Hawkes Pocket Scores: New Releases in 2014
Requiem da Camera (Finzi)
Scored for baritone solo, small chorus (or SATB soli) and chamber orchestra, the wellspring of the Requiem’s composition was the death, during active service in 1918, of Finzi’s composition teacher, Ernest Farrar. The work may also be viewed as a metaphor – the permanence of the land, and a centuries-old pattern of rural life following the rhythm of the turning seasons, contrasted with the violent havoc and destructive dislocation wrought by war.
For St Cecilia (Finzi)
The first edition of the score of Finzi's 19-minute ceremonial ode for tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra, with text by Edmund Blunden . The work was commissioned by the St Cecilia's Day Festival Committee in 1947 in order to celebrate St Cecilia, the patron saint of (church) music.
Songs (Rachmaninoff)
10 Rachmaninoff songs, transcribed in 1963 for voice and orchestra by Vladimir Jurowski (senior).
Variations on a Theme of Corelli (Rachmaninoff)
Rachmaninoff's set of variations, originally composed in 1931 for piano solo, arranged by the Romanian conductor Corneliu Dumbraveanu for chamber orchestra.
Chicago Remains (Turnage)
The title draws on the fact that the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 devastated large swathes of the city, leaving only a few buildings standing in the Centre. The combination of these relics alongside the stunning skyscraper architecture of the late 19th and 20th centuries is an illustration of Chicago’s ongoing powers of reinvention. The tough grandeur and true grit of this modern metropolis finds parallels in Turnage’s score.
Frieze (Turnage)
A 20-minute work written for large orchestra and first performed in 2013. The title is a reference to the Beethoven Frieze by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, a series of frescoes inspired by the finale of the Ninth Symphony, to which Turnage's work makes several allusions, painted on the walls of the Vienna Secession Building.
Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad (Turnage)
Twisted Blues with Twisted Ballad is Turnage’s second string quartet. Because of the ‘intimidating repertoire’ of the string quartet, he decided to approach the medium from a different angle. Like two other works from the same period (Grazioso! and Out of Black Dust), this piece reflects the influence of the British rock band Led Zeppelin.
HAWKES POCKET SCORES
A music publishing classic! Hawkes Pocket Scores have become synonymous with the best in 20th-century music. The range now includes over 350 works by masters such as Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff, Bernstein and Copland and Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, John Adams and Steve Reich.
