CDPictures at an exhibition : reflected and refracted / Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra ; arranged by Julian Yu ; conductor and soloist: Jeffrey Crellin.
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Featured Australian works
Work | Composer | Performers | Duration | MP3 | |
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Coloratura concerto (2005) for oboe and strings | Julian Yu | Australia Pro Arte, Jeffrey Crellin | 14 mins, 6 sec. | Buy as MP3 |
Nightingale; arr. (2005) variation by Glinka on a romance by Alabieff, arranged for oboe and strings | Julian Yu | Australia Pro Arte, Jeffrey Crellin | 6 mins, 35 sec. | Buy as MP3 | |
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Pictures at an exhibition; arr. (2001) for sixteen players or chamber orchestra; a moderately modern rendition by immodest Julian Yu | Julian Yu | Australia Pro Arte, Jeffrey Crellin | 31 mins, 58 sec. | Buy as MP3 |
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Seasons; arr. for full orchestra — June (Barcarolle) ; October (Autumn song) | Julian Yu | Australia Pro Arte, Jeffrey Crellin | 10 mins, 11 sec. | Buy as MP3 |
Product details
Mussorgsky wrote his piano suite Pictures at an
Exhibition in 1874. By the year 2000 Mussorgsky's work had
already been arranged for orchestra by over 70 different
composers, to say nothing of the numerous non-orchestral
arrangements.
The version on this CD is a new unique one for chamber orchestra
by Australian-Chinese composer Julian Yu. A Japanese critic has
said of Yu's arrangement: "Ravel's position is unshakeable, but
from an intellectual point of view, this new arrangement
surpasses that of Ravel".
The uniqueness of Yu's version is due at least in part to his
background in Chinese music with its refined elegance and its
tradition of ornamentation, of 'making something new from the
old'. He does not aim for grandeur but contrast, and gives
himself the freedom to diverge from and develop Mussorgsky's
original ideas, the better to bring out their meaning and achieve
special effects and atmospheres. His orchestration is rich and
varied, with a refinement of timbre often heard in chamber music
and in Chinese instrumental music. The pentatonic nature of
Mussorgsksy's Promenade theme lends itself to oriental treatment,
and in one spot Yu even breaks into fragments of a well-known
Chinese melody, Han Tian Lei. But mostly the oriental influence
occurs on a subtle level.
This version is far more than clever copying. Yu uses solo
instruments to represent characters: Yu has added a newly
composed viola cadenza in the last occurrence of the Promenade.
Samuel Goldenberg, the rich Jew, is portrayed by solo double
bass, the poor Jew by the clarinet, and the children playing in
the Tuillerie Gardens by the xylophone.
Sometimes several instruments each take one note of the melody,
which they sustain to create an artificial echo such as might be
heard in a large cathedral.
Yu achieves a highly original sound through the traditional
method of hocket (distribution of the notes of a melody between
two or more players). Often the effect is heightened by
Webern-like pointillism, resulting in big jumps in pitch albeit
here in a tonal context.
Often throughout the work a specific sound effect is used to
convey a certain image. A few examples are the tone clusters with
crescendo and trombone glissandi describing the straining of the
oxen pulling the cart in Bydlo; the parallel major and
minor second intervals imitating the high-pitched voices of
children arguing and bickering in the Tuileries; and the
pitchless sound of rushing air and rhythmic pitchless tonguing
describing the witch flying over the forest at night in
Babayaga.
There are many new elements in this piece, most notably the
inclusion of snatches of the Chinese melody Han Tian Lei in the
Promenade, and a new layer of chords creating a mysterious sound
in the Catacombes. In With the Dead in a Dead Language, the
celesta plays a few tinkling arpeggio notes to convey the glowing
of the skulls, and the whole work concludes with a peal of bell
chimes.
Reinhold Gliere wrote his Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and
Orchestra in 1942-43, and the piece was premiered in Moscow
in May 1943. Yu's new version is for oboe and string orchestra.
Yu writes: "I first heard this piece on an old 78 rpm record when
I was in my first year as a student at the Conservatorium in
Beijing, where we had access to a lot of music from the Soviet
Union. Whereas most European music left me cold, I was very moved
by the melodic beauty of this piece, and in 1982 I made a piano
reduction from the orchestral score for recital purposes, as we
had no access to a piano version. After migrating to Australia in
1985, I discovered that almost nobody here knew this piece, and
it was impossible to find a recording in the shops. Only recently
has it gradually become known in the Western world. My
arrangement is mostly loyal to the original, except for the short
cadenza just before the end of the second movement."
Julian Yu's arrangement of Glinka's The Nightingale is
for oboe and strings using the first three variations from
Glinka's piano work, followed by a fourth variation by Yu
himself, in which the beautiful melodic line is played twice by
the strings with the oboe playing an active, contrasting
bird-like melody.
Barcarolle for June and Troika for November from Tchaikovsky's
The Seasons here use the same instrumental forces and
style as Pictures at an Exhibition.
Contents note: Pictures at an exhibition / Modest Mussorgsky, arranged by Julian Yu -- Coloratura concerto for oboe and string orchestra / Reinhold Glière, aranged by julian Yu -- The nightingale / variation by Mikhail Glinka, arranged for oboe and strings by Julian Yu -- Two pieces from 'The seasons' / Tchaikovsky, arranged by Julian Yu.
Related products
Score: The nightingale : Variation by Glinka on a Romance by Alabieff / arranged for oboe and strings by Julian Yu.
Score: Coloratura concerto : for oboe and strings / arranged by Julian Yu ; from the Concerto for coloratura soprano and orchestra, op. 82 by Reinhold Gliere.
Score: Pictures at an exhibition : for sixteen players or chamber orchestra / Modest Mussorgsky ; a moderately modern rendition by immodest Julian Yu.
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