Everything we do is Music

Explore the music, ideas and ideals of John Cage, composer of 4'33'' and one of the twentieth century’s most original and inventive artists. “Everything we do is music” contains more than 50 fun, hands-on and thought-provoking activities, each taking a work by John Cage as a starting point and exploring the links between music, dance, visual art, poetry and nature. Most projects require no prior knowledge of reading music or playing an instrument and can be worked through with little preparation — each activity encouraging creative thinking and experimentation, exploring the world around us and blurring the boundaries separating life and art.

Sonate In Do

Do Not Disturb

Duetto N. 3 Do

Who do you love

Sonata K 545 Do (Grieg)

Piano Concerto In Do Kv 467

Do You Doodle as You Dawdle?

Do You Remember the Last Silence Op. 152

Vos dergeystu mir di yorn : Why do you pester me

April is My Mistress Face- Do You Not Know? : 3-4Mixed voices, a cappella

80 Choralvorspiele deutscher Meister d. 17. u. 18. : Jahrhunderts - of the 17th and 18th century - zum gottesdienstlichen Gebrauch

80 Chorale Preludes by German Masters of the 17th and 18th Centuries, edited by Hermann Keller.Most do not require use of the Pedals.'This selection of shorter and easier chorale preludes is designed tosupplement Karl Straube's '45 Chorale Preludes of the Old Masters' (EP3048), especially for use in church. We therefore selected only those pieces which can be used today - transposed, where necessary, to more suitable keys. Inthe case of important chorales, several treatments were included, sometimes in more than one key. Musical value was the primary factor of selection, but, where possible, preferance was given to compositions not generallyavailableelsewhere. Of the 80 pieces, 24 require the pedals; 33 do not use them; in 23, they are optional. Thus the collection offers rich material for organists at all stages of development.' (Hermann Keller, Stuttgart, September1937).

Italian Concerto BWV 971

New Urtext Edition by Ulrich Bartels.Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Concerto in the Italian Style' has been one of his most popular works ever since its publication in 1735. Itsurprises by its clarity and architectural mastery without posing inordinate demands on the player's technique.No original manuscript sources survive, but we do have Bach's personal copies of both versions of the originalprinted copies. Our new urtext edition replaces the previous Edition Peters volume and is based on the second impression of the original printed copy, corrected by Bach himself.

Nocturnes

John Field is credited as the true 'inventor' of the Nocturne. After experimenting with other names such as Pastorale, Serenade, and Romance, he settled on “Nocturne” when his first one was published in 1812. Field’s Nocturnes follow no known form, nor do they develop a given theme. Instead, they set up a mood and atmosphere of tenderness and dreaminess combined with a continuous flow of beautiful melody that appealsdirectly to the listener's willingness to share an emotion, mostly of consoled sadness. It was Field's Nocturnes that greatly influenced Chopin, who absorbed the emotional characteristics of the Nocturne style and used themtocreate his own unique expressive compositions.

Songs of Love & Friendship

When the Groot Omroepkoorʼs (Netherlandʼs Radio Choir) Chief Conductor Benjamin Goodson and Stiftfestivalsʼ violinist-director Daniel Rowland approached me to write a piece for them, I immediately googled Dutch poets. I was intrigued to find the French-sounding name, Isabelle de Charrire (1740  1805). Also known as Belle van Zuylen, she was born and brought up in Utrecht, where the premiere of this new composition would take place. In the 18th century, it was common for well-to-do families to appoint French tutors for their children and, as a result, everything Belle wrote was in that language. Her writings cover all aspects of life and love, but I was particularly drawn to these two poems. 1. Companion, for which I have taken three verses from her longer poem Heureux moineaux, tells of her envy at how much easier sparrowsʼ relationships with each other are than those between humans. The poem was Belleʼs reaction to hearing of the philandering Marquis de Lassay, inspiring her to express that it is good to flee from love and to prefer a less jealous, less worrisome friendship. The violin sets the scene, imitating authentic sparrow calls from Californian, Argentinian and Spanish sparrows and the choir enters, taking the sparrowsʼ rhythms and harmonizing the pitch progressions. Here, the English words feature alongside the original French as a bird-like accompaniment. 2. Conquest, or Quels accents vien-je dʼentendre is a beautifully structured and intensely passionate poem, written as a song for Mademoiselle de Tuyll de Serooskerken, elder daughter of Lord of Zuylen. It was originally set to the air: Vous amants, que jʼintresse  possibly a pre-existing tune or one composed by Belle herself. I have relished creating overtly romantic harmonies with restless textures in English accompanying the yearning melody in French. The violin alternates between accompanying them in lilting broken chords and soaring ardently over the choir. I am deeply grateful to both Benjamin and Daniel for asking me to do this and to AVROTROS and the Stiftfestival for commissioning the work, on the occasion of Benjaminʼs inaugural concert as the choirʼs Chief Conductor. Roxanna Panufnik (8 June, 2020)

Christmas Light

I wrote Christmas Light for a choir and glockenspiel to celebrate poet Betty McKellar’s 90th birthday. I love the colour and imagery in Betty’s work and the honesty and clarity of her writing.I first discovered her work in the 1990s and set her poem Cramasie Threid for soprano and cello.I then took the poem Sangsters as the starting point for a concerto for orchestra which was premiered by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in 2002. I have always enjoyed collaborating with non-professional and community groups, which I find stimulating and inspiring. These are musicians for whom music is an absolute pleasure – who give time without payment in the midst of busy lives, often withdemanding jobs and family commitments. They do this because they love music and the companionship and buzz of working together. The enthusiasm always communicates to the audience and some of the most memorable performances of my music have been in churches, schools and community halls. This short piece is a tribute to Betty’s creativity, warmth and optimism.

Die Sieben Letze Worte Unseres Erlösers Am Kreuze

Joseph Haydn's Die Sieben Letze Worte Unseres Erlösers Am Kreuze. The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross' Op.51 In 1785 or '86, Haydn received a commission from the Canon ofCadiz for what would serve essentially as 'incidental' music for a Good Friday service (akin to the one centering upon The Stations of the Cross, although there are twelve of those) in which the celebrant recites in turn each ofChrist's utterances on the way to Calvary, then gives a 'reflection' thereupon, followed by music to accompany a brief interval of silent congregational prayer. To this Haydn added an introductory movement, and aconclusiondepicting the earthquake that followed the passing of Jesus. The structure of the work, then, is: Introduction -- 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' -- Sonata 1 -- 'Verily I say unto thee, todayshalt thou be with me in Paradise.' -- Sonata 2 -- 'Woman, behold thy son.' -- Sonata 3 -- 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' -- Sonata 4 -- 'I thirst.' -- Sonata 5 -- 'It is finished.' -- Sonata 6 -- 'Father, into thyhands I commend my spirit.' -- Sonata 7 -- Conclusion (Earthquake)

Violin Sonatas Volume 2

This complete edition of the Mozart sonatas for violin and keyboard has been researched and prepared by Cliff Eisen, one of the most distinguished Mozart scholars of our time. Professor Eisen recognizes that many ofthe apparent inconsistencies and idiosynchrasies of Mozart's notation are perfectly deliberate, and that the attempts in many other editions to impose uniformity upon similar phrases or musical paragraphs can bemisguided. As hewrites in the preface, '...the notion that the classical style represents a model of symmetry, balance and clarity is for the most part an 19th-century fiction...it has little to do with Mozart's actual practice, which isbasedprimarily on variety of both content and articulation.' So in this new edition, alternative readings found in parallel passages are preserved, rather than being sterilized by a spurious quest for conformity. Naturally allsuch instances are noted within the Critical Commentary. The highly individual beaming within Mozart's autographs is also respected in the new edition, as this often contributes to our aural perceptions of phrase structure andaccent. Professor Eisenis is conscious that there is no single 'Urtext' for this music. On the contrary, he believes that 'there is compelling evidence that Mozart's later performances of his works were characterizedby changes--sometimes substantial changes--in the musical text.' It is the achievement of this edition to indicate how far this freedom of musical expression can extend, and as such it is likely to take pride of place in thecollections of all those involved in the study and performance of these masterpieces.Contents: Sonatas K296, K376-K380; Andante and Fugue K402 (completed by Stadler); Sonata K403 (completed by Stadler).

Songs of Darkness, Dreams of Light

When the BBC commissioned this work for the Last Night of the Proms 2018, I was given quite a detailed brief. First, the work should be for the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus (with the BBC Symphony Orchestra), and the two choirs should be quite independent of each other. Secondly, the words should acknowledge the centenary of the end of World War I, but look optimistically to the future. For the centenary I chose In the Underworld by World War I poet Isaac Rosenberg, written in 1914. Originally about unrequited love, it can read, if you do not know its context, as a prophetic look at the next four years, with the sense that the women left at home cannot begin tocomprehend the horrors their men face in the trenches. The BBC Singers represent Rosenberg and their music is based on a beautiful Ashkenazi-Jewish prayer mode – also known as the ‘Ukrainian Gypsy’ mode. While I was reading The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (written in 1923), I came across these lines, which seem to answer and assuage the fears expressed in Rosenberg’s poem. The BBC Symphony Chorus take on the role of Gibran, singing in a beautiful, melismatic, Maronite Syriac chant, into which faith Gibran was born in Lebanon. Later in his life, he became very interested in Islam, particularly Sufism; therefore the whole piece is in the form of a Sufi Zikr, with Sufi devotional rhythms in the percussion, starting quiet and low, but slowly becoming higher, faster and louder. The two choirs start separately, but merge into a ‘conversation,’ sometimes overlapping, and ending on a positive note: Rosenberg’s Creature of light and happiness over Gibran’s We shall build a tower in the sky. Quite by accident, all three Abrahamic faiths are represented in this piece – but as Kahlil Gibran famously said: ‘You are my brother and I love you. I love you when you prostrate yourself in your mosque, and kneel in your church and pray in your synagogue. You and I are sons of one faith – the Spirit.'