Par SPARKE PHILIP. Morning Song features the horn quartet mostly in a soloistic role - indeed there is an accompanied cadenza towards the end of the piece - but there are moments where the horns assume their conventional concert band role as harmonic support or playing the counter melody. This expressive composition shows all the versatility of the horn quartet and gives them the chance to be in t…

Par SPARKE PHILIP. Morning Song features the horn quartet mostly in a soloistic role - indeed there is an accompanied cadenza towards the end of the piece - but there are moments where the horns assume their conventional concert band role as harmonic support or playing the counter melody. This expressive composition shows all the versatility of the horn quartet and gives them the chance to be in t…

KT Tunstall has had a recurring dream since she was a child. She sees a tiger in her garden and goes outside to stroke it. She returns indoors and is seized by the fear that she could have been killed. Over the years, it has occurred to her that the reason the tiger responds so passively is that she herself is disguised as a tiger. That she is wearing a tiger suit.The Brit Award-winning singer has…

Par SPARKE PHILIP. Morning Song features the horn quartet mostly in a soloistic role - indeed there is an accompanied cadenza towards the end of the piece - but there are moments where the horns assume their conventional fanfare band role as harmonic support or playing the counter melody. This expressive composition shows all the versatility of the horn quartet and gives them the chance to be in t…

Par KINROSS JOHN. John Kinross (b. Edinburgh 1848, d. London 1890) John Kinross’ music has become not merely neglected – it has become virtually invisible. Contemporary reports tell that he was, firstly, an extremely talented and successful piano teacher in Dundee, then a freelance composer and pianist in London. He wrote a substantial number of compositions for the young pianist; these works d…

Par KAREL RUDOLF. Rudolf Karel, the last student of Dvorák, was able to compose the Nonett in short score before his death [1945] in the concentration camp in Theresienstadt. From this score, Václav Snítil, the longtime leader of the Czech Nonett, has been able to complete and instrumentate the work. In spite of death and suffering around him, Karel was still able to portray the belief in a place …

Par KRZANOWSKI ANDRZEJ. Despite the rich palette of colours and articulation, Relief IX is a static work, and its slowed narrative creates the impression of being stretched out over time, thereby leading the listener into an unreal, unfamiliar world. This composition has often been described as a surrealistic and contemplative work. As Andrzej Chlopecki wrote: ‘[Relief IX] directs its expression t…

The collection of nine Vedic Hymns (Op. 24) for solo Voice with Piano accompaniment marked a turning point in Holst's compositions. They were inspired by Hindu scripture and Indian raga, and first published in 1908. Vac (Speech) is the seventh movement, and is the first of the third group of hymns, where the theme shifts into the human sphere. Gustav Holst (1874-1934) was an English composer and t…