Additional information
Publisher | Faber Music |
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ISBN | 0571517315 |
Primary composer/editor/arranger | Benjamin, George |
Published date | 18/09/1997 |
Forces | Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Celesta |
£9.99
In George Benjamin’s masterful transcription of Henry Purcell’s Fantazia No.7 (19 June 1680) the music is transposed up a fifth into G minor; otherwise not a note is altered. To match the celeste’s ethereal timbre the other instruments play very quietly throughout; the clarinettist is asked to produce that very pure sound known as ‘echo tone’, while the violin and cello are confined almost entirely to harmonics and pizzicato. This 5-minute piece has a formal scheme of five short ‘movements’: a slow contrapuntal opening, giving way to a faster-moving section; a central chordal passage; a second fast contrapuntal section and a brief slow coda.
‘The Fantasia sounded completely unusual in Benjamin’s adaptation: strange, lacerated and frayed. Wonderful evidence of Purcell’s modernity.’
Die Welt (Stephan Hoffmann), 22 March 1996
Publisher | Faber Music |
---|---|
ISBN | 0571517315 |
Primary composer/editor/arranger | Benjamin, George |
Published date | 18/09/1997 |
Forces | Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Celesta |