Eve-Maud Hubeaux wins Tebaldi competition

The young mezzo-soprano Eve-Maud Hubeaux, who has already won prestigious international prizes in addition to the Swiss Youth Music Competition, was unanimously awarded first prize and the special prize for the youngest participant at the International Renata Tebaldi Competition in San Marino.

Eve-Maud Hubeaux

Eve-Maud Hubeaux studied piano and singing at the Lausanne Conservatory. She completed further studies at Christophe Balissat's Atelier Scénique and in master classes with Peter Galliard, Julian Gavin and Laura Sarti, among others.

In July of this year, Eve-Maud Hubeaux has already won the 2nd prize at the international Hans Gabor Belvédère Competition (Muziektheater Amsterdam) and the Kirsten Flagstad Festival Grant.

Eve-Maud Hubeaux was a member of the opera studio of the Opéra national du Rhin (Strasbourg / Colmar) where she took part in various productions until the end of the 2010/2011 season. In November 2010, she also made her debut at the Frankfurt Opera as Waltraut in Wagner's Valkyrie.

New works with reference to Stravinsky's "Histoire du Soldat"

The "Stravinskij revisited" project brings together Russian and Swiss partners with the cultural heritage of both countries and brings them into a dialog.

Robert Delaunay: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1972)

The two performing ensembles of the project Stravinsky revisited represent the lucid-Apollinian and dark-Dionysian principles: the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble is the most active and renowned specialist ensemble for contemporary music in Russia. It plays in a chamber ensemble formation that is already "traditional" for contemporary music, with flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion. In contrast, the Kontra-Trio über plays in an instrumentation that goes beyond any traditional sound framework. With double bass flute, double bass saxophone and tuba, the Swiss trio explores the very deep, chthonic sounds.

The five world premieres each take a different musical or thematic approach to the Histoire du Soldat by Igor Stravinsky (Fairy Tale, Marching, Soldier, Devil's Pact, etc.). Works by Vladimir Rannev and Vladimir Gorlinskij from Russia as well as Roland Moser and Katharina Rosenberger will be performed. These are commissions for one of the two ensembles. There will also be a remix of fragments from Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat. This was composed jointly for the two ensembles by the Swiss composer Thomas K.J. Mejer.
 


Tour dates

Modern technology and copyright

The ninth edition of the "Musiksymposium - The Music Metting Day" focused on innovations at YouTube and discussions about the blessings and curses of streaming services such as Simfy and Spotify.

The ninth "Musiksymposium - The Music Meeting Day" was opened by Michael Grossenbacher. Until 2009, the Bernese singer was part of the a cappella group Bagatello, two years later he put on his first solo show: "Therapie". He talked about a teenager who recently asked him which of his two dream jobs he should choose: baker or musician? "My answer: Do you want to earn money? Then become a baker."

Which means that the Swiss Association of Music Publishers The event, which was held for the first time in Zurich's Hallenstadion, quickly arrived at a key question: What does a musician have to do to be able to make a living from his art? At least in part. Although the following presentation by Oliver Heckmann, Director of Engineering YouTube, did not provide a conclusive answer to this question, the representative of the company, which was founded in 2005, did show ways in which money can be generated via YouTube. Also in Switzerland. This is possible thanks to the activation of www.youtube.ch - the site has been available to content producers and advertisers since April.

For Swiss music creators who are registered with Suisa, the money pots of the Google Inc. subsidiary remain closed for the time being, as the cooperative of music authors and publishers and YouTube are still in disagreement about how much compensation should be paid per clip played. "We are negotiating and I believe that an agreement will be reached soon," said Heckmann optimistically.

Partner programs have also been activated for Switzerland. These allow producers to create their own "channels" on YouTube, which Julia Graf alias Miss Chiveous has already done, for example. With success. As of mid-September, the Bernese has built up a following of 564,935 subscribers. However, Graf is not a musician, she gives make-up tips. There are still no musicians who are members of Suisa in the partner programs. Here too, an agreement must first be reached between the collecting society and YouTube. "In order to be accepted into a partner program now or later, you also have to meet certain conditions," Heckmann explained. For example, anyone who has already committed a copyright infringement is no longer eligible.

Heckmann painted a prosperous scenario for the future, talking about the billion YouTube users, last year's 50 percent growth and the six million videos that are uploaded to the portal every month. There is no doubt that the chances of being able to earn a franc or two via YouTube one day are intact. However, the amounts involved remain to be seen. For comparison: in the USA, YouTube pays out around 10 dollars per 1000 video streams, which then has to be divided among all rights holders. The average musician will not be able to make a living from such sums. It would be an extra income. What did Heckmann say? "The better known a musician is, the quicker he should get in touch with us."

The "middle class" earns almost no money anymore

At the "Download vs. streaming" panel, Steffen Holly expressed understanding for consumers. "I myself am also enthusiastic about the existing offers," said the Head of Business Unit Media Management & Delivery. The "middle class of musicians" in particular would suffer from this. "They hardly earn any money anymore." A fact that Dennis Hausammann, co-owner of iGroove Switzerland, illustrated with figures: "Around one million streams are needed for a musician to be able to pay their monthly health insurance contribution alone." "Smaller" artists generate the majority of their income via iTunes and not via streaming services such as Simfy or Spotify, said Hausammann. Julie Born, Director Sony Music Switzerland, argued that new technologies should be given a chance. "In Sweden, three million paid premium streaming subscriptions have already been purchased, in Switzerland there are only around 75,000 so far."

Alexander Herbst, CEO of Simfy, explained: "We are already paying out a seven-figure sum to the major labels. And a much smaller amount to the independents." But he was convinced that this would be regulated. "There will probably be a more honest distribution." His company, which is based in Berlin and has around 20 million songs in its streaming offering, is currently making ends meet, but: "Even for us, the trees don't grow into the sky." Poto Wegener, Director of Swissperform, criticized that the amount currently paid out by Simfy and Spotify per stream was far too low. And he identified a lack of transparency as one of the main problems. "I would finally like to know from the streaming services what is paid out on average per stream." Alexander Herbst's answer: "We only disclose how many streams happen."

Despite all the differences, the majority of participants in the discussion seemed to believe in the future of streaming services. And that musicians could generate more income again in this way. "I think that the trend is now moving back in the direction of artists and at the expense of labels," concluded Steffen Holly.

Chamber music for ears and eyes

In collaboration with the Gesellschaft für Kammermusik Basel, the bmn label is launching a new series of recordings. Music to listen to as well as to watch.

CD-Cover Zemlinsky-Quartett,SMPV

"Chamber music fans are considered conservative and not very tech-savvy. However, this is a prejudice that is easy to refute. The Basel Chamber Music Society (www.kammermusik.org) is now launching a label on which it documents its concerts in the Hans Huber Hall not only acoustically, but also visually.A special feature of the label is that the recordings will be released in parallel on 'normal' CD and Blu-ray Disc. The first edition documents the concert on August 23, 2012 with the Zemlinsky Quartet, in which the string quartet "Madrigaux" by Jean-Jacques Dünki was premiered, followed by Alexander Zemlinsky's first quartet in A major. Also included on the Blu-ray Disc is the interview that Elmar Budde conducted with the composer Dünki. The sound quality is even better than that of the conventional compact disc, provided you have a suitable playback station."Sigfried Schibli, Basler Zeitung, June 20, 2013

The aim of the visualization of the concert is to avoid distraction. By taking the real concert situation as the starting point for a single, consistent shot that focuses - also through concentrated lighting - and only shows what can really be seen in the concert. A conversation with one of the musicians or composers is also recorded on the Blue-ray disc.

The following have been published so far:

  • Beethoven Quartet: Beethoven String Quartets op.18,4 & op.59,1, bmn20121
  • Zemlinsky Quartet, First PerformanceJean-Jacques Dünki, MadrigauxAlexander von Zemlinsky, String Quartet No. 1 in A major op. 4, bmn20131
  • Hansheinz Schneeberger & Bettina Boller, Violin Duos: works by Bach, Bartók and Berio, bmn20132
  • Valentin Valentiyev, piano, Debut: works by Bach, Haydn, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, bmn20133
  • Franziska Hirzel & Jan Schultsz, Wagner and his ContemporariesHans von Bülow, Three songs op. 1, Song cycle by Carl Beck op. 8 (first recordings); Richard Wagner: Wesendonck songsFranz Liszt, Above all peaks, high love, bmn20134

Catalog

Future of the "Women and Music" archive under threat

The international research center has been in existence for 30 years. From 2014, the City of Frankfurt's Department of Culture will no longer provide funding for it.

Photo: lightpixel - Fotolia.com

For over 30 years, the "Women and Music" archive has been dedicated to promoting female composers, their work and their works. It is an integral part of Frankfurt's cultural landscape and makes an important contribution to cultural policy by collecting, preserving and publishing the creative achievements of female composers. The magazine published by the archive VivaVoce is the only German specialist journal on the subject of female composers and performers.

According to the foundation, the "Women and Music" archive has been funded by the state of Hesse and the City of Frankfurt's Department of Culture in recent years. From 2014, the City of Frankfurt has announced that it will cut all previous funding for the archive and, following discussions, is sticking to its decision. The reason given is the need to save money. The continuation and safeguarding of the archive's many years of successful work is now acutely threatened by the cuts.

The archive is taking various measures to secure the future of this institution. Among other things, it has launched a petition to the city councillors of Frankfurt for the preservation of the archive's funding and thus for a secure future for this unique institution. It can here be supported.
 

Action and warning strike day for German orchestras

Around 100 German state and municipal orchestras are going on strike simultaneously and nationwide today (September 30). They are protesting against the refusal to pay collectively agreed wage increases since 2010.

Action and warning strike day in Erfurt. Picture: DOV

After the Federal Labor Court ruled that state and municipal orchestras no longer have an enforceable legal claim to public sector wage increases (Schweizer Musikzeitung reported), the tone between the social partners is becoming more heated.

According to a press release from the German Orchestra Association (DOV), the orchestras are "simultaneously demanding the preservation of Germany's unique orchestral culture". This is the largest such protest action in Germany since the 1950s, in which the Berlin Philharmonic and other renowned top orchestras are also involved.

On October 1, 2013, collective bargaining talks will begin in Berlin between the DOV and the German Stage Association on how the wage settlements in the public sector will be applied retroactively to state and municipal orchestras since 2010.

 

The Swiss "Wagners"

A chapter of family history that has long been kept under wraps has been carefully reappraised.

Excerpt from the book cover

It comes as no surprise that Richard Wagner's extensive family also has a branch in Switzerland. But that this was unknown even to close family members until some time ago is more surprising. In their new monograph, Verena Naegele and Sibylle Ehrismann reveal how this came about and what the Swiss Wagner descendants are all about. The Beidlers. In the shadow of the Wagner clan is more than just a companion volume to the exhibition that the two music journalists conceived on this topic and presented at the Zurich City Archives in summer 2013. It is an independent examination of the complex events that led to the break between the Beidler and Wagner families - and at times reads like a thriller that you will be reluctant to put down.

In a sophisticated overture, the authors begin with the explosive paternity trial and evaluate unknown sources for the first time: Isolde, Richard Wagner's first-born daughter, married to the Swiss conductor Franz Beidler, fought for her right to bear the name Wagner. However, as she (like her siblings Eva and Siegfried) was born at a time when her mother Cosima was still married to Hans von Bülow, she was legally a born von Bülow. The authors describe the consequences of the lost trial for the Beidler family, in particular for the first Wagner grandson Franz Wilhelm Beidler, in detail, but not with great attention to detail. In a matter-of-fact tone, but with a focus on their subject, they cover a broad arc from Lucerne via Bayreuth and Berlin in the 1920s to Zurich, where Franz Wilhelm Beidler helped shape Swiss cultural life for many years as secretary of the Swiss Writers' Association.

"Beidler - the name was unknown to us," says Nike Wagner in the foreword to this meticulously researched volume, which now closes a gap in the Wagner genealogy.

Image

Verena Naegele and Sibylle Ehrismann: The Beidlers. Im Schatten des Wagner-Clans, 336 p., Fr 38.00, Rüffer & Rub, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-907625-66-8

Reminiscent of Satie

In VIT, Rico Gubler brings together advanced, witty pieces for alto saxophone and piano - each preceded by a text.

Photo: Ryan LeBaron / fotolia.com

VIT are "Very Important Things" that have become an integral part of our daily lives, such as the Tweezersthat Roach or the Port authority. They all receive an affectionate, tongue-in-cheek portrait here in an advanced musical language that is not too difficult to understand. The seven short pieces for saxophone and piano are dedicated to saxophonist Jean-Michel Goury on the one hand and Erik Satie on the other. Alongside titles such as Gymnasticswhich at best refers to the Gymnopédies or the obituary of the Dodo as a possible parallel to the Embryons desséchés it is above all the fact that each piece is preceded by a descriptive, sober text that is reminiscent of Satie in its distance from the musical-poetic event that follows.

Each of the seven pieces has a clear form, is derived from a simple basic material and is imaginatively crafted. An often recurring motif is the handling of disturbances. Unison parts are suddenly interrupted, either because the saxophonist is pondering a note or the pianist wants to demonstrate his virtuosity. Or the saxophonist experiments with microtonal changes in unison, which must drive the pianist, who is incapable of doing so, mad. In return, the saxophonist has to follow the common playing instruction of "pure intonation", which at best elicits a tired smile from the pianist. Another frequently recurring motif is mirroring, whether within the sequence of the twelve-tone rows or in the formal structure. The lively first piece (the Watering can), for example, is perfectly symmetrical.

The pieces can be played as a suite, but can also be inserted individually between other works. The wit, the conciseness and the loose connection with each other make it possible.

Image

Rico Gubler, VIT Very important things, for alto saxophone and piano, FH 3446, € 17.80, Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig 2012

Remembering, circling ...

The oboe quartet genre has grown in many ways.

Xavier Dayer. Photo: George Leintenberger

There is hardly any other genre that has achieved classical significance with so few relevant pieces as the oboe quartet. Until 20 years ago, there were just three really well-known works, namely those by Johann Christian Bach, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and Benjamin Britten. Fortunately, the situation has improved in recent years, and thanks to new compositions by Isang Yun, Elliott Carter, Rudolf Kelterborn and Harrison Birtwistle (all composed at Heinz Holliger's instigation and premiered by him), more diverse programming is now possible.

Xavier Dayer's "Mémoire, Cercles" now joins this illustrious series of successful compositions. He describes his work as a meditation on the question of what would happen if total oblivion made all memory completely impossible. Using a sophisticated variation technique, he changes and disguises a basic melodic idea (which never appears in its basic form) and traces the shape of a human brain in a rondo-like circular form. This sounds magical, at times enigmatic, yet very varied and multifaceted and extremely virtuosic. The rhythmic and dynamic design is consistently expressive and repeatedly creates interesting relief structures, especially when the melodic lines between the individual instruments intertwine and cross over.

Those who wish to take up the rewarding challenge can look forward to a clean and well-considered edition. Turnarounds that work and generous engraver's notes (often on a separate staff) aid understanding of the music and make it easier to rehearse what is certainly not an easy work.

Image

Xavier Dayer: Mémoire, Cercles, for oboe, violin, viola and violoncello, MCX87, Fr. 35.00, Editions Bim, Vuarmarens 2012

A treasure chest (not only) for pianists

Hans Freys wrote virtuoso country music for solo piano. Among other things, he was inspired by ragtime.

Hans Frey. Excerpt from the title page

Solo pieces for piano are as rare in classical literature as they are in jazz, but they are quite a rarity in folk music. Hans Frey (1913-1973) from Lachen was once celebrated as an undisputed master in this genre by niche enthusiasts and was also fêted by Radio Beromünster. Without any musical training or knowledge of music himself, but equipped with plenty of talent and an absolute ear, the piano tuner from Ausserschwyz left behind 43 dances for solo piano. To mark the centenary of his birth and fortieth anniversary of his death, Wollerau music dealer Mathias Knobel has now published these polkas, ländler, mazurkas, marches and schottisches, some of them virtuoso, as a complete collection of sheet music.

As is well known, country music has only given the piano a secondary role as a rhythmic and harmonic accompanying instrument, and in some places it is even frowned upon completely. Frey, who obviously also heard ragtime and stride pianists, was not content with such a sideman function. Even in his youth, he occasionally invited fellow pupils to "Concert & Syrup" in the Bären, where he was also allowed to practise due to the lack of his own piano. At his first and only piano lesson, the exasperated teacher is said to have sent him away immediately because he played everything straight away. Soon the village notables took him out of the schoolroom to show off the child prodigy to their guests.

Fredy Reichmuth, Knobel's long-time collaborator on accordion and piano, has meticulously transcribed the notes from Frey's own recordings in the original keys. His penchant for the black keys is already reflected in the first two numbers in D flat major. Whilst the left hand can play quarter notes between octave basses and three-part chords, the right hand can indulge in quaver runs in thirds or sixths. So this is not exactly literature for beginners, especially not when Frey allows himself a septuplet to accommodate a chromatic passage between two bar lines.

This beautiful volume of sheet music, which also contains a compact biography with photos, is probably technically out of reach for amateur ländler pianists. It is therefore all the more suitable for curious outsiders who want to check their possible prejudices about "simple" country music. The 43 dances should appeal primarily to pianists looking for a native, down-to-earth complement to Chopin waltzes or Fats Waller. As the majority of the Ländler repertoire is only available in simplified notation (melody, possibly second part and chord ciphers), the detailed Frey sheet music could also be of interest as study objects for analysis and stylistic arrangement. In addition, Frey's recordings are available on two CDs - with regard to phrasing, dynamics and ornamentation practice: Memories of Hans Frey, Vol. 1 + 2

Image

Volume of sheet music: Hans Frey (1913-1973), pianist and composer of Swiss folk music, transcription: Fredy Reichmuth, editor: Mathias Knobel, all 43 compositions in original version, A4 format, 136 pages, paperback cover, Fr. 56.00, Knobel music store, Wollerau 2013

Study baglama in Berlin

Following the conclusion of the 2nd International Baglama Symposium, talks were held between the Faculty of Music at the Berlin University of the Arts and the State Conservatory of Turkish Music in Istanbul: The baglama is to be included in the curriculum of the UdK Berlin.

Photo: WikiCommons

The first international baglama symposium in Germany, organized by the Berlin State Music Council, ended on 15 September 2013 at the Berlin University of the Arts. Following the symposium, which dealt intensively with the theory and history of the instrument, talks were held between the Faculty of Music at the UdK Berlin and the director of the Istanbul State Conservatory of Turkish Music, Cihangir Terzi, to discuss possible collaborations between the two universities.

The Udk Berlin has announced that the baglama is to be included in the curriculum of the Berlin University of the Arts. The aim is to get more people with a migration background interested in studying music as a teacher and to make a significant contribution to the integration of pupils with a migration background by integrating this traditional instrument into lessons, particularly in elementary school.

Similar to the guitar in Germany, the baglama plays an important role in the social life of migrants of Turkish origin, as well as in Turkey itself. Within a very short space of time, it has developed into an instrument with increasingly virtuoso playing techniques and high artistic standards. In the meantime, the baglama has also become an integral part of commercially successful music and - especially through its use in pop music - has gained a firm place in the everyday lives of young people, regardless of their cultural background.
 

The Huh sisters interpret piano trios by Haydn and Shostakovich with a keen ear.

Piano Trio E flat major No. 29,Piano Trio No. 1,Piano Trio No. 2

Underestimated among themselves: Joseph Haydn and Dmitri Shostakovich not only share the fate of having stood in the shadow of others, but also reveal astonishing similarities. Their clarity is striking. They also share a sense of humor, which in Shostakovich's case can sometimes turn into bitter sarcasm. This is not yet so strongly expressed in his early work, the Piano Trio No. 1 in C minor, composed in 1923. But it is all the more drastic in the second piano trio Opus 67 from 1944, in the last movement of which Shostakovich indulges in the piercing persistence for which he became famous (and infamous).

Nothing escapes the Huh trio. They energetically - "beauty of tone is a minor matter" - take on such rhythmically pounding passages. On the other hand, they formulate the vocabulary of Joseph Haydn in his E flat major Trio No. 29 from 1784 in a finely chiselled manner. Many people don't know what to do with Haydn's chamber music, overdoing the varied play with tempi and timbres. The Huhs are completely different: with the first powerful chord, everything takes its natural and at the same time very flexible course. Rarely have we heard such a fine attacca as in the transition from the andantino to the finale.

Transitions of a cultural nature characterize the biographies of the Huh sisters. They were born in Korea and play an important role in cultural life there, but also often give concerts in Europe. Cellist Yun-Jung and violinist Hee-Jung teach in Seoul, while pianist Seung-Yeun is a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts and director of the Zurich City Conservatory music school.

The CD's sound engineer, Jan Zácek, is interested in transitions of a different kind. The recording also deserves the highest praise because he so congenially designed the path from the instruments to the hard disk. Simply a great pleasure to listen to!

 

About JW Player 6.0.2813...

    00:00           

00:00

 00:00 

 

         

 

Fullscreen

 

 

Joseph Haydn
About JW Player 6.0.2813...

    00:00           

00:00

 00:00 

 

         

 

Fullscreen

 

 

Dmitri Shostakovich
About JW Player 6.0.2813...

    00:00           

00:00

 00:00 

 

         

 

Fullscreen

 

 

Dmitri Shostakovich
Image

Piano trios by Joseph Haydn and Dmitri Shostakovich. Huh-Trio: Seung-Yeun Huh, piano; Hee-Jung Huh, violin; Yun-Jung Huh, cello. Acustica Records

Cheerful theme theft

A string quartet by the Swiss Romantic composer Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich appears in print for the first time.

Fröhlich's birthplace Brugg in the 1820s. Source: Swiss National Library/wikimedia commons

While Norbert Burgmüller (1810-1836), who died in the same year, has been in the Monuments of Rhenish music is in good hands with a complete edition of his four string quartets, Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (1803-1836) from Aargau still has a hard time in this respect. Of the five contributions to the genre, which are among his main instrumental works, only the Quartet in E major, written in Berlin in 1827/28, is available in print. It was edited from the autograph and provided with a preface by Carola Gloor, a Bruges music student and cellist. Her Matura thesis dedicated to Fröhlich earned her the special prize with the rating "outstanding" Swiss Youth in Science: Culture of the 47th National Competition after revising the text with string quartet expert Antonio Baldassare.

The first edition (score and parts), published in only 280 copies, is based on Carola Gloor's transcription of Fröhlich's manuscript using the Sibelius music notation program. Published in the well-known engraving quality of Amadeus Verlag, run by violist Bernhard Päuler, the four-movement work represents a significant enrichment of the early Romantic quartet repertoire.

If Fröhlich had presented this work to his Berlin teachers Karl Friedrich Zelter and Bernhard Klein, they would hardly have agreed with the many idiosyncrasies. However, they considerably increase the appeal of the formally and tonally unconventional composition. Although it does not contain a development section, the first movement is in sonata form. In the Adagio, complicated rhythms and differently phrased sextuplets complicate the interplay. The particularly imaginative finale, written in free rondo form, quotes from the first movement for long stretches and surprises with recitative-like insertions and an effective fugato.

The editor and her academic advisor apparently missed the fact that the gently swaying main theme of the first movement in six-eighths time is not an invention of Fröhlich's. It comes from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Piano Sonata in E major op. 6, first published in 1826. The same composer, whom Fröhlich appreciated more than he successfully contacted in Berlin, also left his mark on the Scherzo. The combination of long chains of semiquavers with staccato accompaniment quavers in the lower register can already be found in his Capriccio in F sharp minor op. 5 for piano, printed in 1826.

What was long known as Fröhlich's Missa I turned out one day to be an only slightly altered copy of a mass by Johann Gottlieb Naumann (1741-1801). Once again, Fröhlich stands out as a cheerful plagiarist, although this in no way diminishes the value of the work as a whole with regard to the short main theme of the string quartet.

Image

Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich: String Quartet in E major, edited by Carola Gloor, BP 1842, Fr.68.00, Amadeus Verlag, Winterthur 2012

Playfulness and wit

"Lorie" for Bb trumpet and piano inspires with echoes of Irish folk music.

Photo: H. D. Volz / pixelio.de

Jean-François Michel (*1957) enjoys a very good reputation in Switzerland as a brilliant trumpet player and as professor of trumpet at the University of Music (Lausanne, Fribourg, Sion). As a soloist, the former principal trumpeter of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra also performs on the international stage and offers master classes. An equally central and successful field of activity for Michel is composing chamber music pieces in various styles and levels of difficulty.

Lorie is a light, modal composition in three short movements with strong references to the stirring folk music of Ireland with Celtic roots. The first movement is a jig with a lively Dorian melody, which is partly accompanied by percussive elements (rhythms are to be struck on the wood of the piano and on the edge of the mouthpiece), reminiscent of the rhythmic tapping of the dancers' shoes in an Irish reel. The slow middle movement is characterized by a simple melody in a major key and, with its legato character, offers a contrast to the two outer movements. The final movement - like a fiddle tune - with dotted rhythms and a Mixolydian melody with shifts to major and minor, is also full of energy, joy of playing and wit.

The piece, which lasts around five minutes, would be very suitable as a competition piece for the intermediate level.

Image

Jean-François Michel: Lorie, for Bb trumpet and piano, (=Swiss Composers Series), TP332, Fr. 20.00, Edition Bim, Vuarmarens 2011

A complicated history

The Glagolitic Mass, a great piece of church music in two scores and a piano reduction.

Janáček's signature. Source: wikimedia commons

Janáček's Glagolitic Mass for soloists, choir and orchestra has a complex genesis. There are major differences between the version before the first performance in 1927 and the final printed version. Jirí Zahrádka, the editor of this new edition, solved the problem by also presenting two scores (the "September 1927" version as BA 6863; and the final version as BA 6862). The later version was taken into account as the version valid for performances. It is instrumentally richer, easier to study and shortened in some important passages.

The piano reduction presented here follows this later version. The Church Slavonic text was arranged by the Slavicist Radoslav Vecerka; the performance material is available on loan from Bärenreiterverlag.

Image

Leoš Janáček: Mša glagolskaja, piano reduction after the Critical Complete Edition, edited by Martin Zehn, BA 6862-90, € 34.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2012

get_footer();