News
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE
Just For Starters
This new instrumental series has started with the publication of two books.
Philip Ledger and Hilary Tadman-Robins have contributed a new piano album containing 24 pieces suitable for players in the early grades (1-3). The repertoire is compiled from easy dances and miniatures in a broad range of styles including arrangements of works by Blow, Arne, Mendelssohn and Chopin, plus 12 original piano pieces. It provides both technical and musical challenges, encourages flexibility of hand positions, introduces triadic figures, and offers guideline fingering.
The second book in the Just For Starters series is by Bryan Kelly. It contains five original pieces for cello and piano which are suitable for players in the early stages. The suite of dances in contrasting styles ranges from brisk, rhythmic works to gentle sustained music. This attractive collection enables basic skills to be explored with plenty of scope for focused attention on musical detail. It could be used to supplement the prescribed music of graded exams 1-3. Cellists are encouraged to put character into the music and play out with confidence. In essence, the works by Bryan Kelly lay strong foundations for future development.
Scrooge by Bryan Kelly
A new concert work for narrator and orchestra lasting about 20 minutes in duration. As the title suggests, it is a unique mix of extracts Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, together with colourful characterisations portrayed in the music. The light-hearted orchestral piece falls roughly into two sections. The first part presents some of the ghostly scenes from the well-loved tale. Then the piece focuses on all the fun and merry-making of Mr Fezziwig's Christmas ball with a fiddler’s tune, Sir Roger de Coverley (which is mentioned in the book), combining with a seasonal carol. It all ends with a burst of We wish you a merry Christmas.
The first performance will be given by the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neil Thomson, at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, on Sunday 5 December 2010 at 3pm.
For arts organisations planning events to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens in 2012, Bryan Kelly’s new piece could be performed to tie in the celebrations for one of the most important figures in literature.
Requiem (A Thanksgiving For Life) by Philip Ledger
The world premiere of the original chamber ensemble version of this major choral work was given by the Choir of Christ Church, Christiana Hundred, USA in 2007 as part of a Choral Eucharist. The first UK performance was given by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, on Remembrance Sunday 2007 as the musical setting for a service in King’s College Chapel. Both performances were conducted by the composer.
The first performance of the music in its rescored orchestral version was given by Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with singers also from Eastbourne College Choral Society and Junior King’s School Canterbury Choir, conducted by Graham Jones with soloists Patricia Rozario and Mark Le Brocq in 2008 at Chichester Cathedral.
The BBC Singers, conducted by David Hill, recorded the chamber version of Philip Ledger’s Requiem for broadcast in an episode of The Choir on BBC Radio 3 in 2008. In addition, the Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, recorded the work under Philip Ledger's direction and released a CD on the Regent Records label in 2009 which includes new anthems and carols by the composer.
Subtitled A thanksgiving for life, this beautiful Requiem explores a range of emotions and has Latin movements interspersed with settings of some wonderful poems by the mystical English poet, Thomas Traherne (c. 1636-74). ‘The poems of Traherne are full of wonder at God's creation and the part that we play in it,’ says Philip Ledger. ‘For me, his joyful imagery ideally complements the more austere, but beautiful, Latin words of the Requiem.’
The piece begins with the birth of the soul and ends with its final journey to paradise. It may be sung liturgically, as well as in concert halls, and is scored with three different instrumentations.
Services of Thanksgiving are now often held in place of Funeral Services. Two movements in particular, Thanksgiving hymn and Agnus Dei and Pie Jesu (the two sections are set as one movement) may be performed separately on these occasions. Thanksgiving hymn, a unison setting with descant, is suitable for congregational participation.
The third movement, Thanksgiving hymn, is also published in the collection, The power and glory, containing eight hymns with descants. The Pie Jesu from the fifth movement is available as a separate anthem for soprano solo, mixed voices and organ.
REVIEWS
'The publishers have produced a clear and attractive edition…' - Choir & Organ
'The most striking music is in the Traherne settings, which have inspired the composer to match the words with appropriate musical imagery, and which provide the work with its distinctive features. It is well worth considering if you sing a Requiem setting on Remembrance Sunday or at All Souls.' - Church Music Quarterly, RSCM
'This work represents a new direction for Sir Philip both in scale and style. There is much that is immediately attractive; listener-pleasing features include descending basses, modulations to the flattened 7th key, and a cello obbligato in the Pie Jesu.' - Organists' Review
'Ledger’s integration of traditional and less familiar texts, and of Latin and English is appealing…the flexibility of the necessary performing forces, particularly the small size of the chamber ensemble required for the middle-sized orchestration option, and the relatively modest demands of the piece places on the choir, are practical plusses and do not detract from a musical result that is at once moving and tasteful.' - The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT Sir Philip Ledger CBE
If you would like more information about conductor, pianist and composer, Sir Philip Ledger CBE, visit his new website at www.sirphilipledger.com.
Choirs interested in arranging a workshop or training session based on the Requiem (A thanksgiving for life) or other compositions by Philip Ledger are invited to contact Tim Rogers at Encore Publications. Email info@encorepublications.com.