Conservatorium of Music
Thursday Concert Class
Thursday Concert Class
| Chant de Linos | Andre Jolivet (1905 - 1974) |
| Kim Falconer, Flute | |
| Leigh Harrold, piano | |
| Jolivet composed his Chant de Linos as a competition piece for the Paris Conseratory in 1944. In 1945, he replaced the original flute and piano version with one scored for flute, harp, and string trio. Jolivet, who was interested in the evocation of ritual in his music, wrote that a "chant de linos" was an ancient Greek mourning chant, with wailing and dancing. The introduction is a recitative-like cadenza. This is followed by the funeral lament, a plaintive section with a polyphonic texture. A more agitated section suggests the wailing and dancing. Another cadenza introduces the second major section of the piece, a wild dance in 7/8. | |
| Première Rhapsodie | Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) |
| Hayden Brown, Clarinet | |
| Leigh Harrold, piano | |
| Composed from December 1909 to January 1910, Claude Debussy's Première Rhapsodie is one of the most important pieces in the Clarinet repertoire. It was one of two works commissioned for Debussy by the Paris Conservatoire for the Conservatoire's clarinet examinations in July 1910, hence there are many challenging aspects to the piece. In 1911 Debussy orchestrated the accompaniment for full orchestra. | |
| Die Lorelei | Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) |
| Henry Lee, Piano | |
| In the case of Die Lorelei, Liszt made numerous versions of the music, more than the four in the headnote listing. After an arrangement for voice and orchestra, the reduction of this is this arrangement. Heine’s Die Lorelei tells the familiar story of the siren-like witch who haunts a rock in the river Rhine and leads sailors to their deaths. | |
| At the Outgoing | Igor Shamo (1925 - 1972) |
| Henry Lee, Piano | |
| Igor Naumovich Shamo is one of the most popular modern Ukrainian composers. In his songs, there is the fullest realisation of pathos and lyricism.Whereas, in the field of instrumental music the composer preferred genre pictorial and graphic musical imagery. In such kind of works emphasis on intonation and the modal characteristics of national music plays the great role. | |
| Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano | Stuart Greenbaum (1966 - ) |
| Movement 2 | |
| Kathryn Cooper, Alto Saxophone | |
| Leigh Harrold, piano | |
| The piece 'Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano' was composed specifically for Australian saxophonist Barry Cockcroft and pianist Adam Pinto to perform at a concert premiere, which showcased saxophone music from the last decade. The Sonata consists of three movements, that differ greatly from each other. The second movement is labelled as 'slow, theme and variations'. The theme is very simple at the beginning, then gradually expands and becomes very technical and goes high into the saxophone altissimo range. | |
| Sonata in A Major | Cesar Franck (1822 - 1890) |
| Arranged by Jean-Yves Fourmeau | |
| III. Ben moderato: Recitativo-Fantasia IV. Allegretto poco mosso | |
| Michellina Chan, Saxophone | |
| Leigh Harrold, piano | |
| Composed in 1886, the Violin Sonata in A Major was a wedding present from Cesar Franck to Eugene Ysaye, one of the finest violinists at the time. This violin sonata was one of Franck's best-known compositions. The passionate third movement is the most original movement of the sonata with improvisation-like passages and themes of self-reflection. The concluding final movement restores order with its stately yet pastoral-sounding canon in a classical sonata-rondo form. The Violin Sonata has since been adapted for different instrumentation including organ and choir, cello and piano, flute and piano and this, alto saxophone and piano. | |
| Capriccio \ | Henri Vieuxtemps (1820 - 1881) |
| Han Hsiang Ong, Viola | |
| Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps (Pronounced: ɑ̃ʁi fʁɑ̃swa ʒɔzɛf vjøtɑ̃) (17 February 1820 – 6 June 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century. He is also known for playing upon what is now known as the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesu, a violin of superior workmanship. His major works are mostly written for strings instrument. | |
| Préludes, Book 2. L. 123 | Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918) |
| II. Feuilles mortes | |
| Quetzal Rodriguez, Piano | |
| One of the more interesting aspects of Debussy's Préludes is that the titles of each prelude are printed at the end of the piece, not at the beginning, suggesting that the music itself should be the transmitter of the musical message rather than the title itself. | |
| Clarinet Concerto, Op.57 | Carl Nielsen (1865 - 1931) |
| I. Allegretto un poco | |
| Magdalenna Krstevska, Clarinet | |
| Leigh Harrold, piano | |
| In 1921, Nielsen heard the Copenhagen Wind Quintet rehearsing some music by Mozart. He was struck by the tonal beauty and musicianship of this group, and he soon became intimately acquainted with its members. That same year, he wrote his Wind Quintet expressly for this ensemble. Nielsen planned to carry the idea further; he wanted to write a concerto for each of his five friends. In 1928, he composed his Clarinet Concerto for the group's clarinettist, Aage Oxenvad, who had bi-polar disorder. This is heard throughout, with a constant war between the tonalities of F major and E major, poking fun at Oxenvad's mood swings. | |
| Time Pieces Op.43 | Robert Muczynski (1929 - 2010) |
| 1. Allegro risoluto | |
| Jess Hort, Clarinet | |
| Leigh Harrold, piano | |
| Robert Muczynski is one of the most distinguished American neo-Classical composers of his generation. His work for clarinet and piano titled, Time Pieces, received its world premiere at the Clarinet Congress of the International Clarinet Society in London, in 1984 by composer and clarinetist Mitchell Lurie. Muczynski said that "the title of the work, Time Pieces, has nothing to do with mechanical clocks or watches. It is not a play on words but rather an awareness of the fact that everything exists in time: history, our lives and... in a special way... music." | |
| Sonata for solo Cello | George Crumb (1929 - ) |
| I Fantasia II Tema pastorale con variazioni III Toccata | |
| Jonathan Chim, Cello | |
| The Sonata for Solo Cello is one of Crumb's earliest published works, and does not require the performer to employ any extended techniques, unlike many of his later works. It does however, include several specific notations. For example, some pizzicato chords are notated to be left ringing, some are to be plucked upwards, some are to be plucked downwards, and some plucked simultaneously. It was written during his year abroad in Berlin, and is dedicated to his mother. | |