Chamber Orchestra Fantasia Concertante Chamber orchestra fl. (+picc.), 2 ob. (II+c.a.), 2 bn, 2 hn, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620254 This work was commissioned as a result of the 1977 Guinness Prize for Composition and first performed on March 5th 1978 at the Wembley Conference Centre by the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Mark Elder. 21 minutes The Romance of the Rose Chamber orchestra fl. (+picc.), ob., cl, bn, hn, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620568 Score and parts available to buy from Goodmusic Taking the form of a theme and variations, The Romance of the Rose was written for a BBC radio dramatisation of the early French poem, ‘Romaut de la Rose’, and is a reenactment in musical terms of the gestures and rituals of courtly love. 12 minutes Severn Crossing Chamber orchestra 2 fl .(II+picc.), 2 ob. (II+c.a.), 2 cl. (II+b.cl.), 2 bn (II+cbn), 2 hn, 2 tpt, timp., strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620575 ‘Looking out across the Severn Estuary, I have often been struck by the beautiful but lonely seascape that stretches out to the Bristol Channel. It very much suggested the wistful melody on the flute which opens Severn Crossing and on which the whole piece is based. Gradually the sounds of construction are heard. As the crossing nears completion, so the cross rhythms become more pronounced and a familiar Welsh melody is glimpsed amidst the swirling textures.’ - <strong>Michael</strong> <strong>Berkeley</strong>. 7 minutes Uprising Chamber orchestra 2 fl. (I+picc., II+picc.anda.fl.), 2 ob., 2 cl.(II+b.cl.), 2 bn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, timp, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620391 First performed 18 December 1980, Queen’s Hall Edinburgh by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roderick Brydon 21 minutes Chamber Orchestra Concerto for Cello Solo cello and chamber orchestra fl. (+picc.), 2 ob., 2 bn, 2 hn, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620452 This single-movement chamber concerto is deliberately scored for the forces of the Boccherini and Haydn concerti. Light-hearted in spirit, it could easily be described as a divertissement. 12 minutes Concerto for Clarinet Solo clarinet and chamber orchestra 2 fl. (II+picc.), 2 ob (II+c.a.), 2 cl. (II+b.cl.), 2 bn (II+cbn), 2 hn, 2 tpt, timp, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620223 Clarinet and piano score* 9780193620216 This work was written whilst <strong>Berkeley</strong> was writing his opera, Baa Baa Black Sheep which is based on Kipling’s autobiographical short story of the same name. Although Kipling’s childhood predicament is the starting point for the relationship between the clarinet and orchestra, the music develops from there into an abstract essay. The clarinet frequently merges with the woodwind section while at other times stands out against it. The Concerto for Clarinet is a musical argument; there is no percussion, but the role of the timpani is crucial. The Concerto for Clarinet was commissioned by Emma Johnson and takes the form of one continuous movement. *Available from June Emerson Wind Music 20 minutes Concerto for Horn Solo horn and string orchestra Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620247 There are two movements which are closely related but while the overall mood of the first is aggressive the second is more resigned and poignant. Various musical ideas heard only in fragments in the opening movement come more sharply into focus in the second. Through a smoky haze of sound the lachrymose notes of the last post are superimposed on a Bach Chorale from the St Matthew Passion. First performed in 1984 at the Cheltenham Festival by <strong>Michael</strong> Thompson and the Polish Chamber Orchestra, Concerto for Horn was revised in 1994. 16 minutes Orchestra with solo Concerto for Oboe Solo oboe and string orchestra Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620292 Oboe and piano score* 9780193620308 The work begins quietly, the oboe entering without orchestral preamble. The five-note theme introduced by the soloist permeates the entire movement as the music becomes steadily more animated and interplay between soloist and orchestra more intense. The central movement is a playful scherzo, with a lyrical middle section. The final movement, ‘Elegy’, is dedicated to the memory of the composers godfather, Benjamin Britten. It is based on an augmented fourth - the interval central to Britten’s War Requiem. The concerto ends with the oboe intoning the notes Britten used to depict Wilfred Owen’s line, ‘let us sleep now’, whereupon the music gradually comes to rest. <strong>Michael</strong> <strong>Berkeley</strong>’s Oboe Concerto was commissioned by the Burnham Market Festival in Norfolk and was first performed in 1977 by Janet Craxton with the Snape Maltings Training Orchestra. *Available from June Emerson Wind Music 25 minutes Concerto for Organ Solo organ and full orchestra 2 fl., 2 ob., 2 cl., 2 bn, 4 hn, 3 tpt, 3 tbn, tba, timp., 2 perc. (t.bell, sus.cym., vib., BD, SD, TD, tam), hp, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193555112 This work is seen as marking a turning point in the composer’s music. The writing includes distinctive harmonic clusters breaking into great upward sweeps, buzzing (often menacing) mobiles under carefully controlled melodic lines, inventive timbres, and above all, a heightened sense of drama. 18 minutes Concerto for Viola Solo viola and full orchestra 2 fl. (I+picc.), 2 ob. (I+c.a.), 2 cl. (I+b.cl.), 2 bn (I+cbn), 3 tpt (all+flugel, I+tpt in D), 4 hn, 3 tbn, tba, timp, 4 perc. (t.bell, vib, tam (med), sz cym, w.blk, BD, c.bell, sus. cym, crash cym, tom (low, med, high), SD) hp, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193620193 The concerto is cast in a single movement. The first two thirds of the music is built over a slow pulse. Throughout the music the soloist weaves in and out of the orchestral texture, sometimes riding the growing waves of sound and sometimes being overtaken by it. In the last third of the concerto the music breaks into a much faster tempo and the viola is pushed to the bottom of its compass where it feverishly races around like a trapped insect, constantly striving to rise above its orchestral surroundings. 15 minutes Double Guitar Concerto Two solo guitars and chamber orchestra fl. (+picc.anda.fl.), ob. (+c.a.), cl. (+b.cl.), bn, hn, tpt, tbn, perc. (SD, roto-tom, mark tree, glock, vib, w blk, guiro, BD), hp, cel., strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193616745 The work is in three contrasting but related movements with the guitars having a role rather akin to a harpsichord in a concerto grosso, but informed by a contemporary sensibility. Inspired by the intuitive playing of the Katona twins, the soloists are used not so much as contrasting or antiphonal voices but rather as one double instrument. 20 minutes For Mrs Tomoyasu from ‘Or Shall We Die?’ Soprano and chamber ensemble or orchestra fl., ob., cl., bn, hn, tpt, hp, string quintet) /orchestra (fl., 2 ob., 2 bn, 2 hn, strings Score and parts on hire - ensemble 9780193354050 Score and parts on hire - orchestra 9780193354036 This aria for soprano and orchestra is taken from the oratorio Or Shall We Die?. Mrs Tomoyasu was a young woman in 1945 when her nine year-old daughter died in her arms at Hiroshima. Her words, taken almost verbatim by the librettist Ian McEwan, describe her terrible experience on the day that the atomic bomb was dropped. 6 minutes Songs of Awakening Love Soprano and chamber orchestra fl. (+picc.), 2 ob. (+c.a.), 2 bn, 2 hn, strings Conductor’s score and parts on hire 9780193554757 This work is a setting of three poems; two sonnets, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, framing a scherzo-like song of elation by Christina Rossetti. The poems superficially seem straight-laced and high-minded, but, in reality, smoulder with intense expression. 26 minutes Touch Light Solo soprano, solo counter-tenor and string orchestra, or solo flute, solo violin, and strings Score and parts on hire - voices and strings 9780193352858 Score and parts on hire - Instrumental 9780193357167 <strong>Berkeley</strong> describes this work as a ‘homage’ to the masters of early opera: Monteverdi, Handel, and Purcell. In his exquisite piece he distils the essence of some of their most ecstatic moments into his own words and employs a variation on the ground bass which lies at the heart of some of his favourite arias and duets. In the instrumental version, the soprano and counter-tenor solo lines from the original version are re-worked for flute and violin. Orchestra with solo 8 minutes 10 11