebrations the Brideand Leonardo elope, but are pursued by the villagers. In afight, Leonardo and the Bridegroom kill one another, andthe Bride is again alone as the families of the men claimtheir bodies in the closing funeral procession.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Arne NordheimSuite from ‘The Tempest’ (1979)Duration: 40’solo Baritone, Soprano2(2pic).1+ca.1+bcl.1+cbn/1.1.1.0/timp.3perc/hp/cel/epf/tape/strPremiere: May 3 1979, Schwetzingen, GermanySchwetzingen Ballet

Nordheim’s ballet suite in six movements was recentlyacclaimed as one of the twenty most important Norwegianorchestral works of the last hundred years, the citationreading as follows: “for many Norwegians, the ballet TheTempest has become a defining introduction to moderncontemporary music. In Nordheim’s work, teeming anddelicate, roaring and infinitely poetic worlds of sounds arerevealed, mysteriously in tune with Shakespeare’s strangetale”. Drawing tonal and neo-Romantic elements into hismusic, Nordheim has created in this piece a richly complexyet moving and accessible work that has cemented hisplace as Grieg’s natural successor.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Christopher BrownConcerto (1979)Duration: 15’solo organ0200/2000/timp/strPremiere: July 5 1979, St Albans International Organ FestivalOrchestra of St John’s Smith Square; John Lubbock, conductor

Brown’s organ concerto of modest proportions consists ofthree short movements which run without a break. Thechoice of instruments in the classical-sized orchestra

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1979 ORCHESTRA

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echoes the various registers of the solo instrument. Initially,soloist and ensemble are pitted against each other withsharply contrasting material, which is later exchangedbefore the final toccata in which the two parties are united.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Aulis SallinenSymphony No.4 (1979)Duration: 22’3(2pic)33(bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.3perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: August 9 1979, TurkuTurku City Symphony Orchestra; Pertti Pekkanen, conductor

Aulis Sallinen’s 4th Symphony was written for the 750thanniversary of the city of Turku, and seems to reflect thetroubled history of the city in western Finland that was for ashort time its capital, before being all but destroyed in agreat fire. High in confidence from recent operatic triumphs,Sallinen wrote the symphony quickly and fluently within twomonths in the winter of 1978/9. The two outer movementsare tautly dramatic, even violent at times; they surround anelegaic slow movement headed ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’, with apoignant song-like theme interrupted by an insistent figureon tenor drum.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Gunther SchullerTrumpet Concerto (1979)Duration: 22’Solo trumpetTrumpet; 2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2/3210/timp.perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: August 1979, Gerard Schwarz, trumpet

Composing a concerto, and thus engaging with what heconsidered “a very special musical form of expression”Schuller wrote this work specifically for Gerard Schwarz,his desired “performing protagonist.” Combining traditionsof the past with a new and challenging virtuosity, Schulleralso hoped to create a work which would appeal to a larger

audience of potential performers. He wrote: “I have tried toavoid most of the standard trumpet stereotypes and haverather concentrated on those qualities, which are oftenconsidered peripheral in the basic trumpet literature: forexample, the lyric quality of the trumpet or the use of the fullrange of the instrument.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Antonio BibaloSymphony No.2 (1978-79)Duration: 44’2(2pic).2(ca).2(bcl).2(cbn)/4.3.3.0/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: November 22 1979, BergenBergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Like Nordheim’s The Tempest, this large-scale work wasacclaimed as one of the twenty most significant Norwegianorchestral works of the century. However Bibalo is aNorwegian by residence only – born in Italy, posted toAustralia in the war and educated in England, he onlycame to Norway in 1955 at the age of 33. Since then,however, he has been a pillar of the Norwegian musicalcommunity. Describing himself as a “spontaneouscomposer”, Bibalo in this piece in particular draws a widevariety of techniques, styles, and forms of expression,moulded into a surprisingly unified whole.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Above: Arne Nordheim’sThe Tempest (see facing page)

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1980 - 1981 ORCHESTRA

Erik BergmanSilence and Eruptions (1979)Duration: 25’1111/0000/perc/pf/str(1.1.1.1.0)Premiere: June 16 1980, Stockholm, SwedenStockholm Ensemble; Mats Liljefors, conductor

Silence and Eruptions, a work described accurately by itsown title, was selected by conductor Hannu Lintu as one ofthe most profound pieces of recent years: “It leads thelistener to give serious thought to the nature of sound.” Thepiece eschews conventional notation for a ‘space-time’notation, and Lintu has said that you cannot really rehearseit: “This is music created for a concert situation; it is notuntil a live performance that the work comes alive. Atrehearsal, the conductor has to do a lot of talking, then inthe concert the work relies heavily on the musicianship ofthe performers.”Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Roger MarshStill (1980)Duration: 12’3(2pic)33(bcl,sx)3(cbn)/4321/4perc/2hp.pf/strPremiere: November 13 1980, Birmingham Town HallCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

This short work was commissioned by the Feeney TrustCommission for the City of Birmingham SymphonyOrchestra’s 60th anniversary concert, and Marsh chose tocelebrate the orchestra in a nicely subtle way. Still is cast ina single span, during which four clearly defined sections areheard. In this work a single complex harmonic field, createdover an extended period, is gradually altered through ever-varied orchestral colours and textures. It is only towards thevery end of the piece that the stillness is disturbed by a wildoutburst for soprano saxophone.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

1981Pieces premiered this year display the widest possiblevariety of influences – American country fiddling, the godApollo, Euripides, the Apostles, redwood trees, the Normaninvasion of 1066, and the painter Adolf Wölfli. Plus the finalorchestral work by one of great American masters of thetwentieth century, and the first orchestral work by a greatFinnish master of the twenty-first…

John HarbisonConcerto for Violin (1980)Duration: 28’Solo violin2222/2221/timp.vib/hp.pf/strPremiere: January 24 1981, BostonRosemary Harbison, violin; Emmanuel Music Boston;Craig Smith, conductor

John Harbison has written that his Violin Concerto “retainssome of the outline of the classical concerto, redrawing it tomeet the needs of the ideas. The emotional progress is fromdark to light, so that the menacing fanfare at the openingeventually becomes the basis for a paean to Americancountry fiddling. The ordering of the ideas in not classical,but is based on the reliance of all the important material onthe same pair of intervals (A-C, B-D). This connection (oftensubliminal, affecting accompaniments as well as melodies)leads to an unusual mobility between events.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Robert SaxtonChoruses to Apollo (1980)Duration: 10’2.2+ca.2+asx.1/4211/3perc/2hp.pf.cel/str(12.0.6.4.2)Premiere: January 28 1981, Royal College of Music, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Lionel Friend, conductor

Saxton’s first orchestral work immediately announced himas a major voice in British music. The word ‘chorus’ hererefers not to vocalists but to an imaginary ceremony: a solopiper, represented by the cor anglais seated apart from theorchestra, summons different groups to worship Apollo,god of music. The crowds approach, become increasinglyecstatic and then depart, leaving the player alone again.But the final coda has a twist – the opening melody is heardonce more but is not completed, leaving the listener withthe feeling that the piece could begin again. This imaginaryceremony is evidently a recurring ritual…Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Karel HusaThe TrojanWomen (1980)Duration: 45’2(pic,bamboo fl).1+ca.1+bcl.2(cbn)/110+btbn.0/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: March 28 1981, Karel Husa, conductor

In The Trojan Women, the fallen Troy provides an allegory,evoking recollections of the Nazi occupation of thecomposer’s home country during World War II and thedestruction of a Czech village by the Nazis during that war.The composer states: “Some of the few music devices weknow about the old Greek music are used in the structure ofthe work, such as the Greek modes, tetra chords, quarter-tones and melodic lines. It is based on the play of AthenianEuripides (born approximately 484 B.C.) and deals withthe horrors of the war, immense suffering, murdering ofinnocents, annihilation of freedom but also with thedignity of nobility of the captured women, awaiting theirdeparture into slavery.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Giles SwaynePentecost Music (1977)Duration: 30’4(3pic).3(ca).4(2bcl).2sx.3(cbn)/6431/5perc/hp.pf(cel)/str(16.16.14.12.10)Premiere: April 8 1981, New Broadcasting House, ManchesterBBC Northern Symphony Orchestra; Nicholas Cleobury, conductor

This monumental work, hailed by critics as a magnificentachievement, represents an instrumental equivalent toSwayne’s epic hymn Cry for twenty-eight amplified voices.In fact it was the huge success of Cry in 1980 that led to aperformance for Pentecost Music, which had actually beenwritten first. Pentecost Music takes as its inspiration themanifestation of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. Swaynedescribes it as “a sort of musical journey, a search forfulfilment and stability which takes the form of a long,unbroken arch of sound. The point of repose is arrived atonly when the arch is completed, and the end becomesa new beginning”.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

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ORCHESTRA 1980

1980A new decade brings new associations in the NewWorld -Rostropvich with the National Symphony Orchestra inWashington,and Rodríguez with the Dallas SymphonyOrchestra – and a new way of writing, formulated by JohnAdams. While in the Old World, three composers write aboutsilence and stillness, and a composer known for stillnesswrites a concerto that displays anything but that…

Witold LutoslawskiNovelette (1979)Duration: 18’3(2pic)3(ca)3(Ebcl:bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.3perc/2hp.pf.cel/strPremiere: January 29 1980, Washington DCNational Symphony Orchestra; Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor

Mstislav Rostropovich asked Lutoslawski to write this workfor him to conduct when he was first appointed MusicalDirector of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington.Novelette is in five movements and despite the work’salmost miniature character, its total duration is eighteenminutes. The titles of the movements are ‘Announcements’,‘Three Events’ and ‘Conclusion’. The three announcedevents are contrasting in character, the slow middle onebeing ‘buffo’ and the third one being a fast and sparklingscherzando. The ‘Conclusion’ consists largely of a slowheterophonic cantilena of two groups of violins with theaccompaniment of other instruments playing ‘ad libitum’.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

John AdamsCommon Tones in Simple Time (1979)Duration: 19’3(3pic)232/2.2Ctpt.00/2perc[glock.2mba.met]/2pf/strPremiere: January 30 1980, Hellman Hall, San Francisco, San FranciscoConservatory of Music Orchestra, John Adams, conductor

As the work’s title suggests, Adams’ compositional andaffective concerns were decidedly Minimalist. Sensing thatthere were, in the late Seventies, very few models for aMinimalist orchestral style, Adams has written: “I felt both

the excitement as well as the challenge of venturing intouncharted terrain…Part of the piece’s charm lies in thefact that underneath the fast surface movement lies a veryslow harmonic movement. The resulting effect, at leastin my mind, gives the feeling of moving over “terrain” or“landscapes”, as if one were viewing the surface of acontinent from the window of a jet plane.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Henryk Mikolaj GóreckiHarpsichord Concerto (1980)Duration: 9’solo harpsichordstr(6.6.4.4.2) [=16.14.12.10.8][piano solo: str(16.14.12.10.8)]Premiere: March 2 1980, KatowiceElzbieta Chojnacka, harpsichord; Polish National Radio SymphonyOrchestra; Stanislaw Wislocki, conductor

It would scarcely be possible to have a work that contrastsmore greatly with Gorecki’s famous Symphony of SorrowfulSongs than this short, almost frenetic work. The piece iscast in two short movements marked Allegro molto andVivace respectively, both energetic and toccata-like – thefirst movement juxtaposes busy harpsichord figuration witha long, slow string line, while in the second movement thestrings too become active, alternating with the soloist inintense bursts of rhythmic activity.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

Nicola LeFanuFarne (1979)Duration: 15’2222/2331/3perc/strPremiere: March 28 1980, BradfordUniversity of London Orchestra; Ian Reid, conductor

Farne was composed specifically for the University ofLondon Orchestra, and shows the composer adapting herstyle for students to perform, without sacrificing any of herusual brilliance or intensity of purpose. In July 1978 LeFanuvisited the Farne Islands, about which she comments:“The quiet of the saints who lived there is enshrined onthose islands amidst the constant sound of wind and wavesand screaming terns.” This short, pictorial piece movinglyrepresents this through gentle string music, a proliferatingtapestry of tunes for wind and brass soloists, and a seriesof quiet tutti chords.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Robert Xavier RodríguezFavola Boccaccesca (1979)Duration: 20’3(pic)3(ca)4(bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.3perc/cel.hp/strPremiere: May 1980, Dallas Symphony Orchestra,Eduardo Mata, conductor

Robert X. Rodríguez was born in San Antonio, Texas,and his music not only looks north and south for inspirationfrom the US and Mexico, but often combines Medieval,Renaissance, and Baroque techniques with ethnicand contemporary materials. His orchestral musicencompasses wide-ranging styles, from ballets and musicfor children to challenging works such as his FavolaBoccaccesca, a symphonic poem for large orchestra.Commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, thepiece was such a success that it led to Rodríguez becomingcomposer-in-residence with the orchestra in a collaborationthat lasted from 1982 until 1985.Publisher: Alhambra RXR

Facing page: Samuel Barber(see Canzonetta above)

Joan TowerSequoia (1980)Duration: 16’2(2pic).222/422+btbn.1/5 perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: May 18 1981, American Composers Orchestra,Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

Tower’s majestic study in balance and contrast mirrors thegrandeur of the Californian tree for which it is named andaptly demonstrates the vigorous and engaging personalityof this composer and her music. The composer says:“What fascinated me about sequoias, those giant Californiaredwood trees, was the balancing act nature had achievedin giving them such great height…Because musicalgestures are not confined only to registers and harmonies,the balancing principle permeates every facet of Sequoia-most importantly, in the areas of rhythm, tempo, dynamics,pacing, texture and instrumental color.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Judith WeirIsti Mirant Stella (1981)Duration: 12’2(pic)222/2200/strPremiere: June 23 1981, St Magnus Cathedral, OrkneyScottish Chamber Orchestra; Jerzy Maksymiuk, conductor

One of a series of pieces that Weir wrote inspired by theevents of the year 1066. Isti Mirant Stella illustrates asingle detail from that year: the appearance, soon afterKing Harold’s controversial coronation, of Halley’s Cometin the skies over England, seen by many as a portent ofdoom. The work opens with a wide open sky - broadparagraphs in which the upper register of the orchestra isused almost exclusively. About eight minutes into themusic there is a sudden unexpected burst of energy, thenfinally the lower colours of the orchestra are used in apassage of dark foreboding.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Esa-Pekka SalonenConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (... auf denersten Blick und ohne zu wissen...) (1980/1 rev. 83)Duration: 18’solo alto saxophone2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2/4331/4perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: September 22 1981, HelsinkiPekka Savijoki, alto saxophone; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Salonen set out his aesthetic position at a young age inthe programme note for this, his first large-scale work.He recognises the achievements of the Darmstadt school:“the pioneers have done their job, the number of means ofexpression have increased considerably, the possibilitiesare greater now than before”, but wants to yoke the newtechniques to a greater sense of tradition – salutingnot only the great post-war modernists but also Ravel,Debussy and Sibelius. This three-movement work, basedon quotes from Kafka, displays the talent for synthesisingseparate elements that has been a hallmark of Salonen’sstyle ever since.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Per NørgårdSymphony No.4 [Indian Rose-garden and Chinese witch-lake] (1981)Duration: 23’3.2.2.2/4.3.3.1/5perc/hp/pf/strPremiere: October 31 1981, NDR Concert Hall, HamburgNorth German Radio Symphony Orchestra; Christóbal Halffter, conductor

The fourth chapter in one of the most important symphoniccycles of our time is the crowning achievement of Nørgård’s‘Wölfli years’. In the 1980s Nørgård wrote a large number ofworks inspired by the early twentieth-century schizophrenicartist, and this symphony is not only dedicated to him, but isan attempt to realise a project that Wölfli undertook in 1912for a music book. The piece has a double title and is cast intwo movements, inspired by “Wölfli’s polarised conceptionof the world, which shifts between idyll and catastrophe…Yin and Yang.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Samuel BarberCanzonetta (1978)Duration: 8’solo oboe, strPremiere: December 17 1981, New York Philharmonic,Zubin Mehta, conductor

The Canzonetta for oboe and strings is the final work inBarber’s long and illustrious career. The work wasconceived as the second movement of a planned andsubsequently unfinished oboe concerto, which wascommissioned by the New York Philharmonic. Even thismovement was left uncompleted at his untimely death inJanuary 1981, but composer Charles Turner, one of the fewstudents Barber ever accepted, provided an orchestrationbased on Barber’s own notes.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

1982Four Scandinavian works that take their influence fromcentral European locations and artists, a Pulitzer Prize-winning symphonic statement, and two sharply contrastingworks from John Corigliano, premiered within a fortnight ofeach other, representing drastically different ways to beplaced in a dream state…

Arne NordheimTenebrae (1982)Duration: 25’solo Cello2222/2411/timp.perc/hp.pf.cel/strPremiere: January 3 1982, Washington DC

Mstislav Rostropovich, cello; National Symphony OrchestraRostropovich was full of praise for Arne Nordheim for thiswork commissioned for him to perform with his neworchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington.This extraordinarily rich and powerful single-movement workdoes not witness the cello in its more conventional, lyricalrole, but is rather an evocation of hell and damnation that,like many of Nordheim’s works, takes a literary source as itsinspiration – in this case, Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus.The final section is a direct rendering of the description ofLeverkühn’s Cantata that appears in the book.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

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�Left: Poul Ruders(see right and pages 27, 38,44, 50, 56, 62 and 83)

John CoriglianoThree Hallucinations (based on the film score to “AlteredStates”) (1981)Duration: 13’3(pic)33(Ebcl,bcl)3(cbn)/4331/2timp.5perc/hp.2pf.eorg/str(min12.10.8.8.6)Premiere: January 22 1982, Syracuse, NYSyracuse Symphony Orchestra; Christopher Keene, conductor

Corigliano’s score to Ken Russell’s science fiction thrillerpresents an unequivocally unique sound world with a varietyof percussive effects, detuned keyboards, the eerie timbreof the electric organ, and wildly inventive uses of doublereeds and brass. Melodies and themes cross each other inmid-stream creating a mosaic effect that intensifies the“hallucinatory” effect of the music. The opening movement,‘Sacrifice’ depicts a pagan slaying, superimposed againstother images of death and sensuality. ‘Hymn’ develops andextends the previously heard fragment of Rock of Ages,fading in and out of hallucinatory visions. Finally ‘Ritual’interrupts a series of these cadences and the work ends ina burst of cumulative energy.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

John CoriglianoPied Piper Fantasy, Concerto for Flute and Orchestra(1982)Duration: 38’solo flute2[+](pic)33(ebcl,bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/hp[+].pf(cel)/str(14.12.10.8.6 players)/children’s group: 9-18fl/2percPremiere: February 4 1982, Los AngelesJames Galway, flute; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Myung-Wha Chung,conductor

Robert Browning’s poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin isperhaps the best known telling of the legend, and was usedas the source material for this work (though alterations tothe story allow for more action between the flute soloist andthe children, including a battle scene between the PiedPiper and the rats). But alongside all this storytelling, thework also has a satisfying purely musical structure, so thesubtitle “concerto for flute and orchestra” is appropriatetoo. This piece became the perfect calling card forcharismatic Irish flautist James Galway, who played ithundreds of times all around the world.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Geoffrey BurgonBrideshead Variations (1981)Duration: 18’1(pic)1(ca)01/1100/hp/strPremiere: March 21 1982, Royal Albert Hall, LondonNew Symphony Orchestra; Antony Hopkins, conductor

Brideshead Revisited, the television serial made byGranada Television from Evelyn Waugh’s famous novel, wasone of the most popular and highly acclaimed televisionseries ever made, and is even now frequently repeated allover the world. Geoffrey Burgon’s award-winning music wasa huge part of its success, and he was soon asked toproduce this concert suite for performance in live concert.The suite takes us through some of the major events of thenovel, culminating in a restatement of the main themeexpressing the hope experienced by the main characterCharles on his return to Brideshead.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Hans AbrahamsenNacht und Trompeten (1981)Duration: 11’2.2.2.2/2.3.0.0/5perc/pf/strPremiere: March 25 1982, BerlinBerlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Hans Werner Henze, conductor

Hans Abrahamsen’s work is scored for the unusualcombination of chamber orchestra with three trumpets,five percussion and piano. Dedicated to Hans WernerHenze, who conducted the premiere performance, it is oneof Abrahamsen’s so-called ‘German pieces’, which haveGerman titles and draw on elements of the great Austro-Germanic tradition. The first part of the work, Nacht, is anostalgic and slow piece of night music; this is followed byits antithesis in the form of the faster, almost minimalistTrompeten with its characteristic trumpet fanfares, andfinally an adagio in which the influence of Schoenberg andMahler is very obvious.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Ellen Taaffe ZwilichSymphony No.1 (Three Movements for Orchestra)Duration: 18‘2(pic).2(ca).2(bcl).2(cbn)/4231/timp.3perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: May 5 1982, Alice Tully Hall, New York CityAmerican Composers Orchestra; Gunther Schuller, conductor

Zwillich’s Symphony No.1, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize forMusic in 1983, the year after its premiere, emerged fromseveral of the composer’s most central music concerns.She has written: “I have long been interested in theelaboration of large-scale works from the initial material.This ‘organic’ approach to musical form fascinates me bothin the development of the material and in the fashioning of amusical idea that contains the ‘seeds of the work tofollow’…My aim was to create a rich palette and a widevariety of melodic gestures, all emanating from a simplesource.”Publisher: Margun Music

Poul Ruders

Violin Concerto No.1 (1981)Duration: 20’solo Violinhp/hpd/str(4.4.6.4.2)Premiere: October 16 1982, Louisiana, Humlebæk, DenmarkAnders Nordentoft, violin; Chamber Orchestra of the Royal DanishConservatory; Milan Vitek, conductor

Poul Ruders’s first major orchestral work, composed forstudents of the Royal Danish Conservatory, was written inItaly, and the Italian influence can be felt on every level ofthe piece. The orchestral accompaniment, according toRuders, “evolves as a kind of reflection of Vivaldi’s Four

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1983 ORCHESTRA

Peter Maxwell DaviesInto the Labyrinth (1983)Duration: 31’language: Englishsolo tenor2222/2200/strPremiere: June 22 1983, St Magnus Festival, Orkney, St MagnusCathedral, KirkwallNeil Mackie, tenor; Scottish Chamber Orchestra; James Conlon, conductor

In 1983 Peter Maxwell Davies wrote a trilogy of works forchamber orchestra – Sinfonia Concertante, Into theLabyrinth, and Sinfonietta Accademica. While the outer twoworks are for orchestra alone, Into the Labyrinth is anorchestral song-cycle in five movements, setting a GeorgeMackay Brown text that poses a question: under the assaultof technology, can such a community as that in the OrkneyIslands continue in any meaningful way, relative to its past?The work’s moving final movement hopes that it can: “if youlisten, perhaps the song of water is still there, hidden,moving deep under the stones”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Hugh WoodSymphony (1982)Duration: 40’4(2pic:2afl)3(ca)3(bcl:Ebcl)3(cbn)/6442/timp.4perc/2hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: July 23 1983, Henry Wood Promenade Concert,Royal Albert Hall, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, conductor

Having achieved huge success with his concertos, it was asurprise to many that Hugh Wood should wait until the ageof fifty to write his first symphony. But it was clearly worththe wait, as the piece was acclaimed as “the most fruitful ofProm commissions for some years”. Wood confronts thesymphonic tradition head-on, and while the piece can beseen as a synthesis of elements from the greatsymphonists – a Brahmsian passacaglia, a Mahlerianscherzo – these add up to something new that sweeps thelistener along from the very first bar to the finale’s jubilantclimax.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Elizabeth MaconchyMusic for Strings (1983)Duration: 20’strPremiere: July 26 1983, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, LondonBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Edward Downes, conductor

The plain title says a lot about this work, which needs noexternal influence and instead simply seems to take delightin its sonority. Maconchy is perhaps best known for herstring quartets, but this work proves that she was equally asadept writing for larger string forces. The four movementsmake every possible use of the ensemble – the lengthy firstmovement alternates chordal passages with morecontrapuntal sections; this is followed by a witty, wispypizzicato scherzo, a slow movement that interweaves long,melancholic solo lines, and a rhythmic, extrovert finale.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Witold LutoslawskiSymphony No.3 (1983)Duration: 30’3(2pic)3(ca)3(Ebcl:bcl)3(cbn)/4441/timp.4perc/2hp.pf4hnd.cel/strPremiere: September 29 1983, ChicagoChicago Symphony Orchestra; Sir Georg Solti, conductor

Lutoslawski’s 3rd Symphony has been one of the mostrapturously received and frequently performed works ofthe last fifty years; the first review called it “a landmark tostand beside masterpieces by Bartók, Prokofiev andShostakovich”, and opinion has scarcely changed sincethen. The piece was a long time in the making – thecommission from Chicago came in 1972, and Lutoslawskistarted work more or less immediately, but took ten years tocomplete the score. The result is an extraordinarily powerfulblend of a logical yet innovative form, spectacularorchestration, and that one, unforgettable “big tune” thatcarries all before it.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

Barry GuyVoyages of the Moon (1983)Duration: 24’solo [amplified] Double Bass1(pic,afl)1(bob)1(Ebcl,bcl,cbcl)1(cbn)/1110/perc/pf(cel)/str(4.4.2.2.0[=4.4.4.4.0][=6.6.4.4.0])Premiere: November 8 1983, Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonBarry Guy, double bass; Richard Hickox, conductor

Three vastly different elements are combined in this piece –the surrealist painting by Paul Nash that gives the work itstitle, an exploration of the variety of percussive attacks thatare possible on double bass, and Dido’s Lament by HenryPurcell. Typically of Guy, he finds a way to weave togetherthe separate threads into an experience of great richness –the orchestra starts off as an extension of the solo doublebass, but then develops its own material in the form ofreferences the Purcell, which Guy says he included “as anacknowledgement of true beauty in music”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Morton GouldFlourishes and Galop (1983)Duration: 4’2+pic.333 /4331/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: November 19 1983, LouisvilleLouisville Orchestra; Lawrence Leighton Smith, conductor

Morton Gould’s short work Flourishes and Galop, adelightful evocation of horses and a good old Americanhorse race like the Kentucky Derby, is a perfect concertopener and a fitting work for children’s concerts. Gould’sexpert use of crescendo and ascending thematic linescreates a powerful sense of movement and expectation.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

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Seasons. The composition is a straightforward neo-baroquehomage to the sunny atmosphere of the Italian music ofthat period.” The three movements – played without a break– all carry Italian titles, and only in the last movement is atouch of Austrian influence felt, as Schubert’s song “DerGreiss” forms the ostinato for a “Winter Chaconne”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Aulis SallinenShadows (Prelude for Orchestra) (1982)Duration: 11’3(pic)33(bcl)3(cbn)/4330/timp.4perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: November 30 1982, Kennedy Centre, Washington DCNational Symphony Orchestra; Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor

Sallinen has for thirty years been one of the most regularlyperformed composers in his native Finland, and Shadowshas been a particularly popular concert opener forprofessional, amateur and student orchestras. The piecewas composed while Sallinen was writing his comic operaThe King goes forth to France, which takes as its subjectthe eccentric attempts of an English king to invade hisneighbour. Sallinen writes that the two pieces have more incommon than just their melodic material: “Shadows is anentirely independent orchestral work, although its lyrical anddramatic ingredients reflect the philosophy of the opera”.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

1983Two monumental concertos for orchestra by Britishcomposers of the middle generation; three even largersymphonies by European composers of the oldergeneration; two contrasting works for string orchestra; threeconcertante works that take the listener on three verydifferent journeys; and a final flourish of the tail…

John McCabeConcerto for Orchestra (1982)Duration: 24’3(pic)333/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: February 10 1983, Royal Festival Hall, LondonLondon Philharmonic Orchestra; Georg Solti, conductor

McCabe’s stunning exploration of the orchestra wascomposed for a high-profile event – a gala concertconducted by Solti celebrating the 50th anniversary of theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra. McCabe took inspirationfrom Schumann, whose piano work Faschingsschwank ausWien provided the five-movement structure, and gaveMcCabe a framework in which he could explore not just theindividual instruments of the orchestra, but also differentintervals, dramatic structures, tempi and colours. Theresultant piece was described by one critic as “some of thebest music composed for some time by anyone”.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Vagn HolmboeSymphony No.11 (1980)Duration: 25’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.2perc/cel/strPremiere: February 17 1983, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Yuri Ahronovitch, conductor

Vagn Holmboe has been described as “one of the twentiethcentury’s towering symphonic masters” – his symphoniesare tonal and traditional yet extend the boundaries ofconvention, and engage the brain while remaining attractiveto the ear. Completed some eight years after the tenthsymphony, No.11 is a more compact work, and whereas its

predecessor looked east for inspiration from Shostakovich,now it is the Anglo-Nordic symphonists - Sibelius, Nielsenand Vaughan Williams – that can be heard much morekeenly, particularly in the elegaic Andante movement thatdraws the work to a conclusion.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Peter LiebersonConcerto for Piano (1982)Duration: 45’solo piano3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl(cbcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.6perc/cel.hp/strPremiere: April 21 1983, Symphony Hall, BostonBoston Symphony Orchestra; Peter Serkin, piano, Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Peter Lieberson’s Piano Concerto is one of twelve workscommissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for itscentennial, and was the piece that brought him to nationalattention. From the beginning, the piano part was intendedfor Peter Serkin, whom Lieberson had known from childhoodand with whom he has since collaborated repeatedly. Onecritic has commented that, amidst the trend for composersnot to reveal direct sources of inspiration for their work, in adetermined effort to throw off the traditions of romanticism,Lieberson stands out in his description of the process ofthis particular piece: “I was sitting around, waiting forsomething to happen… I heard a bird sing a major second…and that’s where it started.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

John AdamsShaker Loops (1978, arr. 1982)Duration: 25’strPremiere: April 26 1983, San FranciscoAmerican Composers Orchestra; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

In its version for string orchestra, Shaker Loops hasbecome one of John Adams’ most performed works. Hewrites: “Although, as has since been pointed out to me,the term ‘Shaker’ itself is derogatory, it neverthelesssummons up the vision of these otherwise pious andindustrious souls caught up in the ecstatic frenzy of a dancethat culminated in an epiphany of physical and spiritualtranscendence. This dynamic, almost electrically chargedelement, so out of place in the orderly mechanistic universeof Minimalism, gave the music its raison d’être andultimately led to the full realization of the piece.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Edward GregsonContrasts - a concerto for orchestra (1983/1989/2001)Duration: 20’3(pic)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cbn)/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: May 7 1983, Great Hall, Goldsmith’s CollegeOrchestra of the National Centre of Orchestral Studies; Adrian Leaper,conductor

Edward Gregson’s concerto for orchestra has had threeworld premiere performances in eighteen years. It wasoriginally written for the National Centre of OrchestralStudies, based at Goldsmith’s College in London. Gregsonlater revised the work twice, once for performance bythe National Youth Orchestra, and subsequently forbroadcast by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Eachrevision has reinvented the piece for a new occasion and anew group of players, while holding true to the originalconcept of Contrasts as a display piece, including a numberof solo and tutti passages and culminating in a dance-like,exuberant finale.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd


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27

1984 ORCHESTRA

Joan TowerMusic for Cello and Orchestra (1984)solo cello2(pic).222/220+btbn.0/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: 29 September 1984, New YorkAndré Emelianoff, cello; New York Chamber Symphony;Gerard Schwartz, conductor

For herMusic for Cello and Orchestra, Joan Tower took for astarting point a central concern: “how to write an energeticpiece and allow the cello – a low, non-projecting instrument– to carry over a massive and passionate orchestral sound”.The solution was to alternate the orchestra and cello,preserving the intensity of this bright, rhythmic piece acrossits three uninterrupted movements and cadenza, whichconnects the slow middle movement to the energetic finale.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Karel HusaSymphonic Suite (1984)Duration: 19’3333/4331/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: 1 October 1984, University of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia Festival Orchestra; Karel Husa, conductor

Husa is most famous for hisMusic for Prague 1968, whichhas received over 7,000 performances and passed into themodern repertoire. The title of the three movements in thisorchestral suite attempt to express the composer’s aims:“The ‘Celebration’ of the achievements from the beginningsto the present; the ‘Meditation’ of thoughts and reflectionsover the past, including our errors; and the ‘Vision’ offoreseeing, of intuition and of never-ceasing expansion ofnature and man’s energy”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Karl Aage RasmussenA Symphony in Time (1982)Duration: 32’3.3.4.3/4.3.3.1/timp.3perc/hp/pf(cel)(hpd)/org/strPremiere: November 16 1984, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Michael Boder, conductor

Apart from his successful composing career, Rasmussen isone of the most influential teachers and musical thinkers inDenmark. He has always strived for his music to combinethree virtues characteristic of three great modernistcomposers – inventiveness (Ives), humour (Kagel), andclarity (Stravinsky). This large-scale symphony, nominatedfor the Nordic Council Music Prize, is an ambitiousexperiment, calling into question our perceptions of time,movement and coherence.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Poul RudersThus Saw Saint John (1984)Duration: 11’3.3.3.3/4.3.2.1/3perc/hp/pf 4hd/cel/strPremiere: November 23 1984, Holte High SchoolCopenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra; Jan Latham-Koenig, conductor

This nightmarish vision is a stunningly vivid work thatmarks the first in a long series of works by Ruders inspiredby the gothic and the macabre. The title and subject comefrom the Book of Revelations: “And I saw a pale horse andits rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; theywere given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill withsword and with famine and with pestilence and by wildbeasts of the earth. ...and behold, there was a greatearthquake; and the sun became black as a sackcloth,the full moon became like blood.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Giles SwayneNaaotwa Lala (1984)Duration: 13’2020/2200/hp/strPremiere: December 4 1984, Free Trade Hall, ManchesterBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Edward Downes, conductor

After the huge complexities of his previous orchestralmasterpiece “Pentecost Music”, this is a simple but no lesseffective work. The title of this work means “Naaotwa’sSong” in the Ga language of Ghana. Swayne surroundshis African-inspired melody with ear-catching sonorities,and a prominent harp part, described by the composer as“the quiet centre of the piece… the harpist should beplaced at the front of the platform… the harpist shouldimagine that he or she is playing completely alone, and thatthe orchestra is conjured up by the sound of the harp.”Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Anthony DavisWayang V (1984)Duration: 16’solo piano2(pic)12(bcl)1/2120/timp.4perc/strPremiere: 15 December 1984, San FranciscoAnthony Davis, piano; San Francisco Symphony; John Adams, conductor

Wayang V is the fifth in a series of pieces inspired by theBalinese gamelan, employing polyrhythmic repetition andimprovisation. InWayang V the polyrhythmic aspect iscreated by dividing the orchestra up into separate choirs,each exploring a different rhythm, while the improvisation iscarried out by the solo pianist – the composer himself at thepremiere performance, with John Adams conducting. Daviswrites: “As composers, we are still learning the lessons ofEllington, Strayhorn, Mingus and Monk, as we traverse thedialectic of the notated and the improvised.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

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ORCHESTRA 1984

1984Early orchestral essays by Ruders and Saariaho that setthe tone for their later works; two abstract American works;major symphonic statements by Harbison and Rasmussen;and pieces directly inspired by Africa, the Middle East andthe Far East…

John HarbisonSymphony No.1 (1984)Duration: 23’3(pic,afl)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cbn)/4231/timp.6perc/hp/strPremiere: March 22 1984, Symphony Hall, BostonBoston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor

The first symphony from amodern American master wascommissioned for a suitably important occasion – thecentenary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Harbisonhad spent the previous years honing his skills as anorchestral composer with the Pittsburgh SymphonyOrchestra, and was able to create for Boston his largestpiece to date – a monument to the orchestra and thecountry he loves, including a third movement that is anAmerican-accented pastorale that draws on Gershwin andShifrin. The piece was in fact mostly written in Italy, butHarbison has noted that “I have always found the view froma distance to be clearest”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Kaija SaariahoVerblendungen (1982-84)Duration: 14’1+afl(pic).1.1.asx.1(cbn)/4111/2perc/hp.pf/str(4.4.5.3.2)/tapePremiere: April 10 1984, HelsinkiFinnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Verblendungen is Saariaho’s first orchestral work, writtenwhen she had just moved to Paris. It includes an extensivetape part that was worked on both at the GRM studio inParis and at Finnish Radio in Helsinki. The piece itself isbased on the idea a gradual switching of roles between theorchestra and tape part, which consists of a quasi-stringorchestra built up from two violin sounds: a sforzato strokeand a pizzicato. Saariaho’s enigmatic programme notereads: “Dazzling, different surfaces, tissues, textures.Weights, gravity. To be blinded. Interpolations. Reflections.Death. The sum of independent worlds. Shading,refracting the colour”.Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Helsinki

Brian EliasL’Eylah (1984)Duration: 22’3(afl:pic)2+ca.2(Ebcl)+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.3perc/2hp/strPremiere: August 30 1984, BBC Promenade Concerts, Royal Albert HallBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Edward Downes, conductor

A work of extraordinary emotional power, L’Eylah - totranscend, to be above - is dedicated to the memory of thecomposer’s sister, Toya. Elias writes that the piece “is not adirge, requiem or liturgical work, rather a work of celebrationand an affirmation of things that endure… The music itselfis influenced and coloured throughout by the melody of aMiddle Eastern love song which I knew in my childhood as alullaby. The song is one sung to a lover as he departs on along voyage... The melody is quoted completely only once,towards the end of the work.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Above: detail from the coverof the score of Naaotwa Lala

by Giles Swayne

Facing page: John Harbison(see opposite and pages

19, 28, 33, 41 & 76)

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Pelle Gudmundsen-HolmgreenTriptykon (1985)Duration: 35’solo percussion3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/perc/strPremiere: September 2 1985, Tivoli Concert Hall, CopenhagenGert Mortensen, percussion; Tivoli Symphony Orchestra;Flemming Vistisen, conductor

Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s piece takes as it starting pointan extraordinary concept: the first movement is for windsonly; the second for strings; these are then playedsimultaneously to form the orchestral accompaniment forthe third. What could be a gimmick actually has a powerfuleffect in performance: some sections remain identifiableand give a sense of ritual inevitability, but others aretransformed not only through their new context but also bythe dominant percussion part, which cuts through – and attimes even seems to try to obliterate – the orchestra. Thisall adds up to an unique and powerful experience.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Magnus Lindberg

Kraft (1983-85)Duration: 27’solo clarinet (Eb, bcl, dbcl), 2 percussion, piano, cello, conductor,sound control4(4pic)+afl.3+ca.3(Ebcl)+bcl.asx.3+cbn/4441/4perc/2hp.pf(cel)/str(min 14.12.10.8.6)Premiere: September 4 1985, HelsinkiFinnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Toimii! Ensemble;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Written in three years in three different cities (Paris, Berlinand Helsinki) Kraft announced the arrival on theinternational stage of Lindberg, one of the most universallyperformed composers of the last twenty years. The piece iswritten for a large group of soloists (who all also playpercussion), large symphony orchestra and electronics, andLindberg makes every use of this extended palette to createa work of quite astonishing richness. Kraft was instantlyacclaimed as a classic work, winning the prizes from theNordic Music Council in 1988 and the Unesco InternationalRostrum of Composers in 1986.Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Helsinki

1986A bumper year: two foxtrots; two pieces of remembrance;two hommages to Beethoven; two cello concertos; twoviolin concertos; two settings for soprano and chamberorchestra; and a tribute to the artistic freedom that permitssuch an abundance of creativity…

Witold LutoslawskiChain 2, Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra (1985)Duration: 18’solo violin2(2pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2/0220/timp.perc/pf(cel)/str(6.6.4.4.2)Premiere: January 31 1986, ZurichAnne-Sophie Mutter, violin; Collegium Musicum; Paul Sacher, conductor

Lutoslawski was never a composer to rest on his laurels.Even at a late stage in his career, and after the enormoussuccess of his 3rd Symphony, he sought to re-invigorate hiswork with a newly-invented type of musical form: the “chain”form, which consists of the combination of two structurallyindependent strands. The chain form finds its perfectexpression in this extremely compact four-movementconcerto, commissioned and conducted by Paul Sacher,and described by one early critic as “meeting the inquisitiveear with the aural equivalent of an enigmatic smile”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

John AdamsThe Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra (1985)Duration: 12’2(2pic).2.2(bcl).2/4.2.2.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: January 31 1986, MilwaukeeMilwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Lukas Foss, conductor

The Chairman Dances is a joyously rhythmic and percussiveshowpiece for orchestra that delights audiences withextraordinarily expansive and uniquely coloured uses ofminimalist techniques. Adams calls it a “vast fantasy of aslightly ridiculous but irresistible image of a youthful MaoTse Tung dancing the foxtrot with his mistress ChiangCh’ing, former movie queen and the future MadameMao,the mind and spirit behind the Cultural Revolution and thestrident, unrehabilitated member of the Gang of Four”.Themes, sometimes slinky and sentimental, at other timesbravura and bounding, ride above a bustling fabric ofenergized motives.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Joan TowerConcerto for Piano (Homage to Beethoven) (1985)Duration: 21’solo piano2(pic).1.2(bcl).1/220+btbn.0/2perc/strPremiere: January 31 1986, Poughkeepsie, NYJacquelyn M. Helin, piano; Hudson Valley Philharmonic;Imre Pallo, conductor

Not shy of a challenge, in her concerto Tower pays tribute toone of the giants of the genre. However the particular workspaid hommage to here are not Beethoven’s concertos butrather his sonatas. Tower’s concerto is cast in threemovements that play continuously, each one inspired by adifferent sonata – Op.31 (‘The Tempest’) is reflected in thefirst movement in the alternating slow and fast pacing; aquote from Beethoven’s final sonata Op.111 appears in thepiano cadenza of the second movement, and a theme takenfrom Op.53 (‘Waldstein’) is developed to provide the climaxof the work’s final movement.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

28

ORCHESTRA 1985

1985Three symphonies (although only one carries the title...),a short lament, and four highly original concertos –a depiction of the Old Testament, a double concerto forteacher and student, a percussion concerto that is thesame piece three times over, and a lengthy piece wherethe ‘soloist’ is an entire ensemble…

Stephen AlbertRiverRun (1983-84)Duration: 33’3(pic,afl)2+ca.2(Ebcl)+bcl(asx).2+cbn/4331/timp.perc.vib/2hp.pf/strPremiere: January 17 1985, Washington DVNational Symphony Orchestra; Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1985, Albert’sorchestral work is a satisfying symphony in fourmovements. The title is taken from the very first word of thefirst sentence of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake: “RiverRunpast Eve and Adam from swerve of shore to bend of day…”The first movement Rain Music depicts the origins of theriver; this is followed by Leafy Speafing, a languidmovement essentially scored for strings with wind soloists.Beside the Rivering Waters is a fragmented march andscherzo, and the finale RiversEnd catches up previouslyheard ideas in a musical torrent that eventually empties intothe wide, still, ocean.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Haflidi HallgrímssonPoemi (1984)Duration: 30’solo violinstr(6.6.4.4.2)Premiere: January 21 1985, Bustadarlirkja, Reykjavík, IcelandJaime Laredo, violin; Iceland Symphony Orchestra;Haflidi Hallgrímsson, conductor

A cellist turned composer, Hallgrímsson’s natural affinity forstring-writing is never more evident than in this masterlywork, awarded the highly prestigious Nordic Council MusicPrize in 1986. Poemi is based on three allegorical paintingsby Marc Chagall, each a depiction of a well-known text fromthe Old Testament: The Dream of Jacob, The Sacrifice ofIsaac and Jacob in Combat with the Angel. Led by thesoloist, the music progresses from the tranquillity of the“Dream” in the first movement, through the drama of the“Sacrifice” in the second, to the fast and tense “Combat”of the final movement.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Kenneth LeightonSymphony No.3 (1984)Duration: 30’solo tenor32(ca)23/4231/timp.2perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: March 15 1985, Henry Wood Hall, GlasgowNeil Mackie, tenor; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Vernon Handley,conductor

For his third and final symphony, the final work completedbefore his death in 1988, Kenneth Leighton produced whatcan be seen as a fitting tribute to his own career. Thesubtitle of the work is “In Praise of Music”, and the piece isa setting of four texts paying tribute to the art of music,including a refrain written by the composer himself thatconcludes: “In music there is praise of life”. Typically forLeighton, the piece display both lyricism and high drama,before ending in an appropriately reflective, elegiac fashion.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

John AdamsHarmonielehre (1985)Duration: 40’4(3pic)3(ca)4(2bcl)3+cbn/4.4Ctpt.32/timp.4perc[glock.2mba.vib.xyl]/cel.2hp.pf/strPremiere: 21 March 1985, San FranciscoSan Francisco Symphony; Edo de Waart, conductor

Harmonielehre was a highly significant breakthrough workfor Adams. His previous orchestral works had allied himfirmly with the American minimalists, but this huge work –which took Adams a year to write (including six months’worth of false starts, when he destroyed everything hewrote) – signified a conscious attempt to re-connect hisstyle with the European masters. The title itself is takenfrom the influential treatise by Schoenberg, and the musicmakes references to both Schoenberg and Sibelius. Ofcourse achieving this seemingly impossible synthesis of theold and the new has made Adams perhaps the most popularorchestral composer of modern times.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Bent SørensenLacrymae (1984)Duration: 13’3.2.2.2/2.2.2.0/timp.3perc/hp/pf/cel/strPremiere: April 26 1985, NUMUS Festival, AarhusAarhus Symphony Orchestra; Tamás Vetö, conductor

Sørensen’s first orchestral piece consists of four connectedparts. These may in short be described as a slow and a fastpart, surrounded by two sections which partly function as apre-echo and echo of the two central parts. Through the firsthalf of the piece the music is created under the veil of othermusics; these are first played in their entirety, then in variedform, before gradually disappearing. Towards the end of thepiece, an almost ever present “threatening layer” seems totry to force itself up through the music – a “scene for thedying echoes”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John HarbisonConcerto for Oboe, Clarinet and Strings (1984)Duration: 14’solo oboe, solo clarinetstr(4.4.3.3.2 or 1.1.1.1.1)Premiere: June 14 1985, Sarasota, FLSarah Bloom, oboe, Charles Russo, clarinet; New College Music Festival;Paul Wolfe, conductor

Harbison had been asked to compose a work for a largeconsortium of ensembles, and this concerto arose fromdiscussions with the soloists Sarah Bloom and DavidShifrin. Each performer was entrusted with premieres of thework in its two separate guises: Bloom performed the stringorchestra version in Florida, and Shifrin the version forsingle strings at Chamber Music Northwest in Oregon.These premieres (and also subsequent performances)featured a student as the other soloist, which was thecomposer’s intention. One astute writer referred to the workas “scenes from amarriage”, and Harbison himselfcommented: “this metaphorical marriage between solowinds and strings contains quarrels, balances, comic relief,misunderstandings, and eventual unanimity.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Right: Per Nørgård(see pages 11, 12, 20, 33,35, 36, 41, 42, 60 and 67)

Bright ShengTwo Poems from the Sung Dynasty (1985)Duration: 14’solo soprano1(pic,afl).111/1000/perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: March 26 1986, New York CityNew York Chamber Symphony, Irene Gubrud, soprano,Gerard Schwartz, conductor

Two Poems from the Sung Dynasty was one of the firstworks completed by Bright Sheng following his move fromChina to the United States in 1982. Sheng has long beenhailed for his ability to integrate western and easterninfluences, never for more effectively than in this vivid,dramatic setting of two meditations on grief from China’sSung Dynasty (960 to 1279AD), described as taking ajourney from Impressionism to Expressionism.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Bent Lorentzen

Cello Concerto (1984)Duration: 25’solo Cello1.1.1.1/1.0.0.0/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: April 4 1986, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenErling Bløndal Bengtsson, cello; Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Oliver Knussen, conductor

This piece sees a radically different approach to atraditional form. Trying to combat the problems of balancebetween the cello and orchestra, Lorentzen scored thiswork for the chamber music-like forces of wind quintet,harp, modest percussion, timpani and strings. This allowsthe composer to employ in the solo part many of the rarersounds associated with the cello – in the first movement agreat deal of use is made of the middle register, and in thesecond movement the soloist, in Lorentzen’s own words,“adds his col legno absurdities”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Stephen AlbertFlower of the Mountain (1985)Duration: 16’solo soprano2(pic).2(ca).2.2/2200/timp.perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: May 17 1986, New YorkLucy Shelton, soprano; New York Chamber Symphony;Gerard Schwartz, conductor

Following on from the previous year’s Pulitzer Prize-winningsymphony RiverRun, Flower of the Mountain is another Albertwork inspired by James Joyce: in this case, a setting of thewords of Molly Bloom at the very end of Ulysses. Albert’sdirect setting of the text does not respond to every individual

word, rather to the overall flow of the monologue – startingoff quietly, growing in intensity as it builds to a climax, andreturning at the end to “the gentle lulling of the opening –Molly’s final, quiet thoughts as she drops off to sleep”.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Anders NordentoftBorn (1986)Duration: 12’3333/4331/3perc/hp/pf/strPremiere: May 27 1986, AalborgAalborg Symphony Orchestra; Peter Erös, conductor

In many of his works – notably his hugely successful operaOn This Planet – Anders Nordentoft has confronted head-onthe problems of the world today. This commission fromAmnesty International for an orchestral work to celebrate its25th Anniversary gave Nordentoft the chance to expresssome concerns and hopes in music: Can we really say thatwe are born free? Why is it that the opportunities given to usare still so dependent on where we are born? Nordentoft’swork reflects this struggle, hopes that things can improve,and offers thanks that he as a composer is free to expresshimself in this way.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Aulis Sallinen

Chamber Music III (The Nocturnal Dances of DonJuanquixote), Op. 58 (1986)Duration: 20’solo cellostr(min 4.3.2.2.1)Premiere: June 15 1986, Naantali Music Festival, Naantali ChurchArto Noras, cello; English Chamber Orchestra;Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor

In the middle of an astonishing creative period marked bythe operas The King goes forth to France and Kullervo andthe fifth symphony, Aulis Sallinen completed this short,light-hearted work that has become his most popular piece.In this cross between a dance suite and a concerto, variousaspects of the two famous “Dons” – Juan (the ladies’ man)and Quixote (the “knight of the sad countenance”) – areconveyed by a series of dances that are at times wonderfullycomic, but shaded with a dark, nocturnal quality that slicesthrough the jocularity and makes for a richly bittersweetexperience.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

ORCHESTRA 1986

30

Left: Peter Maxwell Davies(see above and pages 25, 36,47, 56 and 61)

Peter Maxwell DaviesViolin Concerto (1986)Duration: 31’solo violin2222/2200/timp/strPremiere: June 21 1986, St Magnus Festival, Orkney,St Magnus Cathedral, KirkwallIsaac Stern, violin; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; André Previn, conductor

Davies’s concerto was composed for a major anniversary –the 40th birthday of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – anda major soloist, in the shape of Isaac Stern. Maxwell Daviesstates that the conscious model for the structure, in whichthree movements run into each other, was theMendelssohn Concerto. But this important piece alsosquarely faces up to the other great violin concertos by thelikes of Beethoven and Sibelius, while additionally drawingon Scottish influences, including an original Highlandbagpipe tune called ‘Mor Fea’, and the sounds of the sea-birds that whirl around St. Magnus Cathedral, where thework was premiered.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John HarbisonRemembering Gatsby (Foxtrot for Orchestra) (1985)Duration: 7’3(pic)3(ca)3(bcl,ssx)2+cbn/432+btbn.1/timp.perc.trap set/pf/strPremiere: September 11 1986, Atlanta, GAAtlanta Symphony Orchestra; Robert Shaw, conductor

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel The Great Gatsby hadlong been a preoccupation for Harbison – for many years hehad worked on an opera, before eventually abandoning it.However many of the musical images stayed in thecomposer’s mind, and eventually forced their way out intothis short work, which remembers not only Gatsby but alsoHarbison’s own father, who had written show-tunes in the1920s. Of course, Harbison continued to be haunted by thenovel, and eventually in 1999 completed his grand opera onthe subject, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera andhailed as one of the great American operas of recent times.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Per NørgårdRemembering Child (1986)Duration: 23’solo Viola1212/2100/perc/pf/strPremiere: September 12 1986, Ordway Music Theatre,St. Paul, MinnesotaPinchas Zukerman, viola; St Pauls Chamber Orchestra;Arturo di Mecke, conductor

Just one day after the premiere of Harbison’s work ofremembrance in a southern state, Per Nørgård’s similarlytitled work was premiered in a northern one. And the piecesdisplay several other opposites. Whereas Harbison’sdedicatee hails from fiction of another age, Nørgård’s isrooted in present day reality – the “child” of the title isSamantha Smith, who fought against nuclear disarmamentby writing letters to the American and Soviet premiers,paying a visit to the USSR and acting as an inspirationalsymbol of reconciliation before her tragic death in a planecrash in 1985.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John CoriglianoFantasia on an Ostinato for Orchestra (1986)Duration: 16’3(pic[+])333(cbn)/4431/timp.4perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: September 18 1986, New York CityNew York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, conductor

After Tower’s concerto, a second tribute to Beethovenpremiered in 1986 – the ostinato of the title is the famousrepetitive passage in the second movement of Beethoven’sSymphony No.7, and this work can be seen as Corigliano’scomment on minimalism, which was becoming increasinglypopular at this time, and which Corigliano admired butthought was lacking in certain aspects. Originally, Fantasiaon an Ostinato was a solo piano work, written for the 1985Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. WhenCorigliano orchestrated the piece, he brought it back closerto the Beethoven, expanding the build-up until the finalclimactic appearance of Beethoven’s own theme.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

1987Works for children to perform and listen to; re-working ofpieces long finished; a modest symphony and a giganticconcerto; works that take us from the bottom of the oceanto the sky and beyond…

Joan TowerSilver Ladders (1986)Duration: 23’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/432+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf[=cel]/strPremiere: January 9 1987, St LouisSaint Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin, conductor

This Grawemeyer Award-winning work has as its startingpoints one of the iconic moments of modernist twentiethcentury music – the famous chain of rising fourths inSchoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No.1. Tower picturedthis as rungs in a ladder stretching into the sky, and thisgesture and image eventually became this orchestral piecefor Leonard Slatkin and the St Louis Symphony Orchestra.The other part of the title is reflected in the varied way inwhich this gesture is treated – “Just as the metal silver hasmany contrasting qualities, so the textures of this musicrange from heavy to light, solid to fluid”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Robert Xavier RodríguezA Colorful Symphony (1986)Duration: 20’3(pic)222/4231/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strNarrator/3(pic)222/4231/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: February 1987, IndianapolisIndianapolis Symphony Orchestra; Raymond Leppard, conductor

A fanciful introduction to the instruments of the orchestra,setting a chapter of the children’s classic “The PhantomTollbooth” by Norton Juster. It is the orchestra itself thatprovides all the colours of the day, showing that without theguidance of the conductor’s baton, chaos can ensue! Thispiece for narrator and orchestra is very much in the mode ofPeter and the Wolf or The Young Person’s Guide to theOrchestra, and has proved a big hit at family concerts in thetwo decades since its premiere.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc


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35

1988 ORCHESTRA

1988Pieces this year by two recent arrivals from China to the US;a reluctant symphonist and a prolific one; a young Britishcomposer; the fathers of modern Danish, Polish andNorwegian music; and a proud father inspired by thehobbies of his eight-year-old son…

Niels Viggo BentzonSymphony No.15 [Marrakesh] (1980)Duration: 25’3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.3perc/hp/cel/strPremiere: January 20 1988, Aarhus Music HouseAarhus Symphony Orchestra; Frans Rasmussen, conductor

Bentzon (1919 – 2000) was an important figure in thecultural life of his native Denmark. Initially best known as anorganist and pianist – one of the first to introduceSchoenberg’s music to the country – he was also a painter,a teacher, a writer, and an astonishingly prolific composerwho left a diverse output of more than 600 opus numbers.Anders Beyer wrote that “like a sponge, Bentzon absorbedimpressions from his surroundings and transformed themin his own, deeply original universe.” In this case,impressions of Marrakesh are distilled into a wonderfullyevocative work.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Robert SaxtonIn the Beginning (1987)Duration: 17’2(2pic)2(ca)2(Ebcl:Ebcl,bcl)2(cbn)/4331/timp.2perc/strPremiere: January 31 1988, Barbican Hall, LondonLondon Symphony Orchestra; Jeffrey Tate, conductor

The title of Saxton’s work for the London SymphonyOrchestra has two interpretations. It can refer to theopening of Genesis, with its depiction of the Creation andthe birth of Order and Light, or it might suggest the idea ofgrowth and re-birth; both these concepts were in Saxton’smind as he worked on the score. There are three linkedmovements, marked “slow, sustained, mysterious”,“agitated, quick” and “fast, joyful, dancing”, which graduallyincrease in pace and take the listener on a journey towards“light” – or so it seems until the work’s coda, which causesthe apparently secure resolution to lose its sense of finality.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Tan DunOut of Peking Opera (1987, rev. 1994)Duration: 16’solo violin3222/4331/4perc/hp/strPremiere: February 71988, New York CityVera Weiling Tsu, violin; New York City Symphony; David Eaton, conductor

Tan Dun’s Out of Peking Opera is very much a transitionalwork in his output. He began the piece when he first came toNew York, and left behind the ancient culture of China, andthe composer writes that he “saw new things, and began tomake connections between my own thoughts and the rest ofthe world. I felt refreshed, lamenting”. So while the workopens with a direct quotation from the ‘jing hu’ fiddling ofPeking Opera, it soon transforms into something quitedifferent. The piece directly confronts serialism beforeultimately rejecting it, paving the way for the composer’smature style.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Per NørgårdHelle Nacht (1986-87)Duration: 24’solo Violin3.2.2.2/4.3.3.0/3perc/str[1(pic).1(ca).2(efl.bcl).1(cbn)/1.1.1.0/2perc/pf(cel)/str (1.1.1.1.1)]Premiere: March 22 1988, Holmeagerskolen, GreveCopenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra; Okko Kamu, conductor

Nørgård’s third concerto for solo string instrument andorchestra is a work that explores the inherent ambiguity andcontradiction in the title, which translates as “Light Night”.There is an opposition built into the piece between the light,translucent quality of the melodies, and the dark, obscureway that the many shifting lines are put together. A furthercontrast is between the symphonic nature of the two outermovements, framing the two central movements, which arerather static interludes. A new version of Helle Nacht wassubsequently created for violin and large ensemble,providing a final, fitting duality.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John CoriglianoSymphony No.1 (1988)Duration: 40’4(3pic)3+ca.4(Ebcl[cbcl]:bcl[Ebcl])3+cbn/6.5.4.2/timp.5[+]perc/hp.pf(off-stage pf)/str(4man)Premiere: March 15 1988, Chicago, ILChicago Symphony Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Corigliano, who thought he would never write a symphony,wrote this staggering work when composer in residence inChicago. It was the first major orchestral work written to theAIDS crisis, and is the composer’s monument to its victims– a “cry of rage and remembrance for those I’ve lost and forthose I’m still losing”. Specifically, each of the first threemovements relates to a close friend of Corigliano who haddied – a concert pianist, a music executive, and an amateurcellist – before the final Epilogue. This is a masterpiece ofextraordinary power, winner of the Grawemeyer Award andacknowledged as a great American work of our time.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Bright ShengH’un (Lacerations): In Memoriam 1966-76 (1987)Duration: 22’2(2pic,afl).22(2bcl).2(cbn)/3220/2perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: April 1 1988, New York CityNew York Chamber Symphony, Gerard Schwartz, conductor

Like his Two Poems from the Sung Dynasty, this representsanother piece by Sheng written after his arrival in the US butinspired by the country of his birth. H’un: In Memoriam1966-76 is emphatically an angry and grieving cry ofhistorical experience, music that vividly recalls the terrors ofChina’s Cultural Revolution while mining the fertileresources of Chinese folk tradition.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

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ORCHESTRA 1987

Philip GlassConcerto for Violin (1987)Duration: 30’solo violin2(pic).2.2+Ebcl+bcl.2/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp/strPremiere: April 5 1987, New YorkPaul Zukofsky, violin; American Composers Orchestra;Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

This commission from the American Composers Orchestrawas Glass’s first from an American orchestra, and theywere rewarded with a work that has remained popular fortwenty years. At the time it seemed like a big surprise thata composer best known for his operas and ensemble workswould write a conventionally shaped work for conventionalforces. But the dramatic nature of the piece, which Glassworked on closely with soloist Paul Zukofsky, makes adirect link with the operas, while pointing towards themany successful orchestral works Glass was to write inthe next two decades.Publisher: Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc

Geoffrey BurgonTitle Divine (1986)Duration: 20’solo soprano3(2pic)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cb)/4331/timp.2perc/hp/pf(cel)/strPremiere: April 22 1987, Royal Festival Hall, LondonHeather Harper; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra;Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor

Geoffrey Burgon has always maintained simultaneouslyhealthy careers in the media world and the concert arena.His 1987 composition Title Divine displays his direct,evocative style at its best. Burgon sets seven poems byEmily Dickinson, starting with an urgent, dramatic setting ofthe poem that gives the work its title, and ending with I wentto Heaven – a thoroughly appropriate text given that it endswith the words “Almost contented I could be, ’mong suchunique Society”, and the work was commissioned by theRoyal Philharmonic Society – a unique Society indeed – forits 175th anniversary.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Anders BrødsgaardProcession II (1986)Duration: 25’1.1.2.sx.0/1.1.1.0/3perc/pf/str(1.1.3.2.1)Premiere: April 29 1987, NUMUS Festival, AarhusNUMUS Orchestra; Kaare Hansen, conductor

The title refers to the processes at work in this rewriting ofBrødsgaard’s Procession for Two Clarinets and Vibraphonefrom 1979. The composer creates a two-part “formula”,played by two groups of instruments, which is “processed”,i.e. gradually turned “inside out”, as the short ornamentalgrace notes becomes long, and vice versa. The title alsosuggests the sense of ritual that the listener mayexperience as they hear the same sort of process occurring25 times, perhaps choosing to ignore the 13 ‘events’ thatregularly interrupt the progressive procession.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Ib NørholmAspects of Sand and Simplicity (1987)Duration: 15’strPremiere: May 3 1987, Tivoli Concert Hall, CopenhagenChildren of the Suzuki Institute; Béla Detreköy, conductor

Nørholm’s wonderfully titled work was specially written fora concert given by children of the Suzuki Institute in thefamous concert hall in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.This inspired the composer to create a direct work, hencethe “simplicity” of the title. Suitably in a work for children,the other inspiration was a moving quotation about thepassage of time, taken from the novel “Quinx” by AlexanderDurrell – a child’s sand castle is washed away by the sea“back to dune soon and then forever dune prime, and thensand, sand, sand, the endless and uncountable sand”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Simon HoltSyrensong (1987)Duration: 14’3(3pic).2(ca).2(bcl)+bcl.1+cbn/4321/2perc/2hp.pf/strPremiere: July 27 1987, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Richard Buckley, conductor

Already acclaimed for his works for ensemble, Simon Holtinstantly found his orchestral voice in his first work for themedium, a powerful representation of a song of death: “TheSirens were sea-nymphs who had the power of charming bytheir song all who heard them, so that unhappy marinerswere irresistibly impelled to cast themselves into the sea totheir destruction.” In Holt’s work we hear not only the songof the sirens – in the form of the long, loud unison lines forupper winds – but also the sea itself, in the growling,mocking bass clarinets.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Richard Rodney BennettSymphony No.3 (1987)Duration: 22’22(ca)21/2000/timp.2perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: August 24 1987, Three Choirs Festival, Worcester CathedralBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Sir Edward Downes, conductor

Bennett’s third – and, at the time of writing, last – symphonyis a very different proposition from his first two essays in thegenre. Whereas these had been large-scale, dramaticshowpieces for large forces, the third symphony lasts just22 minutes and is scored for the rather smaller line-up ofstrings, piano, harp, modest percussion and just nine windinstruments. But somehow the reduced forces only serve toincrease the intensity of the experience – the tonalsoundworld that the piece calls forth has a simple beauty toit that draws in the listener and keeps hold to the final,hushed, unison F sharp.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

37

1989 ORCHESTRA

Brian EliasFive Songs to Poems by Irina Ratushinskaya (1989)Duration: 28’language: Russiansolo Mezzo soprano4(2pic:2afl).2+ca.2(2Ebcl)+bcl.2+cbn/4.3(Ebflg).2+btbn.1/timp.5perc/2hp.cel/strPremiere: April 23 1989, Royal Festival Hall, LondonElizabeth Laurence, soprano; BBC Symphony Orchestra;Lothar Zagrosek, conductor

Elias’s darkly intense, moving and eloquent setting ofpoems by the Soviet dissident Irina Ratushinskaya is anutterly gripping experience. The premiere was such a hugesuccess that the BBC Symphony Orchestra subsequentlytook it on tour, and gave a repeat performance at the Promsin 1991. At each performance it was hailed by critics as atruly great modern song cycle, and Stephen Johnson hascalled it “an extraordinary demonstration of creative empathyfrom a composer brought up under very different politicalconditions, yet showing exceptional skill in finding andresponding to themusical qualities of the Russian language”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Benedict MasonLighthouses of England andWales (1987)Duration: 15’3(pic)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/2hp.pf/strPremiere: April 28 1989, BBC Maida Vale Studios, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Oliver Knussen, conductor

Mason undertook staggeringly detailed research for his first(and, to date, only) work for conventional orchestral forces.He visited all of the main Trinity House lighthouses aroundthe coastline of England and Wales, and from differentvantage-points, notated the interplay of their patterns withother less important flashing signals. He then sent abouttranslating these patterns into a piece for orchestra – notonly the rhythms but also something of scale and sweep ofthe light beams, which become gestures that sweep acrossthe orchestra. The result is a wonderfully inventive antidoteto a conventional musical response to “the sea” that wonMason the Benjamin Britten Competition in 1988.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Malcolm ArnoldFour Welsh Dances (1988)Duration: 10’3(pic)222/4331/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: June 19 1989, Free Trade Hall, ManchesterHallé Orchestra; Owain Arwel Hughes, conductor

It is fitting that one of Arnold’s last compositions beforeretirement should be this suite, which completes the seriesbegun with the first set of English Dances in 1950, and whichtakes in Scottish, Irish and Cornish variants. Like the earlier

pieces, the Four Welsh Dances follow in the tradition laiddown by Brahms’ Hungarian Dances and Dvorak’s SlavonicDances of pieces in characteristic, if not entirely authentic,national style. All the Arnold trademarks are to be foundhere; not least the wit, charm and exuberance that madethe composer so popular among musicians and audiences.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

John TavenerThe Protecting Veil (1988)Duration: 43’solo cellostr(min 8.8.6.6.3)Premiere: September 4 1989, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, LondonSteven Isserlis, cello; BBC Symphony Orchestra;Oliver Knussen, conductor

The Protecting Veil is a modern phenomenon. It might beexpected that such an unusually long piece, for unusualforces, mostly at a slow tempo would be at best somethingof a niche work, yet after its rapturously-received premiere itimmediately passed into the repertoire, and it continues toinspire in audiences an intense emotional response. Thetitle is derived from The Feast of the Protecting Veil of theMother of God, from the Orthodox Church, and Tavener hasstated that this piece is “an attempt to make a lyrical ikon insound, rather than in wood”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Vagn HolmboeSymphony No.12 (1986)Duration: 23’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: October 21 1989, CardiffBBC National Orchestra of Wales; Richard Armstrong, conductor

Having performed four of Holmboe’s recent symphonieswith great success, the BBC National Orchestra of Walescommissioned his Symphony No.12 to mark thecomposer’s 80th birthday. Holmboe’s penultimatesymphony, built out of a series of short sections,perhaps most perfectly reflects Karl Aage Rasmussen’sdescription of his late symphonic style as displaying“a new transparency of musical architecture, and analmost Impressionistic refinement of tonal colour”.This three-movement piece climaxes with a con brio finalethat provides one of the most satisfying conclusions to asymphonic argument of recent times.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Aaron Jay KernisSymphony In Waves (1989)Duration: 30’1(pic).2(ca).1(Ebcl,bcl).2(cbn)/3.1([pic tpt]).00/perc/pf(cel)/str (min 6.6.4.4.2)Premiere: November 3 1989, St Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul Chamber Orchestra; John Adams, conductor

“I never imagined I would write a symphony – it seems suchan outdated concept.” Such were the words of the youngAaron Jay Kernis before working on his commission for theSaint Paul Chamber Orchestra. However Kernis found thatby not going back to traditional models but by looking toother sources of inspiration, he could discover for himselfwhat a symphony meant for him. The inspiration for thiswork is waves: “Each of the five movements uses someaspect of wave motion: waves of sound, swells and troughsof dynamics, densities and instrumental colour”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

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Anthony DavisMaps (1987)Duration: 25’solo violinperc (timp.trap.xyl.vib.glock.mba.steel dm)/hp/strPremiere: April 24 1988, University of Missouri, Kansas CityShem Guibbory, violin; Kansas City Symphony;William McGlaughlin, conductor

Anthony Davis took his inspiration for this piece from closeto home – his eight-year-old son’s infatuation with maps ofall kinds. This wonderfully affectionate and entertainingwork is cast in three movements – “Timothy’s Island”,which is a set of variations; “The Ghost Factory”, with aprominent percussion part, and “Planet J”, in which arhythmic underlay supports a soaring solo part that seemsto take us to distant worlds. As could be expected with thejazz-influenced Davis, the piece incorporates improvisation,here in the percussion part and the solo violin part, taken atthe premiere by Shem Guibbory.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Witold LutoslawskiConcerto for Piano and Orchestra (1988)Duration: 27’solo piano3(2pic)33(Ebcl:bcl)3(cbn)/4231/timp.perc/hp/strPremiere: August 19 1988, Salzburg Festival, SalzbergKrystian Zimerman; Osterreichischen Rundfunks;Witold Lutoslawski, conductor

Lutoslawski’s final great concerto is at once traditional andground-breaking. It is in four movements: an enigmatic firstmovement containing some of Lutoslawski’s by now well-known ad lib sections; a scherzo (“moto perpetuo”); a largomovement opening with a piano recitative; and a finalebased on a chaconne, with a presto coda. But these fourmovements are played without any break, despite the factthat each movement has a clear ending; this, and the“tantalising obliqueness” of the material, gives a senseless of a traditional work, more of an enigmatic mystery.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

Arne NordheimMagma (1988)Duration: 23’4.4.4.4/4.4.4.1/2timp.6perc/hp/pf/org/cel/strPremiere: December 7 1988, Concertgebouw, AmsterdamAmsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra

Magma for large orchestra was composed for theAmsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra’s centenary in 1988.This violent work relates with expressiveness and vitalityto man’s most primal experiences and encounters withnature: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and boiling lakes.It demonstrates several of the features which arecharacteristic of Nordheim’s music: sudden explosions ofsound coupled with lyrical sections; static sound blocks nextto polyphonic structures; and combinations of the absolutehighest and the absolute deepest registers of the orchestra.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

1989Three highly acclaimed cello concertos; two contrastingsymphonies by an old master in the genre and a rising starre-inventing the form for himself; two even more contrastingworks that take us to Wales; a rich and complex song cycle;and a short work taken from an Oscar-winning film with moreto it than first meets the ear…

Peter Maxwell DaviesStrathclyde Concerto No.2 for Cello and Orchestra (1988)Duration: 32’solo cello2(pic).2.1+bcl.2/2200/timp/strPremiere: February 1 1989, City Hall, GlasgowWilliam Conway, cello; Scottish Chamber Orchestra;Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor

The ten Strathclyde Concertos that Maxwell Davies wrote inthe 1980s and 1990s – each designed to show off theskills of principal players in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra– have steadily increased in popularity and stature sincetheir premiere. In response to the wonderful, expressivesound of SCO principal cellist William Conway, the celloconcerto particularly exploits the singing qualities of theinstrument, inviting comparisons with the Elgar concerto.However the work is unlike a Romantic concerto in thatthere is no titanic struggle here between soloist andorchestra, rather the fragmented orchestra supports andcomments on the expressive solo lines.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Per NørgårdPastorale - from “Babette’s Feast” (1988)Duration: 6’strPremiere: February 22 1989, Merkin Hall, New YorkNew York Chamber Players; Dorrit Matson, conductor

Based on Karen Blixen’s story of two Protestant sisters,Babette’s Feast was a hugely successful film that won theOscar and BAFTA for best foreign language film, as well as ahost of other awards across the world. From the soundtrack,Nørgård extracted this short, lyrical work that is highlyattractive to the ear. But though the piece may seem simpleat first hearing, the ambiguous, shifting metrical stresssuggests that this is perhaps a false paradise – just as inthe film, the guests at the feast are brought into a garden ofearthly delights that can only be artificial and temporary.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Karel HusaConcerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1988)Duration: 27’solo cello3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.3perc/2hp/strPremiere: March 2 1989, USC Symphony, Lynn Harrell, cello,Daniel Lewis, conductor

Husa, who had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in1969 for his String Quartet No.3, received the Grawemeyeraward for the Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra,composed some 26 years later. One critic wrote of the five-movement work that it “beautifully fulfils the requisites of aconcerto: the soloist’s virtuosity is extremely effectivelyvalidated with radiance and poetry and is filled with humanthought and feeling.” Husa himself has commented on hisintentions for the work, and his desire to write “music thatwould belong to our time, music of today.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Right: Malcolm Arnold(see pages 37 and 43)

1990Works for famous soloists who have made it their missionsto revitalise the repertoire; works inspired by the refractionof light through crystals and rainbows; two great modernDanish symphonies; and a piece that takes us back to thestart of the Universe…

Mel PowellDuplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra(1987)Duration: 32’Two solo pianists2(afl)+pic.2+ca.2+Ebcl+bcl.2+cbn/4331/2hp/3perc/str(14.12.10.10.8)Premiere: January 26 1990, Los AngelesAlan Feinberg and Robert Taub, pianists; Los Angeles PhilharmonicOrchestra; David Allan Miller, conductor

Mel Powell has led an extraordinary diverse career. Hebegan as a prodigious jazz pianist, working as pianist andarranger with the Benny Goodman Orchestra and the GlennMiller Army Air Force Band; he then studied with Hindemithand produced a series of neoclassical works, and havingfound his own voice, became one of the founders of theCalifornia Institute of the Arts and an influential educator.Duplicates was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and illustratesPowell’s meticulous craftsmanship and singular skillat assembling richly expressive yet intricately complexmusical structures.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

David DiamondKaddish (1989)Duration: 12’solo cello2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4431/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: April 1990, SeattleYo-Yo Ma, cello; Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Gerard Schwarz, conductor

This work was commissioned by conductor Gerard Schwarz,a long-time supporter of the music of David Diamond, andwho, among other things, recorded a complete cycle of hissymphonies. The inspiration for this rather meditative,reflective work came from Ravel’s version of the Kaddish(the first of his Deux Mélodies Hébraïques) and from aperformance by Yo-Yo Ma of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, anotherwork for cello and orchestra evoking a Hebrew prayer.Diamond ended up dedicating the work to a third composerwho wrote a piece based on the Kaddish – LeonardBernstein,who died just six months after the world premiere.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Stephen AlbertConcerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1990)Duration: 30’solo cello3(pic)322+cbn/4200/timp.2perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: May 31 1990, BaltimoreYo-Yo Ma, cello; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor

Tragically, this was to be the final large-scale workcompleted by Stephen Albert before his tragic death in1992 stunned the musical world. The original commissionwas for a 15-minute work, but as the compositionprogressed – with Albert frequently consulting soloist Yo-YoMa – the piece developed into a major four-movementconcerto that is symphonic in its coherence and thematicunity. The composer acknowledged the profound influenceof Sibelius, whose home he had visited en route to Russia,on the finished work.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Anthony PayneTime’s Arrow (1990)Duration: 27’3(pic).2+ca.3(bcl).2+cbn/6431/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: July 24 1990, Royal Albert Hall, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Sir Andrew Davis, conductor

Renowned for his realisation of Elgar’s Symphony No.3,Payne honed his skill for orchestration in a series ofacclaimed works throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Whilethe inspiration for many of those works had come from hislove of British music, the starting point for this Promscommission was astronomy and the Big Bang. Thisinfluence is felt on two levels: in the structure of the piece,which seems to expand outwards from a starting point(before contracting again), but also in the explosion ofcreativity Payne experienced – in order to realise thisambitious project, he had to expand his repertoire ofcompositional techniques.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Jouni KaipainenCarpe Diem (1990)Duration: 26’solo Clarinet2.2.2.2/2.1.1.1/2perc/pf/str(2.1.2.2.1)Premiere: September 1 1990, Helsinki FestivalKari Kriikku, clarinet; Ensemble InterContemporain;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

There have been many wonderful clarinet concertos writtenby Finnish composers for their outstanding compatriotKari Kriikku but, according to conductor Hannu Lintu,Kaipainen’s work stands not just as an outstandingexample of the genre but “one of the great moments inthe Finnish avant-garde”. For such a new-sounding work,the high point of Kaipainen’s modernist period, it had acuriously old-fashioned inspiration in the symphonies ofHaydn – Kaipainen listened to every one of them whilecomposing his piece. Perhaps this influence is most keenlyfelt in the sense of humour that both composers share,expressed in Carpe Diem in the bubbling solo line.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Poul RudersSymphony No.1 [Himmelhoch Jauchzend – zum Todebetrübt] (1989)Duration: 33’4.4.4.ssx.4/6.4.4.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf.epf.syn/strPremiere: September 3 1990, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Michael Schønwandt, conductor

Poul Ruders made a staggering impression on theinternational stage with his first symphony, which he hasdescribed as “summing up twenty years of compositionalendeavour”. The symphony’s subtitle is taken fromGoethe’s Egmont: “To heaven rejoicing – cast down untildeath”, and as might be expected from the reference,this is a piece that tackles head-on the Austro-Germanicsymphonic tradition, and attempts to move it forward. Theextremes of the quote are matched in musical terms in thishighly dramatic and tempestuous work for huge orchestralforces, expertly handled.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

ORCHESTRA 1990

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Left: John Tavener(see pages 16, 37, 42, 71 and 80)

Kaija SaariahoDu Cristal (1989)Duration: 19’4(4pic,3afl).3.3(Ebcl)+bcl(cbcl).2(cbn)/4321/timp.4perc/hp.pf+syn/str(16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: September 5 1990, Helsinki Festival,Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

For most composers the challenge of a first commission forlarge orchestra would be a daunting experience; it istherefore astonishing that Saariaho would announce herentry into this arena with not one but two large orchestralworks. Du Cristal and its partner piece…a la fumée (writtenimmediately afterwards and scored for flute, cello andorchestra) are both independent pieces, but can also bethought of as two halves of one epic 38-minute work.Saariaho herself says: “In my mind Du Cristal …a la fuméeis one world with two faces, both completely defined, livingand independent.”Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Helsinki

Thea MusgraveRainbow (1990)Duration: 12’2222/4331/timp.3perc/hp.syn/strPremiere: October 5 1990, Royal Concert Hall, GlasgowScottish National Orchestra; Bryden Thomson, conductor

Commissioned by the City of Glasgow to mark the openingof the Royal Concert Hall and in celebration of the city’s yearas Cultural Capital of Europe, Rainbow embodiedsomething of the optimistic mood of the city as it entered aperiod of regeneration. Musgrave’s music is not withoutdarkness though, depicting the inevitable storm before therainbow appears (with three triads representing the threeprimary colours). As it begins to fade, the sun blazes out in aglorious A major chord and a brass chorale brings the workto a positive conclusion.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Per NørgårdSymphony No.5 (1986-90 rev. 1991)Duration: 35’3333/4331/6perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: December 6 1990, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

This piece had, for Nørgård, an unusually long gestation.Not only did it take almost five years to write, but it was alsosubstantially revised after the premiere, when in anextraordinary concert that reflected Nørgård’s highstanding, it was performed alongside the famous fifthsymphonies of Nielsen and Sibelius. It has been suggestedthat this work, perhaps more than any other, epitomises thesense that Nørgård’s symphonies are entire universes fullof human activity – in an extraordinarily wide-ranging work infour continuous movements, we can hear sections full ofhumour, stillness, manic activity and even silence.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

1991The year of the unexpected: a Dane in Tokyo and a PuertoRican in Milwaukee; a thieving clarinettist; a tipped hat fromone American master to another; a surrealist song cycle; apiano concerto that arrived six years late; and a concertothat is actually two pieces, one inside the other…

Ezra LadermanConcerto for Double Orchestra (1990)Duration: 35’3+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.perc/str (Movements 1-5)Premiere: January 1991, New YorkNew Jersey Symphony Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, conductor

It has been noted that Laderman’s Concerto for DoubleOrchestra is “double in more ways than one.” It is in facttwo works for two different ensembles, joined together. Thefirst and last movements, which are scored for largeorchestra, echo and parallel each other; while the innerthree are for chamber ensemble and form a more intimatediscourse which may be performed independently (underthe title Concerto for Chamber Orchestra). While the work’sopening sets up tensions which are not resolved until thefinal, referential movement, the inner ‘chamber concerto’ isvery different in tone. The Andante listesso was describedby Lederman himself as serene, “almost pastoral.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

John HarbisonSymphony No.3 (1990)Duration: 24’3(pic).3(ca).3(bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/pf/strPremiere: February 28 1991, BaltimoreBaltimore Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor

Harbison composed his third symphony for the BaltimoreSymphony and its conductor David Zinman, dedicating thework to the orchestra’s former Composer in Residence,Christopher Rouse. Harbison has described his work as “acontinuous progression of temperamental movements eachof which necessitates the next, and for whom the followingdesignations were found: Disconsolate, Nostalgic, Militant,Passionate, and Exuberant.” Harbison sees his SymphonyNo.3 as “music requiring space, a certain sonorouslatitude, and existing in the foreground. In something overtwenty minutes it wants, after its span, to inhabit likeminds, spirits and bodies, perhaps at moments when theyleast expect, thus confirming that it needed to be expressedas music and not something else.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Witold LutoslawskiChantefleurs et Chantefables (1990)Duration: 20’language: Frenchsolo soprano1.1.1+Ebcl.1/1110/timp.perc/hp.pf(cel)/str(min 8.6.4.4.2)Premiere: August 8 1991, BBC Promenade Concerts,Royal Albert Hall, LondonSolveig Kringleborn; BBC Symphony Orchestra;Witold Lutoslawski, conductor

Although a relatively short work, sparsely scored for modestforces, Chantefleurs et Chantefables quickly creates awhole world of its own. Lutoslawski sets poems for childrenby the French surrealist poet Robert Desnos, completedshortly before his arrest by the Nazis and published after


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his death at the Terezin concentration camp in 1945. In thenine poems that he selected from the extensive collection,Lutoslawski finds a rich seam of imagery, offering itselfnaturally to musical illustration. One reviewer wrote: “thescoring is a miracle of aptness and elegance such as Ravelmight be writing if he were alive”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

Magnus LindbergConcerto for Piano and Orchestra (1990, rev. 1994)Duration: 24’solo piano2(pic)1+ca.2+bcl.2(cbn)/2111/2perc/hp/str(8.8.6.4.4)Premiere: September 4 1991, Helsinki Festival, HelsinkiPaul Crossley, piano; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

The first time the Helsinki Festival commissioned a pianoconcerto fromMagnus Lindberg the result was actually thehuge ensemble concerto Kraft which was premiered in1985. Six years later to the day, on September 4 1991,came his second attempt, and this time Lindberg, himself abrilliant concert pianist, did not deviate from his brief. Hetook as his starting point the Ravel Concerto in G, distillingsome of its three-movement structure and natural brillianceinto a single extended movement, rich in invention andharmony, and definitively placing Lindberg as one of theleading orchestral composers of his generation.Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Helsinki

John TavenerThe Repentant Thief (1990)Duration: 20’solo clarinettimp.perc/str(8.6.5.5.5)Premiere: September 19 1991, Barbican Hall, LondonAndrew Marriner, clarinet; London Symphony Orchestra;Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

The Repentant Thief is one of a highly successful series ofconcertos written by Tavener for soloist and strings, alongwith The Protecting Veil (1988, cello), Eternal Memory(1991, cello) and Tears of the Angels (1995, violin).Commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, hisclarinet concerto has a perfectly symmetrical structure thatalternates a repeated refrain with three frenzied dancesthat showcase the clarinet’s folk-like qualities and twolaments that show its more expressive character, beforethe final coda fades into nothingness…Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Per NørgårdSpaces of Time (1991)Duration: 20’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.4perc/pf/strPremiere: October 7 1991, Suntory Hall, TokyoTokyo Metropolitan Orchestra; Kazufumi Yamashita, conductor

Written concurrently with his fifth symphony, Nørgård’scommission for the Suntory Hall is noteworthy for threethings in particular: its extensive use of the piano, whichmoves in a continuum between conventional memberof the orchestra and soloist; its tuning system, whichmakes extensive use of quarter tones; and its harmony,as the composer uses articulation to divide the 12-notechromatic style into a 7-note Western scale and a 5-noteJapanese one. This variety drives the piece forward untilthe final extraordinary section in which all the sound issucked down, as if by gravity, into the bass octaves, andfinally into silence.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Roberto SierraTropicalia (1991)Duration: 23’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.4perc/pf(cel).hp/strPremiere: November 14 1991, MilwaukeeMilwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Zdenek Macal, conductor

The colourful and rhythmic music of Puerto Rican composerRoberto Sierra has attracted a growing audience both inNorth America and Europe. His first major orchestralcomposition Júbilo had been premiered at Carnegie Hall bythe Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1987, and had beensuch a big success that he was invited to becomeComposer-in-Residence of the orchestra. Tropicalia is thelargest piece written for that residency, described after itspremiere as being “sensuous, mysterious, ecstatic, potent”as well as “riotous, big-hearted, bursting with life”.G Schirmer Inc

1992A set of tributes and responses; to paintings by Ernst andKlee; to music by Copland, Debussy and Hildegard vonBingen; to the current political situation; to the brilliantmusicianship of two soloists – one from the classical worldand one from jazz; and, finally, a response to a terribleperiod in one composer’s life and a tribute to his rescuer…

Aaron Jay KernisSecond Symphony (1991)Duration: 25’2(pic).3(ca).3(bcl).3(cbn)/4441/timp.4perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: 15 January 1992, Avery Fisher Hall, New YorkNew Jersey Symphony Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, conductor

Kernis’ compositions often reflect his personal response tothe world around him, and its effect on his emotional andintellectual life. But he distinguishes this second symphonyfrom earlier works which, in his own words, “paint pictures”of nature (Symphony in Waves) or other internal worlds(such as Love Scenes). His Second Symphony displays a


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more sharply delineated response to external stimulus;Kernis describes the work as “something of an outcryagainst the current political, moral and ethical crises inAmerica” such as war, censorship of artists and theencroachment upon women’s and minority rights.Significantly, the work’s premiere marked the firstanniversary of the beginning of the hostilities in the Gulf War.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Malcolm ArnoldSymphony No 9 (1986)Duration: 52’2+pic.2.2.2/4331/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: January 20 1992, Studio 7, BBC ManchesterBBC Philharmonic; Sir Charles Groves, conductor

Dedicated to Anthony Day, Arnold’s carer and companionfor the last twenty years of his life, Symphony No.9 is themost significant and remarkable of Arnold’s late pieces,documenting a period of the composer’s life when he had“been through hell”. The sparse instrumental writing andextended final movement paint a bleak musical landscapewhich will confound those who think of Arnold as a purely‘light’ composer. Yet for all the personal agony which thesymphony portrays, it also carries a wider message for usall.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Barry GuyAfter the Rain (1992)Duration: 25’str(14.0.4.4.2)Premiere: February 23 1992, Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonCity of London Sinfonia; Richard Hickox, conductor

This powerful piece was commissioned by Richard Hickoxand the City of London Sinfonia to mark their 20thanniversary. The initial inspiration for the piece was the MaxErnst painting Europe After the Rain, which Guy describesas depicting “four large masses of tortuous baroque-likeremains, as if left after some unfathomable catastrophe”,each containing some “half hidden images”. The painting’sform is echoed in the form of the piece, which is cast in foursections, and is essentially a slow movement punctuatedby a more active refrain that elongates as the pieceprogresses.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Aaron Jay KernisMusica Celestis (1990)Duration: 11’strPremiere: March 30 1992, San FranciscoSan Francisco Chamber Symphony; Ransom Wilson, conductor

Kernis’s proclivity for what he has described as “the searchfor the spiritual wilderness of the life within” unites hisearlier string quartet slow movement (which hesubsequently arranged for string orchestra) with theexpansion ofMusica Celestis. Influenced by Hildegard vonBingen, Kernis’s score is, as one critic has described, “lyric,ethereal, luminous and finely sculpted.” It is brief in spanbut stirring in impact, beginning in hushed tones andmounting to an impassioned climax. The piece has becomeperhaps Kernis’s most popular work, described as a sort ofmodern day Barber Adagio, frequently performed, andalways making a huge impact.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Richard Rodney BennettConcerto for Stan Getz (1990)Duration: 24’solo tenor saxophonetimp/str(min 10.8.6.4.2)Premiere: August 1 1992, BBC Promenade Concerts,Royal Albert Hall, LondonJohn Harle, saxophone; BBC Concert Orchestra;Barry Wordsworth, conductor

Early in his career, the different aspects to Richard RodneyBennett’s musical life were quite distinct – the post-serialistconcert composer who studied with Boulez, the award-winning film composer and the brilliant jazz pianist all ledseparate lives. But this Proms commission for John Harlestarted to display a new synthesis of all these elements,and the result is a piece that is both serious andentertaining, tonal yet imbued with rich chromaticism, andrigorous its motivic working while retaining a certain natural,improvisatory quality. All in all, the perfect tribute to StanGetz, who would have been the soloist in the premiere butfor his untimely death.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Joan Tower

For the UncommonWoman (1991)Duration: 5’2(pic).222/4331/timp.3perc/strPremiere: October 16 1992, Kansas CityKansas City Symphony; William McGlaughlin, conductor

With its obvious allusion to Copland’s famous fanfare,Tower’s original brass fantasy of 1987 alters not onlygender but also traditional harmonic expectations,yielding surprises at each turn of phrase. The piece is

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Facing page: Tan Dun(see above and pages 35, 47,56, 58, 60, 61, 67 and 68)

“dedicated to women who take risks and who areadventurous”. It has proved to be one of the most popularmodern American works, inspiring Tower to create a wholeseries of “Fanfare” works that now extends to five pieces,each scored for different instrumental forces, including thisfourth instalment for full symphony orchestra.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Leon KirchnerMusic for Cello and OrchestraDuration: 18’3(pic).3+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.3perc/pf(cel)/strPremiere: October 16 1992, PhiladelphiaYo-Yo Ma, cello; The Philadelphia Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor

Kirchner has stated that “an artist must create a personalcosmos, a verdant world in continuity with tradition, furtherfulfilling man’s ‘awareness,’ his ‘degree ofconsciousness.’” HisMusic for Cello and Orchestraconsists of four motivically unified sections, played withoutpause. Its sonority, as one critic has commented, might bedescribed as freely dissonant, but many sections, such asthe lyrical passages for solo cello, hover around tonalcentres. Kirchner has commented on the movement of hismusic in general towards cyclically connected sections, andof the conclusion to this work in particular: “it all comestogether in its gestalt-like way.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Judith WeirHeroic Strokes Of The Bow (1992)Duration: 15’2(pic).1+ca.1+bcl.1+cbn/2200/timp/strPremiere: October 26 1992, Leverkusen, GermanyWestdeutsche Sinfonie; Dirk Joeres, conductor

The works of Swiss-born painter (and also professionalviolinist) Paul Klee have influenced many composers, fromMaxwell Davies to Gunther Schuller to Tan Dun. Weir’s worktakes its name from a 1938 painting, which seems to showa simple pattern of violin bows and pegs against a hypnoticblue background. However Weir is responding not to theimage but to the title, and thus the piece is predominantlybuilt out of energetic violin figures, momentum buildingthroughout the piece until the woodwinds finally get theirsay, and a more relaxed coda ends the work.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Niels Rosing-SchowWindshapes (1992)Duration: 15’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/timp.2perc/hp.pfPremiere: November 19 1992, Odense Concert Hall, OdenseOdense Symphony Orchestra; Antoni Wit, conductor

Scored for orchestra without strings, the title of NielsRosing-Schow’sWindshapes refers not only to hisinstrumental line-up but also to the inspiration behind thepiece. The work has the subtitle “Three OrchestralPictures”, and the movements’ titles areWindsweptLandscape, Sand drift and Erosion, which provides a slowand beautiful ending to the piece.Windshapes can bethought of a tribute to Debussy and an inversion of La Mer –but rather than a piece about the water in which the windhas a supporting role, Rosing-Schow has written a pieceabout the wind in which the water is never far away.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

1993Two works each from two composers who easily straddlethe concert and film music worlds; nostalgic concertanteworks for violin and guitar; a brilliant, brash, overture; andtwo works tinged with sadness – a tribute to a composer’slate wife, and the final work by one of the great masters ofthe century…

Poul RudersGong (1992)Duration: 17’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/5perc/epf/strPremiere: January 7 1993, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Leif Segerstam, conductor

In Gong, Ruders takes on a famous Danish orchestral work– Carl Nielsen’s Helios Overture. Ruders’s overture is alsobased on the sun, and carries the title Gong because notonly does the sun look like a gong, but astronomicalresearch also suggests that it reverberates like a gong, and“there is even a solar research group called GONG (GlobalOscillation Network Group)”. The form of Ruders’s brilliantwork, which is saturated with loud, clangourous ‘gong-like’sounds, mirrors the life cycle of our sun, from its initialexplosive birth, through its hyper-active mature period, tothe final flaring up and collapse. Gong is dedicated to OlivierMessiaen, who died while Ruders was writing the piece.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Witold LutoslawskiSymphony No.4 (1992)Duration: 22’3(pic)3(ca)3(Ebcl:bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.perc/2hp.cel/strPremiere: February 5 1993, Los AngelesLos Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; Witold Lutoslawski, conductor

The final major work by one of the great orchestralmasters of the twentieth century. Shorter than its famouspredecessor, the 4th Symphony was commissionedby the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and performed by themaround the world in the years following its premiere.Robert Henderson’s review of the UK premiere could standas a tribute to the whole career of this Polish master:“There is not a single false or ugly note, not the slightestgesture that is out of place. Yet beneath the exquisite,smartly tailored surface it has an instantly appealing lyricalwarmth, decorous, imaginative brilliance and expressivegenerosity of spirit.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd (Polish Works)

Tan DunDeath and Fire: Dialogue with Paul Klee (1992)Duration: 27’2(2pic)+pic(afl).2.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/4perc/hp/strPremiere: March 27 1993, GlasgowBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Tan Dun, conductor

Different images appear in Death and Fire: Dialogue withPaul Klee, which is scored for a large orchestra. There areten sections, all but one of them based on specificpaintings by Klee or on more general aspects of his work,and embraced by a strong architecture in which the first,fifth and tenth sections are the pillars, with the others asinserts. The opening and middle pillars are further linked inemphasizing the strings, with no percussion, and with thewind players entering only for a brief passage of vocalizationin the first movement.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc


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Left: Michael Nyman(see above and pages 57,58, 65 and 71)

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Tan DunOrchestral Theatre II: Re (1992)Duration: 18’solo bass0+3pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2/4.3Dtpt.3.1/4perc/pf.hp/str (two conductors)audience participationPremiere: July 1 1993, TokyoTokyo Symphony Orchestra; Hiroyuki Iwaki and Tan Dun, conductors

The central work in the Orchestral Theatre trilogy, thisunusual piece requires the active participation of theaudience in two places – they are first required to hum aunison “D”, and then to chant a short invocation. This is TanDun seeking to reintroduce into western concert music asense of ritual: “I thought about the rituals familiar to mesince childhood and realized that in a ritual there is noaudience, only participants. I understood that theconductor’s role as high priest of the orchestra should alsoextend to his control over the entire performance space andall those within it, musicians and audience alike.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Michael NymanMGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) (1993)Duration: 29’4(2pic)44(Ebcl,Acl:2bcl)4/4.4.3+btbn.1/3dms/str(8.7.6.5.4); theMichael Nyman BandPremiere: September 26 1993, Festival de Lille, LilleOrchestre National de Lille and the Michael Nyman Band;Jean-Claude Casadesus, conductor

This work was commissioned to celebrate the inaugurationof the new Paris to Lille high speed railway, the TGV(Transport à Grande Vitesse). Nyman produced a work forthe combined forces of a symphony orchestra and theMichael Nyman Band that responds to the commission in anumber of ways: the typically high energy soundworld; theseries of harmonic “journeys” that are made during thepiece (as musical ideas pass through different musical“environments”); and in the relationship between the bandand the orchestra – Nyman has written that “the Band laysdown the tracks on which MGV runs”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Michael NymanThe Piano Concerto (1993)Duration: 32’solo piano2(pic,afl)2(ca)2(bcl)2/2211/hp/str(8.6.4.4.2)Premiere: September 26 1993, Festival de Lille, LilleKathryn Stott, piano; Orchestre National de Lille;Jean-Claude Casadesus, conductor

In his music for ‘The Piano’, Nyman produced one of themost memorable film scores of all time – the soundtrackalbum sold millions of copies, and even today, fans all overthe world flock in their thousands to hear Nyman perform it.The Piano Concerto is no straightforward concert version.Rather Nyman piece used the film soundtrack only as thestarting point; elaborating the textures, creating a hugelyexpanded, virtuosic piano part, and building a large-scalestructure out of four movements that are played without abreak. The resultant piece is a major work that stands as asignificant concert piece in its own right.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John CoriglianoTroubadours, Variations for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra(1993)Duration: 23’solo guitar2(pic)1(ca)2(bcl)0/0000/2perc/pf(opt)/str(min 6.6.4.4.2) offstage: ob.2bn/2hnPremiere: 8 October 1993, St Paul, MinnesotaSharon Isbin, guitar, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, conductor

Corigliano has claimed that “it is the job of the composer toreach out to his audience with every means at his disposal”.This was perhaps what persuaded the previously“lukewarm” Corigliano to write a concerto for guitar. “Duringthis process”, he has written of his 13-year interaction withthe soloist Sharon Isbin and his early generation of ideas,“the crystallization of what I love most about the guitar tookplace…It is an instrument that has always been used tospeak directly to an audience.” The period of compositionwas a positive one for the composer, who found in theprocess an older kind of innocence, “like a nostalgic returnto all the feelings I had when I started composing…a timewhen discovery and optimism ruled my senses…”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Peter Maxwell DaviesA Spell for Green Corn: TheMacdonald Dances (1993)Duration: 19’solo violin2(pic).2.1(Acl)+bcl.2(cbn)/22[2]0/timp.[perc]/strPremiere: November 24 1993, Glasgow City HallJames Clark, violin; Scottish Chamber Orchestra;Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor

Famously, in 1970 Peter Maxwell Davies moved fromEngland to settle in the Orkney Islands, and wholeheartedlyembraced not only the Scottish way of life but also itsmusic. Scottish tunes and melodies have found their way indisguised form into many works, but this piece displays theinfluence at its most overt – though as usual, the folk songsare original ones by Maxwell Davies himself. The spell itselfis quoted by George Mackay Brown: “let not plough be put toacre except a fiddle first cross the furrow”, and this ‘dancingconcerto’ imagines the soloist winding around the fields,blessing the crops.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Gunther SchullerOf Reminiscences and Reflections (1993)Duration: 20’4(2pic,afl).4(2ca).4(2bcl).4(cbn)/6441/timp.5perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: 2 December 1993, LouisvilleLouisville Symphony Orchestra; Gunther Schuller, conductor

Schuller’s Of Reminiscences and Reflections, which wonthe Pulitzer Prize in 1994, marked a significant turning pointin the composer’s life. Having been devastated by the deathof his wife, the impact of loss at first brought a total halt tohis creativity, though it eventually led to a continuation witha new and different energy and mode of expression. He haswritten of the period, and the piece: “I couldn’t compose atall…and sometimes wondered if I ever would be able tocompose again…and suddenly, the blockage seemed todisappear and I began…Of Reminiscences and Reflectionswas the first product of this new energy.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

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1994 ORCHESTRA

Niels Rosing-Schow…sous les râles du vent d’Est (1993)Duration: 19’solo cello, clarinet, piano1.1.0.1/2.1.1.0/2perc/hp/str(1.1.1.0.1)Premiere: April 30 1994, NUMUS Festival, AarhusAthelas Ensemble; Lin Ensemble; Flemming Windekilde, conductor

Niels Rosing-Schow does not lay bare his innermostfeelings in order to point to any programme in the music,but he is fond of using metaphors and images. One of thecentral images in the composer’s mental world is the wind,which for Rosing-Schow is the epitome of the power ofnature, an invisible force: “We cannot see the wind, but itforms the landscape around us; we can only hear it when itcomes up against an obstacle. I dissociate myself from thesubjectivity in the music – the wind as a force of nature isused in my music as an objective force”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Magnus Lindberg

Aura (In memoriamWitold Lutoslawski) (1994)Duration: 40’2+pic.2+ca.3(Ebcl)+bcl.2+cbn/43(Ebbtpt)31/timp.3perc/hp.pf(cel)/str(16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: June 11 1994, Suntory Hall, TokyoTokyo Symphony Orchestra; Kazufumi Yamashita, conductor

The death of his idol Lutoslawski inspired Lindberg to createnot only his largest and most substantial work to date,but a piece that stands as one of the great large-scaleorchestral works of recent years. Championed byconductors such as Rattle, Salonen and Litton, thisstaggering work combines the drama and thematic rigourof a symphony with the sheer brilliance of a concerto fororchestra (fittingly, two genres in which Lutoslawski createdmasterpieces), and welds them into something more –a journey through the richest possible sonic landscape,culminating in a deeply moving final chorale.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Benedict MasonSecondMusic for a European Concert Hall: EnsembleModern.Freiburger Barockorchester. Benoit Regent(1994)Duration: 20’solo actor (playing clarinet)1.1.0+ssx.0+bcl.1/1110/2perc/hp.2kbd/str(1.1.1.1.1) & baroqueorchestra: 2202/2000/str(4.3.3.2.1)Premiere: August 30 1994, Mozart Saal, Alte Oper Frankfurt, GermanyEnsemble Modern and Freiburger Barockorchester;Jonathan Nott, conductor

This work by the great maverick genius of our time isunique in just about every possible way: it combines acontemporary music ensemble with a Baroque orchestra;it takes place not just on the stage but in every corner of

the concert hall; it calls for the varied use of lighting andelectronics; and employs the widest variety of sounds,from a concerto by C.P.E. Bach to knocks, whistles, andthe sounds of plastic toys. This extraordinary immersiveexperience was recently brought to life again when Masonre-invented the work for a concert in Denmark, thus makingit available for performance in different surroundings.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Bent SørensenSterbende Gärten (1992-93)Duration: 24’solo Violin3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/3perc/hp/pf/strPremiere: September 8 1994, Tivoli Concert Hall, CopenhagenRebecca Hirsch, violin; Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra; LeifSegerstam, conductor

Inspiration can strike at any time, as Sørensen tells us:“One grey and rainy spring day in 1992, I found myself in anold overgrown garden. In the dense undergrowth and vines, Icould make out the contours of the framework that oncecontrolled this refined part of the garden. This strangeimage was the initial inspiration for my violin concerto.” Theresult is a work typical of the composer, in which there is asense of something that is there – or used to be there – butthat you cannot quite grasp any more. Sterbende Gärtenwas awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1996, and isthe piece that brought Sørensen international recognition.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Richard DanielpourConcerto for Cello and Orchestra (1994)Duration: 31’3(pic).2+ca.3(bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/hp.pf(cel)/str(min. 14.12.10.8.6)Premiere: September 14 1994, San FranciscoYo-Yo Ma, cello; San Francisco Symphony Orchestra;Herbert Blomstedt, conductor

Danielpour’s first cello concerto (the second was composedsome five years later) was the result of a longstandingrelationship with San Francisco Symphony, and a fortuitouslunch meeting with the soloist Yo-Yo Ma, who requested atthe end of a meal for Danielpour to write him a concerto. Thework – and particularly the solo writing – is imbued with theflavours of many non-European musics, which Ma instantlyrecognised and admired. The composer himself wrote:“There is a cantorial quality to much of the cello line…I hadno intention of writing a Jewish piece, but it insisted.”Premiere: 14 September 1994, San Francisco Symphony,Yo-Yo Ma, cello, Herbert Blomstedt, conductorPublisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Anthony PayneOrchestral Variations – “The Seeds Long Hidden” (1994)Duration: 20’2222/2200/timp/strPremiere: November 22 1994, Barbican Hall, LondonEnglish Chamber Orchestra; James Judd, conductor

The “seeds” of the title are the musical works that haveinspired Payne over the years, that in his own mind grew toform his own unique musical style. Each of the tenvariations in this work of musical autobiography refers to adifferent piece or composer that has had a big influence inone way or another. While there is never any directquotation, one can easily sense traces of Brahms, Bridge,Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, Varèse, Elgar, Gerhard,Delius and Sibelius, all woven seamlessly into a colourfulfabric of Payne’s own invention.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

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ORCHESTRA 1994

1994A host of concertos for wind and/or string instruments; tworadically different re-makings of the past from Englishcomposers of different generations; evocations of quietTibet and raucous New York City; and award-winningtributes to Rostropovich and Lutoslawski…

Param VirHorse ToothWhite Rock (1994)Duration: 25‘3(pic:pic,afl)3(ca)3(bcl)2+cbn/4331/timp.4perc/hp.cel(pf)/strPremiere: March 3 1994, St. George’s Hall, BradfordBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor

Param Vir composed this, his first large orchestral piece, inthe years after winning the Siemens Prize for his operaticdouble bill Broken Strings and Snatched by the Gods. HorseTooth White Rock draws its inspiration from the life of theeleventh century Tibetan saint Milarepa, whose journeyfrom a life of extreme brutality to enlightenment is mirroredin the two movements of the work. Over the course of 25minutes, fragmented melodies and energetic rhythms giveway to hushed strings as an exquisite duet between coranglais and cello leads the listener towards a similartranscendence.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Morton GouldString Music (1993)Duration: 30’strPremiere: March 10 1994, Washington DCNational Symphony Orchestra; Mstislav Rostropovich, conductor

Winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize, Gould’s String Music wascommissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra (withwhom he had been associated in one form or another sincethe early 1940s), and formed part of the composer’seightieth-birthday celebrations. Especially concerned withcontrasts of colour and texture, the piece was written toexploit the string orchestra’s particular capabilities andpotentialities. Dedicating the work to Rostropovich, Gouldwrote: “String Music is a lyrical work, built entirely onoriginal themes and reflecting, in a way, the many moodsand many facets of a man and musician we have all come toknow for the intensity and emotion of his commitment tomusic and life.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Aaron Jay KernisNew Era Dance (1993)Duration: 6’2+pic.2.2(Ebcl,bcl).2(opt policewhistles)/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/pf(police whistle)/str/audio effectsPremiere: April 8 1994, BaltimoreBaltimore Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor

Hints ofWest Side Story are updated to the age of the boombox in this celebratory welcoming for the newmillennium, asKernis skilfully mixes the sounds of popular culture with theneo-Romantic passion that permeates each one of hisscores. The piece has been widely perform by professionalorchestras but has also found great favour with youngaudiences and youth orchestras, who respond withparticular enthusiasm to the ‘rap’ sections. The “New Era”of the title is not just a musical one, but also political – in hisnote in the score, the composer hopes for a new era ofunderstanding.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Edward GregsonClarinet Concerto (1994)Duration: 30’solo clarinet3(pic).3(ca).0+bcl.3(cbn)/4.2.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: April 20 1994, Studio 7 Concert Hall, ManchesterMichael Collins, clarinet; BBC Philharmonic Orchestra;Adrian Leaper, conductor

Specially written for Michael Collins, Gregson’s showpieceis perhaps his most substantial work to date, and one of theweightiest concertos in the repertoire. Cast in two hugesections, the piece is concerned with a gradual process ofthematic transformation, and it is perhaps best thought ofas a symphony with soloist. Each part of the piece worksthrough the material in symphonic fashion – the ending ofthe first movement is quiet and unresolved, however thesecond movement moves to a boisterous climax and, in thecomposer’s own words, “the melody the whole concertohas been waiting for”.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Aaron Jay KernisColored Field (1994, rev. 2000)Duration: 40’solo cor anglais (or cello)3(pic).23(Ebcl,bcl).2(cbn)/432+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere of original version: 21 April 1994, San FranciscoJulie Ann Giacobassi, cor anglais; San Francisco Symphony; AlasdairPremiere of cello version: 19 April 2000, MinneapolisTruls Mørk, cello; Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductorNeale, conductor

As one critic has commented, the cor anglais is particularlyvalued for its rich, melancholic sound, and “it is notsurprising, therefore, that Colored Field is a dark piece”.Though conscious (or, as one interviewer remarked,“nervous”) of the shifting fashion for composers to alertaudiences or critics to the programmatic content of theirwork or creative process, Kernis acknowledged theinspiration of visual images. He pictured the threemovements as a drawing or lithograph, a dark oilpainting, and a black and white photograph. The openingmovement, also titled Colored Field, was also inspired bya visit the composer had made to Auschwitz and Birkenau,five years previously.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

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Bright ShengChina Dreams (1992-95)Duration: 26’2(2pic)+pic.2+ca.3(Ebcl,bcl).2+cbn/43(pictpt).31/timp.4perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: September 14 1995, SeattleSeattle Symphony, Gerard Schwartz, conductor

The four movements that make up China Dreams werecomposed separately over the four years when BrightSheng was composer-in-residence with the SeattleSymphony. The first movement, “Prelude”, is lyrical andatmospheric; its themes have the folk flavour of thenorthwest region of China. The next movement is a fanfare –brilliant, percussive and insistent. “The Stream Flows”, forstrings alone, is based on a well-known folk tune from theYunnan Province in the south of China. The final movementcontinues and develops music from the prelude. A portionof the work came to the composer in his dreams; heacknowledges the work as the necessary product of anémigré, homesick for China.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Richard Rodney Bennett

Partita (1995)Duration: 17’2(pic)2(ca)22/2000/timp/hp/str(min 10.8.6.6.4)Premiere: October 19 1995, Royal Festival Hall, LondonPhilharmonia Orchestra; Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor

Partitawas commissioned by the British telecommunicationscompany BT in co-operation with the Association of BritishOrchestras, to be performed by seventeen differentprofessional and amateur orchestras between October1995 and June 1996. For Bennett this was an “exciting butdaunting commission”, and he responded with a lively,tuneful, accessible piece in three short movements as atribute to a dear friend of the composer, the similarly livelyand exuberant publisher Sheila MacCrindle, who had diedtwo years earlier. The piece confirmed Bennett’s late,integrated style – combining tonality, chromaticism and jazzharmonies – and has remained popular ever since.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Robert KapilowDr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham (1995)Duration: 18’solo Soprano and boy soprano2(pic)222/2220/2perc/pf/strPremiere: December 1995, MinneapolisVera Mariner, soprano, Joe Korsmo, actor; Minnesota Orchestra;William Eddins, conductor

A “merry, whiz-bang romp through the Dr Seuss classic”,Kapilow’s work for young audiences seamlesslyincorporates sophisticated references to familiar classicaland popular music with a timeless parable about prejudice.Kapilow has created a crackerjack musical accompanimentto a psychological tug-of-war between a child named Sam-I-Am (whose gender the composer chooses to leave open,suggesting Sam as a possible shortening of Samantha)and a character called the Grouch. Treating the book as aparable, Kapilow incorporates what he considers the centralmessage of Dr Seuss’s touching and funny tale: overcomingeveryday prejudice.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

1996Evocations of light, the sea, fire, water, the sun; quests forthe holy grail, for the “true” sound of the clarinet, for themeaning of the word “symphony”…

Richard DanielpourToward the Splendid City (1995)Duration: 9’3(pic).2+ca.3(bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: January 4 1996, New YorkNew York Philharmonic, Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Danielpour’s piece engages the listener with its brilliantscoring, ceaseless activity, and vibrant rhythmicundercurrent. The “Splendid City” of the title is of courseDanielpour’s home town of New York City, and this sonicpostcard features Cuban rhythms, Broadway-like themes,punchy brass, and one section that spies the city from afar,described by Danielpour as: “a sound-painting with stringharmonics, celesta, harp, vibes, and bells, inspired by mymemory of floating above New York at night on a plane andseeing the lights of the city in the mist”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

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ORCHESTRA 1995

1995Explorations of the orchestra itself from Glass, Shengand Lindberg, as well as hugely entertaining light musicfrom Ruders, Heath, Bennett and Kapilow and deeplyserious pieces of remembrance from Bainbridge andTilson Thomas…

Philip GlassSymphony No.3 (1995)Duration: 26’str(6.4.4.3.2)Premiere: February 5 1995, Künzelsau, GermanyStuttgart Chamber Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

This work represents Glass’s response to a very specificcommission brief. When Dennis Russell Davies becamemusic director of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, heasked Glass to write a piece for the 19 string players ofthe orchestra, treating them all as individual soloists - anintriguing puzzle for a composer best known for his block-like textures and structures. Glass solved it by creating twocentral movements that expand outwards from a simpleopening idea – adding instruments one by one to buildup a complex edifice. These two movements are neatlyframed by two linked shorter pieces that show off theensemble as a whole.Publisher: Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc

Simon BainbridgeAd Ora Incerta - Four Orchestral Songs from Primo Levi(1994)Duration: 35’language: Italiansolo mezzo soprano, bassoon2(pic,afl)+2pic.2+ca.4(2bcl).cbn/4430/3perc/str(16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: March 29 1995, Royal Festival Hall, LondonChristine Cairns, mezzo-soprano; Kim Walker, bassoon;BBC Symphony Orchestra; Simon Bainbridge, conductor

Winner of the highly prestigious University of LouisvilleGrawemeyer Award for Composition, Ad Ora Incerta is one ofthe most ambitious and deeply moving works of recenttimes. The piece sets four poems by Primo Levi, climaxing inthe poem “Buna” that describes Levi’s experiences in theconcentration camp of the same name. “Buna” in itself is atour de force – a 16-minute symphonic song of Mahlerianintensity and proportions. The way is prepared by threeshorter movements that explore a variety of emotions, aswell as the unique line-up of mezzo soprano, bassoon andlarge symphony orchestra.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Poul RudersConcerto in Pieces (1994-95)Duration: 17’optional narrator3.3.3+bcl.asx.3/4.3.3.1/timp.4perc/hp/pf(cel)/syn/strPremiere: May 25 1995, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UKBBC Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Davis, conductor

Although he was living in London at the time, Rudersconfesses that being a “foreigner” he was terrified by thiscommission – to write a piece commemorating thetercentenary of the death of Henry Purcell, and the fiftiethanniversary of Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to theOrchestra. He deliberately selected for his work a Purcelloriginal as far as possible from Britten’s theme – thewitches’ chorus from Dido and Aeneas – and also chose to

focus on combinations of instruments rather than theindividual instruments. The result is a brilliantly exuberantwork, just as entertaining as its illustrious predecessor,that has been widely performed around the world.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Magnus LindbergArena (1995)Duration: 15’2(pic)332(cbn)/2330/2perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: June 30 1995, Avanti! Summer Sounds, Porvoo, FinlandAvanti! Chamber Orchestra; Sakari Oramo, conductor

Following hot on the heels of his huge orchestralmasterpiece Aura, Arena is more modestly proportioned,yet just as dazzling in its use of the orchestra. It is not justthe players themselves who are tested – the work wascommissioned by the International Sibelius Conductors’Competition as an obligatory test piece to be rehearsed byall competitors. This exuberant, joyous work provides anexhilarating test of the conductor and the ensemble, and inits final section seems to luxuriate in a warm bath ofharmonies reminiscent of Lindberg’s great Finnishpredecessor, Jean Sibelius.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Dave HeathAfrican Sunrise: Manhattan Rave (1995)Duration: 25’solo marimba2(pic)2(ca)22/21(flg)10/2perc/strPremiere: June 1995, St Magnus Festival, OrkneyEvelyn Glennie, percussion; National Youth Orchestra of Scotland

This showpiece was written for the special talents andpersonality of Evelyn Glennie. In this pair of concertos,played consecutively without a break, Heath utilises asmall number of instruments to brilliant effect. Themarimba concerto African Sunrise starts in dramaticfashion with thunder, wind and rain. From this darkest ofopenings, the sun rises on a lively, virtuosic middle section,and then sets to an elegy. By contrast,Manhattan Raveis a riot of sound for drum kit and industrial percussion,until the coda, reprising the elegy from African Sunrise,reminds us that the distance between tribal life and big citymay not be so great after all.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Michael Tilson ThomasShówa/Shoáh (1995)Duration: 27’3(pic,afl).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp+4perc/hp.cel.pf/strPremiere: August 6 1995, San FranciscoPacific Music Festival Orchestra; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Shówa/Shoáh was inspired by visits to days ofremembrance in Israel and Japan, and was written for aconcert commemorating the 50th anniversary of thebombing of Hiroshima. Tilson Thomas was particularlyinspired by the sound of Heiwa No Kane, the bell rungat Hiroshima’s annual ceremony. The composer writes:“All the themes come from the sounds of the bell. Fromits notes arise four songs without words; a meditation, alament, a lullaby, and a prayer. These songs constantlytransform themselves between eastern and westernmusical vocabularies. In my mind, I imagined three singers,one from Japan, one from Israel, and one from America,singing old songs of remembrance and consolation.Singing lullabies for those who have been lost for childrenwho are living now, reassuring them that we will never allowthis to happen again…”Publisher: Kongcha

Right: Ralf Wallin(see above and pages

58,75, 80 and 84)

Tristan KeurisArcade (1995)Duration: 14’3(3pic).3(3ca).2+Ebcl+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.3perc/hp/str(16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: January 15 1996, Music Centre, Hilversum, NetherlandsNetherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; Edo de Waart, conductor

In the early 1990s Keuris began to move away from themodernism of his earlier works towards a richer musicallanguage that was more readily identifiable with modelsfrom the past, though without losing the clarity ofexpression that distinguishes all his works. In the six, finelybalanced movements of Arcade we encounter Keuris at hismost descriptive, whether in the radiance of the openingmovement ‘Aureole’ or the haunting ‘Cenotaph’. A concisework in which not a note is wasted, the piece neverthelessdraws on an extensive musical palette, from sweepingRomantic gestures to Stravinskian directness, making it animpressive showpiece for the orchestra.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Jouni KaipainenAccende lumen sensibus (1996)Duration: 22’1212/2100/timp.strPremiere March 29 1996, Espoo, Finland:Tapiola Sinfonietta; Jean-Jacques Kantorow, conductor

Kaipainen’s “concerto for small symphony orchestra” wasselected by conductor Hannu Lintu as one of the greatestFinnish works of recent years. This work is notable for thefact that it pays tribute to the Viennese Classical Style in itstraditional structure, to the great Romantic composers in itssensuous harmonies, and to the great modernists in itsfeverish energy. But most striking of all is the fiendishlydifficult cadenza for timpani, during the course of which theplayers has to re-tune the instruments in preparation for thefinale. Lintu jokes that “this piece launched a sort of coldwar between Kaipainen and Finnish timpanists!”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Karsten FundalFloating Lines - BrokenMirrors (1995-96)Duration: 25’solo Violin3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/3perc/hp/pf/cel/strPremiere: May 31 1996, Odense Concert HallPeter Zazofsky, violin; Odense Symphony Orchestra;Tuomas Olilla, conductor

Karsten Fundal’s concerto for violin and orchestra waswritten for the Carl Nielsen Violin Competition 1996, and isall about the number two. The piece has two titles, is in twomovements, and tells two stories that begin identically,but develop differently showing two possible destinies as aresult of varying circumstances. All highly appropriate for acomposer who has maintained two careers – working withequal success in the fields of concert and film music.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Gunther SchullerThe Arc Ascending (1996)Duration: 9’3(afl:bfl)+pic.2(obda)+ca+heck.3(2bcl)+cbcl.3(cbn)/4331/timp.5perc/pf(cel).hp/strPremiere: June 12 1996, CincinnatiCincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Jesús López-Cobos, conductor

Schuller has had a longstanding association with theCincinnati Symphony Orchestra, who premiered this piece –one of a long line of works by the composer related to orbased on visual images. This took inspiration from thephotography of the Cincinnati environmental artist AliceWeston. Acknowledging that one hundred years before hiswork would have been described as a tone poem, Schuller

has remarked that The Arc Ascending falls into theDebussy/Ravel category, “a representation in tones not somuch of the actual pictorial content” but rather on “musicalreflections of the different seasonal aspects… broughtabout by the seeming path of the sun in an ascending arc.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Kaija Saariaho

Graal théâtre (1994)Duration: 25’solo violin2232/4221/4perc/hp.pf/str(12.10.8.6.4)Premiere: August 29 1996, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, LondonGidon Kremer, violin; BBC Symphony Orchestra;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Graal théâtre had two main sources of inspiration – thebook by Jacques Roubaud that gives the piece its title, andthe playing and musicianship of Gidon Kremer, to whom thepiece is dedicated. Saariaho admired how Roubaud hadbeen able to reinterpret in the familiar legend of the HolyGrail a very personal way, and this showed her how sheherself could contribute to a genre “with so many movingand skilful masterpieces”. The piece exists in differentversions for symphony orchestra and large chamberensemble – in both versions it is the delicate interplaybetween the virtuoso solo line and the ensemble that hasmade this such a revered work.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Rolf WallinConcerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (1996)Duration: 14’solo clarinet3222/4230/timp.2perc/pf(cel)/strPremiere: October 17 1996, Ultima Festival, Oslo, NorwayLeif Arne Tangen Pedersen, clarinet; Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra;Christian Eggen, conductor

Rolf Wallin’s showpiece, awarded the Nordic Council MusicPrize in 1998, is the work that not only established Wallinas the leading Norwegian composer of his generation, butbrought him international attention. The concerto is theanswer to a riddle set by the composer: “What is the TrueSound of the clarinet – the soft, mild and pastoral sound ofMozart’s immortal Concerto, or the rough, chargingmasculinity of Balkan folk music?” Of course Wallin’sanswer seems to be “both, and a lot more besides”, as thelistener is taken on a thrilling journey into every corner ofclarinet technique.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

ORCHESTRA 1996

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Bent SørensenSymphony (1995-96)Duration: 22’3(pic).3(ca).2+Ebcl.2/4.3.3.0/3perc/hp/strPremiere: October 17 1996, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Ulf Schirmer, conductor

Having completing two concertante works in a row – theviolin concerto Sterbende Gärten and the piano concerto LaNotte – Sørensen soon afterwards completed his first large-scale work for orchestra alone. Over the course of its twomovements, played without a break, the piece traces agradual journey from the extremely high polyphonicglissandi of the opening to the slow, simple ending, with itsclearly delineated melodic fragments. The title is not agenre indication but rather a descriptive note; Sørensensays “I never considered having any other title than thismagical and associative word: ‘Symphony’”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Peter LiebersonFire (1995)Duration: 5’3(pic).2.2+Ebcl.2+cbn/2.3.2+btbn.1/4perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: October 17 1996, New YorkNew York Philharmonic; Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Fire was written as a 150th Anniversary Commission fromthe New York Philharmonic. Lieberson has said: “Ratherthan simply write a brief overture or orchestral fanfare, Idecided after some reflection to write a piece that wouldstand as the first in a series of pieces on the five greatelements. These are the four traditional elements – earth,water, fire, air – plus the fifth element, which isspace…We’re all composed of the elements ourselves andour communicative aspect is based on heat and passion,which are related to the element of fire.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Anders NordentoftDistant Night Ship (1996)Duration: 17’3.3.3.2/4.3.3.0/2perc/hp/pf/strPremiere: December 12 1996, Dronninggårdskolen, HolteCopenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra; Heinrich Schiff, conductor

1996 was a breakthrough year for Nordentoft, including thepremieres of his chamber work Hymn for the NashEnsemble and his cello concerto Light Imprisoned, andconcluding with the first performance of this atmospherictone poem. The piece is built from a central powerful image:that of the orchestra imagined as “a huge ship of sound,shining in the dark”. We can hear many sounds of animaginary sea in the piece, starting with the gentle, liltingopening. As we gradually draw further from the ship, theseparate instruments combine to create a simultaneousimpression of power and gentleness.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Augusta Read ThomasWords of the Sea (1995)Duration: 17’3+pic.2+ca.3(cbcl)+bcl.2+cbn/4.2Ctpt+Apictpt([Ctpt]).2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp[=2].pf/strPremiere: December 12 1996, ChicagoChicago Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor

Words of the Sea was the first piece in what proved to be ahugely successful ten-year collaboration between AugustaRead Thomas and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Thisdeeply evocative piece is cast in four distinct movements,each headed with a different quote fromWallace Stevens. It

is appropriate that the premiere was conducted by PierreBoulez, not just a strong advocate of Thomas but alsoa brilliant performer of Debussy, whose influence canbe felt so keenly in this piece, and who is the dedicateeof the final movement.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

1997A year of journeys. We can explore a number ofmonumental, large-scale work, take a tour of Las Vegas,and a trip through the history of the violin – we even meetElvis Presley, Mozart and David Bowie along the way. Afterlenghty journeys, one Scandinavian ends up in his homecity; another back in his first profession…

Esa-Pekka SalonenLA Variations (1996)Duration: 20’2(afl)+pic.2+ca.3(Ebcl,bcl)+cbcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.3perc/hp.cel.syn/str(min 16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: January 16 1997, Los AngelesLos Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

After a period in which his conducting took preference overhis composing, Salonen announced his return to hiscomposing roots with this brilliant, energetic showpiecethat has since received nearly 100 performances.Dedicated to the musicians of the Los Angeles PhilharmonicOrchestra, this piece defined Salonen’s new, more directstyle, in which a carefully crafted, ever-shifting, harmonicpalette is clearly articulated in a number of short sectionswith titles like “Big Chord I” and “Big Machine II”. Andnaturally for a composer who had spent a decade workingwith orchestras, the highlight of the piece is perhaps thedazzlingly inventive orchestration.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Arne NordheimViolin Concerto (1996)Duration: 25’solo Violin3(3pic).3(ca).2(Ebcl)+bcl.3(cbn)/4.2.3.1/3perc/hp/pf/cel/strPremiere: February 12 1997, Oslo Concert HouseArve Tellefsen, violin; Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

This work represented for Nordheim a “coming home” tohis native Oslo. The highly virtuosic solo part was the resultof a close collaboration between the composer and thesoloist Arve Tellefsen, and the orchestral part, whichexplores extremes of register and texture, was written forthe orchestra that the composer knew best. Unsurprisingly,the result is a highly personal and emotive work, with ashimmering texture that inspired one critic to write after theUS premiere: “At times in this work, Mr. Nordheim seemsa Norwegian Messiaen.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen


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Facing page: Esa-Pekka Salonenat the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles(see above and pages 20, 65, 68, 76, 78 & 83)

Peter Maxwell DaviesMavis in Las Vegas (1996)Duration: 15’2+afl.3.1+cl+bcl(tsx).2+cbn/43(inC)31/timp.5perc/hp.cel(ekbd,pf)/bjo/strPremiere: March 13 1997, Royal Northern College of Music, ManchesterBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor

Maxwell Davies’s significant body of concert music can bedivided into four strands – his serious, ground-breakingworks; his “utility music”, including works for the screenand stage; educational music for a variety of ensembles;and “light music”, including a number of orchestral piecesthat are performed around the world.Mavis in Las Vegasbelongs to this last group, and this gloriously over the top,tuneful and fantastically evocative tour of Las Vegas –taking in the Liberace museum and the Elvis Presleywedding chapel along the way – has been a hit wherever ithas been performed.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Philip Glass“Heroes” Symphony (1996)Duration: 44’2+pic.2.2+bcl.2/3.3.2+btbn.1/3perc/hp.pf.cel/strPremiere: May 15 1997, South Bank Centre, LondonAcademy of St Martin in the Fields; Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Philip Glass’s “symphonic ballet” is the second work to re-invent a classic rock album of the 1970s. Some yearspreviously, Glass had based a symphony on the “Low”album by Brian Eno and David Bowie. After the hugesuccess of this piece, Glass next turned to their “Heroes”album, using six themes from the original album as thebasis for the six movements of his own work, “a newcomposition which hopefully will reintroduce this music totoday’s listeners”. The other big influence waschoreographer Twyla Tharp, who suggested to Glass that heshould think of the piece as a ballet score for her dancecompany, giving yet another context to theBowie/Eno/Glass collaboration.Publisher: Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc

Richard DanielpourConcerto for Orchestra “Zoroastrian Riddles” (1996)Duration: 30’3(2pic).2+ca.3(bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/pf(cel).hp/strPremiere: May 16 1997, PittsburghPittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra commissionedDanielpour to compose his Concerto for Orchestra incelebration of its centennial season. The work’s subtitle,Zoroastrian Riddles, refers to Mozart’s comic incident inwhich he disguised himself as the 6th century BC Persianphilosopher Zoroaster. Danielpour has commented:“Mozart’s love for puzzles, games and mistaken identityhas always fascinated me; this piece is also filled withcontrapuntal puzzles, games and mistaken identitiesbetween the various themes in the music.” More seriously,he also acknowledges the work’s position within a largerfocus of his work on the life/death divide, observing thatit reflects a “fundamental law of nature: that in order forlife to continue and flourish, there must be death orsurrender of some sort.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Tan DunHeaven Earth Mankind (Symphony 1997) (1997)Duration: 1 hr 10’solo cello2(2pic).2.1+bcl.1+cbn/4331/4perc/hp.pf/str (min 10.8.8.8.4)[optional Bianzhang bells and children’s choir]Premiere: 1 July 1997, Hong KongYo-Yo Ma, cello; Asian Youth Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic;Imperial Bells Ensemble; Yip’s Children’s Choir; Tan Dun, conductor

This work was commissioned for an international event ofgreat historical significance – the official handover of HongKong from the UK to China. Tan Dun produced anappropriately epic piece, starting and ending with the Songof Peace for choir and the sound of the 2400-year-oldBianzhang bells. In between are three large sections:Heaven, which employs traditional Chinese tunes; Earth,which makes major use of the cello soloist; andMankind, alament and a warning, but also in the end a joyfulcelebration of what mankind can accomplish in a spirit ofco-operation.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Poul RudersSymphony No.2 [Symphony and Transformation] (1995-96)Duration: 28’2.2.2.2/2.2.2.1+euph/2perc/epf/str(10.8.6.4.2)Premiere: November 13 1997, Alice Tully Hall, New YorkRiverside Symphony Orchestra; George Rothman, conductor

After the monumental first symphony, Ruders’s secondessay in the genre – commissioned by the KoussevitskyFoundation – is a much more modest affair in every respect,yet has a quiet intensity that makes for an equallymemorable aural experience. The title was borrowed from aballet programme featuring works by Ruders and Nielsen,but in the context of this piece refers to the constant subtlemodifications to the musical material, and to the overallform of the piece, described by Ruders as “a patient andseamless journey from pure melody and polyphony towardspure rhythm”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John CoriglianoThe Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra (1997)Duration: 15’solo violin3(2pic).2.2.2/4.2Ctpt[=Dtpt].2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/pf([cel]).hp/strPremiere: November 26 1997, San Francisco

San Francisco Symphony, Robert Spano, conductorAlthough one of the highest regarded composers for theconcert hall, many know John Corigliano’s music throughhis three film scores. His stunning Oscar-winning score forFrançois Girard’s 1999 film The Red Violin is a darklyromantic vision of a violin’s journey through threecontinents over three centuries. In both the movie and theconcert suite, Corigliano provides a violin part which, inexpressing the violin’s travels, makes the utmost demandson the soloist. The Chaconne, based on the original musicalmaterials developed for the film, focuses on some ofCorigliano’s most plaintive and lyrical writing for theinstrument.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

ORCHESTRA 1997

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Michael GordonWeather (1997)Duration: 1 hr 10’str (min 6.3.3.3.1); tp in mvt 3optional multimedia video component by Elliot CaplanPremiere: November 27 1997, Bonn Oper, Bonn, GermanyEnsemble Resonanz

The extraordinary idea for this piece was sketched out ona paper napkin by video artist Elliot Caplan during a trainjourney: a picture of an orchestra going straight up in theair. This image is interpreted both literally, as the orchestraplay on a scaffold surrounded by video screens, andmetaphorically, as the piece seems to move up and downthrough history, taking in various sources of inspiration,from Vivaldi to pop music.Weather is an onslaught ofsound, tuneful, rhythmic and raw. Michael Gordon’s musicembraces elements of dissonance, rigorous minimalism,modality and popular culture in a bold and direct sound.Publisher: Red Poppy Music

1998Two reworkings of Mahler and Mozart; two works inspiredby the night sky; two works that offer the listener serenecontemplation; a sincere tribute to a virtuoso ensemble;and a slightly less sincere tribute to the UK’s newPrime Minister…

Simon BainbridgeThree Pieces for Orchestra (1998)Duration: 20’2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)/2220/3perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: February 7 1998, Victoria Rooms, BristolBrunel Ensemble; Christopher Austin, conductor

It was while composing his masterpiece Ad Ora Incerta thatBainbridge became particularly interested in the genre ofsong, and decided to write this set of three instrumental“songs” for small orchestra alone. The first movement payshommage to perhaps the greatest composer of orchestralsong cycles Gustav Mahler, and is based on a tiny fragmentfrom Der Abschied, the final movement of Das Lied von derErde. The second movement is a shimmering scherzo; thispaves the way for the finale ‘orchestral chorale’ that isfunereal in character, and is “a musical memorial to the fartoo large number of dear friends and colleagues who diedduring 1997”.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Thea MusgravePhoenix Rising (1997)Duration: 23’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/timp.4perc/2hp/strPremiere: February 18 1998, Royal Festival Hall, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Sir Andrew Davis, conductor

The unlikely inspiration (and title) for this piece came from asign hanging outside a Virginian coffee shop. The image ofthe phoenix rising from the ashes came to embody, for thecomposer, a symbol of rebirth. Cast in a single movement,the work moves from despair to the jubilant moment of thephoenix rising, and beyond to a serene contemplation ofwhat has come before. Throughout the work the timpani isclosely associated with the forces of darkness, and a solohorn (initially offstage) with hope. Over the course of thepiece, the two exchange places so that, by the end, the hornhas prominence while the timpanist is forced into the wings.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Michael NymanStrong on Oaks, Strong on the Causes of Oaks (1997)Duration: 17’1+pic.2.2.2/2200/timp/strPremiere: April 14 1998, Royal Festival Hall, LondonEnglish Sinfonia; Bramwell Tovey, conductor

This celebratory orchestral suite, an arrangement of fivemovements of Nyman’s String Quartet No.4, wascommissioned by the English Sinfonia to celebrate theirnew residency in Stevenage. The title is derived from twosources: Sitheneace (‘Strong Oak’, the original Saxon namefor Stevenage), and Tony Blair’s assertion that hisgovernment would be “tough on crime, tough on the causesof crime”. The piece is dedicated to Simon Jeffes, founderof the Penguin Café Orchestra, who died in December1997. When Nyman heard of his death he was orchestratingthe final page of the score: in his honour, the second violinsplay 4-note pizzicato chords in the style of the ukulele ofwhich Jeffes was a master.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

David LangThe Passing Measures (1997)Duration: 45’solo bass clarinet; 8 alto voices0000/4331/4perc/2pf.eb/8vc.2db (all amplified)Premiere: May 3 1998, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UKMarty Ehrlich, bass clarinet, and members of the City of BirminghamSymphony Orchestra Chorus, Paul Herbert, conductor

Although David Lang and his colleagues in “Bang on a Can”are perhaps best known for engaging with contemporaryculture, in this piece Lang laments aspects of modern life,particularly the fact that most commercial music is fast andfrenetic: “Slow music is good for contemplation but isprobably terrible for business, so you don’t get much of it inyour daily life. One of the noble things you can do in a pieceof ‘serious’ music is allow for an experience that can’thappen in your everyday life. The Passing Measures is thatkind of experience.”Publisher: Red Poppy Music

Bent SørensenLa Notte (1996-98)Duration: 23’solo piano3(pic).2.1+2Ebcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.0/3perc/hp/strPremiere: September 23 1998, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenRolf Hind, piano; Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

This piano concerto, written specially for Rolf Hind,offers a classic Sørensen paradox. While the composerasserts that the work’s two movements are connected withdifferent aspects of “the night” – the first with the mysteryof the dark hours and the second with the act of dreaming –the work’s bright soundworld seems to suggest theopposite. Each movement ends with a cadenza, the secondof which was inspired by a quote from The Viceroy of Ouidahby Bruce Chatwin: “No, No, No. It was not the leopard thatkilled him. Not the buffalo that killed him. It was night.Night that killed him!’’’Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen


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Augusta Read ThomasOrbital Beacons—Concerto for Orchestra (1997-98)Duration: 27’3+pic.4.3(cbcl)+bcl.2+cbn/5.3Ctpt+Bbpictpt.2+btbn.1/4perc/2hp/strPremiere: November 27 1998, ChicagoChicago Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor

Augusta Read Thomas began Orbital Beacons in June 1997to a commission from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,and dedicated the work with admiration and gratitude toPierre Boulez and the orchestra. The title makes allusion torotating beams of light, “implying a variety of acousticconstellations that orbit and glow. A constellation may bemade up of a soloist, a small chamber ensemble, achamber orchestra, or even the full orchestra. Theirpatterns, cycles, and groupings are constantly shifting,weaving a web of new sounds which move through theorchestra, transforming as they melt into the background oremerge into the foreground.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Rolf WallinTides (1998)Duration: 25’6 solo percussion3333/4431/strPremiere: November 27 1998, Berwald Hall, StockholmKroumata Percussion Ensemble; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Wallin is well known for his various percussion works,including Stonewave, which became part of the corerepertoire of the unique Kroumata Percussion Ensemble,and was such a success that they also asked Wallin to writea concerto for them. The title of the resulting work Tidesrefers to the waves of energy that rush through the piece,and specifically to three intertwining waveforms thatcomprise the percussion parts and merge into one graduallyevolving entity. Around this strictly organised core ofpercussive activity, Rolf freely weaves the orchestralmaterial, which sometimes supports and sometimesignores the music of the soloists.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Michael NymanDrowning by Numbers for Chamber Orchestra (1998)Duration: 20’solo violin, viola (can be played by leaders of orchestral sections)2(pic).1+ca.2(bcl).2/2.2.btbn.0/pf/str(8.6.4.4.2)Premiere: December 9 1998, Warwick Arts CentreLondon Mozart Players; David Gibson, conductor

For his 1987 film Drowning by Numbers, director PeterGreenaway asked Michael Nyman to base his score on avery specific source – the slow movement of Mozart’sSinfonia Concertante K364 for violin, viola and orchestra.The score sees Nyman at his most inventive, extractingharmonic and melodic fragments, transposing them,reversing them, and creating an astonishing variety ofpieces from just a few bars of the original. This 1998 suiteis in six movements, and the subtle orchestration for smallforces displays a different side of Nyman’s musicalpersonality to his more well-known high-octane works for theMichael Nyman Band.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

1999Nine works representing nine widely different genres: asong cycle; a theatrical solo concerto; a concerto forchamber orchestra; a serenage and elegy for strings; aconcert opener; a ballet suite; a traditional solo concerto;an essay for large orchestra; and a piece of music theatre.(Not a symphony in sight…)

Judith WeirNatural History (1998)Duration: 17’language: Englishsolo soprano3(pic,afl)333(cbn)/4301/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: January 14 1999, Symphony Hall, Boston, MADawn Upshaw, soprano; Boston Symphony Orchestra;Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

The orchestral song cycle Natural History, humorouslydescribed by the composer as “A Taoist Carnival of theAnimals”, followed in the wake of Weir’s enormouslysuccessful 1987 opera A Night at the Chinese Opera. Thepiece sets English translations of four brief texts taken froma classic collection of Taoist texts from the 4th, 3rd and 2ndcenturies BC, each a short parable about natural life aslived by different species both human and animal – Horse,Singer, Swimmer and Fish/Bird. Weir wonderfully integratesoriental sounds and melodies into her own “natural”language, resulting in what one critic has described as “afeast for the ear”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Tan Dun

Water Concerto (1999)Duration: 27’solo percussion2(2pic).2.1+bcl.1+cbn/2220/4perc/hp.pf/str (min 86663)Premiere: June 3 1999, New YorkChristopher S. Lamb, percussion; New York Philharmonic Orchestra;Kurt Masur, conductor

Tan Dun’s brilliant showpiece is dedicated to the memoryof Toru Takemitsu, who died in 1996. Totally original in itssoundworld, the score is dripping with invention, soakedthrough with wit, and brimming with energy. The soloist


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duels with two orchestral percussionists on instrumentssuch as water basins, water drums, water tubes – and, ofcourse, towel (for drying hands). Not just a crowd-pleaserbut a crowd-intriguer as well, described by the composeras music that should be listened to with the eyes andwatched with the ears. The composer hopes that “somepeople will listen and rediscover the things in life that arearound us, but we don’t notice any more”.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Stuart MacRaeSinfonia (1999)Duration: 19’2.2.1+bcl.2/2.2.2.0/timp.perc/str(5.5.5.5.6.3)Premiere: June 12 1999, City Hall, GlasgowGlasgow Chamber Orchestra; Peter Jones, conductor

Beauty and violence are the two themes of Stuart MacRae’sSinfonia, although the distinction between them is not asclear as it seems at first. Teeming with musical ideas, thepiece has been described as a ‘concerto for orchestra’.Over the course of a single movement, music of icystillness slowly transforms into something altogethermore forceful as the work gathers pace and the listenercomes to sense the grey area between beauty and violence.MacRae offers no answers and the piece comes to anuncomfortable conclusion with the two elements reachingan uneasy balance.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Hugh WoodSerenade & Elegy (1999)Duration: 20’solo string quartetstrPremiere: July 15 1999, Cheltenham Festival,Chilingirian String Quartet; London Mozart Players;Matthias Bamert, conductor

One of the most moving works of recent times, HughWood’s Serenade & Elegy for string quartet and stringorchestra has its roots in tragedy: the murder of thecomposer’s daughter in Bavaria in September 1988.The piece introduces quotes from two other composers:the initial Serenade is framed by a brief Kurtág motif thatcarries the words “flowers we are; frail flowers”, while thefinal section of the Elegy incorporates a transcription ofPfitzner’s settings of a poem by Eichendorff: “Farewell tomy daughter”. Quite apart from the textual association,this extraordinary oasis of C major among Wood’s highlyexpressive, chromatic world has a powerful impact.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Michael GordonSunshine of Your Love (1998)Duration: 10’444.4asx.4/6642/2timp.4perc/2egtr.2eb/4kbd/strPremiere: August 24 1999, Edinburgh FestivalEnsemble Modern; John Adams, conductor

Gordon completely re-invents the orchestra to create aunique and utterly thrilling short piece for orchestra. Thethree major sources of innovation are the instrumentation(as 4 saxophones, 4 synthesisers, 2 electric guitars and 2bass guitars are added to the orchestra); the spatialisation(as the orchestra is divided up into 4 roughly equal groups);and most of all the tuning, as these 4 groups are de-tuned(for example, the violins in each group are tuned an eighthof a tone apart). This creates an incredibly thick, powerfulsoundworld, that does not directly refer to the Cream songthat gives the work its title but has an analogous intensity.Publisher: Red Poppy Music

Gabriel YaredClavigo (1999)Duration: 87’3(pic)2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbn/4331/timbales/3perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: October 1 1999, Paris National OperaOrchestra of Paris National Opera; Richard Bernas, conductor

While Yared’s scores for award-winning films such as BettyBlue and The English Patient have brought him internationalrecognition, his ballet scores have allowed the composer’saural imagination to run free, and to combine his natural earfor melody with larger, complex structures. Clavigo, whichcan also be performed in the concert hall, is perhaps hisfinest achievement to date. Inspired by Goethe’s earlyromantic play, Yared decided “to use the greatest variety ofstyles, to explore the various types of music I like, for thesheer pleasure of composing music one could dance to.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Peter LiebersonRed Garuda (1999)Duration: 24’solo piano2(pic)+pic.2+ca.2+Ebcl+bcl(cbcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btn.1/timp.5perc/cel.hp/strPremiere: October 14 1999, BostonPeter Serkin, piano; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Lieberson has long had an interest in Eastern culture andphilosophy, and his second piano concerto – like his firstconcerto, also written for Peter Serkin and the BostonSymphony Orchestra – was inspired by the Chineseelements, and an Eastern mythological creature called theRed Garuda, a large bird that never stops flying, and neverneeds to measure its flight or its distance. This for thecomposer “symbolizes an absolute freedom”. Liebersonsays: “I envisioned a huge bird flying over different types oflandscapes, with each one characterized by the traditionalelements of fire, water, and earth (combined with wind)”.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Anders BrødsgaardGalaxy (1990-99)Duration: 38’3.3.3.3/4.3.3.1/2perc/hp/2pf/hpd/str(14.12.10.8.6)Premiere: November 11 1999, Music Harvest Festival, OdenseOdense Symphony Orchestra; Frans Rasmussen, conductor

Galaxy is an appropriately epic title for a piece that is thecomposer’s crowning achievement to date, and took hima decade to write. Having started out life as a composerof rigorously structural works, Brødsgaard had in the1980s moved to more freely composed works. In Galaxyhe integrated the two through experiments with a newharmonic system that would make it possible to “to connectthe tonal and atonal, triads and clusters, diatonic scalesand twelve-tone scales”. These experiments all take placewithin an overall spiral shape, “a constant accumulation ofenergy from the beginning to the end.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

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Tan DunOrchestral Theatre IV: The Gate (1999)Duration: 55’Female Peking Opera singer; Western operatic soprano; JapanesePuppeteerstr; videoPremiere: November 25 1999, Suntory Hall, TokyoNHK Symphony Orchestra; Charles Dutoit, conductor

At the gate through which souls must pass to reborn, threewomen who committed suicide for love await judgment inTan Dun’s fourth instalment in the Orchestral Theatreseries. Alongside Yu Ji, heroine of Farewell My Concubine(19th century Peking Opera), and William Shakespeare’sJuliet from Romeo and Juliet (16th century England), TanDun has placed Koharu-san from The Love Suicides atAmijima by Chikamatsu (18th century Japan). The composerfurther elaborates: “There is such a terrible lack of lovetoday; resurrection for these three women seemed a veryimportant symbolic task”.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

2000Pieces inspired by countries at both ends of the old silktrading route; two re-working of chamber pieces on anorchestral scale; some whimsical scherzos and diversions;two “teaser trailers” for an opera and a song cycle; and anew symphony for the newmillennium…

Bright Sheng

Nanking! Nanking! (1999)Duration: 26’3(2pic).3(ca).3(Ebcl,bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: January 2 2000, Seven Horizons Festival, HamburgNDR Symphony Orchestra; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor

Nanking! Nanking! was jointly commissioned by theNorddeutscher Rundfunk and by Marshall Cloyd for SiebenHorizonte (Seven Horizons), a concert for the newmillennium in January 2000. The piece was written inmemory of the victims of the 1937massacre, when theJapanese army swept into the ancient city, torturing andkilling more than 300,000 civilians. Sheng focuses thestory through one individual perspective, a victim who isalso a witness and survivor, a figure represented by the pipa(a Chinese lute). As well as the horrors, Sheng wanted todocument those who had risked their lives to help where thegovernment would, or could not. The composer remarks:“Ultimately, it is humanity that triumphs.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Per NørgårdSymphony No.6 [At the End of the Day] (1997-99)Duration: 31’4.4.4.4/6.4.4.1/timp.3perc/hp/pf/strPremiere: January 6 2000, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Kaare Hansen, conductor

Nørgård’s Symphony No.6 was commissioned to bepremiered at the dawn of the newmillennium, and carries asubtitle inspired by a quote from the New Testament: “withthe Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousandyears is like a day”. The work is in three movements, butnearly doesn’t get that far: only a few minutes into the firstmovement, the whole piece seems to break down anddisappear into nothingness. It takes a small musicalmotive to get things going again, and to drive the pieceforward until, at the very end of the piece, “a delta of newbeginnings, of ‘other worlds’, is revealed”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

André PrevinDiversions (1999)Duration: 20’2(pic).22(Ebcl,bcl).2(cbn)/2100/timp.2perc/cel.hp/strPremiere: January 28 2000, ViennaVienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Andre Previn, conductor

Calling on his vast experience of many years as workingclosely with orchestras as arranger, orchestrater, composer,and conductor, Previn’s spectacular orchestral showpiececombines hugely disparate elements without ever losing itscentral dramatic thrust. One critic raved: “Diversions, farfrom being a series of simple musical lollipops, may well bethe most brilliant composition written in a decade. Thoughthe piece premiered in January, it practically screams out tobe part of the standard repertoire. Will someone please calla record company to capture this magnificent masterwork?”Luckily the composer himself was on hand to record amasterly performance.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc


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Simon HoltSunrise’ yellow noise (1999)Duration: 12’language: Englishsolo soprano3(2afl:pic).2+ca.3(3Ebcl,bcl)+cbcl.1+cbn/1221/3perc/hp/str(16.12.0.0.8)Premiere: March 30 2000, Torwards the Millenium, BirminghamLisa Milne, soprano; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra;Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

A breakthrough work for a composer hitherto best known forthis chamber works, Sunrise’ yellow noise stands alone asa short setting of Emily Dickinson for soprano andorchestra, or as the first part of the composer’smonumental sequence A Ribbon of Time, comprising fiveworks for various instrumental combinations, based ondifferent aspects of Dickinson’s poetry. Holt removes themiddle strings from his orchestra, leaving behind anensemble that highlights extremes of register, creating anextraordinarily atmospheric effect. Sunrise’ yellow noisewas winner of La Prix de la Fondation Prince Pierre, Monaco.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Peter Maxwell DaviesRoma Amor (1998)Duration: 30’2+afl+pic.2+ca.2+Ebcl+bcl+cbcl.2+2cbn/4.4.2+btbn+cbtbn.2/timp.4perc/hp.cel.org/strPremiere: May 2 2000, Barbican, LondonRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra; Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor

Falling in between the sixth and seventh symphonies, RomaAmor is one of Maxwell Davies’s most significant orchestralworks of recent years. The neatly punning, palindromic titlereflects the composer’s continuing love affair with the citywhere he had studied some forty years composer with the

composer Goffredo Petrassi. After the premiere, one criticdescribed the piece thus: “A cross between a concertofor orchestra and a massive tone poem of Straussianamplitude, Roma is one of Sir Peter’s most spectacularscores, evoking the might of the ancient city state from avery personal viewpoint.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Peter LiebersonThe Six Realms (2000)Duration: 25’solo cello (amp)3(3pic).2+ca.2+bcl(cbcl).2+cbn/4331/timp.5perc/pf(cel).hp/strPremiere: May 24 2000, TorontoToronto Symphony Orchestra; Yo-Yo Ma, cello,Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor

The inspiration for Lieberson’s The Six Realms – acommission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, whohad performed various of his works in the past – came fromYo-Yo Ma, also a previous collaborator. AlthoughLieberson’s music is very much rooted in the Westerntradition, his longstanding involvement with Buddhismmade him an ideal candidate for Ma’s ‘Silk Road’ Project,which explores musical traditions from the countries alongthe ancient route. (The ‘Six Realms’ refer to Buddhistteachings describing states of mind which form humanexperience.) The work, which Lieberson himself describesas “a musical exploration” of these psychological andphilosophical realms, uses the cello as its ‘instigator’and its guide.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Tan DunCrouching Tiger Concerto (2000)Duration: 45’solo celloafl(pic)[=bawu(dizi)]/5perc/hp/strPremiere: September 29 2000, Fire Crossing Water Festival,Barbican Centre, LondonYo-Yo Ma, cello; Tan Dun, conductor

Tan Dun’s six-movement concerto, written for cellistYo-Yo Ma, draws on the composer’s Oscar-winningsoundtrack to Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, HiddenDragon, a magical fusion of western romance and Asianmartial arts movie. The piece itself is also a fusion –reflecting Tan Dun’s interest in music from the length ofthe Silk Road, it employs Chinese indigenous instrumentsand musics alongside those of the west. In concert, thepiece can be accompanied by optional video footageinfluenced by the film’s imagery.Publisher: Parnassus Productions, Inc.

Hans AbrahamsenConcerto for Piano and Orchestra (1999-2000)Duration: 15’solo piano1121/1110/3perc/hp.Horg/gtr/str(1.1.1.1.1)Premiere: October 15 2000, Ultima Festival, OsloAnne Marie Abildskov, piano; Bit-20; Susanna Mälkki, conductor

Abrahamsen’s work marked a new phase in his career,as he found his way back into composition after a period ofinactivity. The inspiration was clearly the composer’s wife,the brilliant pianist Anne Marie Abildskov, who gave theconcerto its first performance and has since performed thework dozens of times around Europe. In the work’s first

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Facing page: John Corigliano(see pages 12, 23, 33, 35, 47, 56 and 71)Illustration by Pearce Marchbank

three movements (fast-slow-fast) the soloist plays almostcontinuously, supported by the small orchestra. It is only inthe fourth and final movement that the orchestra threatensto burst out, only for the piano to twice calm things downwith a simple lullaby.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Simon BainbridgeScherzi (2000)Duration: 6’2+pic+afl.2+ca.2+bcl.3/4430/5perc/hp.cel/man.gtr(amp)/strPremiere: October 22 2000, Barbican Centre, LondonBBC Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Bainbridge’s short, glittering virtuoso work for orchestra hasfound a place in the repertoire as a celebratory work – it wascommissioned for the 70th anniversary concert of the BBCSymphony Orchestra, and repeated by the same orchestraat the Last Night of the Proms in 2005. It is the first workwhere Bainbridge talks of his “kaleidoscopic” method ofcomposition – a plethora of different scherzi (hence thetitle) are shaken up so they collide and combine with eachother in this effervescent piece that is quiet for much of itslength, before a melodic line that has hitherto lain dormantdrives the work to its conclusion.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Bent SørensenIntermezzo (from ‘Under the Sky’) (2000)Duration: 8’6 violins3(3pic).2.2.0/4.3.3.0/3perc/pf/strPremiere: October 28 2000, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenDanish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Michael Schønwandt, conductor

When Bent Sørensen’s first opera ‘Under the Sky’ waspremiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in 2004, audienceshad already heard some of the music in the form of thiswork, premiered by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestrasome years previously. Sørensen has compared the workto a “film trailer”, related to the opera, but shedding lighton it from a different angle. The orchestral piece reflectssome of the concerns of the stage work – such as thejuxtaposition of two different ‘stories’ – in the sameluminously beautiful language.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

John CoriglianoSymphony No.2 for String Orchestra (2000)Duration: 40’str (6.5.4.4.2 players minimum)Premiere: November 30 2000, BostonBoston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Having proclaimed as a young composer that he wouldnever write a symphony it was with some surprise thatCorigliano looked to the premiere of his second. It had adifferent genesis from the subject of world-scale tragedywhich inspired and necessitated the epic form of his firstsymphony. This piece resulted from a commission requestfrom the Boston Symphony, and a return to Corigliano’searlier String Quartet which dealt with a different kind ofloss, a chosen loss: farewell. The resultant work, anexpansion of the quartet, deals with the string orchestraas a whole body of sound unique in itself.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

2001As might be expected for a millennial year, variousreflections on the past (including a set of variations on awell-used theme, a re-working of an old piece and a study ofdecay and history itself) alongside exuberant celebrationsof newness. Sometimes, both in the same work…

Richard DanielpourThrough the Ancient Valley (2000)Duration: 29’solo cello3(pic,afl :pic)2+ca.3(bcl)3(cbn)/43(Dtpt)2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/pf(cel).hp/Kamancheh(or viola, in balcony)/str(min.16.14.12.10.8)/concertino of fl/ob/2Santour/str4tPremiere: 14 March 2001, New York CityYo-Yo Ma, cello; New York Philharmonic Orchestra; Kurt Masur, conductor

The genesis of Through the Ancient Valley goes deep intoDanielpour’s familial roots. He writes: “My parents wereboth born in Iran…Mine is an old Persian Jewish family…My first Cello Concerto cracked the door [to my culturalheritage] open a bit by using some of the music of my ownancestry”. Danielpour began to become aware of aspects ofhis compositions which hitherto he had not realised, “sortof unconscious transformations of something I had heardas a child”. Tracing the thread from his first cello concerto,he was more actively and interestedly engaged with hismusical heritage in this, the second, which was locatedeven more directly by its place within Yo-Yo Ma’s ‘Silk Road’Project.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Poul RudersPaganini Variations (1999-2000)Duration: 16’solo Guitar2(2pic).2.2.2/2.2.0.0/perc/hp/epf/strPremiere: April 19 2001, Odense Concert Hall, OdenseDavid Starobin, guitar; Odense Symphony Orchestra;Jan Wagner, conductor

When asked for a guitar concerto for the virtuoso DavidStarobin, and knowing that Paganini was a brilliant guitaristas well as violinist, Poul Ruders set himself the challengeof joining an illustrious list of composers – Liszt, Brahms,Rachmaninov, Lutoslawski – who have written a set ofvariations on Paganini’s 24th Caprice for solo violin. The


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Facing page: Hans Werner Henze(see above and pages 77 and 78)

result is one of the most entertaining guitar concerts in theliterature; 22 variations in which the theme is graduallydistorted more and more until the final variation, labelled‘Finale Prestissimo’: a “white-knuckle ride” in which thesoloist is drawn in among the orchestral forces for a jubilantjoint celebration.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Hans Werner Henze

Scorribanda Sinfonica [Sopra la tomba di unaMaratona](2000-01)Duration: 15’4(2pic:picc,afl).2+ca+obda.4(2bcl).4(cbn)/4331/timp.5perc/hp.cel.pf/str(14.12.10.8.6)Premiere: June 29 2001, das neue werk, Hamburg, GermanyNDR Symphony Orchestra; Peter Ruzicka, conductor

In his own words, Henze “revisited, raided and ravished”an old score for this thrilling, one-movement scherzo fororchestra. The early score was a piece the composer hadwritten in the 1950s for the stage workMaratona di Danza(hence the new piece’s subtitle), and the sense of highdrama is very much preserved in the re-worked version, akind of mini concerto for orchestra, described by Henze as“an étude on constant and often rapid musical changes ofmood and colours, built on a variety of rhythmic figures,incessantly and brutally pushing the music ahead.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Michael Nymana dance he little thinks of (2001)Duration: 15’3(2pic)33(Ebcl:bcl)2/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp/4perc/pf/strPremiere: July 20 2001, Harrogate International FestivalBBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Vassily Sinaisky, conductor

“A commission from Yorkshire demands a Yorkshire hero”,writes Nyman in his programme note, “and who better thanYork-born, Coxwold and Stillington resident LawrenceSterne, author of Tristram Shandy - a novel I have beentrying to turn into an opera since 1981”. This pair ofrollicking, rumbustious dances, separated by a quietinterlude, is inspired by a quote from the novel: “WhenDEATH himself knocked at my door – ye bad him comeagain; and in so gay a tone of careless indifference, did yedo it, that he doubted of his commission… then by heaven! Iwill lead him a dance he little thinks of.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Stuart MacRae

Violin Concerto (2001)Duration: 29’solo violin3(pic)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cbn)/4331/2perc/str(12.12.10.8.6)Premiere: July 31 2001, Royal Albert HallTasmin Little, violin; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra;Martyn Brabbins, conductor

The premiere of this concerto, and its subsequentperformances and recording, brought MacRae to aninternational audience. In the piece MacRae overturns theconventional notion of the concerto by placing the greatestimportance on the work’s final movement, rather than itsfirst. The concerto is an exercise in economy of expression;from the taut opening movement to the brooding secondand inexorable chordal progressions of the third, the musicis constantly moving towards its climax. The lyricism of thefinale is hard won and the work ends not triumphantly butmeditatively.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Esa-Pekka SalonenForeign Bodies (2001)Duration: 20’2pic(fl:afl)+2fl(bfl).3+ca.3(Ebcl)+bcl.3+cbn/6331/timp.4perc/2hp.kbd(pf,cel[org])/strPremiere: August 12 2001, Schleswig Holstein Festival, Kiel, GermanyFinnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor

Salonen’s 2001 work for the Finnish Radio SymphonyOrchestra is one of his most skilfully constructed andblissfully entertaining pieces. Perhaps because it waswritten for a Finnish orchestra, Paul Driver has noted thatparticularly in the slow central section, this work by the US-based composer is influenced by Sibelius “but without atrace of homesickness”, showing how Salonen hassuccessfully melded the different sides of his musicalpersonality. After the quiet interlude, Foreign Bodies endswith a dance that left another critic “fizzing with excitement”long after the last chord had sounded.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

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Joan TowerStrike Zones (2001)Duration: 20’solo percussion2(2pic).222/4330/timp.2perc/pf(cel)/strPremiere: October 4 2001, Washington DCEvelyn Glennie, percussion; National Symphony Orchestra;Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Tower’s Strike Zones was composed for Evelyn Glennie in2001, with aims not only to showcase the performer’simmense talents (the work includes an improvisatory“window” for Glennie within one of the cadenzas), but alsoto explore the sonic possibilities of each of the instrumentsin turn. Tower gives each episodic segment – such as thevibraphone solo which opens the piece – a degree of timeand space in order to “explore the particular ‘DNA’ orpersonality” of each one. Critics have commented on thebeauty of the orchestral as well as solo writing. Towerherself writes: “The role of the orchestra itself in thiswork…is to “amplify,” extend, and surround the variouspercussion instruments with a similar timbral “zone” of itsown.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Peter BruunMoonwater (2001)Duration: 20’2+pic.2+ca.3(Ebcl)(bcl).2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: November 15 2001, Aarhus Music HouseAarhus Symphony Orchestra; En Shao, conductor

Danish composer Peter Bruun is a composer of the modernera – “his own man, neither particularly modernist norparticularly traditional”, working in many fields besidestraditional classical music, and taking inspiration frommany different sources. In this case, the inspiration for thispiece came from the orchestral soundworld of the greatRomantics, and one of his own lines of prose: “Moonwatershining – all in one movement – watermoon waving.” Thiswas the first piece to give Bruun international recognition,when it was selected for performance at the ISCMWorldMusic Days Festival in Ljubliana.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Michael GordonDecasia (2001)Duration: 1 hr 7’3(3pic).33.2ssx.2/2442/2perc/egtr.bgtr.4kbd/str/film by Bill MorrisonPremiere: November 2001, Basel Sinfonietta

Decasia is a large-scale, single movement, relentlesslymonumental work about decay – the decay of melody, thedecay of tuning, the decay of classical music itself. Thework retunes a giant amplified orchestra to resemble apiano fallen from a great height, with gripping strings, fourdetuned pianos, and massive winds and brass. The hugesound comes out of electronica and Mahler at the sametime - stratospheric harmonies decay one into another,giant blocks of sounds shift and fall like an earthquakegiving off a tremendous energy.Publisher: Red Poppy Music

2002Apart from two orchestral essays premiered in oneextraordinary concert in Tokyo, this is a year for concertanteworks – two song cycles; two concertos for traditionalChinese instruments; one for piano and strings; and noless than five violin concertos of all shapes and sizes…

Tarik O’ReganThe Pure Good of Theory (2000)Duration: 11’solo violin2(pic)22(bcl)2/2110/timp.2perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: January 29 2002, Studio 1, BBC Maida Vale, LondonRobert Bishop, violin; BBC Symphony Orchestra;Martyn Brabbins, conductor

One of the rising stars of the British musical scene, TarikO’Regan is perhaps best known for his choral settings.However in this one-movement concerto for violin andorchestra he shows a deft handling of the orchestra,and a keen ear for textural detail. The starting point for thepiece was the Wallace Stevens poem of the same name,“a typically nonsensical work [that] coincides with therevelations about Nazi mass-extermination and the ensuingjudicial process for war-crimes at Nuremberg”.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Michael Tilson ThomasPoems of Emily Dickinson (2001-02)Duration: 22’solo soprano2(pic).1.2+Ebcl.1/2110/2perc/pf(cel).hp/strPremiere February 27 2002, San FranciscoRenee Fleming, soprano; San Francisco Symphony;Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Tilson Thomas’s Dickinson settings were written for andinspired by Reneé Fleming; he remembers a fortuitousconversation over tea one day in late 2000, when thesoprano described a project she was developing that wouldinclude readings from Dickinson’s letters, recitations of herpoems, performances of song-settings by variouscomposers, and a script to give everything some dramaticcontinuity. Although Tilson Thomas had not yet set any ofDickinson’s work, in the next few days two or three songscame quickly to his mind, and Fame and Of God We Ask OneFavor got their premieres only a few weeks later.Publisher: Kongcha

André PrevinViolin Concerto [“Anne-Sophie”] (2001)Duration: 38’solo violin3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4330/timp.2perc/cel.hp/strPremiere: March 14 2002, Symphony Hall, BostonAnne-Sophie Mutter, violin; Boston Symphony Orchestra;Andre Previn, conductor

Previn’s hugely popular and widely performed ViolinConcerto was composed for his wife at the time, violinistAnne-Sophie Mutter, who lends the work its subtitle. Thecomposer writes: “In November 1999, I called my managerfrom a train in Germany to wish him happy birthday, and hetold me ‘From a train in Germany’ would make a great title


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for a piece. It’s now the third movement of the concerto, aset of variations on a German children’s song I knew as akid.” Above this movement, Previn placed a quote fromT.S.Eliot’s Little Gidding which he found apt: “We shall notcease from exploration /And the end of all our exploring /Will be to arrive where we started /And know the place forthe first time.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Bright ShengTibetan Swing (2002)Duration: 9’solo pipa3(2pic).2+ca.3(Ebcl,bcl).3(cbn)/4.3(2Ctpt).2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: 26 April 2002, New YorkZhang Qiang, pipa; Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra;Robert Spano, conductor

Bright Sheng based his work Tibetan Swing – for theunusual combination of solo pipa (a Chinese lute) andorchestra – on a typical Tibetan dance rhythm. He writes:“this work tries to evoke both the beauty and the savageryof a particular mountain dance, an expressive dance well-known for swinging the long sleeves of its traditionalcostumes and for its rhythmic foot stomps.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Per NørgårdBorderlines (2002)Duration: 23’solo violinperc/strPremiere: July 17 2002, CheltenhamRebecca Hirsch, violin; City of London Sinfonia; Richard Hickox, conductor

In his seventieth birthday year, Nørgård continued tosurprise and amaze with his highly original violin concerto,rapturously received at its world and Danish premieres, justtwo months apart. It may be cast in three movements, butthat is the only conventional thing about a work that, as thetitle suggests, exists on the borderlines between differentuniverses of sound. One critic wrote: “The music itself isbeautiful, richly imagined, lyrical, and essentially direct.Nørgård remains a master of texture and flow… this ishighly sophisticated concerto, subtle in line and movement,and rather cunningly proportioned.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Ludovico EinaudiDivenire (2002)Duration: 30’solo piano2hp/str(12.10.8.6.4)Premiere: August 4 2002, I suoni delle Dolimiti Festival,Ludovico Einaudi, piano; I Filarmonici di Verona

Ludovico Einaudi is a modern phenomenon, with a hugeaudience around the world who flock to his solo pianoconcerts. In 2002 he was invited by the ‘I Suoni delleDolimiti” Festival to compose a work that would add thesound of a string orchestra to his trademark, lilting pianomusic. The resultant collaboration with I Filarmonici diVerona has since become one of Einaudi’s most successfulworks, toured around the world in 2007 to great acclaim.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Tan DunOrchestral Theatre I: Xun (1990)Duration: 19’solo Ceramic Xun(opt)2+pic.2.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/4perc/hp/strPremiere: October 6 2002, Brisbane, AustraliaChina National Symphony Orchestra; Li Xincao, conductor

“How, or if, a classical orchestra could sound not-classical,could it convey the sense of another culture? Why must harpbe only harp, and koto only koto, forever separate?” Thesewere the questions posed by composer Tan Dun as hebegan to write Orchestral Theatre I: Xun. The piece has nostory-line or theme, but unlike a totally abstract musicalwork, expresses strong dramatic and emotional images.Tan Dun recalls: “As I wrote this piece in New York, a lot ofthings were running through my mind: the faces of Pekingopera actresses, sacrifice, human noise in Tien An MenSquare – all these images appeared to me as hallucination,jumbled together on a huge stage.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Bent LorentzenViolin Concerto (2001)Duration: 21’solo Violin2(pic).2.2.2/2.2.2.1/timp.3perc/strPremiere: October 11 2002, Vejle Music House, DenmarkCho-Liang Lin, violin; Odense Symphony Orchestra

In this work, Lorentzen turns to the east to pay homage tothe great Soviet composers of the twentieth century – fromProkofiev and Shostakovich to Schnittke and Gubaidulina.The composer writes: “The concerto opens with two almostinconsistent ideas: a ‘symphonic motif’, and ‘remnants ofan old foxtrot’. Played in succession, the two ideas seemlike an irreconcilable paradox. But gradually one discoversthat they can be mixed in all possible ways and in the endwe have witnessed a larger symphonic metamorphosis byway of a contrasting Adagio, an odd, pig-headed Foxtrot anda deeply ironic Waltz.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Pelle Gudmundsen-HolmgreenFor violin and orchestra (2002)Duration: 33’solo violin3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/3perc/hp/strPremiere: November 21 2002, Radio Concert Hall, CopenhagenChristina Åstrand, violin; Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra;Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

Written specially for Christina Åstrand, this large-scale worktakes the soloist on a grand journey. As the pieceprogresses, the violin comes into contact with varioussoundscapes, including pizzicato clusters, an Arabic-

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Facing page: Judith Weir(see The Welcome Arrival of Rain aboveand pages 20, 44 and 58)Illustration by Pearce Marchbank

sounding tune from the bassoon, birdsong, and brassfanfares. Initially these are all encountered separately, but,later on, the path becomes more confusing, and theseelements can appear simultaneously. Gudmundsen-Holmgreen writes: “the piece is more about meetings,coincidences, additions and subtractions than aboutplaying together in ‘concert’ – and that is why that word is soconspicuously absent from the title.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Esa-Pekka SalonenInsomnia (2002)Duration: 20’2(afl)+pic(fl).2+ca.2(Ebcl,bcl)+bcl.2+cbn/4.4Wtba.3.3.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: December 1 2002, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, JapanNHK Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Night music with a difference. Unlike Chopin, Salonen’snocturnal offering is not inspired by the idyllic tranquillity ofthe hours of dark, but rather by “the demonic, ‘dark’aspects of the night: the kind of persistent, compulsivethoughts that run through our mind when lying hopelesslyawake in the early hours”. The qualities of sleeplessnessare vividly portrayed in the piece – ideas become prisoncells from which there is no escape; initially bright gesturesare transformed into something threatening – before ina glorious final section, the horns and Wagner tubasannounce the coming of the sun, which rises in all its gloryand banishes all evil thoughts.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Karen TanakaRose Absolute (2002)Duration: 10’3.1+ca.3.2/4330/3perc/hp.pf/str(14.12.10.8.6)Premiere: December 1 2002, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, JapanNHK Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Rose Absolute was inspired by a perfume of the samename, created by the French perfumery Annick Goutal inParis. Tanaka writes: “Rose Absolute is the most beautifuland pure rose of roses. The image of this composition,sounds and colours came to my mind instantly when Ivisited the shop and was handed a beautiful bottle of theperfume with a lovely scent of roses. The piece was writtenas a floral bouquet for a lover, as my personal, romanticpresent.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Augusta Read ThomasIn My Sky at Twilight— Songs of Passion and Love (2002)Duration: 22’solo soprano1+pic.1.2.0/2.1+pictpt.0.0/2perc/hp.2pf(cel)/str(1.1.1.1.0)Premiere: 1 December 2002, ChicagoChicago Symphony Orchestra; Christine Brandes, soprano,Pierre Boulez, conductor

Read Thomas began her exploration of texts, whosefragments would be woven together in her Songs ofPassion and Love, with Neruda’s poem In My Sky atTwilight. The work’s unusual form was very successful,with critics admiring her weaving together of 16 lyricfragments exploring a vast array of literary sources, froman Ancient Egyptian love lyric to an e.e.cummings poem.The work was tailor-made for the soprano ChristineBrandes, and commissioned in memory of Marilyn MSimpson, based on the theme of enduring love thatspans the chasm of death.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

2003Two works by Europeans for American orchestras; twoworks using video; two works drawn from recent operas bytheir composers; two song cycles; two innovative concertos;and a work without a partner (or a theme) that draws on thewidest possible variety of influences…

Judith WeirTheWelcome Arrival of Rain (2001-02)Duration: 16’3(pic).2+ca.3.3/4400/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: January 22 2003, MinneapolisMinnesota Orchestra; Osmo Vänskä, conductor

Judith Weir’s most expansive orchestral work to date waswritten for the centenary celebrations of the MinnesotaOrchestra. The work’s evocative title, inspired by a passagefrom the 18,000 verse Hindu text the Bhagavata Purana,came to the composer while she was composing the piece.She had started the work with a scalic passage and simplemelody, but as this began to give rise to a huge amount ofmusical material Weir “began to think of a comparison withthe arrival of the monsoon in India, when aridity is piercedby life-giving rain; and humans, animals and vegetationrevel in sudden activity and fertility”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Kaija SaariahoOrion (2002)Duration: 22’4(afl,pic:pic)4(ca)44(cbn)/6431/2timp.4perc/2hp.pf.org/strPremiere: January 23 2003, Cleveland, OHCleveland Orchestra; Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Since its premiere in 2003, Orion has become one of themost popular orchestral works of recent times, with dozensof performances by prestigious orchestras around theworld. Inspired by the fact that Orion the Hunter was anactive human being, but once placed in the heavens by Zeusbecame an immobile heavenly object, the piece yokesSaariaho’s familiar, dream-like soundworld to a moremuscular, rhythmic style – the combination has proved to bea great hit with performances and audiences. The threeevocative movements are titled ‘Memento Mori’, ‘WinterSky’ and finally ‘The Hunter’, an energetic study in perpetualmotion.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Tan DunTheMap: Concerto for Cello, Video and Orchestra (2002)Duration: 55’solo cello2(2pic).2(ca).1+Ebcl(bcl).1+cbn/2221/4perc/hp/str and videoPremiere: February 20 2003, Symphony Hall, BostonYo-Yo Ma, cello; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Tan Dun, conductor

The vanishing of ancient cultural traditions everyday, andeverywhere, haunts Tan Dun. This observation helpedinspire his multimedia composition The Map, which meldstechnology and tradition to draw attention to theendangered musical cultures of minority peoples living inwestern Hunan, his home province in China. The Map is amulti-media concerto grosso: a discovery of thecounterpoint between different media, different time-spaces and different cultures. The structures and musicaltextures are designed to create antiphonal music throughcounterpoint between the cello solo and video, orchestra


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and video, solo and ensemble, text and sound, and multi-channel video and live playing of stone. Metaphorically, theorchestra becomes nature, the soloist symbolizes people,and video represents tradition.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Peter BruunThe Same Fountain (2003)Duration: 19’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.2perc/hp/strPremiere: April 10 2003, Odense Concert HallOdense Symphony Orchestra; Susanna Mälkki, conductor

Following on from the success of his early orchestral workMoonwater, Bruun again showed his mastery of the genre inthis striking three-movement work for the Odense SymphonyOrchestra. The title of the work comes from his mini-operaMiki Alone, in which main character, the woman Miki, sings:“I cannot jump in the same fountain twice. For even if thewater is the same, something will have changed.” This findsa musical analogy in Bruun’s treatment of small clearlyrecognisable rhythmic patterns, which are constantlyrepeated, but each time slightly altered.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Karsten FundalMikaël (2003)Duration: 1h 28’3(pic)(afl).3(ca).3(Ebcl)(bcl).3(cbn)/4.3.3.1/3perc/hp/pf(cel)/strPremiere: August 9 2003, Tivoli Concert Hall, CopenhagenTivoli Symphony Orchestra; Martin Åkervall, conductor

As a renowned composer of concert music and also filmsoundtracks, Fundal was the perfect choice for thiscommission to compose music to accompany the classicsilent film by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Fundal took an operaticapproach to the immense challenge of providing 88minutes of orchestral music, assigning to each characterin the film a different motive with a unique pulse andinstrumentation. The constant, varying interplay betweenthese musics makes for a fascinating experience, asthe overall texture gradually changes from ‘horizontal’(melodic music) to ‘vertical’ (chordal music), before finallycoming to a standstill.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Michael NymanViolin Concerto (2002-3)Duration: 25’solo Violin2+pic.0.2.2+cbn/4.2(flg,pictpt).1+btbn.1/vib.mba/hp/strPremiere: August 29 2003, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Hamburg,GermanyGidon Kremer, violin; Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra;Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

Nyman’s Violin Concerto is one of his most significantscores, a highly original work that was the result of a lengthycompositional period, and a collaboration with soloist GidonKremer, whose “inspirational playing and musicianship”has a big influence on the piece. The starting point for thework was a photographer’s contact sheet, in which you seewhat is basically the same image but from slightly differentangles, highlighting different aspects of it. Thus theconcerto is twenty one-minute variations on a musical idea,plus a memorable refrain, based on major seventharpeggios, that opens and closes the work, and appears atregular intervals in between.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John TavenerSupernatural Songs (2003)Duration: 30’language: Englishsolo Mezzo sopranopow-wow drum.Hindu temple gong/str(8.8.4.4.3)Premiere: September 24 2003, Canterbury CathedralDiana Moore, mezzo soprano; Britten Sinfonia;Nicholas Cleobury, conductor

Tavener had for a long time been exclusively associatedwith the Greek Orthodox church, but Supernatural Songs isone of a series of works that saw him widen his influences,described by the composer as “not so much as a moveaway from Christianity, as a realisation that the sameessential Truths lies hidden beneath the forms of all greattraditions”. In his use of the exotic percussion instruments,Tavener taps into the primordial spirit of Yeats’ poetry, andcreates a compelling cycle, described by one critic as “oneof the composer’s finest achievements”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Daniel CatánFlorencia en el Amazonas (Orchestral Suite) (2003)Duration: 28’2(pic).2.2+bcl.2/3221/timp.2perc.mba/hp.pf/strPremiere: October 18 2003, Madison, WIMadison Symphony Orchestra; John DeMain, conductor

Catan’s opera Florencia en el Amazonas was first premieredin 1996 by the Houston Grand Opera, and has beenperformed several times since. This orchestral suite waswritten expressly for the Madison Symphony Orchestra,seven years later. Like the opera from which it is drawn andCatán’s music in general, the suite links what he sees asthe “lush sound world of Debussy, Ravel, Puccini andStrauss” with non-western sources from Africa and LatinAmerica. Florencia is inspired by the writings of GabrielGarcía Márquez; by his own description, Catán’scompositions attempt to find a musical equivalent of thewriter’s “magical realism”, this suite being an example ofthat ongoing journey.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

John CoriglianoMr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (2000,arr. 2003)Duration: 37’solo soprano3(2pic).3(ca).3(Eflat+bcl).asx(barsx).3(cbn)/4.4.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: October 23 2003, MinneapolisHila Pittman, soprano; Minnesota Orchestra; Robert Spano, conductor

Corigliano was drawn to the poetry of Bob Dylan, and yetamazingly had never heard the music before; he felt thatthis unique position enabled him to explore the texts in away that other much earlier composers had been able to:“just as Schumann or Brahms or Wolf had reinterpreted intheir own musical styles the same Goethe text, I decided totreat the Dylan lyrics as the poems I found them to be.”Having created original pieces for soprano and piano in2000, Corigliano reworked them for soprano and orchestrathree years later, deciding to amplify the soloist in order toretain the intimacy and subtle, expressive potential of theoriginal chamber scoring.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

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Facing page: Michael Nyman’s Violin Concertoinspired by a photographer’s contact sheet(see above) Illustration by Pearce Marchbank

Facing page: Esa-Pekka Salonen(see pages 20, 55, 65, 68, 76, 78 and 83)

Avner DormanVariations Without a Theme (2001)Duration: 15’4(pic).3.3(Ebcl,bcl).3(cbn)/4331/timp.3perc/hp.pf(cel)/str (min 16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: November 15 2003, Tel-AvivIsrael Philharmonic Orchestra; Zubin Mehta, conductor

Dorman’s Variations Without a Theme began its genesis inthe summer of 2001. Impressed by the ability of composerssuch as Bach and Lutoslawski to use limited materials andcreate great masterpieces, Dorman decided to set himselfthis specific compositional challenge with a twist. Insteadof using a lyrical theme as the basis of variations, heselected some of the basic elements of music: therepetition of a note, an ornament, scales and the half-stepinterval, and explored how they were used across themusical genres he utilized: jazz, Middle-Eastern music,avant-garde, Indian music, rock and the Romanticsymphonic tradition.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Peter LiebersonPiano Concerto No.3 [Leviathan] (2003)Duration: 31’solo Piano3(pic).2+ca.2+Ebcl(bcl).2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp/strPremiere: 26 November 2003, MinneapolisPeter Serkin, piano; Minnesota Orchestra; Oliver Knussen, conductor

Lieberson was already looking towards the composition ofhis immensely moving Neruda Songs for his wife, the mezzoLoraine Hunt Lieberson (to be premiered eighteen monthslater) when his third piano concerto Leviathan waspremiered. Like the songs, this work sprung fromLieberson’s interest in the poet, and was named after oneof Neruda’s poems which describes a huge iceberg floatingon the dark Arctic sea, illuminated by flashes of light.Lieberson eventually decided to compose his concerto inthree sections, (he began with five), each section inspiredby a different poem and a different poet.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

2004A series of works emphasising the links between Europeand the US – three European works premiered in the US;two American works premiered in Europe; three Europeanworks inspired by America; and one American work writtenin Europe. Perhaps a necessary re-affirming of internationallinks after the events of 9/11, which directly inspiredseveral of these pieces…

Anders KoppelConcerto No.2 for Saxophone and Orchestra (2003)Duration: 28’3(pic).2+ca.3.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.perc/hp/strPremiere: January 29 2004, OdenseBenjamin Koppel, saxophone; Odense Symphony Orchestra;Nicolae Moldoveanu, conductor

The Koppel family is one of the most influential in Danishmusical life. Having fled the Nazis, the composer Herman D.Koppel arrived in Copenhagen in 1943 to become Professorin Piano at the Royal Conservatory , and his two sonsThomas and Anders both became famous rock stars, jazzperformers and composers in their own rights. Andersextended the family link by writing a series of pieces for his

son, the brilliant saxophonist Benjamin, of which the 2ndConcerto is a particularly striking example. The piecedisplays Anders’ usual brilliance in integrating Americanjazz influences into a highly developed ‘classical’ orchestralsoundworld.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Julia WolfeMy Beautiful Scream (2003)Duration: 25’3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/4perc/amp pf.hp.ebgtr/strPremiere: February 2004, Festival Presence, ParisOrchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

Julia Wolfe began writingMy Beautiful Scream shortly afterthe events of 9/11. She writes: “In the nights afterward Iwould stay awake with the odd feeling that I was going todie. In general my life was very beautiful. So it was thisstrange existence of living in beauty and having thesensation of a long drawn out internal scream. The overallarch of the piece is a scream, in slow motion, beginning withthe breath that one takes and reaching out to the extremityof the human cry…Screamsmay be present in my music,but they happen suddenly without warning - frenetic andhyper.My Beautiful Scream demanded a more gradualunfolding – the unravelling of my own slow motion scream.”Publisher: Red Poppy Music

Yehudi WynerPiano Concerto [Chiavi in Mano] (2004)Duration: 20’solo piano2(pic).2.2.2/4231/timp.perc/strPremiere: 17 February 2004, BostonRobert Levin, piano; Boston Symphony Orchestra;Robert Spano, conductor

Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize, Wyner’s concerto is apotpourri that he describes as reflecting “the various sidesof me, both the serious and the absurd”. It draws influencesand ideas frommany sources, including Bach, Mozart, jazz,all adding up to an enthralling experience very much morethan the sum of its parts. The subtitle Chiavi in Mano (‘Keysin Hand’) refers both to a saying of Italian car salesman(“buy it, and the keys are yours!”), and also to the pianowriting, designed to fall naturally under the fingers, despitethe often extreme virtuosity.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

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Rolf WallinAct (2003)Duration: 10’2(pic)+pic.3(ca).2+cbcl.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: March 4 2004, Severance Hall, Cleveland, USCleveland Orchestra; Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

In the short time since its premiere, Wallin’s Act, acclaimedas the greatest Norwegian orchestral work since Grieg, hasalready established itself as a modern orchestral classic,and has been performed dozens of times around Europeto rave reviews and enthusiastic audiences. This concertopener, which gradually builds from a fragmented opening toa pulsating unison finale, is described by the composer as“a piece about speed, about the joy of activity, and, aboveall, about the power of acting together.” At this point inhistory, “it is good to be reminded that the most importantreason for the success of mankind on this planet is ourability to cooperate.”Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Thea MusgraveTurbulent Landscapes (2003)Duration: 26’3.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: April 1 2004, Symphony Hall, BostonBoston Symphony Orchestra; Grant Llewellyn, conductor

This set of six vignettes is based on a selection of paintingsby Turner. The chosen works portray dramatic events, assuggested in the turbulence of the title. Each movementfeatures a solo player from the orchestra who personifiessome aspect of the painting, heightening the drama and

aiding the narrative of the music. As music exists in time,Musgrave is able, in addition to representing Turner’slandscapes in sound, to suggest a ‘before’ or an ‘after’ tothe event in the painting. With her rich palette of orchestralcolour and unique harmonic language, Musgrave createsaural landscapes which, like Turner, suggest impressionismwithout being an impressionist herself.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Aulis SallinenSymphony No.8 (Autumnal Fragments) (2001)Duration: 20’4(2pic)34(bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.4perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: April 16 2004, Concertgebouw, AmsterdamConcertgebouw Orchestra; Paavo Järvi, conductor

Sallinen’s Symphony No.8 has already received a reputationas one of his strongest works in the genre, with numerousperformances in Europe and the US. This enigmatic work isfragmentary in character, yet at the same time maintainsa symphonic coherence and an irresistible forwardmomentum reminiscent of Sibelius. Initially conceived asa salute to its commissioners, the finale takes as its themefrom their name: ConCErtGEBouw AmstErDAm. Howeverthe composition process was interrupted by the events ofSeptember 11 2001, leading to a quite different ending tothe piece than the one the composer had originally planned.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

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Above: Thea Musgrave(see left and pages 41 and 57)

Portrait by Victoria Crowe

Facing page: Aulis Sallinenin the shadow of Sibelius (see above)

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2005 ORCHESTRA

2005Two concertos for ‘minority instruments’; four brilliantshort tone poems; a return to pure orchestral writing forone composer, and a deeply personal return to vocal musicfor another…

Hans Werner HenzeFünf Botschaften für die Königin von Saba (2004)Duration: 17’3(3pic,afl).1+ca.0.ssx(asx).tsx.3(cbn)/4330/3perc/hp.cel.pf4hnd/strPremiere: February 3 2005, Théâtre des Champs-ElyséesOrchestre National de France; Kurt Masur, conductor

Henze’s grand opera The Hoopoe and the Triumph of FilialLove has been one of the most successful and widelyperformed operas of recent times. Cast in eleven tableaux,the opera involves “a flying Demon, three Sons, threevenerable Rulers, three fabulous treasures (the Hoopoewith golden feathers, a Jewish princess, and a musicalBox of Miracles) and the happy return of a prodigal son”.This colourful orchestral suite in five movements – FiveMessages for the Queen of Saba – drawsmusic from variousscenes in the opera, and is in turn lyrical and energetic.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Danny Elfman

Serenada Schizophrana (2004)Duration: 42’3(2pic,afl).3(2ca).3(Ebcl,2bcl,asx).3(2cbn)/6.3.3(btbn)+btbn(cbtbn).1(Cimbasso)/timp(perc).5perc/hp.2pf(syn).syn/str(14.10.8.8.6)optional small women’s chorus in fifth movementPremiere: February 23 2005, American Composers Orchestra,Steve Sloane, conductor

This first concert work by one of the most celebrated filmand television composers of recent decades has made anenormous impact. As might be expected, SerenadaSchizophrana is a riot of fantastic orchestral sound,but beyond that, it has a satisfying seven-movementstructure and, despite its incredible diversity, greatdramatic coherence. For the first time the composer’simagination could run wild without being tied to a specificset of images: “I let myself wander into a musical streamof consciousness which, with the way my brain works,is not necessarily a very smooth ride.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc.

Arne NordheimFonos (2003)Duration: 25’solo Trombone3.3.1+Ebcl+bcl.2+cbn/4.4.3.1/timp.3perc/pf/cel/strPremiere: April 28 2005, BergenMarius Hesby, trombone; Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Nordheim’s two works for solo trombone – The Hunting ofthe Snark and The Return of the Snark – have becomeclassic works for the instrument, and this concerto washeralded at its premiere as a major and welcome additionalto the repertoire. The composer says that “tones producedon the trombone remind us of our breathing, always buildingon ancient, well-tried principles”. Nordheim contrasts thenatural, ‘human’ sounds of the trombone with sharplyvarying orchestral textures, with the aim of creating “thingsone has never heard before”.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Peter LiebersonNeruda Songs (2005)Duration: 30’Solo mezzo-Soprano2(pic).1+ca.2(bcl).2/2200/2perc.hp.pf/strPremiere: May 20 2005, Los AngelesLorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano; Los Angeles Philharmonic;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Of these immensely moving love songs, composed for hiswife the mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, the composerwrote: “I discovered the love poems of Pablo Neruda bychance in the Albuquerque airport…As I glanced throughthe poems I immediately thought that I must set some ofthese for Lorraine…Each of the five poems that I set tomusic seemed to reflect a different face in love’s mirror…”In words that seemmore achingly poignant since HuntLieberson’s death, Peter Lieberson remarks: “In truth thereis no real death to love nor even a birth: ‘It is like a longriver, only changing lands, and changing lips’. I am sograteful for Neruda’s beautiful poetry, for although thesepoems were written to another, when I set them I wasspeaking directly to my own beloved, Lorraine.”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

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ORCHESTRA 2004

Gabriela Lena FrankThree Latin-American Dances for Orchestra (2003)Duration: 20’3(pic).2+ca.2+bcl.3/4330/timp.4perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: April 23 2004, Salt Lake CityUtah Symphony; Keith Lockhart, conductor

Lena Frank’s Three Latin-American Dances for Orchestrawas premiered in 2004 and dedicated to Aaron LinLockhart, born nine months earlier. The work’s introductoryscherzo offers an unabashed tribute to the SymphonicDances fromWest Side Story, before turning to harmoniesand rhythms derived from various pan-Amazonian danceforms. The second movement, which Lena Frank deems theheart of the work, is “mountain music” evoking the Andeanharawi, a melancholy adagio which traditionallyaccompanies dance. As if in relief to the gravity of theprevious movement, the final movement is a light-heartedtribute to the ‘mestizo’ or mixed-race music of the SouthAmerican Pacific coast.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Wing onWing (2004)Duration: 27’2 solo sopranos4(3afl:1afl,bfl).3+ca.3(3Ebcl,bcl)+cbcl.3+cbn/4431/timp.4perc/2hp.2kbd(cel,sampler)/str(min 16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: June 5 2004, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los AngelesLos Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Commissioned for the opening of the Walt Disney ConcertHall in Los Angeles,Salonen’s celebratory work is no piece offrippery but his largest-scale piece to date – a monumental,serious hymn to an incredible piece of architecture. Salonenmakes full use of an extended palette of large symphonyorchestra, two solo sopranos (whose criss-crossingvocalise lines ring out across the space), live electronics,and a pre-recorded tape featuring the highly evocative voiceof architect Frank Gehry. Although initially conceivedspecifically for the space in Los Angeles, the piece hassince been performed across Europe to great acclaim.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John HarbisonSymphony No.4 (2004)Duration: 27’3(pic).3(ca).3(bcl).3(cbn)/4221/timp.3perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: June 17 2004, SeattleSeattle Symphony Orchestra; Gerard Schwartz, conductor

Harbison’s fourth symphony in some ways began with asummer drive to the Hollywood Bowl in 1986, his first day inLos Angeles, accompanied by Deborah Card who was tobecome a frequent collaborator, including on this work. Thecomposer has claimed that with the composition of large

pieces, he begins “by following the strongest impulses thatpresent themselves, independently, until they begin to forma large, inter-dependent design.” In retrospect, Harbisoncommented: “The Symphony is not as much fun as planned(maybe next time), but it is more significant and whole. Inmaking the last movement I thought of the wonderful EmilyDickinson line, ‘After great pain, a formal feeling comes’.”Publisher: Associate Music Publishers Inc

Hans AbrahamsenFour Pieces for Orchestra (2004)Duration: 14’4(4pic).4(ca).6(Ebcl)(3bcl).4+2cbn/8.4.4.2/2timp.4perc/2hp.pf.cel/gtr.man/str(16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: September 2 2004, CopenhagenDanish National Symphony Orchestra

Like Boulez’s Notations, Abrahamsen’s Four Pieces arereworkings for massive forces of piano pieces written muchearlier. Listeners with knowledge of the great works ofWagner, Bruckner, Schoenberg and Berg, will certainlyfind echoes of that ‘golden German romantic time’, butthey are only echoes. One may sense Abrahamsen’s ownenchantment with the romantic masterpieces he evokesin this music; but at the same time there is the pathosof distance – of contemplating the works of the past froma very different kind of world. It is the artful exploitationof this tension that makes Hans Abrahamsen’s piece bothintriguing and haunting.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Joby TalbotSneaker Wave (2004)Duration: 15’2.2+ca.2+bcl.3/4331/timp.perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: September 2 2004, BBC Proms 2004, Royal Albert Hall, LondonBBC National Orchestra of Wales; Grant Llewellyn, conductor

Joby Talbot’s first Prom commission was inspired by anational phenomenon that the composer experienced on aCalifornian beach – a “sneaker wave” is a sudden,unexpected accumulation of tidal energy that creates onewave much large than those surrounding it. Talbot’s thrillingMinimalist showpiece provides an aural equivalent, as thelively figures of the opening combine to provide a rush oforchestral energy, which finally dissipates into nothingness.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Bright ShengColors of Crimson (2004)Duration: 20’solo percussion2(pic).2(ca).2(bcl).2(cbn)/3220/timp.2perc/pf.hp/strPremiere: October 21 2004, LuxembourgEvelyn Glennie, percussion; Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra;Bramwell Tovey, conductor

The title of Sheng’s work for marimba and orchestra givesaway his preoccupation in this piece with subtle colouristiceffects. His mastery of the orchestra is evident as hesurrounds the virtuosic solo part with ever-changing, ever-intriguing orchestral shades, in a piece that is by turn quietlyreflective and intensely dramatic. The beautiful melodicthread running throughout is a reconstruction of a love songSheng wrote as a teenager in Qinghai, a remote province ofnorthwest China.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Right: Peter Lieberson’s late wife,Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, for whomhe wrote Neruda Songs

Niels Rosing-SchowBlack Virgin (2004-05)Duration: 11’3(2pic).3(ca).3(2bcl).2+cbn/4.3.3.1/3perc/hp/str (16.14.12.10.8)Premiere: June 29 2005, Pärnu Concert House, EstlandOrkester Norden; Okku Kamu, conductor

Responding to a request to create a modern work that couldbe performed by amateurs, Niels Rosing-Schow created ahaunting tone-poem that sparingly uses extended techniquesto describe the mysterious, magical dark Madonna statues:“In several churches and monasteries around Europe, theMadonna statues are unmistakably dark. Sometimes sheeven has negroid features. Whether the blackening is dueto the soot from centuries’ burning of wax candles, damageby fire or the fact that the statue actually pictures a blackwoman, since the Middle Age, these ‘black virgins’ havebeen said to possess special, miraculous qualities.”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Esa-Pekka SalonenHelix (2005)Duration: 9’3(pic).3(ca).2.2+cbn/4.3.3.1/timp.5perc/hp/strPremiere: August 27 2005, BBC Proms 2005, Royal Albert Hall, LondonWorld Orchestra for Peace; Valery Gergiev, conductor

After the monumentalWing on Wing, Salonen’s nextorchestral work was also a celebratory work written to bepremiered in an extraordinary concert hall – this timeLondon’s Royal Albert Hall – but is much more modest inscale. This short, thrilling concert opener is based on a singleidea of a spiral; the piece is basically one long accelerando,in which the musical material is “pushed through constantlynarrowing concentric circles until the music reaches a pointwhere it has to stop, as it has nowhere to go”. The work isdedicated to Gergiev and the World Orchestra for Peace.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Philip GlassSymphony No.8 (2005)Duration: 50’2+pic(fl).2(ca).2(Ebcl)+bcl.2/4.3(2E FlatTrumpet).2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: November 4 2005, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New YorkBruckner Orchester Linz; Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

After three successive symphonies that featured voice andset various texts – ancient, classic and aboriginal writings; apoem by Allen Ginsberg; a Native American song – Glassmade a triumphant return to the purely orchestral word with

his Symphony No.8. Requested and inspired by conductorDennis Russell Davies, the symphony is an exploration oftimbre, density, structure and ideas, and is one of Glass’smost successful pieces of recent years.Publisher: Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc

Joan TowerPurple Rhapsody (2005)Duration: 17’solo viola2(pic).0.2(bcl).2/0.2.0+btn.0/timp.perc./strPremiere: November 4 2005, OmahaPaul Neubauer, viola; Omaha Symphony; JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Purple Rhapsody was commissioned by a collection oforchestras with a grant from the Serge Koussevitzky MusicFoundation in the Library of Congress. Towers dedicated thework to the violist Paul Neubauer, who premiered the pieceand for whom she had composed before. She writes: “Thesound of the viola has always reminded me of the colorpurple- a deep kind of luscious purple…” Towers wanted tomake the viola ‘sing’, a difficult task when confronted withthe potential vastness of the orchestral sonority. As a resultshe chose to leave out several instruments (horns andoboes), thus allowing the soloist to shine, even in the moreenergetic and ‘rhapsodic’ passages.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Hans Werner Henze

Sebastian im Traum [Salzburger Nachtmusik nach einerDichtung von Georg Trakl] (2003)Duration: 15’3(pic,afl).2+ca.3(bcl).3(cbn)/4.4.4(atbn).1/timp.4perc/2hp.cel.pf/strPremiere: December 22 2005, Concertgebouw, AmsterdamConcertgebouw Orchestra; Mariss Jansons, conductor

Henze’s most recent orchestral piece, a short tone poemfor the Concertgebouw Orchestra, has been hailed as one ofhis most inventive, and has already received more than adozen performances around the world since its premiere inDecember 2005. The composer had used a poem by GeorgTrakl as the basis for one of his earliest compositions –Apollo and Hyacinth of 1948. More than half a century laterhe turned to Trakl once again, and the poem Sebastian inTraum that deals with nocturnal images of the countrysidearound Salzburg. Henze creates a sensuous world thatevaporates all too soon.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

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2006Three double concertos and five solo concertos, includingseveral tributes to Mozart and a number of meditations ondeath; while Nathaniel Stookey and Poul Ruders offer morewhimsical takes on the ideas of death and influence…

Richard DanielpourA Child’s Reliquary (for orchestra) (2006)Duration 29’solo violin, solo cello3(pic).2(ca).2+bcl.2/ 3220/tmp.3prc/pf.hp/strPremiere: 16 November 2006, San FranciscoJamie Laredo, violin, Sharon Robinson, cello; Pacific Symphon;Carl St. Clair, conductor

The motivation for the 1999 piano trio A Child’s Reliquarycame from the untimely and tragic death of Cole Carson St.Clair, the 18-month-old son of Carl and Susan St. Clair.Danielpour writes: “I know of nothing more tragic orheartbreaking than the death of a child…The work wasintended as a kind of kindertotenlieder without words – andeverything in the piece, including references to the BrahmsCradle Song – relates to its initial inspiration.” Thisorchestrated version was made seven years later, adding afurther expressive layer to the piece.Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Simon Holtwitness to a snowmiracle (2005)Duration: 22’solo violin2pic+afl.1(ca).1+bcl.cbn/3.0.1+btbn.1/timp.3perc/2hp.pf+cel/str(12.10.0.0.8)Premiere: February 18 2006, Barbican Centre, LondonViviane Hagner, violin; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Jonathan Nott, conductor

One of the most original, moving and highly acclaimedpieces for many years. Holt reinvents the orchestra, carvingit up into small groups; he reinvents the concerto form,beginning with a lengthy solo and continuing in a series ofshort movements; he reinvents violin technique in a fiercelyvirtuoso solo part; and he reinvents what it is to be anaudience – can we really innocently “witness” the cruelmartyrdom of St. Eulalia, or does our passivity contribute toher terrible fate? At the end the soloist turns her back to us,as if she cannot bear our gaze any longer.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Avner DormanSpices, Perfumes, Toxins! (2006)Duration: 27’solo percussion duo3(afl,pic,bfl)33(Ebcl,bcl)3(cbn)/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.perc/hp.pf/strPremiere: April 2 2006, Tel AvivPercaDu, percussion duo; Israel Philharmonic Orchestra;Zubin Mehta, conductor

After his award-winning orchestral work Variations withouta Theme, Dorman’s double percussion concerto shows anew-found confidence in handling riotous sounds andtextures. Dorman writes that “the title Spices, Perfumes,Toxins! refers to three substances that are extremelyappealing, yet filled with danger. Spices delight the palate,but can cause illness; perfumes seduce, but can alsobetray; toxins bring ecstasy, but are deadly. The concertocombines Middle-Eastern drums, orchestral percussion,and rock drums with orchestral forces— a unique soundboth enticing and dangerous.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

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Above: Trumpeter Alison Balsomand violinist Viviane Hagner,premiere performers of concertos byJoby Talbot and Simon Holt in 2006(see above and following page)

Right: Augusta Reed Thomas,(see above and pages 55, 58, 68 and 84)

Augusta Read ThomasAstral Canticle (2005)Duration: 20’solo violin, solo flute2+pic.3.3.2(cbn)/4.3.3.1/3perc.hp/strPremiere: June 1 2006, ChicagoRobert Chen, violin, Mathieu Dufour, flute; Chicago Symphony Orchestra;Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Astral Canticle, Read Thomas’ work for solo flute, violin,and orchestra which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prizefor music composition in 2007, was commissioned bythe Chicago Symphony Orchestra; it received itspremiere with the orchestra while Read Thomas was theMead Composer in Residence. A graceful chant-likecanticle opens the work. Certain ‘hidden’ members ofthe orchestra (hidden but on stage) hold the resonanceof the chant, and the canticle weaves its way through theentire composition in one variation or another. ReadThomas creates two musical ‘worlds’, chant-like andradiant-fanfare, from which the entire work is derived,which once established, “evolve, interconnect, andinfluence each other.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Nathaniel StookeyThe Composer is Dead (2006)Duration: 30’narrator2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)/4231/timp.3perc/hp/strPremiere: 8 July 2006, San FranciscoLemony Snicket, narrator; San Francisco Symphony;Edwin Outwater, conductor

The Composer is Dead had Joshua Kosman of the SanFrancisco Chronicle saying, “Everybody loves Peter and theWolf, but as a young person’s guide to the orchestra, itlacks a certain quotient of murder and mayhem... Leave it toLemony Snicket to correct that little oversight.... In TheComposer is Dead, a deliciously morbid entertainment inthe vein of his Series of Unfortunate Events, the SanFrancisco writer...teams up with composer NathanielStookey to lead young audiences on an investigative strollthrough the ranks of the orchestral instruments.... The 30-minute piece...turned out to be a hugely enjoyableundertaking for young and old alike...”Publisher: Associated Music Publishers Inc

Joby TalbotDesolation Wilderness (2006)Duration: 23’solo Trumpet2(pic).1+ca.2(bcl).2(cbn)/2220/3perc/hp/strPremiere: October 28 2006, Listen Up Festival of Orchestras 2006,Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolAlison Balsom; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra;JoAnn Falletta, conductor

An international co-commission for award-winning youngBritish trumpet Alison Balsom that has cemented Talbot’sposition as a vital new voice, Desolation Wilderness is animportant addition to the trumpet repertoire. This highlyattractive concerto is cast in a traditional fast-slow-fastthree-movement structure, but employs the instrument in ahighly original way – there are no fanfare-like passages forthe soloist; instead she has filigree rhythmic figures andsmooth melodic lines that sit within, rather than on top of,the orchestra. The title refers to the bleak NorthernCalifornian landscape, depicted in the work through thesparse, delicately scored orchestral textures.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John TavenerKaleidoscopes (A tribute to Mozart) (2005)Duration: 30’solo oboe2perc(very large gong; 4 Tibetan temple bowls)/str(4.4.4.4.2)Premiere: November 6 2006, Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonNicholas Daniel, oboe and director; Britten Sinfonia

Written for the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, thistribute focuses on the spiritual aspect of the composerthat Tavener refers to as “the most sacred and also themost inexplicable of all composers… because the musiccontains a rapturous beauty and a childlike wonder”.Tavener’s captivating work, scored for oboe, gong, templebowls, four antiphonally placed string quartets and doublebasses, draws quotations fromMozart into an utterlymesmerising atmosphere, punctuated by dramatic, chaoticexplosions of sound. Soloist Nicholas Daniel also served asdirector at the premiere, accentuating the piece’s chambermusic-like qualities.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Rolf WallinDas war schön! (2006)Duration: 20’solo percussion2(2pic,afl).2.2(bcl).2/2.2.0.0/timp(tamtam.bd)/strPremiere: November 17 2006, Wiener Mozartjahr, Musikverein, ViennaMartin Grubinger, percussion; Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra;John Axelrod, conductor

Also inspired by Mozart, Wallin’s concerto concentrates onvarious aspects of Mozart’s life, including his contrastingrelationships with his father and his pet starling ‘HerrStahr’. The title Das war schön! (“That was nice!”) wasMozart’s comment upon hearing Herr Stahr’s rendition ofthe theme from his 17th Piano Concerto. Wallin pullstogether such diverse elements as birdsong, the closingchords of A Musical Joke, and a rhythmic pattern plus theglockenspiel part from The Magic Flute, creating a quirkyand affectionate tribute that was such a hit at its Norwegianperformances that the final movement had to be repeated.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

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Facing page: Kaija Saariaho(see above and pages 26, 41, 52 and 68)

Anders KoppelConcerto No.4 for Marimba [‘Zum Gedächtnis desVergänglichen’] (2005)Duration: 21’solo Marimba2(pic).2(ca).2(Ebcl).2(cbn)/4.2.2.1/timp.perc/hp/org/strPremiere: November 17 2006, Wiener Mozartjahr, Musikverein, ViennaMartin Grubinger, percussion; Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra;John Axelrod, conductor

Premiered in the same concert as the Wallin concerto,Koppel’s work was inspired by a moving real-life experience:“In a glade in the middle of the woods we saw a small, veryold marble stone, half-crumbled, but with the inscription stilllegible – “In memory of the perishable”. The words hit uswith surprising force and set our thoughts wandering. Thatwe human beings have to die some day is natural, but thatmusic – even the music of Mozart – will also one daydisappear, is more difficult to cope with. Then we felt thecomforting caress of raindrops on our skin, and in the quietsummer rain we left the woods…”Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

Poul RudersLight Overture (2006)Duration: 8’2(pic).2(ca).2.2/4221/2perc/hp/str (10.8.6.6.5)Premiere: December 4 2006, Birmingham, AlabamaAlabama Symphony Orchestral; Justin Brown, conductor

In one of the more unusual commissions of recent years,Ruders was asked to write a piece to celebrate the openingof a new power station in the US. The pun was too good toresist, so Ruders created a fantastically witty and joyousshort piece (subtitled “A Symphonic Entertainment”) thatplays on two meanings of the word “light” – as in “festiveand entertaining”, or as in “the absence of darkness”. Thepiece is a sort of whistle-stop journey through music history,cast in the form of a strict Prelude and Fugue, but with theformer sliding seamlessly into the latter.Publisher: Wilhelm Hansen

2007A year showing that orchestral music is still in rude health:Finnish and English masters show that the traditionalconcerto form still has plenty of life in it; rising stars fromAmerica are acclaimed for their evocative tone poems (withand without soloist); a modern American master producesthe first work in an extended cycle; while a Norwegianresponds to the here and now, while pointing to the future…

Esa-Pekka SalonenPiano Concerto (2006)Duration: 35’solo piano3(1=pic2;2=afl&pic3;3=pic1)3(3=ca)3(3=asx)+bcl+cbcl.2+cbn/3220/timp.4perc/hp.cel/strPremiere: February 1 2007, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New YorkYefim Bronfman; New York Philharmonic Orchestra;Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

Salonen has said how daunted he felt to be writing a pianoconcerto, and confronting the great works of the canonhead-on. It seems that he was inspired by the challenge, ashis Piano Concerto is his most substantial score to date.Written specifically for Yefim Bronfman, described bySalonen as “one of the great musicians of our time”, thepiece has many highlights, including a bright opening basedon a French Baroque overture, a highly evocative middle

movement (inspired by Polish science fiction writerStanislaw Lem) entitled “Synthetic Folk Music with ArtificialBirds”, and a final Rondo that concludes with a triumphantrecapitulation of the material that opened the work.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

John McCabeHorn Concerto (Rainforest IV) (2005-06)Duration: 24’solo horn2(pic).2.1+bcl.2/2221/timp.perc/hp/strPremiere: February 16 2007, St David’s Hall, CardiffDavid Pyatt; BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Tadaaki Otaka, conductor

Fusing the influence of West Coast jazz and an imaginedrainforest landscape, John McCabe’s Horn Concerto is avirtuoso work, brilliantly tailored to the instrument and tothe player for whom it was written, David Pyatt. From theopening horn solo, the listener is instantly drawn into amesmerising world of slowly unfolding ostinati, initiallydominated by the marimba, later flutes and violins. As thework continues, rhythmic brass interjections appearalongside lyrical string passages. Such variety is typical inMcCabe’s music, and the concerto is an important recentaddition to the horn repertoire.Publisher: Novello & Co Ltd

Kaija SaariahoNotes on Light (2006)Duration: 28’solo Cello4(3&4=pic&afl)22+bcl.2(2=cbn)/4000/timp.4perc/hp.cel.pf/strPremiere: February 22 2007, Symphony Hall, Boston, MAAnssi Karttunen; Boston Symphony Orchestra;Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor

Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen has been an inspiredproponent of Saariaho’s chamber and solo works for manyyears, and a long-promised concerto finally emerged in2006. It was worth the wait for a highly dramatic workobviously influenced by Saariaho’s operas – theGrawemeyer Award-winning l’amour de loin and, inparticular, the more recent work Adriana Mater. The piececan be seen as a journey into light; the bright textures of thefinal section of the work, marked in the score with aquotation from T. S. Eliot: “I was neither living nor dead, andI knew nothing, looking into the heart of light, the silence”.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Gabriela Lena FrankLa Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola and Orchestra (2007)Duration: 18’solo viola2(pic).2(ca).2(bcl).2/2.2Ctpt.2.0/timp.3perc/pf(cel).hp/strPremiere: 23 February 2007, HoustonWayne Brook, viola; Houston Symphony; Hans Graf, conductor

Dedicated to a friend Wayne Brooks, La Llorona: Tone Poemfor Viola and Orchestra was inspired by the many existingmyths in Latin America regarding a female spirit known as lallorona, or “crying woman.” Somewhat similar to femaleghosts from other cultures (such as the rusalka from Russiaor the Kuchisake-onna from Japan), the llorona generallycomes about as the result of a violent death: drowning,suicide, childbirth, and murder at the hands of a lover arecommon causes. Lena Frank’s programmatic work in sevencontinuous movements (perhaps a nod to the DowlandLacrymae?) is a portrait of the internal shift that happens asthe llorona accepts her new existence.Publisher: G Schirmer Inc


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1977 - 19?? ORCHESTRA

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ORCHESTRA 2007

Augusta Read ThomasHelios Choros I (2007)Duration: 15’2+pic.2+ca.3(bcl)2/4431/4perc/2hp.pf(cel)/strPremiere: 3 May 2007, DallasDallas Symphony; Andrew Davis, conductor

Helios Chorus I, which takes its name from the dramaticchorus and a sun god of Greek mythology, is part of a 50-minute triptych of works, yet to be completed. Much ofthe work, as Read Thomas herself describes, is “high-energy passion, in which blocks of sound-worlds arejuxtaposed in an early-Stravinsky-like manner.” It wasthe composer’s goal “to compose music thatremembers and knows the repertoire but also pushesforward in its own voice. For instance, my musicremembers what the flute meant to Debussy, what amajor third has been in a universe of melodic andharmonic languages…With Berio as one model, mymusic tries to invent continuities, not to rupture andbreak from the past.”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Rolf WallinStrange News (2007)Duration: 30’solo narrator1+2pic.3.2(bcl)+Ebcl.2+cbn/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/pf/str/electronicsPremiere: May 11 2007, Wallin Festival 2007, Oslo Concert HouseOslo Philharmonic Orchestra; Christian Eggen, conductor

Strange News is a hugely ambitious work for narrator, largeorchestra, video and pre-recorded tape. The piece isintended to be “the artistic parallel to a documentary”, not apolitical piece in itself, but informing about and commentingon a political situation – specifically, the situation of childsoldiers in Africa. Wallin and his librettist Josse de Pauwtravelled to The Congo and Uganda to investigate thesituation for themselves, and found actor Arthur Kiselye –himself a rehabilitated child soldier – to participate in thepremiere in Oslo (the climax of Wallin’s year as featuredcomposer of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra). Theresulting piece is both terrifying and moving; a sort ofmodern Survivor fromWarsaw that leaves a lasting,profound effect.Publisher: Chester Music Ltd

Mark AdamoFour Angels (2007)Duration: 25’solo harp2(pic).2(ca).2(bcl).2(cbn)/4.2.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/pf(cel)/strPremiere: 7 June 2007, Washington DCDotian Levalier, harp; National Symphony Orchestra;Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Mark Adamo confessed that he had “great fun” in thecomposition of a piece whose challenge was to avoid thesimpering cherubim of mass popular culture, and theassumption of sentimentality in harp-writing. He wondered:“could one make a concerto that uses only the personae—not any explicit narrative—of angels from different culturesto liberate both image and instrument from centuries ofcliché?” Although the concerto is a musical challenge,Adamo found that balance was not one of them, and he setout to compose a musical dialogue in which, as hedescribes, “the harp’s leadership was not only audible, butunmissable… Could the harp and the orchestra—forcefully,eloquently—reverse roles?”Publisher: G Schirmer Inc

Nico MuhlyWish YouWere Here (2006)Duration: 10’2+pic.2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4.4.2+tbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf/[bgtr]/strPremiere: June 2007, Symphony Hall, BostonBoston Pops Orchestra; Keith Lockhart, conductor

Nico Muhly is a prodigiously talented young composer, whohas worked in a variety of media, and collaborated with rockstars, film composers and church choirs. His secondorchestral commission took him back to Tanglewood, wherehe had spent many of his formative musical years. Thisentertaining piece of light music “pays homage to ColinMcPhee, one of the first western musicologists to studyBalinese gamelan, as well as to the great illustrators CarlBarks and Hergé (responsible for Donald Duck & Tintin,respectively)… I tried to write a completely romantic andfanciful gamelan-influenced piece, with a triumphant,revelatory ending.”Publisher: St. Rose

87

COMPOSER & TITLE INDEX

Hans AbrahamsenConcerto for Piano and Orchestra 61Four Pieces for Orchestra 76Nacht und Trompeten 23

Mark AdamoFour Angels 84

John AdamsThe Chairman Dances: Foxtrot forOrchestra 29Common Tones in Simple Time 18Harmonielehre 28Shaker Loops 24

Stephen AlbertConcerto for Violoncello andOrchestra 38Flower of the Mountain 30RiverRun 28

Malcolm ArnoldFour Welsh Dances 37Symphony No.9 43

Simon BainbridgeAd Ora Incerta - Four Orchestral Songsfrom Primo Levi 50Scherzi 62Three Pieces for Orchestra 57

Samuel BarberCanzonetta 20

Richard Rodney BennettActaeon (Metamorphosis I) 12Concerto for Stan Getz 43Partita 51Symphony No.3 34

Niels Viggo BentzonSymphony No.15 [Marrakesh] 35

Erik BergmanSilence and Eruptions 19

Lennox BerkeleySymphony No.4 15

Antonio BibaloSymphony No.2 17

Anders BrødsgaardGalaxy 59Procession II 34

Christopher BrownConcerto 16Triptych 15

Peter BruunMoonwater 66The Same Fountain 71

Geoffrey BurgonBrideshead Variations 23Title Divine 34

Elliott CarterSymphony of Three Orchestras 11

Daniel CatánFlorencia en el Amazonas(Orchestral Suite) 71

Justin ConnollyDiaphony 15

John CoriglianoConcerto for Clarinet and Orchestra 12Fantasia on an Ostinato forOrchestra 33Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poemsof Bob Dylan 71Pied Piper Fantasy, Concerto forFlute and Orchestra 23The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violinand Orchestra 56Symphony No.1 35Symphony No.2 for String OrchestraThree Hallucinations (based on thefilm score to “Altered States”) 23Troubadours, Variations for Guitar andChamber Orchestra 47

Richard DanielpourA Child’s Reliquary (for orchestra) 79Concerto for Cello and Orchestra 49Concerto for Orchestra “ZoroastrianRiddles” 56Through the Ancient Valley 62Toward the Splendid City 51

Anthony DavisMaps 36Wayang V 27

David DiamondKaddish 38

Avner DormanSpices, Perfumes, Toxins! 79Variations Without a Theme 72

Ludovico EinaudiDivenire 67

Danny ElfmanSerenada Schizophrana 77

Brian EliasFive Songs to Poems by IrinaRatushinskaya 37L’Eylah 26

Gabriela Lena FrankLa Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola andOrchestra 83Three Latin-American Dances forOrchestra 76

Karsten FundalFloating Lines - Broken Mirrors 52Mikaël 71

Philip GlassConcerto for Violin 34“Heroes” Symphony 56Symphony No. 3 50Symphony No. 8 78

Michael GordonDecasia 66Sunshine of Your Love 59Weather 57

Henryk Mikolaj GóreckiHarpsichord Concerto 18Symphony No.3 [Symphony OfSorrowful Songs] 11

Morton GouldFlourishes and Galop 25String Music 48

Edward GregsonClarinet Concerto 48Contrasts - a concerto for orchestra 24

Pelle Gudmundsen-HolmgreenFor violin and orchestra 67Symphony Antiphony 16Triptykon 29

Barry GuyAfter the Rain 43Voyages of the Moon 25

Haflidi HallgrímssonPoemi 28

John HarbisonConcerto for Oboe, Clarinet andStrings 28Concerto for Violin 19Remembering Gatsby (Foxtrot forOrchestra) 33Symphony No.1 26Symphony No.3 41Symphony No.4 76

Dave HeathAfrican Sunrise: Manhattan Rave 50

HansWerner HenzeFünf Botschaften für die Königinvon Saba 77Scorribanda Sinfonica [Sopra la tombadi una Maratona] 65Sebastian im Traum 78

Vagn HolmboeConcerto giocondo e severo 12Symphony No.11 24Symphony No.12 37

Simon HoltSunrise’ yellow noise 61Syrensong 34witness to a snowmiracle 79

Joseph HorovitzJubilee Toy Symphony 11

Karel HusaConcerto for Violoncello and Orchestra36Symphonic Suite 27The Trojan Women 19

Jouni KaipainenAccende lumen sensibus 52Carpe Diem 38

INDEX

89


Gunther SchullerThe Arc Ascending 52Deaï (Encounters) 12Of Reminiscences and Reflections 47Trumpet Concerto 17

Bright ShengChina Dreams 51Colors of Crimson 76H’un (Lacerations): In Memoriam1966-76 35Nanking! Nanking! 60Tibetan Swing 67Two Poems from the Sung Dynasty 30

Roberto SierraTropicalia 42

Bent SørensenIntermezzo (from ‘Under the Sky’) 62Lacrymae 28La Notte 57Sterbende Gärten 49Symphony 55

Nathaniel StookeyThe Composer is Dead 80

Carlos SurinachBodas de Sangre 16

Giles SwayneNaaotwa Lala 27Pentecost Music 19

Joby TalbotDesolation Wilderness 80Sneaker Wave 76

Tan DunCrouching Tiger Concerto 61Death and Fire: Dialogue withPaul Klee 44Heaven Earth Mankind(Symphony 1997) 56The Map: Concerto for Cello, Videoand Orchestra 68Orchestral Theatre I: Xun 67Orchestral Theatre II: Re 47Orchestral Theatre IV: The Gate 60Out of Peking Opera 35Water Concerto 58

Karen TanakaRose Absolute 68

John TavenerKaleidoscopes (A tribute to Mozart) 80Palintropos 16The Protecting Veil 37The Repentant Thief 42Supernatural Songs 71

Augusta Read ThomasAstral Canticle 80Helios Choros I 84In My Sky at Twilight — Songs ofPassion and Love 68Orbital Beacons— Concerto forOrchestra 58Words of the Sea 55

Michael Tilson ThomasPoems of Emily Dickinson 66Shówa/Shoáh 50

Joan TowerConcerto for Piano(Homage to Beethoven) 29For the UncommonWoman 43Music for Cello and Orchestra 27Purple Rhapsody 78Sequoia 20Silver Ladders 33Strike Zones 66

Param VirHorse Tooth White Rock 48

Rolf WallinAct 75Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra 52Das war schön! 80Strange News 84Tides 58

Judith WeirHeroic strokes of the bow 44Isti mirant stella 20Natural History 58The welcome arrival of rain 68

Julia WolfeMy Beautiful Scream 72

HughWoodSerenade & Elegy 59Symphony 25

Yehudi WynerPiano Concerto “Chiavi in Mano” 72

Gabriel YaredClavigo 59

Ellen Taaffe ZwilichSymphony No.1 (Three Movementsfor Orchestra) 23

88


Robert KapilowDr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham 51

Aaron Jay KernisColored Field(English Horn Concerto) 48Musica Celestis 43New Era Dance 48Second Symphony 42Symphony In Waves 37

Tristan KeurisArcade 52

Leon KirchnerMusic for Cello and Orchestra 44Music for Flute and Orchestra 15

Anders KoppelConcerto No.2 for Saxophone andOrchestra 72Concerto No.4 for Marimba [‘ZumGedächtnis des Vergänglichen’] 83

Ezra LadermanConcerto for Double Orchestra 41

David LangThe Passing Measures 57

Nicola LeFanuFarne 18

Kenneth LeightonSymphony No. 3 28

Peter LiebersonConcerto for Piano 24Fire 55Neruda Songs 77Piano Concerto No. 3 72Red Garuda 59The Six Realms 61

Magnus LindbergArena 50Aura (In memoriamWitoldLutoslawski) 49Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 42Kraft 29

Bent LorentzenCello Concerto 30Partita Populare 16Violin Concerto 67

Witold LutoslawskiChain 2, Dialogue for Violin andOrchestra 29Chantefleurs et Chantefables 41Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 36Novelette 18Symphony No.3 25Symphony No.4 44

Elizabethv MaconchyMusic for Strings 25

Stuart MacRaeSinfonia 59Violin Concerto 65

Roger MarshStill 19

Benedict MasonLighthouses of England and Wales 37Second Music for a European ConcertHall: Ensemble Modern.FreiburgerBarockorchester. Benoit Regent 49

Peter Maxwell DaviesInto the Labyrinth 25Mavis in Las Vegas 56Roma Amor 61A Spell for Green Corn: The MacdonaldDances 47Strathclyde Concerto No. 2 for Celloand Orchestra 36Violin Concerto 33

JohnMcCabeConcerto for Orchestra 24Horn Concerto (Rainforest IV) 83Piano Concerto No.3 ‘Dialogues’ 11Symphony No.3 ‘Hommages’ 15

NicoMuhlyWish You Were Here 84

TheaMusgravePhoenix Rising 57Rainbow 41Turbulent Landscapes 75

Anders NordentoftBorn 30Distant Night Ship 55

Arne NordheimFonos 77Magma 36Suite from ‘The Tempest’ 16Tenebrae 20Violin Concerto 55

Per NørgårdBorderlines 67Helle Nacht 35Pastorale - from “Babette’s Feast” 36Remembering Child 33Spaces of Time 42Symphony No.4 [Indian Rose-gardenand Chinese witch-lake] 20Symphony No.5 41Symphony No.6[At the End of the Day] 60Towards Freedom? 12Twilight 11

Ib NørholmAspects of Sand and Simplicity 34

Michael Nymana dance he little thinks of 65Drowning by Numbers for ChamberOrchestra 58MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) 47The Piano Concerto 47Strong on Oaks, Strong on the Causesof Oaks 57Violin Concerto 71

Tarik O’ReganThe Pure Good of Theory 66

Anthony PayneOrchestral Variations – “The SeedsLong Hidden” 49Time’s Arrow 38

Mel PowellDuplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianosand Orchestra 38

André PrevinDiversions 60Violin Concerto (“Anne-Sophie”) 66

Karl Aage RasmussenA Symphony in Time 27

Robert Xavier RodríguezA Colorful Symphony 33Favola Boccaccesca 18

Niels Rosing-SchowBlack Virgin 78… sous les râles du vent d’Est 49Windshapes 44

Poul RudersConcerto in Pieces 50Gong 44Light Overture 83Paganini Variations 62Symphony No.1 [HimmelhochJauchzend – zum Tode betrübt] 38Symphony No.2 [Symphony andTransformation] 56Thus Saw Saint John 27Violin Concerto No.1 23

Kaija SaariahoDu Cristal 41Graal théâtre 52Notes on Light 83Orion 68Verblendungen 26

Aulis SallinenCello Concerto 12Chamber Music III (The NocturnalDances of Don Juanquixote),Op. 58 30Shadows (Prelude for Orchestra) 24Symphony No.4 17Symphony No.8(Autumnal Fragments) 75

Esa-Pekka SalonenConcerto for Alto Saxophone andOrchestra [.. auf den ersten Blickund ohne zu wissen...] 20Foreign Bodies 65Helix 78Insomnia 68LA Variations 55Piano Concerto 83Wing on Wing 76

Robert SaxtonChoruses to Apollo 19In the Beginning 35

91

Robert SaxtonChoruses to Apollo 19In the Beginning 35

Gunther SchullerThe Arc Ascending 52Of Reminiscences and Reflections 47

Bright ShengChina Dreams 51H’un (Lacerations): In Memoriam1966-76 35

Roberto SierraTropicalia 42

Bent SørensenLacrymae 28Symphony 55

Giles SwaynePentecost Music 19

Joby TalbotSneaker Wave 76

Tan DunDeath and Fire: Dialogue withPaul Klee 44Heaven Earth Mankind(Symphony 1997) 56Orchestral Theatre II: Re 47

Karen TanakaRose Absolute 68

Augusta Read ThomasHelios Choros I 84Orbital Beacons— Concerto forOrchestra 58Words of the Sea 55

Michael Tilson ThomasShówa/Shoáh 50

Joan TowerFor the UncommonWoman 43Sequoia 20Silver Ladders 33

Param VirHorse Tooth White Rock 48

Rolf WallinAct 75

Judith WeirThe welcome arrival of rain 68

Julia WolfeMy Beautiful Scream 72

HughWoodSymphony 25

Gabriel YaredClavigo 59

Ellen Taaffe ZwilichSymphony No.1 (Three Movementsfor Orchestra) 23

Richard Rodney BennettPartita 51Symphony No.3 34

Geoffrey BurgonBrideshead Variations 23

Jouni KaipainenAccende lumen sensibus 52

Aaron Jay KernisSymphony In Waves 37

Stuart MacRaeSinfonia 59

Per NørgårdTowards Freedom? 12

Michael NymanStrong on Oaks, Strong on the Causesof Oaks 57

Anthony PayneOrchestral Variations – “The SeedsLong Hidden” 49

Giles SwayneNaaotwa Lala 27

Judith WeirHeroic strokes of the bow 44Isti mirant stella 20

John AdamsShaker Loops 24

Samuel BarberCanzonetta 20

John CoriglianoSymphony No.2 for String Orchestra 62

Philip GlassSymphony No.3 50

Michael GordonWeather 57

Morton GouldString Music 48

Barry GuyAfter the Rain 43

Aaron Jay KernisMusica Celestis 43

Bent LorentzenPartita Populare 16

Elizabethv MaconchyMusic for Strings 25

Per NørgårdPastorale - from “Babette’s Feast” 36

Ib NørholmAspects of Sand and Simplicity 34

Tan DunOrchestral Theatre IV: The Gate 60

HughWoodSerenade & Elegy 59

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA STRING ORCHESTRA

90

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Hans AbrahamsenFour Pieces for Orchestra 76

John AdamsThe Chairman Dances: Foxtrot forOrchestra 29Common Tones in Simple Time 18Harmonielehre 28

Stephen AlbertRiverRun 28

Malcolm ArnoldFour Welsh Dances 37Symphony No.9 43

Simon BainbridgeScherzi 62Three Pieces for Orchestra 57

Richard Rodney BennettPartita 51

Niels Viggo BentzonSymphony No.15 [Marrakesh] 35

Lennox BerkeleySymphony No.4 15

Antonio BibaloSymphony No.2 17

Anders BrødsgaardGalaxy 59

Christopher BrownTriptych 15

Peter BruunMoonwater 66The Same Fountain 71

Elliott CarterSymphony of Three Orchestras 11

John CoriglianoFantasia on an Ostinato forOrchestra 33Symphony No.1 35Three Hallucinations (based on thefilm score to “Altered States”) 23

Richard DanielpourConcerto for Orchestra “ZoroastrianRiddles” 56Toward the Splendid City 51

Avner DormanVariations Without a Theme 72

Danny ElfmanSerenada Schizophrana 77

Brian EliasL’Eylah 26

Gabriela Lena FrankThree Latin-American Dances forOrchestra 76

Karsten FundalMikaël 71

Philip Glass“Heroes” Symphony 56Symphony No. 8 78

Michael GordonDecasia 66Sunshine of Your Love 59

Morton GouldFlourishes and Galop 25

Edward GregsonContrasts - a concerto for orchestra 24

Pelle Gudmundsen-HolmgreenSymphony Antiphony 16

John HarbisonRemembering Gatsby(Foxtrot for Orchestra) 33Symphony No.1 26Symphony No.3 41Symphony No.4 76

HansWerner HenzeFünf Botschaften für die Königinvon Saba 77Scorribanda Sinfonica [Sopra latomba di una Maratona] 65Sebastian im Traum 78

Vagn HolmboeConcerto giocondo e severo 12Symphony No.11 24Symphony No.12 37

Simon HoltSyrensong 34

Karel HusaSymphonic Suite 27

Aaron Jay KernisNew Era Dance 48Second Symphony 42

Tristan KeurisArcade 52

Ezra LadermanConcerto for Double Orchestra 41

Peter LiebersonFire 55

Magnus LindbergArena 50Aura (In memoriamWitoldLutoslawski) 49

Witold LutoslawskiNovelette 18Symphony No.3 25Symphony No.4 44

Roger MarshStill 19

Benedict MasonLighthouses of England and Wales 37

Peter Maxwell DaviesMavis in Las Vegas 56Roma Amor 61

JohnMcCabeConcerto for Orchestra 24Symphony No.3 ‘Hommages’ 15

NicoMuhlyWish You Were Here 84

TheaMusgravePhoenix Rising 57Rainbow 41Turbulent Landscapes 75

Anders NordentoftBorn 30Distant Night Ship 55

Arne NordheimMagma 36

Per NørgårdSpaces of Time 42Symphony No.4 [Indian Rose-gardenand Chinese witch-lake] 20Symphony No.5 41Symphony No.6[At the End of the Day] 60Twilight 11

Michael Nymana dance he little thinks of 65MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) 47

Anthony PayneTime’s Arrow 38

André PrevinDiversions 60

Karl Aage RasmussenA Symphony in Time 27

Robert Xavier RodríguezFavola Boccaccesca 18

Niels Rosing-SchowBlack Virgin 78Windshapes 44

Poul RudersGong 44Light Overture 83Symphony No.1 [HimmelhochJauchzend – zum Tode betrübt] 38Symphony No.2 [Symphony andTransformation] 56Thus Saw Saint John 27

Kaija SaariahoDu Cristal 41Orion 68

Aulis SallinenShadows (Prelude for Orchestra) 24Symphony No.4 17Symphony No.8(Autumnal Fragments) 75

Esa-Pekka SalonenForeign Bodies 65Helix 78Insomnia 68LA Variations 55

93

ORCHESTRA & SOLO VOICE(S)

Tan DunCrouching Tiger Concerto 61Heaven Earth Mankind(Symphony 1997) 56The Map: Concerto for Cello, Videoand Orchestra 68Out of Peking Opera 35Water Concerto 58

John TavenerKaleidoscopes (A tribute to Mozart) 80Palintropos 16The Protecting Veil 37The Repentant Thief 42

Augusta Read ThomasAstral Canticle 80

Joan TowerConcerto for Piano(Homage to Beethoven) 29Music for Cello and Orchestra 27Purple Rhapsody 78Strike Zones 66

Rolf WallinConcerto for Clarinet and Orchestra 52Das war schön! 80Tides 58

HughWoodSerenade & Elegy 59

Yehudi WynerPiano Concerto “Chiavi in Mano” 72

Stephen AlbertFlower of the Mountain 30

Simon BainbridgeAd Ora Incerta - Four Orchestral Songsfrom Primo Levi 50

Geoffrey BurgonTitle Divine 34

John CoriglianoMr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poemsof Bob Dylan 71

Brian EliasFive Songs to Poems by IrinaRatushinskaya 37

Henryk Mikolaj GóreckiSymphony No.3 [Symphony OfSorrowful Songs] 11

Simon HoltSunrise’ yellow noise 61

Robert KapilowDr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham 51


Kenneth LeightonSymphony No. 3 28

Peter LiebersonNeruda Songs 77

Witold LutoslawskiChantefleurs et Chantefables 41

Peter Maxwell DaviesInto the Labyrinth 25

Arne NordheimSuite from ‘The Tempest’ 16

Robert Xavier RodríguezA Colorful Symphony 33

Poul RudersConcerto in Pieces 50

Esa-Pekka SalonenWing on Wing 76

Gunther SchullerDeaï (Encounters) 12

Nathaniel StookeyThe Composer is Dead 80

Tan DunOrchestral Theatre IV: The Gate 60

John TavenerSupernatural Songs 71

Augusta Read ThomasIn My Sky at Twilight — Songs ofPassion and Love 68

Michael Tilson ThomasPoems of Emily Dickinson 66

Rolf WallinStrange News 84

Judith WeirNatural History 58

92

ORCHESTRA & SOLO INSTRUMENT(S)

Hans AbrahamsenConcerto for Piano and Orchestra 61

Mark AdamoFour Angels 84

Stephen AlbertConcerto for Violoncello andOrchestra 38

Richard Rodney BennettActaeon (Metamorphosis I) 12Concerto for Stan Getz 43

Christopher BrownConcerto 16

Justin ConnollyDiaphony 15

John CoriglianoConcerto for Clarinet and Orchestra 12Pied Piper Fantasy, Concerto forFlute and Orchestra 23The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violinand Orchestra 56Troubadours, Variations for Guitarand Chamber Orchestra 47

Richard DanielpourA Child’s Reliquary (for orchestra) 79Concerto for Cello and Orchestra 49Through the Ancient Valley 62

Anthony DavisMaps 36Wayang V 27

David DiamondKaddish 38

Avner DormanSpices, Perfumes, Toxins! 79

Ludovico EinaudiDivenire 67

Gabriela Lena FrankLa Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola andOrchestra 83

Karsten FundalFloating Lines - Broken Mirrors 52

Philip GlassConcerto for Violin 34

Henryk Mikolaj GóreckiHarpsichord Concerto 18

Edward GregsonClarinet Concerto 48

Pelle Gudmundsen-HolmgreenFor violin and orchestra 67Triptykon 29

Barry GuyVoyages of the Moon 25

Haflidi HallgrímssonPoemi 28

John HarbisonConcerto for Oboe, Clarinet andStrings 28Concerto for Violin 19

Dave HeathAfrican Sunrise: Manhattan Rave 50

Simon Holtwitness to a snowmiracle 79

Karel HusaConcerto for Violoncello andOrchestra 36

Jouni KaipainenCarpe Diem 38

Aaron Jay KernisColored Field(English Horn Concerto) 48

Leon KirchnerMusic for Cello and Orchestra 44Music for Flute and Orchestra 15

Anders KoppelConcerto No.2 for Saxophone andOrchestra 72Concerto No.4 for Marimba [‘ZumGedächtnis des Vergänglichen’] 83


Peter LiebersonConcerto for Piano 24Fire 55Piano Concerto No. 3 72Red Garuda 59The Six Realms 61

Magnus LindbergConcerto for Piano and Orchestra 42Kraft 29

Bent LorentzenCello Concerto 30Violin Concerto 67

Witold LutoslawskiChain 2, Dialogue for Violin andOrchestra 29Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 36

Stuart MacRaeViolin Concerto 65

Benedict MasonSecond Music for a European ConcertHall: Ensemble Modern.FreiburgerBarockorchester. Benoit Regent 49

Peter Maxwell DaviesA Spell for Green Corn:The Macdonald Dances 47Strathclyde Concerto No. 2 forCello and Orchestra 36Violin Concerto 33

JohnMcCabeHorn Concerto (Rainforest IV) 83Piano Concerto No.3 ‘Dialogues’ 11

Arne NordheimFonos 77Tenebrae 20Violin Concerto 55

Per NørgårdBorderlines 67Helle Nacht 35Remembering Child 33

Michael NymanDrowning by Numbers for ChamberOrchestra 58MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) 47The Piano Concerto 47Violin Concerto 71

Tarik O’ReganThe Pure Good of Theory 66

Mel PowellDuplicates: A Concerto for TwoPianos and Orchestra 38

André PrevinViolin Concerto (“Anne-Sophie”) 66

Niels Rosing-Schow…sous les râles du vent d’Est 49

Poul RudersPaganini Variations 62Violin Concerto No.1 23

Kaija SaariahoGraal théâtre 52Notes on Light 83

Aulis SallinenCello Concerto 12Chamber Music III (The NocturnalDances of Don Juanquixote),Op. 58 30

Esa-Pekka SalonenConcerto for Alto Saxophone andOrchestra [.. auf den ersten Blickund ohne zu wissen...] 20Piano Concerto 83

Gunther SchullerTrumpet Concerto 17

Bright ShengColors of Crimson 76Tibetan Swing 67Two Poems from the Sung Dynasty 30

Bent SørensenIntermezzo (from ‘Under the Sky’) 62La Notte 57Sterbende Gärten 49

Joby TalbotDesolation Wilderness 80

TheMusic Sales Group

An international network of publishers of the leadingcomposers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The principal music publishers in theMusic Sales Group are...Associated Music Publishers Inc.Bosworth and Company LimitedChester Music LimitedEdition Wilhelm Hansen ASNovello & Company LimitedG. Schirmer Inc.Unión Musical Ediciones SLThe Group also represents...DunvagenMusic Publishers Inc.Alfred Lengnick & Company LimitedRed PoppyShawneeSt. RoseMusic Publishing Co. Inc.

Chester MusicThe roots of Chester Music stretch back to the 1860s whenJohn and William Chester became the first owners of thethen Brighton-based company.In the early days the company specialised in the

distribution of imported overseas editions of classicalmusic. It was Chester’s reputation in Europe early in thetwentieth century that attracted it to its new owner, OttoKling, and to the many continental composers whomChester was amongst the first to publish, includingStravinsky, Poulenc and Falla.As the century progressed, Chester moved its offices to

London and its reputation grew as a vibrant companyinterested in both contemporary music and educationalpublishing. In the second half of the century, first underthe ownership of Edition Wilhelm Hansen and, since 1988as part of the Music Sales Group, the company hasconsolidated its international reputation in two specificareas – as a publisher of the finest of contemporaryclassical composers (Lutosl/awski, Tavener, Weir, Saariaho,Salonen and Henze amongst many others) as well as of theleading composers writing for not only the concert hall butalso for film and other media (including Nyman, Glass, Pook,Talbot and Preisner).

Edition Wilhelm HansenEdition Wilhelm Hansen has published the most importantcomposers in Scandinavia for over one hundred and fiftyyears. It was in 1847 that the printer and engraver JensWilhelm Hansen set up his first business in Copenhagen.After gaining experience in music engraving in the 1850s,Hansen produced an edition of Mendelssohn’s Liederohne Worte. This gave him a taste for the music publishingbusiness and within two decades Jens had purchasedseveral catalogues, making him Denmark’s largestmusic publisher.The stature of the company grew through associations with

major composers from Denmark and other Scandinaviancountries (including Nielsen, Grieg and Stenhammar) andEdition Wilhelm Hansen expanded into other territories. In1887 an office was established in Leipzig. Wilhelm Hansenestablished Norsk Musikforlag in Oslo in 1908 (in a jointventure with the Norwegian firm Brøderne Hals), and fiveyears later expanded into Sweden with AktiebolagetNordiska Musikförlag. In 1957 Edition Wilhelm Hansentook over J & W Chester.In November 1988, Edition Wilhelm Hansen and its

associated businesses became part of the Music SalesGroup. As has been the case since its inception in 1847,it continues to be run by members of the Hansen family.

Novello & CompanyAlthough Vincent Novello began publishing editions ofchurch music under his own name in 1811, the company didnot operate until 1829, administered from offices in Londonby his son Joseph Alfred. From there it grew rapidly,establishing a virtual monopoly in low-cost mass sales ofchoral music, bringing to the English-speaking worldperforming editions of Bach, Handel, Haydn andMendelssohn and a multitude of contemporaries, laterpublishing individual choral works by Dvorák, Gounod andSaint-Saëns.The Novellos had scholarly aspirations, instituting thePurcell Edition in 1832 and buying The Musical Times in1844, the first of a number of influential periodicals theywere eventually to publish. Educational publishing remainedan important part of the catalogue throughout thenineteenth and twentieth centuries.Elgar was the first internationally acknowledged composer

signed to Novello, followed by Bliss, Dyson, Holst, Howellsand Moeran. From the 1970s, the list increased, withimportant signings like R.R. Bennett, Bush, Frankel,Horovitz, Joubert, Leighton, McCabe and Musgrave. Novellobought Elkin & Co in 1961 bringing Scott and Quilter worksto the catalogue, and the purchase of Paterson’sPublications in 1989 contributed many works by MalcolmArnold. Novello joined the Music Sales Group in 1993 andmaintains its historic role as both major choral publisherand purveyor of newmusic.

G. Schirmer and Associated Music PublishersArguably the longest established name in the history ofAmerican music, G. Schirmer Music Publishers, Importersand Dealers grew out of the New York-based Kerksieg andBruesing Company, founded in 1848. The German-AmericanGustave Schirmer had managed Kerksieg and Bruesingsince 1854, later taking it over with Bernard Beer whoseinterest he eventually bought out in 1866 to establish hisown company.Schirmer’s catalogue expanded in 1964 to include

Associated Music Publishers, and in 1986 both companiesjoined the Music Sales Group. Today the Schirmer and AMPcatalogues include America’s finest living composers fromthe elder statesmen (Menotti, Carter, Husa, Kirchner, andSchuller) through today’s leaders (Adams, Corigliano,Danielpour, Harbison, Lieberson, Previn, Sheng, Tan Dunand Tower) to the youngest generation. More than a third ofthe Pulitzer Prize awards for music have been won bySchirmer or AMP composers.G. Schirmer and AMP also publish the music of Barber,

Cowell, Ellington, Gould, Ives, Piston, Schoenberg,Schuman, and Thomson. Additionally, Schirmer is theAmerican publisher of the works of Gubaidulina, Kancheli,Kabalevsky, Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Schnittke, andShostakovich.

Unión Musical EdicionesThe history of Unión Musical Ediciones stretches back to1900, when the Bilbao music shop owner Dotesio Paynterfounded his own publishing company Casa Dotesio. CasaDotesio quickly acquired many other important Spanishpublishing houses including Casa Zozaya, Pablo MartínLarrony, Eslava and Fuentes y Asenjo. With such a wealth ofSpanish music in its catalogue and a growing internationalreputation, the firm changed its name in May 1914 to UniónMusical Española, to better reflect the nature of thecompany.As Spain firmly made its mark on the musical map of the

world in the twentieth century, Unión Musical Española wasassociated with its greatest composers, including Albéniz,Montsalvatge, Granados, Vives, Turina, Rodrigo, Ernesto,Rodolfo and Cristóbal Halffter, Mompou, Toldrá, Esplá andGuridi. In addition to its work in the classical sphere, thecompany remained active in Spanish folk and popularmusic.In 1990, the company joined the Music Sales Group and

changed its name once again to Unión Musical Ediciones.Today, UME takes on important projects in the audiovisualand pop worlds, as well as representing the Group’scatalogues throughout Spain.

Main portrait photographyNana WatanabeSamantha WestSim Canetty-ClarkeRichardHubertSmithKasskara/DGRalph MeckeTine HardenJohn BattenR HaughtonMark SeligerPeterThompsonArne Hyckenberg

Painting of Thea Musgrave courtesy ofScottish National Portrait Gallery

Design, illustration and productionPearce Marchbank RDI and Ben May,Studio Twenty, [email protected]

Book © 2007 by Music Sales Limited

Music Sales LimitedNewmarket Road, Bury St Edmunds,Suffolk IP33 3YB, UK

CAT 04928

TheMusic Sales Group...Publishing today’s leading composersand the classic names of the 20th Century

Chester Music Limited14-15 Berners StreetLondon W1T 3LJEnglandTelephone: +44 20 7612 7400Fax: +44 20 7612 7549E-mail: [email protected]

Chester Music France10 rue de la Grange-Batelière75009 ParisFranceTelephone: +33 1 5324 6852Fax: +33 1 5324 6849E-mail: [email protected]

Chester Schirmer BerlinPromotionBosworth Music GmbHDorotheenstrasse 3D-10117 BerlinGermanyTelephone: +49 30 223 220 19Fax: +49 30 223 220 17E-mail: [email protected]

Edition Wilhelm Hansen ASEdition Wilhelm Hansen Helsinki ABBornholmsgade 1DK-1266 Copenhagen KDenmarkTelephone: +45 33 117888Fax: +45 33 148178E-mail: [email protected]

Edition Wilhelm Hansen HamburgDistribution, Rights Administration, Promotionc/o Internationale Musikverlage Hans SikorskiD-20139 HamburgGermanyTelephone: +49 40 4141000Fax: +49 40 44 94 68E-mail: [email protected]

K KMusic Sales2-1 Ogawa-MachiKandaChiyoda-KuTokyoJapan 101Telephone: +81 3 3292 2861Fax: +81 3 3295 5135E-mail: [email protected]

Novello & Company Limited14-15 Berners StreetLondon W1T 3LJEnglandTelephone: +44 20 7612 7400Fax: +44 20 7612 7549E-mail: [email protected]

G Schirmer IncAssociated Music Publishers Inc257 Park Avenue SouthNew York NY 10010USATelephone: +1 212 254 2100Fax: +1 212 254 2013E-mail: [email protected]

G Schirmer Pty Limited4th FloorLisgar House32 Carrington StreetSydney NSW 2000AustraliaTelephone: +612 9299 8877Fax: +612 9299 6564E-mail: [email protected]

Unión Musical Ediciones SLC/Marqués de la Ensenada, 4, 3°28004MadridSpainTelephone: +34 91 308 4040Fax: +34 91 310 4429E-mail: [email protected]

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orch estra 19 77-2007 - music sales...

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