Ensemble

The idea for this composition was suggested by part of a poem by Anna Akhmatova: Only the mirror dreams of the mirror / Silence watches over silence . . . Two soloists (bass flute and cello) stare at...

The work was composed in 1999 at a time when a close member of the composer's family was seriously ill. The ode of lamentation, which is about seven minutes in length, is assigned to the two instrumen...

Silvestrov thinks that a coda is more than something which brings a work to an end. It is one of the most important parts of a composition, or at least just as important as the other sections. His can...

There are two actors in the Partita: Mozart's piano, which is heard out in the open, and a harp, which acts as its backlight. A poetic idea emanates from these water-colour acoustics. It traverses thr...

In this, as in some of his other works, Raskatov strives to attain to a kind of timelessness. The music of 'Kaddish' (Prayer), which owes a great deal to its Hebrew origins, has certain archaic traits...

The Trio is the last work composed on the basis of dodecaphonic techniques, which at the time I considered to be a way of composing lyrical music. The work has two movements (I Sonatina, II Variations...

Though Silvestrov's 'Elegy' for cello and two tam-tams continues the series of his earlier elegy compositions in some ways, it is here given a whole new shape, with the cello being accompanied by two...

This composition is both a milestone and an interface in Silvestrov's work: it is the end of his 'avant-garde period' and the beginning of what he later calls 'metamusic'. The structure of the work is...

The edition is part of the Trinity syllabus 2007 (grade 7)

In The Woman and the Hare teilen sich Sopran und eine weibliche Sprecherin den Text, wobei jede in ihrer eigenen musikalischen Geschwindigkeit singt bzw. spricht. Die Beziehung zwischen diesen beiden...

These songs were originally composed as part of the cycle 'Les Illuminations op 18', but they were withdrawn by the composer. They have been edited by Colin Matthews from the composer's manuscript sho...

Das Stück Allegro ma non troppo wurde im Winter 1993/94 im Elektronischen Studio der Technischen Universität realisiert und zum 50. Geburtstag von Folkmar Hein, seinem langjährigen Leiter, in Auftrag...

Virtuosic, single-movement work of 15 minutes' duration commissioned for the Nash Ensemble and the 2007 Cheltenham Music Festival. Horn players may perform from the horn & piano reduction of the Conce...

This work in four movements is inspired by the work of the photographer Richard Avedon, in particular the following images: * The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Waldorf Astoria, suite 28A, New York, Apr...

Béla Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, composed in summer 1937 on a commission from Paul Sacher and premièred in Basel in January 1938, is incontestably one of the supreme creations of mo...

Die fünf Duette, die in diesen 5 Lessons eingerahmt werden, entstammen fünf Instrumentalduetten, die für Mitglieder der London Sinfonietta zwischen 2008 und 2014 komponiert wurden: The Message [Die Na...

Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), hitherto consigned to a footnote in musical history as Stravinsky's piano teacher, is undergoing rediscovery. A double graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, sh...

First performed at the Wigmore Hall in 1921, Rebecca Clarke’s Trio has good claim to be considered her masterpiece. This expressive and emotionally complex score is one of the outstanding utterances i...