Carson Cooman's new Piano Quartet to be premièred

On January 9th (Carlisle) and 10th (Cambridge/Harvard), the wonderful Arcturus Chamber Ensemble (Sarah Darling, artistic director) will present the opening program of their 10th anniversary season which includes the premiere of Carson Cooman's new piano quartet.


Program:


Johannes Brahms -- String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, op. 51, no. 2
Carson Cooman -- Quartet for Piano and Strings (A Sea Liturgy) -- world premiere
Gabriel Fauré -- Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor, op. 45


January 9, 2010, 7:30 PM
First Religious Society in Carlisle
27 School Street, Carlisle, MA 01741


January 10, 2010, 4:00 PM
Pusey Room, Memorial Church
One Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA 02138


$10 general admission. $5 students, seniors and starving artists


For more information see:


http://arcturus-ensemble.org/concerts.php

New recording with works by Carson Cooman

Two works by Carson Cooman have been released on a a new recording by Beauport Classical,

BC2907
GHOSTS: Solos and Duets (In Concert III)
Music by
Chris Arrell, John Carollo, Pamela J. Marshall, Harry Bulow, Ken Metz, Andrew Bonacci, Carson Cooman, Charles Cacioppo, Stephen Yip
Released: 2009

The two works are Estampie for two violins, performed by Phillip Digby and Maurice Smith : and Ancient Airs for soprano saxophone, performed by Paul Wehage

The recording is available on the Beauport Classical website as well as on Itunes.

Thérèse Brenet's work for Serpent and Piano just published

Thérèse Brenet's work for Serpent and Piano De bronze et de lumière has just been published by Musik Fabrik.

The work is dedicated to Michel Godard, the Serpent professor at the Paris Conservatory and also to Douglas Yeo, who performed the work's premiere on July 19, 2009 at Connecticut College in the United States.

Brenet describes the work as follows :

Why this title? I was fascinated, when I met Michel Godard, by the different facets of the Serpent.

Why bronze? Because the lights reflects on this noble alloy in which silver was mixed by some ancient artists. I was impressed by the dark and almost tragic color that the magnificent instrument is able to transpose, for example, in the trills, and this explains why the serpent plays a trill, on two occasions, in the full range of dynamics from ppp tooo. The piano punctuates briefly these two trills by an incisive and hard-hitting intervention : the light her represents lightening which precedes the rumbling of the storm. But in what follow, I wanted a more gentle texture. The serpent can be very expressive.

At the end of the piece, one can find the bronze of the serpent and the light, which has become very soft, in the piano. The serpent’s part fades away, descending to the lowest register while the piano rises progressively and softly towards the light, reaching higher and higher registers.

Therefore, I hope that I was able to bring out the many different facets of this instrument

The work is available from our brass music catalog.

New works for Violin solo by Kaploun and Tchalaev

Two works for violin solo by the Ukrainian composer Jakov Kaploun and by the French composer Kamil Tchalaev (Kaploun's grandson) have been published by Musik Fabrik.

Kaploun's Variations sur un thème finnois is playable in a number of versions, for solo violin, for violin and piano, and for violin and orchestra. The work is based on a traditional finnish song which was also set by Alexandre Glazunov. Using all sorts of figurations and playing techniques, the piece is a virtuoso showpiece which is certain to find its way onto the concert programs of violin virtuosi. The solo violin version is available for sale, with the other versions in preparation.

Tchalaev's Poddolotom, a four movement concerto for solo violin, string orchestra and percussion, is in an expressionist style which uses both atonality, expanded tonality and compact forms to create a kind of musical mobile, which presents both lyrical and more abstract musical ideas in a contrasting manner. The score is available for sale and the parts are on rental.

Both of these works are available on our String Music catalog.

Photos from the première of Thérèse Brenet's violin concerto in Hong Kong

Here are some photos from the World Première of Seul tes yeux demeurèrent...concerto for violin and orchestra by Thérèse Brenet, with Ho Hong-ying, violin, The City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, under the direction of Jean Thorel.