WAB 24. Par BRUCKNER ANTON. What does early Bruckner sound like' The Magnificat in B flat major casts a completely unexpected light on the young composer, on the threshold of composing his great church works. Around 5 minutes in length, and in the spirit of Mozart, it was written in 1852 for a service at the Monastery Church of St. Florian. With its concise form and scoring for small forces it off…

Má Vlast (My Country). Par SMETANA BEDRICH. In late September 1874, shortly after losing his hearing, Smetana started work on 'Vyšehrad”, the first symphonic poem in what would become a six-part cycle with the title 'Má vlast” (My Country). It tells the eventful history of this fort in Prague. 'Vyšehrad” was published by Urbánek together with 'Vltava” (The Moldau), the next part in the cycle, in a…

for String Quartet Score and Parts. Par HARTKE STEPHEN. THE FIFTH BOOK of the title refers to what Stephen Hartke considers his fifth book of madrigals, only two of which books are actually for voices, with the others being for string instruments. Hartke writes madrigals for string instruments due to their inherent singing quality, but also due to the fluid structural character of the madrigal as …

Par ZUBEL AGATA. The musical axis of the opera Bildbeschreibung consists of the relations between the soloistically treated instruments, the parts of which are based on the realisation by the performers of layers of sound ? understood not just as the exploration of their own instrument, but above all the presentation or representation in sound of the text. Each of the parts forges an area of ?pict…

We live in a world of endless Guitar shredding, players tearing up down and across the fret board at mind boggling speeds. There comes a certain excitement and respect for this ability but sometimes one wonders what ever happened to the classic tasty lick of days gone by. Guitar players would catch your ear with beautiful melodic phrases that would have you reaching for your handkerchief.I have en…

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. Quartet in C Minor is in four movements with a total duration of about 25 minutes. The opening Allegro is Dvorák-ish in its lyricism, though there is a darker, more brooding atmosphere towards the close. It is tempting to detect a hint of folk-song in the theme of the Andantino, played by the Viola, but that may be stretching hindsight too far. The movement has a wistfu…

Par YE XIAOGANG. 'Datura was commissioned by Accessible Contemporary Music and was written in a unique way. I composed the piece in installments over the summer of 2006 and emailed them to Seth Boustead who forwarded them on to the ensemble. In this unique way of working I was able to have time between each installment to think about what would come next and to get feedback from the performers abo…

Learning to play Blues Guitar is a highly rewarding experience, but getting started can be a challenge! Here at last is a book that helps you choose the right instrument and accessories and then gets you playing - fast! Full colour pictures, clear diagrams and genuinely practical advice combine to make Start-Up Blues Guitar do exactly what is says on the cover. You'll start off on the right track …

Par CURNOW JAMES. What a wonderful idea! Make beautiful music such as this available at the Grade 1 level! Even young bands love to play enchantingly beautiful melodies. You’ve spent a lot of time and effort in helping your students learn to play full value notes, breathe in appropriate places, and stretch out their phrases so that they sound more mature and less like beginners. In the Bleak Mid-W…

Par HERDZIN KRZYSZTOF. Chopiniana con delizia is a very interesting music project. Sometimes it is difficult to draw the line where Chopin ends and Herdzin begins. The artist engages in a kind of a dialogue with the 19th-century creator. By using Chopinesque motifs, by ‘filtering’ phrases of the genius composer through his sensitivity and experience of a 21st-century artist, Herdzin has created a …