< World Premiere > KAIKHOSRU SORABJI : Symphonic Nocturne, KSS97 Thursday 3 December, 2015 Miryzaal, School of Arts, Koninklijk Conservatorium Gent, Belgium Lukas Huisman, Piano solo

< World Premiere > ESA-PEKKA SALONEN : Two Songs from Kalender Röd (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Saturday 2 December, 2000 – Stockholm Swedish Radio Choir, cond. Stefan Parkman Texts : Ann Jäderlund Chester Music Ltd., 2005 (CH63470) “I became enchanted with Ann Jäderlund's poetry because of its sensual intensity and lack of sentimentality. She describes sensations with amazing effectiveness, with few words, but with a rhythm that immediately awakens mystical associations ... The songs are dedicated to the Swedish Radio Choir on the occasion of their 75th anniversary.” – Esa-Pekka Salonen

< World Premiere > DAVID MATTHEWS : The Ship of Death (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Tuesday 1 December, 1992 – Pebble Mill, Birmingham Finzi Singers, cond. Paul Spicer Text: D. H. Lawrence Faber Music, Ltd., 1996 (Cat. No. 0571554148)

< World Premiere > KAIKHOSRU SORABJI : Opus Clavicembalisticum, KSS50 Monday 1 December, 1930 - Stevenson Hall, Glasgow, Scotland Kaikhosru Sorabji, Piano J.Curwen and Sons Ltd., 1931 “It is so difficult to know how to convey to those who are unfamiliar with Sorabji's work just how strange and profoundly rewarding he can be. In many respects it could be said to be a new, and thus far quite distinct, form of music. His 'Opus Clavicembalisticum' is a major, if little appreciated, piece of twentieth century abstract modern art, being to music what Joyce's 'Ulysses' is to literature, or Pollock's 'Lavender Mist' is to painting. It is music as stream of consciousness, and to understand it one must arguably learn new ways of listening, to hear the music of the music, so to speak. Its sheer scale and duration insist that one can only engage with it as ritual, requiring one to set aside a chunk of life in which to be with it.” — John Ferngrove – Pars Altera, VII. Cadenza I :

< World Premiere > RICHARD STRAUSS : Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 Friday 27 November, 1896 – Frankfurt, Germany Richard Strauss, cond.

< World Premiere > WITOLD LUTOSŁAWSKI : Concerto for Orchestra Friday 26 November, 1954 – Warsaw, Poland Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Witold Rowicki J & W Chester / Edition Wilhelm Hansen London, 1972 ( JWC55276) “... It is the music of Béla Bartók that seems the obvious point of comparison to Lutosławski’s 'Concerto for Orchestra' — its title recalling Bartók’s famous composition of a decade earlier. Disciplined style, tight formal construction, and a clear sense of logic in the development of themes are already manifest in this relatively early piece, and they would remain hallmarks of Lutosławski’s style. But here we find the composer leaning to a notable extent on folk melodies. Lutosławski protested that his flirtations with folk sources were not forced on him by the government, but his protestation had a ring of ambivalent obscurity about it: "It didn’t interest me as profoundly as it interested Bartók, for instance. . . . I used this kind of material in the 'Concerto for Orchestra' because I was not ready yet to realize what I wanted. It had nothing to do with the regime or with pressure. It’s very often misunderstood. Some people write comments in program notes that I was compelled to use folk melodies. It’s not true at all." Direct impetus for this work came via an invitation from the conductor Witold Rowicki, who in 1950 asked Lutosławski to write a piece based on folk material for performance by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, which Rowicki founded that year. As Lutosławski grappled with the piece, it grew into a full three-movement composition. Lutosławski would often work on pieces over long periods of time; the four-year gestation period of the 'Concerto for Orchestra' was not unusual. What Rowicki received is a brilliant orchestral showpiece that, like Bartók’s 'Concerto for Orchestra', is a virtuoso vehicle for the ensemble as a whole.” — James M. Keller

< World Premiere > EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA : Missa A Cappella (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Friday 25 November, 2011 – Jacobikerk, Utrecht Netherlands Radio Choir, cond. Celso Antunes Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd., 2011

< World Premiere > HERBERT HOWELLS : Mass in the Dorian Mode (for unaccompanied SATB choir) Sunday 24 November, 1912 - Westminster Cathedral, England Westminster Cathedral Choir, dir. Dr. Richard Terry Oxford University Press, 1994 “The 'Mass in the Dorian Mode' is fascinating because of the extreme purity of style. On one level it could be described as a technical exercise because Howells was obviously flexing new-found musical muscles, and yet the music itself raises it way above the level of mere academe. Howells was simply “in tune” with this style and wrote as happily in it as in any style which he was forming of a more individual hue. The polyphonic example learned from the likes of Byrd and Tallis infused his work for the rest of his life. It is interesting that in 1903 the Vatican issued a Motu Proprio encouraging composers to learn from their ancient forebears in the style and restraint of their works for the church. Howells needed no such encouragement at this time, as this Mass clearly shows.” — Paul Spicer

< World Premiere > KAIKHOSRU SHAPURJI SORABJI : Gulistān, KSS63 Tuesday 22 November, 1977 Wigmore Hall, London, England Yonty Solomon, Piano solo Sorabji wrote a number of nocturnes, from the earliest stages in his development until his final years. These include some of his better-known works such as 'Le jardin parfumé' and 'Djâmi'. Several works — such as 'In the Hothouse' of 1918 and the much later 'Villa Tasca', written 1979–80 — are not designated as nocturnes, but nonetheless occupy the same languorous, exotic atmosphere that characterises 'Gulistān' (1940), arguably his most succesful essay in the genre. The poet Sa‘dī of Shīrāz (ca. 1213–92) finished the extended Gulistān in 1258, after many years of travelling. Although Sorabji’s nocturne is not a programmatic work, that the poem had significant influence on the work’s composition is undeniable. — Jonathan Powell

< World Premiere > HERBERT HOWELLS : Take Him Earth for Cherishing “To the honored memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, President of the United States” (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Sunday 22 November, 1964 – The National Gallery, Washington DC Choir of the Cathedral of St. George, Kingston, Ontario cond. George N. Maybee H. W. Gray Co. Inc., 1964 Text : from 'Hymnus circa Excequias Defuncti' Aurelius Prudentius (348-413) — Translation : Helen Waddell ~ Take him, earth, for cherishing, to thy tender breast receive him. Body of a man I bring thee, noble even in its ruin. Once was this a spirit’s dwelling, by the breath of God created. High the heart that here was beating, Christ the prince of all its living. Guard him well, the dead I give thee, not unmindful of his creature shall he ask it: he who made it symbol of his mystery. Comes the hour God hath appointed to fulfil the hope of men, then must thou, in very fashion, what I give, return again. Not though ancient time decaying wear away these bones to sand, ashes that a man might measure in the hollow of his hand: Not though wandering winds and idle, drifting through the empty sky, scatter dust was nerve and sinew, is it given to man to die. Once again the shining road leads to ample Paradise; open are the woods again, that the serpent lost for men Take, O take him, mighty leader, take again thy servant’s soul. Grave his name, and pour the fragrant balm upon the icy stone.

Executive Mansion, Washington Monday, 21 November, 1864 To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass. Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five (5) sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A Lincoln.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg National Cemetery Thursday 19 November, 1863

“... As my eye ranges over the fields whose sods were so lately moistened by the blood of gallant and loyal men, I feel, as never before, how truly it was said of old that it is sweet and becoming to die for one’s country. I feel, as never before, how justly, from the dawn of history to the present time, men have paid the homage of their gratitude and admiration to the memory of those who nobly sacrifice their lives, that their fellow-men may live in safety and in honor. And if this tribute were ever due, to whom could it be more justly paid than to those whose last resting-place we this day commend to the blessing of Heaven and of men?” — Edward Everett, Gettysburg National Cemertery Thursday 19 November, 1863

< World Premiere > CORRADO MARGUTTI : Missa Lorca (for Baritone / SSATTB soli, & double SSATBB choir a cappella) Saturday 18 November, 2006 – St. Jacob's Church, Stockholm Astrum Music Publications, Slovenia, 2007 (AS 34.010/01) Texts : Federico Garcia Lorca & the Ordinary of the Mass

< World Premiere > ERNST PEPPING : Missa 'Dona nobis pacem' (for unaccompanied SATB-SATB div. choir) Wednesday 17 November, 1948 – Berlin Spandauer Kantorei, dir. Gottfried Grote Bärenreiter Verlag, 1949 (BA 2262) “The choral music of Ernst Pepping occupies an interesting place within the context of choral music in the 20th century. Pepping's compositional style has deep foundations in the lineage of German musical traditions, particularly those of the Protestant church, but does not remain tied to the limitations of the harmonic language of those Romantic traditions. ... Missa 'Dona Nobis Pacem' looks back in several ways to the traditional compositions of the mass that preceded it. In addition to imitative writing, a cappella scoring, and use of double choir, this Mass echoes the compositions of Giovanni Gabrielli & Heinrich Schütz.” – Dr. Matthew Tresler

< World Premiere > MAX REGER : Geistliche Gesänge, Op. 110, Nr. 1 – Motette „Mein Odem ist schwach“ (for unaccompanied SSATB div. choir) Saturday 13 November, 1909 – Leipzig, Germany Der Thomanerchor, cond. Kurt Kranz Ed. Bote & G. Bock, Berlin, 1909 ~

< World Premiere > PAUL HINDEMITH : Messe (for unaccompanied SATB div. choir) Tuesday 12 November, 1963 Church of Maria Treu, Vienna, Austria Wiener Kammerchor, cond. Paul Hindemith Schott Music GmbH & Co., 1963 (ED 5410) “It is obvious that this Mass is not Gebrauchsmusik as favored by Hindemith in earlier years. It is indeed the most difficult choral work he produced, and the most intense. Hindemith's contrapuntal idol was probably J. S. Bach, and this becomes apparent in the Mass with its intricate imitative patterns. But the total concept goes farther back than the Baroque to the Renaissance ideal of the individual line, and there are even outlines of plainchant incorporated in the texture. Further asymmetric elements include rhythmical permutations within the bar line and shifts of meter within a movement which serve to heighten the natural unmetered prosody of the text.” — Lewis Whikehart

< World Premiere > GABRIEL JACKSON : Requiem (for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir) Thursday 11 November, 2008 St-Martin-in-the-Fields, London Vasari Singers, dir. Jeremy Backhouse Oxford University Press, 2009 “My initial idea for the piece was to combine the solemn, hieratic grandeur of the great Iberian Requiems with something more personal, more intimate, even, that could reflect the individual, as well as the universal, experience of loss. So I have replaced the even-numbered movements of the standard Mass for the Dead with poems from other cultures and spiritual traditions so as to embrace a more wide-ranging perspective on human mortality than the traditional Christian one, though in the end all the texts express a similar view of death that it is not the end but the gateway to a better world. The resulting sequence of texts is radiantly optimistic, suffused as it is with images of light. One of the challenges for any composer writing a Requiem is to achieve the contrasts of texture and colour, of motion and stasis, that are necessary to sustain a multi-movement work when the overall mood is so restrained and reflective (and, indeed, when substantial amounts of text appear more than once). I have tried to adhere to my original inspiration in that the Latin movements are more objective, more purely architectural in construction than those with words in English.” — Gabriel Jackson

< World Premiere > MAX REGER : Motette „O Tod, wie bitter bist du“, Op. 110, Nr. 3 (for unaccompanied SSATB div. choir) Sunday 10 November, 1912 – Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany Kirchenchor St. Lukas, dir. Georg Stolz Edition Bote & Bock, 1912

< World Premiere > EDWARD ELGAR : Violin Concerto, Op. 61 Thursday 10 November, 1910 – Queen's Hall, London London Symphony Orchestra, cond. Edward Elgar Fritz Kreisler, Violin solo “The solo part is one of the most exhausting in the repertoire – a veritable compendium of bravura violin techniques, in which Elgar, despite all his inside knowledge, sought the help of W. H. Reed, later to become Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra. Reed and Elgar (at the piano) gave a run-through to a select group of listeners before the first performance proper. Kreisler also made small suggestions that were incorporated in the published score. In his interview, Kreisler had ranked Elgar with Beethoven and Brahms. Elgar met the challenge, and his 'Violin Concerto' combines the singing quality of Beethoven’s with the symphonic drama of Brahms’s.” — Adrian Jack