Par VAN DER ROOST JAN. Metalla was commissioned by the 'Kreisverband Altenkirchen' of Germany and dedicated to Ottomar Jung. The composer himself conducted the premiere of the piece, which was performed by the 'Jugendorchester Kreisverband Altenkirchen' on 25 March 1999. The region of Altenkirchen is known for its iron mines, which find musical expression in the dark mood of the introduction (anda…

Das Fußballstück. Par LANGER MANFRED. What happens to a choir when the FIFA World Cup kicks off? The composer Manfred Länger, of Vienna, has written a very inventive piece about this hot topic in which he spoofs “football fever” in a very compact composition. The work is suitable for all choirs [mixed choir, women’s or men’s choir] singers who are football fanatics and those who are football grouc…

The Husum Organ Book from 1758 documents in a unique way how north-German organ music developed in the first half of the 18th century in the generations following Dieterich Buxtehude and Vincent Lübeck. It contains 17 original works from northern Germany. Twelve of these works are concertos in three or four movements for unaccompanied organ. The fact that these are original compositions is a novel…

Conducteur Avec Couverture Rigide. Par SAINT-SAENS CAMILLE. With his four works 'Le Rouet d'Omphale”, 'Phaéton”, 'Danse macabre” and 'La Jeunesse d'Hercule”, composed between 1872 and 1877, Camille Saint-Saëns decidedly put himself in the tradition of Hector Berlioz, who heralded a new epoch with his 'Symphonie fantastique” premiered in France 1830, as well as the symphonic poems by Franz Liszt, w…

Tonalité : D-Dur - Tvwv 52:D3. Par TELEMANN GEORG PHILIPP. The D-major Concerto for Two Violins belongs to a group of concertos that Telemann wrote between 1707-8 and 1712 while serving as concert master and later as Kapellmeister of the court musicians in Eisenach. Telemanns double conertos for Eisenach are music-histroical documents of the first order on the early eighteenth-century concerto in …

Par DE HAAN JACOB. Remembrance Day (Totengedenken) is a chorale-like piece in memory of those who have died in service. Jacob de Haan composed this work for a concert by the symphonic wind orchestra Symphonic Winds, which he conducted in Germany on Volkstrauertag (national remembrance day). The composition is based on a text from Totengedenken (Commemoration of Those Who Have Died). This narrative…

Par VAN DER ROOST JAN. Volcano is a work commissioned by the Municipal Wind Orchestra of Endingen in Germany. The three creative impulses which provided the basis for this symphonic poem are inspired by outside sources. They are closed linked with the history of the Orchestra and the region in which it performs. In this region is the Kaiserstuhl, an enormous rock situated on the edge of the Black …

Suite pour violoncelle et piano. Par LAKS SIMON. Simon Laks (1901-1983), who moved from Warsaw to Paris in 1926 at the age of 25, belonged to the large group of composers from Central and Eastern European countries who went down in 20th-century music history as the „École de Paris“. Slavic temperament amalgamated in their music with French esprit, the folklore of their native countries combined wi…

While organ music of the 19th century was not highly regarded in Germany a few years ago [with the exception of a few outstanding works], our understanding of it has grown during recent years. In other countries 19th century organ music has retained its place in the repertoire to a far greater extent. This three-volume collection presents playable organ works of high quality for both liturgical an…