Sonority

Solfege and Sonority

Solfege and Sonority - Teaching Music Reading in the Choral Classroom: ab 29.99 €

Shop: ebook.de
Price: 29.99 EUR excl. shipping

"Barshai's performance possesses real urgency and weight of sonority ...sense of concentration...satisfying formal coherence...Barshai's credentials with the composer could hardly be better demonstrated" (Gramophone)

Shop: odax
Price: 8.47 EUR excl. shipping

Streichquintett/Intermezzo/+

Finished in 1879, the Quintet is thus a mature work by a composer who had already written - and in the case of the Fourth and Fifth, revised - five symphonies. There is a always a richness of sonority and harmony in this music which has given rise to the cliché that Bruckner's idiom is too dense and orchestral, an accusation hardly borne out by the delicacy of some passages - Ralph Moore

Shop: odax
Price: 12.06 EUR excl. shipping

Tudor Masters-Byrd & Gibbons

David Willcocks (Dir) // (Mass for 5 Voices) "the serenity of the King's account, with its long flowing paragraphs, remains very appealing..Under Willcocks, there is an inevitability of phrasing and effortless control of sonority and dynamics that completely capture the music's spiritual and e motional feeling"(Gibbons) "the collection is imaginatively chosen...Gibbons is a major musical personality" (Penguin Guide)

Shop: odax
Price: 8.47 EUR excl. shipping

No description.

Shop: odax
Price: 19.20 EUR excl. shipping

Gloria in G-Dur,Kyrie in d-moll,Credo in C-Dur

The majority of the sacred music of Johann Christian Bach, the youngest of the sons of J.S. Bach, was written during the time that he was organist of Milan Cathedral. This CD includes first recordings of three sections of the Mass, one of these being a large-scale setting of the Gloria in which the music for the solo voices attains an almost operatic quality. The orchestral writing is also particularly brilliant and has already a classical sonority as well as passages in true concertante style.

Shop: odax
Price: 12.87 EUR excl. shipping

Late Beethoven

Late Beethoven It is well recognized that during his last years, especially from 1817 on, Beethoven's music underwent a transformation that redefined his legacy. Moreover, in a series of powerful masterstrokes the composer forever enlarged the sphere of human experience. There is disagreement as to when precisely the late style first appeared. There are differences over the extent to which it emerged from internal or external sources, and critics have struggled to describe it's characteristics in a coherent and meaningful way, but few have disagreed about the existence of the phase itself, let alone it's seismic character or it's chief examples: the late sonatas and string quartets, the 'Diabelli' Variations and the bagatelles, the Ninth Symphony and Missa solemmis Sonata Op.101, in A major. The Sonata in A major, op.101, published in Vienna by Steiner,in 1817, is the first of the 'final five' piano sonatas with which Beethoven brought his work on this genre to a close. The crux of this Sonata is contained not in the opening Allegretto ma non troppo, despite it's quiet, lyrical beginning in medias res on the dominant. The suspended quality of the music is enhanced by Beethoven's seamless lyricism, his placement of the exposition in the dominant key, and his avoidance throughout of strong tonic cadences. Following this short movement of yearning quality and the brusque, angular, contrapuntal march in F major which forms the second movement, a more fundamental level of feeling or state of being is uncovered in the slow introduction to the finale, marked Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll. Here the music is drawn progressively lower in pitch, collapsing onto a soft sustained chord that will serve as a turning-point and a new beginning. This soft chord, which represents the end of the descending progression and the termination of the Adagio, also embodies the a priori condition for the first movement, since it represents the exact sonority in the precise register out of which the opening of that movement has sprung. In view of this, the opening of the Sonata in medias res assumes a new and deeper significance. The importance of this original sound is confirmed by it's transformation, after a short cadenza-like passage, into the actual beginning of the opening movement. This reminiscence lasts a few bars before it dissolves into the emphatic beginning of the finale. The finale is in sonata form, with it's development assigned to a fugato. The fugal textures in the finale unfold with uncompromising determination and virtuosity. Op. 101 is among the most difficult of the sonatas. Beethoven himself once described it as 'hard to play' The A major Sonata marks a major transition in Beethoven's style, pointing unmistakably to the unique synthesis achieved in works of his last decade. Sonata Op. 111,in C minor Beethoven's last Sonata. Op. 111, in C minor, completed in 1822, defines with absolute assurance the two polarities within which his creative consciousness evolved. The two movements completely symbolize the two primary functions of the mind: analysis and synthesis of conflicting elements on the one hand, and transcendence of all oppositions on the other. It is literally and figuratively a lifetime away from the Op.2 group. The first movement of Op. 111 represents the last example of Beethoven's celebrated ' C minor mood', evidenced in a long line of works from the string Trio op.9 and 'Pathetique' Sonata to the Coriolan Overture and Fifth Symphony. The sonata begins with a Maestoso exposing left-hand plunges of the diminished seventh in a dramatic and tightly spaced rhythmic relationship. An effect of parenthetical enclosure is created not only through the sudden thematic and tonal contrast and slowing of tempo but also through the sudden return of the original tempo and agitated musical character. Consequently, the intervening lyrical utterance is isolated, like 'a soft glimpse of sunlight illuminating the dark, stormy heavens', to use imagery of Mann's Kretzschmar in DoktorFaustus. The lyrical passage reaches C major in the recapitulation and it seems to foreshadow the atmosphere of the Arietta finale. The transition to the ensuing Arietta is built into the coda. The rhythm and register of the last bars allude unmistakably to the diminished-seventh chords of the exposition. With the Arietta we enter a new world. In this case it seems offensive to reduce to conceptual analysis a musical experience which so transcends conceptual activity. The movement establishes a sense of immediacy in which the perception of sound creates a state of contemplation. As Claude Palisca said so simply, 'the Adagio molto - a long set of variations in an arietta is so eloquent and so complete that nothing further seems to be required'. 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli Op.120 The 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli. Op. 120 represent Beethoven's most extraordinary single achievement in the art of variation writing. In their originality and power of invention they stand with other late masterpieces such as the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, and the last quartets. When Anton Diabelli invited selected composers to write a variation on one of his waltzes, to be published as a collection, Beethoven at first declined to participate but later offered to provide a set of variations on the Diabelli theme. The scope of the work grew and the 33 variations (started in 1819, completed in1823 and dedicated by Beethoven to Antonie Brentano ) were published in June 1823 under the title '33 Veränderungen über einer Walzer von A. Diabelli'. Beethoven used the term Veränderungen, following Bach's title for his 'Aria mit 30 Veränderungen ' ( Goldberg Variations). Together with the Bagatelles Op. 120 Published in 1825, the Variations Op. 120 represents Beethoven's final contribution to the piano literature. Parody lies at the heart of this composition. Beethoven expanded his draft of the work in 1822-3. He left his older variation order intact for the most part, but opened with two new variations (the present Vars. 1 and 2), added many more variations towards the end, and inserted one at the middle of the set. These added variations contribute substantially to the form of the work, imposing not a symmetrical but an asymmetrical plan, an overall progression culminating in the last five variations. The work as we know it is thus to a great extent the product of two conceptions: an original conception and a superimposed conception. The inserted variations added by Beethoven in 1823 contribute a subtle dimension to the set whose implications transcend the purely musical sphere. Most of them are, in one sense or another, parodistic variations, and while this is clear enough on close inspection, it is sufficiently subtle to be overlooked. This issue of parody in Op. 120 is complex. It is interesting that in Op. 120 the overall formal progression of the variations relies heavily on parody of the melody of Diabelli's theme, an idea that, though prominent in the finished piece, is not in evidence in the 1819 draft. Although it is possible to speak of the unity of the whole work, such as we find in other works of the composer, the variations are based on a trivial theme not of the composer's making,thus the complete work spans a tension from ironic caricature to sublime transformation of the waltz of DiabelIi. This extra-musical dimension of parody is essential to a full understanding of the piece, although by it's very nature it is not immediately obvious in the work itself. About the artist Concert pianist, musicologist and educator, Luisa Guembes-Buchanan was born in Lima, Peru, where she received her early musical education at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. She holds degrees in Performance and Musicology from the Manhattan School of Music, C.W.Post College, New York University and Boston University. Ms. Guembes-Buchanan has given performances throughout the United States, Latin America a

Shop: odax
Price: 51.97 EUR excl. shipping

Harpsody-Contemporary Music for Two Harps

The Los Angeles-based Harpsody duo (Tomoko Sato and Kaffee Mimun) has been performing together since 2003. We explore a wide and intriguing range of harp duo repertoire from Baroque to Modern, as well as our own arrangements and compositions. This album features the original harp duo pieces by B. Andres, J-M. Damase, and Carlos Salzedo, in addition to rarely performed, yet beautifully composed pieces by L. Otten and D. Argento. Not only you will hear the rich sonority of the harps, but also the modern effects that are discovered in 20th century by experimental composers- percussive use of the instrument, tapping on the soundboard, xylophone effect, snapping and hitting strings, fingernail glissando and harmonics. Harpsody perform throughout Southern California. The past year Harpsody has been awarded a Grant from the Co-op Press Commission Assistance Grand Program for composer, Sy Brandon, a professor emeritus of music from Millersville University, Millersville, PA, to write a work for two harps. Tomoko and Kaffee would love to hear your feedback. Email us your questions and opinions!

Shop: odax
Price: 28.83 EUR excl. shipping

Chasing Light

Mark Knippel: Marenje* The following note is provided by the composer: "Marenje is a traditional welcoming song of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. My composition is based solely on the opening material of the original song. The entrances of the first two guitars are exactly what would be played on the mbira [traditional African instrument consisting of a wooden soundboard with 22 to 28 metal keys] and marimba. One of the techniques of Shona music that I employed is having the same material played on two instruments offset by one eighth note. This idea permeates my composition, as it is one of the ideas of their music that I found especially striking." Marenje, begins as a whispering, euphoric murmur, as if you are walking into a bustling street market, taking in the sights, smells, and sounds. A minute into the piece, all four guitars crescendo into a fully-blossomed, gently-jiving, jovial sonic soundscape that grows in intensity, and culminates in a quasi-percussive, exuberant, upper register ostinato played by one guitar, fluttering over the other three like a liberated bird-of-paradise. Garry Eister: Chasing Light* Garry Eister writes the following note for Chasing Light: "Chasing Light uses a grab bag of techniques, including irregular meters, meant to evoke the rhythmic feel of Eastern European dances. The outer movements are in E minor. The middle movement is in E-flat minor, which, by it's 'sinking down' a half step below the movements that surround it, helps impart the feeling of isolation and stillness that it's title indicates. The final movement is meant to convey a sense of urgency, of running or driving as fast as possible toward the Western horizon in an attempt to delay the setting of the Sun." Throughout Chasing Light, a sense of combative harmony pervades. Each guitar is autonomous, yet interconnected with the others. Through coherent use of imitation, unison, accent, textural variation, and overlapping melodic lines, Eister creates a robust quartet in which each guitar is of equal importance, fighting and playing with one another in an ecstatic cloud of sound. Mark Knippel: Attained Elusiveness* Unlike Marenje, Attained Elusiveness possesses none of the effervescent giddiness that permeates the former. Instead, it features Steve Reich-like transient sonic fractals that flash and evaporate as snowflakes on a windowpane, elusive, yet, for a fleeting moment, attained. Darin Au: Chasing Dragons The most straightforward composition on the album, Chasing Dragons soars in a self-assured, flowing arc. There may be dragons, but they are observed in transit, as if from a hangglider. Punctuated by raspy rasgueados, spiky accents, and icy harmonics, an ominous nether world is hinted at, yet never entered. A great distance is traveled over a brief period of time. Christopher Gainey: Flowing Through: Rhapsody on a theme of Egberto Gismonti* Christopher Gainey shares the following note: "I have always loved [Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti's] Agua e Vinho, and I was fascinated by how different performers used it as the basis for very individual embellishment/improvisation. In essence, Flowing Through is a set of variations on Agua e Vinho, with one exception, when the theme comes in at the end of the piece, it is placed together with material from the first variation that reconfigures the original theme into a ternary form (Agua e Vinho forming the 'A' section, while it's variation forms a 'B' theme). The notation fluctuates between precisely notated music and much more flexible, somewhat indeterminate, methods of notation that allow the ensemble some interpretive freedom." Karol Szymanowski: Mazurkas, Op. 50, Nos. 1 and 3 Arranging solo piano works for guitar quartet is, at first glance, counterintuitive. The luminescent sonority of the piano is markedly different than the brighter sound of the classical guitar. However, the two mazurkas that guitarist Patrick O'Connell selected and arranged transfer strikingly well to four guitars. The hushed dynamics (rarely exceeding mezzo-piano), combined with rich, colorful modal layering, allow opportunity for the guitars to explore hues and colors beyond the scope of the original piano. Through the use of idiomatic guitar techniques, such as artificial harmonics, and through exploitation of the guitar's broad timbral palette, new insight into Szymanowski's music is gained. Andrew York: Pacific Coast Highway Like Lotus Eaters, Andrew York's Pacific Coast Highway is melody-centered and harmonically stable. A self-confident first guitar both plays with and battles against the remaining guitar "trio." The first half of the piece is placid, daydreamy, the second half intense, excited. Evocative of the seemingly infinite Californian Pacific Coast Highway, the musical terrain is ever-changing, winding, rocking, and rolling. Andrew York: Lotus Eaters Andrew York's Lotus Eaters was written for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ), and possesses the carefree charm of a late summer backyard barbecue. Through harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic constriction, it gains a spatial freedom, with evocations of Wes Montgomery, Ali Farka Touré, and Al Di Meola flickering like fireflies throughout the piece. As an added bonus, SFGQ has added two minutes of infectious improvisation to the original. Clarice Assad: Bluezilian Clarice Assad describes Bluezilian as follows: "I wrote Bluezilian for LAGQ, in 2005, as an encore piece. At the time, I had just broken a foot and was unable to walk or get out much. Feeling a bit down and constrained, I decided to work on a piece that would be light and fun, almost cartoonish-something that, in certain spots, would make me want to giggle. I purposely made the decision to use and abuse musical clichés. The piece is a musical satire that draws connections between American popular styles and Brazilian rhythmic and harmonic sensibilities. All parts, as simple as they may be, are filled with nuances to be explored, and the parts themselves communicate between one another." Bluezilian is a highly-caffeinated, animated whirlwind trip: accents kick, glissandi jolt, trills zap, and chords smack. It sounds as if a cartoon volcano was erupting in a harmonic kaleidoscope of plucks and strums. But it also sings and dances, swells and spins. Rarely has a such a short piece contained so much exuberant energy. Liner notes by Patrick Durek * Premiere recording and dedication to the San Francisco Guitar Quartet.

Shop: odax
Price: 25.37 EUR excl. shipping

Dancing in Latin America

NOTES Dancing in Latin America expresses Awilda Villarini's love and admiration for Latin American music and culture. As part of her heritage, Ms. Villarini performs this music with passion and poetry. The complex rhythms and syncopations are second nature to her. At times, it sounds like two pianists interpreting the difficult technical passages. In the lyrical passages, the piano sings with a beautiful warm sound. It is the work of a virtuoso and a romantic pianist who understands and feels this music. ABOUT THE MUSIC This recording includes five tangos by Piazzolla, two of the popular Afro-Cuban Dances by Lecuona and a collage of Puerto Rican Danzas by Morel Campos, Misl&aacute,n, Pedreira and Otero. As a bonus track, she includes a preview of the repertoire to be included in the second volume, the Bomba from her Suite Portoricinses. ABOUT AWILDA VILLARINI Following the tradition of pianists - composers such as Rachmaninoff and Lecuona, Awilda Villarini has excelled both as concert pianist and composer. As a concert pianist, she has mastered the traditional piano repertoire and has received rave reviews from major newspapers such as The London Times, Z&uuml,rcher Nachrichten, Washington Post, and The New York Times. Villarini has performed in some of Europe's most prestigious venues: Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Kammermusiksaal in Zurich, Brahms Saal in Vienna, among others. In the United States, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Abraham Goodman House, The Organization of American States as well as colleges and universities throughout the States. The late music critic Harold Sch&ouml,enberg said about her playing: 'I have heard Liszt's Transcendental Etude in F minor by hundreds of young pianists in different piano competitions. Ms. Villarini's technique and interpretation proved to be superior to all of them. She is an exciting romantic pianist.' As a composer, she has written works for piano, voice and piano, chorus, chamber music, theater and orchestra. She has received very enthusiastic reviews and received commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, Louis Vogelstein Foundation, M&uacute,sica Para Instituciones, and The Institute of Culture in Puerto Rico. After the premiere of her Symphonic Poem The Legend of the Indian, Sylvia Lamoutte from El Nuevo D&iacute,a wrote: ' The Legend of the Indian proved that Villarini has imagination, knows how to create a musical ambience, can capture the listener's fantasy, handles well the orchestra's texture with interesting dynamic contrasts and balance between the different sections of the orchestra.' REVIEWS AS A PIANIST 'An exceptionally well-schooled artist with dependable fingers and an assertive style.' New York Times - Donal Henahan 'Bold, romantic style of playing.' London Times 'Awilda Villarini regaled her audience with doubled barreled power. She is a pianist of considerable vigor.' Washington Post 'Ms. Villarini is a talented, intelligent, technically versatile and also physically robust musician.' Neue Z&uuml,rcher Zeitung 'She played with a beautiful sound and with well achieved contrasts.' Le Nouveau Journal, Paris 'Awilda Villarini performed brilliantly the difficult concerto in A minor by F. Liszt. We enjoyed her great musicianship and poetry, as well as her virtuoso technique.' El Mundo, Puerto Rico 'Her performance of Beethoven's Prometheus variations was bone strong. Quite a Pianist, Quite a composer.' Joanne Hoover Washington Post 'In Chopin's Sonata Op. 35, the artist showed that she is a full-blooded musician.' Hans J&ouml,rg M&uuml,ller Z&uuml,richsee-Zeitung 'In the Pictures of an Exhibition by Modest Moussorgsky, the pianist showed her security, imagination and musical talent.' Bartolom&eacute, Bover, El Mundo 'Ms. Villarini played Chopin's second sonata with a weight and depth of tone that would banish any lingering doubt of a woman's capacity for sustained power in comparison with a man's. It was sonority fed by youthful ardor.' Eric Warr, London Reviews 'A new star in the musical heavens.' Neue Z&uuml,rcher Nachtrichten REVIEWS AS A COMPOSER 'She showed herself to be a highly resourceful composer who handles with ease the high voltage rhythms of her native Puerto Rico. Villarini's composition is a stylish, sophisticated work literary bursting with vitality.' Washington Post 'Ms. Villarini's Suite Portoricinses, based on four Puerto Rican dances, was couched in a moderately acerbic and fairly conservative idiom... striking sparks of real imagination.' New York Times 'Her composition is a multicolored panorama, where each element has a purpose and character.' Maxime Belliard, Le Nouveau Journal 'In her composition, which does not lack temperament, harshness and daredevilness, she often uses dissonances for the sake of expression. She also uses some bitonal elements, which are used with much artistry and sureness of effects. Simple themes were repeated with rhythmic variations, resulting in charming effects.' Neue Z&uuml,rcher Zeitung 'I was especially impressed by the Two Love Songs by Awilda Villarini on texts by Julia de Burgos and Pablo Neruda. I believe the composer's experience resulted in not hurrying the text, in taking time for the phrases to breathe, in not gambling it all on a couple of special effects. The Villarini's songs are also kind to the singer. Also, for this reason, I think they are completely successful.' Donald Thompson, San Juan Star 'Dialogue, by Awilda Villarini (poem by Pat Parker), is a dramatic song that impacts the listener.' Peter Bloch, New York Impacto 'Her Suite Portoricinses consist of four pieces full of variety which reminds us of Prokofieff.' Neue Z&uuml,rcher Nachtrichten 'The world premiere of Awilda Villarini's composition for orchestra, Cinquillo Dram&aacute,tico, was an important and successful event. This fascinating, captivating composition was received with great enthusiasm by the audience.' La Raz&oacute,n.

Shop: odax
Price: 20.90 EUR excl. shipping

Did you mean: