MAY 2013 o ISSUE 3 Dear Music Colleagues A very warm welcome to our third edition of ‘The Green Room’ – the hire and performance e-newsletter from the Alfred Rental Library in Sydney Australia.
NEWS FLASH - New Harry Potter Symphonic Suite arranged by Gary Fry We are very excited to announce the arrival of a new film suite based on the music from ALL EIGHT Harry Potter films. Masterfully adapted by Gary Fry, this work is officially entitled “Harry Potter Symphonic Suite”, and is brand new to the Alfred Rental Library! The suite has been completed and is now available on hire. Duration is 25 minutes. A unique feature is that this is the very first professional level suite that combines themes from this fantastic and very popular film series. Instrumentation: Opt solo female voice (for Lily’s Theme) - 3[1.2.3/afl/pic] 3[1.2.3/Eh] 3[1.2.3/bcl/ Ebcl] 3[1.2.3/cbn] - 4 3 3 1 - tmp+3perc - hp pf/cel – str Percussion: Orch-bells, tub-bells, xyl, vib, tamb, sm tri, slgh-bells, mark tree, bell tree, sus cyms (sm, med, lg), piatti, sizzle cym, tam-tam, sd, dumbeks(3), tom-toms(3), lg, & sm taiko dms, (or tomtoms), bd, verdi bs dm. Themes and durations of each theme: 1. Prologue (#1) 1’21”
8. Harry & Hermione (#6) 1’37”
2. Hedwig’s Theme (#1) 3’50”
9. Obliviate (#7) 2’08”
3. Buckbeak’s Flight (#3) 2’07”
10. Lily’s Theme (#8) 2’
4. Hogwarts’ Hymn (#4) 1’14”
11. Courtyard Apocalypse (#8) 1’48”
5. Hogwarts’ March (#4) 1’22”
12. Mischief Managed (#3) 13”
6. Fireworks (#5) 46”
13. Harry’s Wondrous World (#2) 5’
7. The Flight of the Order of the Phoenix (#5) 1’23”
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At the Alfred Rental Library, our aim is to offer you – o Unparalleled service, knowledge and expertise to the performing community o Seamless dispatch and overseeing of materials o highest-level maintenance of library stock and review of the quality of materials o uncomplicated and supportive administration o very reasonable rental rates o detailed knowledge of repertoire and composers
o full encouragement of score perusal, without hefty administration fees o assistance with concert repertoire planning o HLMS library system, operated by fully-trained library and promotions staff, all of whom are dedicated musicians o a genuine desire to inform and assist the performing community, offering the personal touch in all aspects of the operation
o the development of close working relationships with conductors, librarians and musicians The Green Room
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COMPOSER FEATURE Witold Lutoslawski Centenary (25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) Witold Lutoslawski was indisputably one of the major composers of the twentieth century. Born in Warsaw in 1913, he showed prodigious musical and intellectual talent from an early age. His composition studies in Warsaw ended at a politically difficult time for Poland so his plans for further study in Paris were replaced by a period which included military training, imprisonment by the Germans and escape back to Warsaw, where he and his compatriot Andrzej Panufnik played in cafes their own compositions and transcriptions. After the war, the Stalinist regime banned his first symphony (1941-47) as ‘formalist’, but he continued to compose and in 1958 his Musique Funèbre, in memory of Bartok, established his international reputation. His own personal aleatoric technique whereby the performers have freedom within certain controlled parameters was first demonstrated in his Jeux Venitiens (1961) and is to be found in almost all the later music. Over the years, Witold Lutoslawski was frequently inspired by particular ensembles and artists including the London Sinfonietta, Sir Peter Pears, Heinz and Ursula Holliger, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Mstislav Rostropovich and AnneSophie Mutter. His Symphony No. 4 was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and received its world premiere in February 1993 under the baton of the composer. A powerful work, it reflected his increasing concern with expansive melody. Among many international prizes awarded to this most modest man were the UNESCO Prize (1959,1968), the French order of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1982), Grawemeyer Award (1985), Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal (1986), in the last year of his life, the Swedish Polar Music Prize and the Inamori Foundation Prize, Kyoto, for his outstanding contribution to contemporary European music, and, posthumously, the International Music Award for best large-scale composition for the fourth symphony. Lutoslawski’s contribution to the musical world was enormous and his loss in February 1994, at the age of 81, will continue to be deeply felt.
Lutoslawski is quite simply one of the most important voices of the twentieth century. This retrospective of his life, in what would have been his 100th birthday year, brings his absorbing, rich, intensely atmospheric music to new audiences, and our digital resources will create a lasting legacy that ensures that this anniversary lasts well beyond its 12-month duration, and the three months of our celebration. Our partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is allowing us to access source material, archive and historical material that has never been seen before outside Poland and illuminates Lutoslawski’s life and work in unprecedented ways. I can’t wait to show the world everything that we are discovering. – Esa-Pekka Salonen
Lutoslawski emerged as one of the great masters of twentieth century music not through celebrity or fashion, but by virtue of his fundamental values: the ravishing beauty of his sound world, his rich harmonic language, his expressive melodic voice, his lucid forms, his attention to dramatic tension and release, and underlying everything, his drive to communicate. – Steven Stucky
Reproduced by permission from Chester Music Ltd. Many popular works composed by Lutoslawski are available from the Alfred Rental Library: Chain 1
Little Suite (Mala Suita)
Duration: 9 minutes Orchestration: 1(pic,afl)1(ca)11/1110/perc(=mba,xyl,cym,gong,tam)/ hpd/2vn.va.vc.db Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Duration: 11 minutes Orchestration: 1+pic.2.2.2/4331/timp.perc/str Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Chain 2
Duration: 29 minutes Orchestration: 3(2pic)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cbn)/4441/timp.4perc/2hp.pf.cel/str Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Duration: 18 minutes Orchestration: 2(2pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2/0220/timp.perc/pf(cel)/str(6.6.4.4.2) Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Chantefleurs et Chantefables Duration: 20 minutes Orchestration: 1.1.1+Ebcl.1/1110/timp.perc/hp.pf(cel)/str(min 8.6.4.4.2) Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Dance Preludes (3rd version for 9 instruments) Duration: 7 minutes Orchestration: 1111/hn/vn.va.vc.db Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
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Concerto for Orchestra
Cello Concerto Duration: 24 minutes Orchestration: 3(3pic)33(bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.3perc/hp.pf.cel/str Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Symphony No. 4 Duration: 22 minutes Orchestration: 3(pic)3(ca)3(Ebcl:bcl)3(cbn)/4331/timp.perc/2hp.cel/str Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
REPERTOIRE FEATURE Manuel de Falla: El Amor Brujo
Welcome
After seven years in Paris, upon the outbreak of World War I, De Falla returned to Madrid. There, Pastora Imperio, a legendary ballerina of Gypsy background, commissioned him to write a song and dance, which soon evolved into a fullblown story based upon legends recounted by her mother and fashioned into a scenario by Gregorio Sierra (although recently it has been suggested that Sierra’s wife Maria ghost-wrote this and most of his work). Fortunately for posterity, the Madrid premiere of the original version (now heard on Naxos 553499) was a failure. Perhaps sensing a greater work within, De Falla condensed and refashioned the score into an abstract ballet, trading plot progression for artistic structure, excising all the dialog that had interrupted and obscured some of his most captivating music, removing a song and monologue that had more narrative than musical interest and expanding the eight-piece ensemble into a full orchestra for a richer, more versatile sound. He emerged with a work that stands as his artistic legacy – El amor brujo (literally, Spellbound Love, but generally anglicized as Love, the Magician). The plot is disarmingly simple – a gypsy is possessed by the ghost of her faithless former lover until her new suitor enlists a beautiful friend to entice it away. Every one of the thirteen scenes evokes a diverse mood that is seamlessly integrated into a moving tapestry of enthralling but restrained human feeling. The emphatic rhythm, compressed tonal range and alternating long notes and rapid sequencing of the opening fanfare both commands attention and heralds the style of the vocals to come. In three sections an off-stage mezzosoprano sings of the cruelty and deceptions of love, in songs derived from jundo (Andalusian folk songs) and delivered in that chesty, guttural style unique to Spanish folksong that projects languid yet spellbinding lust. The piquant “Dance of Terror” and the intense “Ritual Fire Dance” have become famous as orchestral excerpts and piano transcriptions. “In the Cave” evokes a quest of eternal mystery as incisive, fragmentary events flit expectantly over the deceptively calming lull of sustained strings. “The Magic Circle” summons timeless wonderment with a pre-tonal medieval sound. A “Pantomime” conjures a meltingly lovely reverie in 7/8 meter, graced with a ravishing countermelody. The terse finale leaves audiences rapt but avid for more, as the two lovers, at last freed from the stifling burdens of their past, emerge from a night of sorcery to face the wondrous splendour of a new dawn, as morning bells peal in hopeful triumph. De Falla’s supreme gift, fully evident in El Amor Brujo, is to suggest a multitude of distinctive sounds rather than depicting them outright. Perhaps the most magical moment is a passing scene that clearly evokes the chimes of midnight, but without a single chime; rather, the effect is induced entirely with a resourceful combination of brass, strings and piano. Indeed, despite the essential Spanish character of the work, nowhere do we hear an actual tambourine, castanet, hand clap, foot stomp, flamenco tap, or even a guitar, yet in a sense they all are present and deeply felt throughout. This is the ultimate feat of art – to use surrogate means to produce a sensation even more vivid than the real thing would have been.
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The Arranger: Gary Fry is an Emmy-winning Chicago-based composer, arranger, producer, and music educator. He has crafted music for recordings, films, commercials, publication, and live performance. Significant credits include his position as arranger/composer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Welcome, Yule! holiday concerts since 1996, artistic consultant to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for their annual Christmas Celebration concerts, and over 100 commissions for Christmas and holiday music from those orchestras and others from around the nation. For more than twenty years Gary Fry has been one of the USA’s foremost commercial music producers, with over 2500 nationally broadcast radio and television commercials for companies such as McDonald’s, Sears, United Airlines, Kellogg’s, the U.S. Air Force, and hundreds of other advertisers. He won an Emmy Award in 2006 for his original commercial music for WBBM-TV (Chicago). This unique combination of symphonic skills and commercial experience has made him a highly sought-after music writer for organizations looking for the highest-quality compositions and arrangements that also appeal to a broad audience. All the best, The team at the Alfred Rental Library
– Peter Gutmann, Classical Notes
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The three faces of Francis Poulenc A reliable, reputable, scholarly source told me once of an occasional activity of Poulenc when staying in Paris. In the late afternoon he would leave his apartment and go to the local park where he would have an anonymous encounter. He would then cross the park to the Catholic church where he would slip into a dark confessional. After being absolved of his sins, and less than an hour after first leaving home, he would return to a sumptuous supper, all ready to be served along with a decanted bottle of fine, red Bordeaux. Theology and morality aside, this circle from indulgence to Indulgence to indulgence gives us an insight into the three different styles of Poulenc’s music. There are the melancholy twists and turns of his melodies, singing over smokey, hazy harmonies (the sensual passion in the park); then there is the pure and strident tonality, reminiscent of Stravinsky, with unsettled spacing of chords glinting with major 7ths (the stained glass of the cloister); and finally the bon viveur, the gleeful good-humour of the naughty schoolboy stuffing himself with
List of Publishers Represented by the Alfred Rental Library Current List of Publishers Represented Chester Music Ltd Novello & Co Ltd G.Schirmer Inc Associated Music Publishers Inc G.Schirmer Australia Pty Ltd Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen/ Helsinki/New York/Frankfurt Edwin Ashdown Ltd Bosworth & Co Ltd Sony/ATV Songs LLC EMI Music Publishers Ltd EMI Music Inc Unión Musical Ediciones Alfred Lengnick & Co Ltd Paterson Publications Editions Transatlantiques Red Poppy Music Ltd
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culinary delights (the feast of wine and rich food). And sometimes we hear all three styles in the same piece – the Sextet for piano and winds is a prime example. From a banana skin to a reliquary to a smouldering Gauloises … and back. And barely a bar could be by any other composer so personal and inimitable are the three styles and his audacious combination of them. We are celebrating the 50th anniversary this year of Poulenc’s death. Unlike many composers of his generation, Poulenc’s stock has risen solidly over the years. Dismissed in the 1920s as a lightweight, a musical prankster from a privileged background, his music developed in emotional power as his inner life became more complex. The shock of losing his dear friend Pierre-Octave Ferroud in a horrific car crash in 1936 propelled him back to the Catholicism of his childhood, and he remained a practising if struggling Catholic until his death. His letters to another friend, the baritone Pierre Bernac, reveal his tortures of heart and his depression, but also his spiritual inspiration as he was writing his operatic masterpiece ‘The Dialogues of the Carmelites’. French spirituality has always been full of extremes, from the rigour of Jansenism to the ‘dangerous’ laxity of someone like the Carmelite nun St. Thérèse of Lisieux who died a mere two years before Poulenc was born. I’m sure that Therese would have been
Editions CHOUDENS J Curwen & Sons Ltd Carl Nielsen Udgaven, det Kgl. Bib University of York Music Press Alfred Music Publishing Lawson Gould Belwin Mills Music Warner Bros Entertainment Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel, Basel, London Alkor Edition Kassel Editio Bärenreiter Prague MWV (Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien) Henle Verlag München Henschel Verlag für Musik Berlin Strauss Edition Wien Gustav Bosse Verlag Süddeutscher Musikverlag Heidelberg Société Rameau Paris Sikorski Musikverlag
shocked by the circular sequence of Poulenc’s gratifications, but I think she might have been even more disturbed at any despair of forgiveness, or indeed at any inability to celebrate the blessing of good food and wine. As Lent begins in just a couple of weeks it’s worth remembering that true asceticism does not give up material goods because it despises them, but because they are precisely ‘goods’. Sometimes the best way to treasure something and to be grateful for it is – temporarily, voluntarily – to put it to one side. “May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be”, wrote Thérèse, even if it might have been better for Poulenc to be leaving the park rather than entering it. Stephen Hough, 30 Jan 2013 The Telegraph. Follow Stephen on Twitter @houghhough
A Little Part Of Poulenc In All Of Us Fifty years ago today, French composer Francis Poulenc had a massive heart attack in his Paris apartment and died. He was only 64, but he left us with an assortment of durable music that still sparkles with elegance today. When music buffs talk about Poulenc, one quote inevitably pops up: “In Poulenc there is something of the
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monk and something of the rascal.” That line, by music critic Claude Rostand, is often repeated, but it’s worth a little investigation on the 50th anniversary of Poulenc’s death, as the sentiment resonates throughout his life and music. I like to think there’s a little of Poulenc’s contradictory nature in all of us. A little of Walt Whitman’s blend of conflict and cockiness, as in these lines from Leaves of Grass: Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) The idea that we “contain multitudes” is what makes life exciting. And Poulenc led a pretty exciting life, filled with contradictions. Looking back on his privileged childhood, he noted the influence of two seemingly opposite roots in his family tree — the devoutly Catholic strand from the south of France on his father’s side and the artistic, cosmopolitan strand from his mother’s Parisian background. Poulenc wrote music that popped like corks from Champagne, pieces dizzy with the sounds of Parisian music halls and jazz. His 1932 Concerto for Two Pianos is a good example. The music pivots from a saucy dance complete with maracas to mock seriousness in the wink of an eye. But Poulenc also composed from the opposite perspective. The Mass in G, the Stabat Mater and the Gloria are
works of great emotional depth and spirituality. And then there’s his opera The Dialogues of the Carmelites. Part psychological thriller, part commentary on totalitarian government and religion, the drama ends like no other. One by one, a group of nuns marches slowly to the guillotine. The haunting, defiant Salve Regina they sing is punctuated by repeating swooshes of the giant blade. Poulenc was well aware of the opposing forces of light and dark in his music. As he told music historian Roland Gelatt, balancing the two is an important element in the French sound. “You will find sobriety and dolor in French music just as in German or Russian,” Poulenc said in 1950. “But the French have a keener sense of proportion. We realize that somberness and good humor are not mutually exclusive. Our composers, too, write profound music, but when they do, it is leavened with that lightness of spirit without which life would be unendurable.” Although Poulenc could be witty and effervescent, his spirit wasn’t always so light. He was prone to bouts of the blues. He was once in love with a woman, but he also came to terms with his homosexuality. He relished his friends and Parisian social life, but he also craved the solitude of his country home in Touraine, where he spent time composing. He was a religious
man who wasn’t above a risqué comment or two. Nadia Boulanger, the legendary French pedagogue, saw the contradictions in the composer’s character. “Poulenc’s personality was much more complex than what met the eye,” she said. “He was entirely paradoxical. You could meet him as easily in fashionable Parisian circles ... or at Mass.” In the book Setting the Tone, Ned Rorem, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, essayist and Francophile, summarized the Poulenc sound with an amusing recipe: “Take Chopin’s dominant sevenths, Ravel’s major sevenths, Fauré’s plain triads, Debussy’s minor ninths, Mussorgsky’s augmented fourths. Filter these through Satie by way of the added sixth chords of vaudeville (which the French call Le Music Hall), blend in a pint of Couperin to a quart of Stravinsky, and you get the harmony of Poulenc.” In the end, is Poulenc, with his fascinating inconsistencies, so different from most of us? Probably not. It’s just that most of us don’t express our contradictions and multitudes in music of extraordinary brilliance that will outlive us. Tom Huizenga, “Deceptive Cadence” from NPR Classical, 30 Jan 2013
REPERTOIRE SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR CONCERT PROGRAMMING Manuel de Falla
Graeme Koehne
Work Title: Nights in the Gardens of Spain (solo piano & chamber orchestra) Duration: 23 minutes Orchestration: 2(pic)2+ca.2.2/2200/timp.perc/ hp/str Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Work Title: To His Servant Bach, God Grants a Final Glimpse: The Morning Star Duration: 4 mins Orchestration: string orchestra Publisher: G. Schirmer Australia
Silvestre Revueltas Work Title: Sensemaya Duration: 7 minutes Orchestration: 2+2pic.2+ca.2+efl+bcl.3+c bn/4431/timp.3perc/pf/str Publisher: G. Schirmer
Work Title: L’Histoire de Babar (for narrator and orchestra) Duration: 22 mins Orchestration: 2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)/ 22(cnt)11/timp.perc/hp/str Publisher: Chester Music Ltd
Carl Nielsen
Nathaniel Stookey
Work Title: Aladdin Suite Duration: 26 minutes Orchestration: 3(2pic)222/4231/timp.perc/cel/str Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Work Title: The Composer is Dead Duration: 30 mins Orchestration: 2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)/4231/ timp.3perc/hp/str Publisher: Associated Music Publishers
Philip Glass Work Title: Violin Concerto No. 1 Duration: 17 mins Orchestration: 2(pic).2.2+(Ebcl,bcl).2/4.3.2+btb n.1/timp.4perc/hp/str Publisher: Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc
Francis Poulenc
Contact Us If you are based in the Asia-Pacific region and have any enquiries about hiring a work, please contact us by email at hire@alfredpub.com.au or call us at our Sydney office on +61 2 8707 3608. Our helpful music librarians and staff are ready to provide you with assistance, informative suggestions and answers to your music needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need a Perusal Score, as we are also happy to offer you our perusal service.
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Martial Arts Takes on a Whole New Style Tan Dun Martial Arts Trilogy, Feb 22-23, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Opera House Written by Peter McCallum for The Sydney Morning Herald FOR a person who says he hates martial arts film music, the Chinese composer Tan Dun has been remarkably persistent with the genre. In writing music for Zhang Yimou’s Hero, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Feng Xiaogang’s The Banquet, he turned towards Peking opera, which he sees as the origin of the theatricalisation of martial arts in the 19th century.
The Crouching Tiger concerto for erhu, percussion and chamber orchestra was the most successful piece, exploiting the expressive poignancy and tonal sweetness of Tan Wei’s playing to greatest effect. The Banquet concerto, played by Yingdi Sun, sometimes gave to the piano a concertante role until the cadenza, after which the soloist gave out the first of increasingly inflated repetitions of a simple, if slightly mawkish, tune to close. Read more: http://www.smh.com. au/entertainment/music/east-meetswest-as-martial-arts-music-morphsinto-concertos-20130224-2ezgb. html#ixzz2MbyRuH8u
From the music for those three films, he then wrote three concertos, the Hero concerto for violin and orchestra, the Crouching Tiger concerto for the Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument the erhu, and the Banquet concerto for piano and orchestra, all conducted here by the composer. Scenes from the films were projected behind the players, so the film accompanied the music, rather than the other way around. As concert works, the music of these concertos did not seem as close to Chinese tradition and thought as some of Tan Dun’s other works, such as the Paper and Water concertos (for percussion and orchestra). Their use of insistent rhythmic motives (as in the warlike scenes), evocative atmospherics, riff-like repetitions and the overall orchestral sound placed the music closer to Western cinematic conventions. The balance between soloist and orchestra varied, with the soloist’s textures and role sometimes obscured or overshadowed. The scores nevertheless contained rich and imaginative moments, accompanied on screen by breathtaking textures and colours, epic images, and lots of jumping and sword fights. The Hero concerto with the violinist Ryu Goto began with a brass chorale, with richly coloured dissonant chords before an expressive, folk-like violin melody with ominous interjections from behind. At 45 minutes, it could tolerate further editing.
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Image taken from http://www.kryztoff.com/ RAW/?p=6301
According to Tan Dun the three concertos that make up the trilogy centre on the love and sacrifice of three women in three very different circumstances. “Each of the film’s leading female characters sacrifices her life for love,” he explains. “In Crouching Tiger the character sacrifices her life for her spiritual love of the wuxia dream. In Hero, the character ‘Flying Snow’ sacrifices her life for the patriotic love of her country. Lastly in The Banquet... the Empress sacrifices her life and love for desire and revenge. ”The soloists in the concertos become the voices of the three heroines. The erhu (Chinese violin) is Jade, dreaming of transcendence through martial arts, the violin is Flying Snow in a story of revenge and redemption, and the piano is the Empress Wan, sacrificing love for power. It has been a long journey for Tan Dun, who traded his country Chinese upbringing for the
pace of New York City over 20 years ago. Tan Dun was born and raised in a rural Hunan village that still maintained the millennia-old shamanistic cultural traditions. But when he was a teenager, the Cultural Revolution in China changed his life forever. Tan Dun was sent to plant rice alongside the local farmers in the Huangjin commune, and soon became involved in their local music scene. Through his knowledge of music, he became a preserver of their traditions. Years later a boat carrying a travelling Peking opera troupe capsized, killing many of the musicians on board. Tan Dun was recalled from his farming duties to serve as a fiddler and musical arranger for the troupe. At the end of the Cultural Revolution, China re-opened its Central Conservatory and Tan Dun was one of 30 chosen from thousands of applicants to attend. Visiting lecturers – who included Alexander Goehr, George Crumb, Hans Werner Henze, Toru Takemitsu, Isang Yun and Chou Wen-Chung – introduced Tan to a wide range of international contemporary music. He arrived in the United States in 1986, where he quickly immersed himself in the music of John Cage and the New York downtown avant-garde scene. Over the past 20 years, Tan Dun has transcended stylistic and cultural boundaries to become one of the world’s most famous and sought-after composers. He has won the highest accolades in film and music including a Grammy, an Academy Award, the Bach Prize, the Grawemeyer Prize and the International Shostakovich Prize. Tan Dun takes this success in his stride, and hopes his work brings more music to the people. “Winning these awards opened my music up to new audiences, bringing non-traditional concertgoers into the concert hall and the younger generation into the opera house,” he says. “I have always sought to cross boundaries, disciplines and bring different genres together. The tradition of martial arts was created from Chinese opera in the 19th century. To me, the opera tradition is an ancient form of cinema and cinema is the opera of the future. “
SYDNEY OMEGA ENSEMBLE www.sydneyomegaensemble.com A message from THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR – Sydney Omega Ensemble. We are pleased to continue our close association with the Alfred Rental Library. The team at Clear Music Australia, who manage the Alfred Library, are incredibly supportive and are such an integral part of the operations of the Sydney Omega Ensemble, providing the scores and parts to so many of our performances, whether they be on sale or on hire. Chamber music is the music of equals. Each musician plays an important role, with no one player in the limelight. A chamber music performer requires unique skills and needs to balance selfconfidence with flexibility on stage. One of the reasons I love performing chamber music is the excitement of discovering how individual
David Rowden, Founder and Artistic Director
personalities shine through. I see this when we perform and it provides me with great enjoyment working in collaboration with other talented musicians. I believe that our accomplishments make the Ensemble a unique addition to the cultural life of Sydney. 2013 sees the Ensemble work with some incredible guest artists. We are delighted to return to City Recital Hall Angel Place with pianist Simon Tedeschi. The soprano Emma Matthews also joins the Ensemble, fresh from her role in Opera Australia’s La Traviata on Sydney Harbour in 2012, as part of the Art Gallery of NSW Resonate program. This will mark our 8th appearance in this prestigious series. The Ensemble opened the Blue Mountains Concert Society’s season at the Springwood Civic Centre on the 17th February, and are currently looking forward to performing in the House Music series at Government House. In addition, we will continue our popular series of concerts at the iconic Utzon Room of the Sydney Opera House. This unique venue has a great atmosphere for the performance of chamber music with the backdrop of breathtaking Sydney Harbour. During 2013 we will also perform two newly commissioned works with support from Ars Musica Australis. The first work will be written by New Zealand composer and bassoonist Ben Hoadley and the second by the young Australian composer Cyrus Meurant. Once again, I would like to thank all of our all our supporters, especially those who have joined our Patrons’ Program. Without you we would not be able to present such diverse and extensive repertoire. Our subscribers and patrons help the Ensemble realise its mission
as we all play our part in securing the future of classical music in Australia. We hope that you continue to follow our journey, and that we continue to enrich the musical life in Sydney in our own distinctive way. David Rowden, Founder and Artistic Director
SYDNEY OMEGA ENSEMBLE ‘Sydney should treasure this chamber musical niche’ Ken Healey - North Shore Times (November 2012) Several young musicians on a mission to redefine the city’s classical chamber music landscape joined together in 2005 to form the Sydney Omega Ensemble. Their performances have received enthusiastic acclaim from audiences and reviewers alike, and continue to be broadcast around Australia on ABC Classic FM. Drawing on its core members and regular guests, the Ensemble performs chamber music from duos, trios, to octets and more, in programs of “classical” and “contemporary classical” music. In The Sydney Morning Herald in 2006, David Vance welcomed the Ensemble as a new force in Sydney chamber music that “has at its disposal a vast chamber repertoire, old and new”.
WWW
PAUL STANHOPE’s Audio Links Follow these links to experience some of Paul’s outstanding works: Spin Dance
Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams
Jet-Stream
Groundswell
Throbbing
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The Orchestra, reinvented for iPad with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia
Music Sales, Touch Press, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra have joined forces to create The Orchestra – a ground-breaking iPad app. It’s a wonderful way to use technology to interactively explore orchestral music and instruments. This unique app contains eight specially-filmed performances of extracts from: o Haydn’s Symphony No 6 o Beethoven’s Symphony No 5 o Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique
ebussy’s Prélude à l’après midi o D d’un faune o Mahler’s Symphony No 6 o Stravinsky’s The Firebird o Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra o S alonen’s Violin Concerto, with soloist Leila Josefowicz
The high quality films of eight performances are presented in ground-breaking format featuring the conductor’s view alongside two other views following the most active players and instrumental sections.
And lastly, there are insightful texts giving historical and musical background on each of the orchestral pieces and orchestral instruments.
The performances are synchronised with three different views of the score: full score; short score curated by EsaPekka Salonen, and simplified score.
The app is available worldwide for $13.99/£9.99 at the App Store or at iTunes.
An Orchestral BeatMap highlights the active instrumental sections. There’s an optional audio and/or subtitle commentaries on each piece from EsaPekka Salonen and the Philharmonia musicians. The Philharmonia musicians demonstrate their instruments and explain their individual roles within the orchestra. A video interview with Esa-Pekka Salonen shows him talking about the featured pieces and discussing conducting them.
Alfred Rental Library Welcomes Sikorski On Board The Alfred Rental Library has signed an agreement with prominent music publisher Hans Sikorski. Alfred Australia is now officially the agent in this territory for Sikorski works on hire. The Sikorski Music Publishing Group reveals the rare attribute of being equally committed to works from the entertainment-music branch and to those from the serious music sector as well. In the publishers’ catalogues one therefore encounters top hits and evergreens which have become famous through interpreters such as Benjamino Gigli, Marlene Dietrich, Comedian Harmonists, Zarah Leander, Hans Albers, Heinz Rühmann, Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley Bassey, Lale Andersen, Peter Alexander, Freddy Quinn, The Hollies, Les Humphries Singers, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. In more recent times, it has been stars such as Michael Bublé, Celine Dion, André Rieu, Götz Alsmann and Max Raabe who have presented the publishers’ titles to a wide public on recordings, the broadcasting media and in the concert hall.
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Another element of concentration in the publishers’ activity is the furtherance of classical and contemporary music. In these areas the spectrum ranges from chamber music, orchestral music and stage works to musicals and film music. Important Russian composers such Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Aram Khachaturian, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli and Lera Auerbach are represented with their compositions by Hans Sikorski Music Publishers in many European countries or worldwide. But also German composers such as Peter Ruzicka, Jan Müller-Wieland and Moritz Eggert entrust their works to the publishers, as do many other authors from around the world, emphasising the publishers’ international orientation. Another aspect of the publishing programme is the area of children’s music. Above all, it is the songwriter Rolf Zuckowski who has made his mark on the publishers’ profile with his numerous titles, many of which have meanwhile attained the status of folksongs. Please contact us at any time with your enquiries about works from the Sikorski hire/performance catalogues.
Recent and Future Performances NAME
TITLE
PUBLISHER
COMPANY
LOCATION
1-2 March 2013 Tan Dun
Martial Arts Trilogy
G. Schirmer
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne
High Art – Trumpet Concerto
G. Schirmer (Australia)
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney
6-9 March 2013 Graeme Koehne 7 March 2013 David Lang
Wed (for string orchestra) G. Schirmer
Adelaide Festival
Adelaide
Bryce Dessner
Lachrimae
Chester Music Ltd
Adelaide Festival
Adelaide
8 March 2013 Paul Stanhope
Jet-Stream
Alfred Publishing Australia
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
10-17 March 2013 Francis Poulenc
Histoire de Babar
Chester Music Ltd
Brisbane Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
El Amor Brujo (2nd version)
Chester Music Ltd
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Singapore
22-25 March 2013 Samuel Barber
Violin Concerto
G. Schirmer
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Geelong
24 March 2013 Carl August Nielsen
Flute Concerto
Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Preston Symphony Orchestra
Preston
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mass in C minor K.427
Bärenreiter/Alkor Edition
Melbourne Bach Choir
Melbourne
Malcolm Arnold
Four Scottish Dances
Paterson Publications
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
Overture: Beckus the Dandipratt
Paterson Publications
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
Edward Elgar
The Kingdom: Prelude
Novello & Co Ltd
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
4 April 2013 Malcolm Arnold
Padstow Lifeboat
Paterson Publications
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Hobart
6 April 2013 Francis Poulenc
Histoire de Babar
Chester Music Ltd
National Symphony Orchestra
Taipei
7 April 2013 Arnold Schoenberg
Serenade
Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Queensland Mandolin Orchestra
Brisbane
11 April 2013 Igor Stravinsky
Ebony Concerto
Chester Music Ltd
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne
12 – 20 April 2013 Joseph Haydn
L’isola Disabitata (Opera)
Bärenreiter/Alkor Edition
Hobart Baroque
Hobart
13 April 2013 Eric Whitacre
Sleep
Chester Music Ltd
Monash University
Melbourne
Eric Whitacre
Water Night
Chester Music Ltd
Monash University
Melbourne
Eric Whitacre
River Cam
Chester Music Ltd
Monash University
Melbourne
14 April 2013 Witold Lutoslawski
Chain 1
Chester Music Ltd
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music
Singapore
Chamber Music V (Barabbas Var.)
Novello & Co Ltd
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Australia
Sinfonietta
Chester Music Ltd
Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Hong Kong
Dance Preludes (3rd version)
Chester Music Ltd
University of New South Wales
Sydney
Dramatische Ouvertüre “L’Apparition”
Musikverlag Ries & Erler
Fremantle Chamber Orchestra
Fremantle
17 March 2013 Manuel de Falla
24 March – 8 April 2013 Malcolm Arnold
19 – 30 April 2013 Aulis Sallinen 19 April – 3 May 2013 Francis Poulenc 20 April 2013 Witold Lutoslawski 27-28 April 2013 Ferdinand Ries
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Recent and Future Performances NAME
TITLE
PUBLISHER
COMPANY
LOCATION
1 – 3 May 2013 Witold Lutoslawski
Cello Concerto
Chester Music Ltd
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney
3 May 2013 Paul Stanhope
Machinations
Alfred Publishing Australia
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
Philip Glass
Symphony No.8
Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
5 May 2013 Francis Poulenc
Histoire de Babar
Chester Music Ltd
Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Tokyo
10 – 25 May 2013 John Adams
Harmonielehre
Associated Music Publishers
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Wellington
13 - 22 May 2013 Terry Riley
Deep Chandi
Associated Music Publishers
Queensland Conservatorium of Music
Brisbane
17 – 18 May 2013 Heitor Villa-Lobos
Bachianas Brasileiras No.4 Alfred Music Publishing
National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Chiayi, Taiwan
19 May 2013 Malcolm Arnold
Little Suite No.2
Paterson Publications
Adelaide Youth Orchestra
Adelaide
Richard Addinsell
Warsaw Concerto
EMI Music Publishers Ltd
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Brisbane
24 May 2013 Witold Lutoslawski
Cello Concerto
Chester Music Ltd
Australian National Academy of Music
South Melbourne
1 June 2013 Francis Poulenc
Sinfonietta
Chester Music Ltd
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Perth
Variations on a Theme of Paganini
Chester Music Ltd
Bangkok Symphony Orchestra
Bangkok
Messiah K.572
Bärenreiter/Alkor Edition
New Zealand Chamber Choir and Orchestra
Wellington
Guitar Concerto
Paterson Publications
University of Auckland
Auckland
Concerto for Piccolo (World Premiere)
Alfred Music Publishing Australia
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne
Divertissement (string orchestra)
G. Schirmer Australia
Elder Conservatorium Chamber Orchestra
Adelaide
16 June 2013 J.S. Bach
Cantata BWV 139
Breitkopf and Härtel
Sydney Grammar School Orchestra
Sydney
19 June 2013 Max Richter
On the Nature of Daylight
Mute Song
St Hildas Senior String Orchestra
Mosman Park WA
20-22 June 2013 Paul Stanhope
Concerto for Piccolo
Alfred Music Publishing Australia
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Adelaide
Leos Janacek
Taras Bulba
Bärenreiter/Alkor Edition
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Adelaide
22 June 2013 George Palmer
The Ruritanian Dances
G. Schirmer Australia
Crendon Chamber Orchestra
Thame, UK
23 June 2013 Benjamin Britten
King Arthur
Chester Music Ltd
New Zealand Doctors Orchestra
Nelson, NZ
G. F. Handel
Theodora HWV 68
Bärenreiter/Alkor Edition
Canberra Choral Society and Orchestra
Canberra
Witold Lutoslawski 2 June 2013 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 4 June 2013 Malcolm Arnold 6-7 June 2013 Paul Stanhope 15 June 2013 Graeme Koehne
Contact Us If you are based in the Asia-Pacific region and have any enquiries about hiring a work, please contact us by email at hire@alfredpub.com.au or call us at our Sydney office on +61 2 8707 3608. Our helpful music librarians and staff are ready to provide you assistance, informative suggestions and answers to your music needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need a Perusal Score, as we are also happy to offer you our perusal service.
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