Night Dances
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Night Dances
''Night Dances'' is one of the first compositions for orchestra written by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage. It was written in 1981 and was awarded the Guinness Prize for composition that year. Background ''Night Dances'' was composed in 1981 and was the first piece to grant Turnage notoriety among composers and musicians. Even though he was strongly influenced by his teacher, Oliver Knussen, at the Royal College of Music, Turnage tried to "evoke feelings and emotions" after first coming in contact with Black music and, especially, Miles Davis's music. The piece was premiered on February 1, 1982 at St John's, Smith Square by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Simon Bainbridge. It was published in 1987 by Schott. Structure This suite for orchestra is divided into four movements and takes around 14 minutes to perform. The scoring can be divided into three groups: first, a full orchestra (two flutes, two piccolos, two clarinets in B-flat, a bassoon, two horns, a ...
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Orchestral Suite
A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with a prelude, by the early 17th century. The separate movements were often thematically and tonally linked. The term can also be used to refer to similar forms in other musical traditions, such as the Turkish fasıl and the Arab nuubaat. In the Baroque era, the suite was an important musical form, also known as ''Suite de danses'', ''Ordre'' (the term favored by François Couperin), ''Partita'', or ''Ouverture'' (after the theatrical "overture" which often included a series of dances) as with the orchestral suites of Christoph Graupner, Telemann and J.S. Bach. During the 18th century, the suite fell out of favour as a cyclical form, giving way to the symphony, sonata and concerto. It was revived in the later 19th century, but in a different ...
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Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music. Biography Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of Music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert (composer), John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller. He also has been strongly influenced by jazz, in particular by the work of Miles Davis, and has composed works featuring jazz performers, including John Scofield, Peter Erskine, John Patitucci, and Joe Lovano. Turnage has composed numerous orchestral and chamber music, chamber works, and three full-length operas. ''Greek (opera), Greek'', composed with the encouragement of Hans Werner Henze and first performed in 1988 at the Munich Biennale, is based on Steven Berkoff's adaptation of ''Oedipus Rex''. ''The Silver Tassie (opera), The Silver Tassie'', first perform ...
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String Quintet
A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet") or a second cello (a "cello quintet"), or occasionally a double bass. Notable examples of classic "viola quintets", in four movement form include those of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Other examples were written by composers including Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn. A famous "cello quintet" is Franz Schubert's Quintet in C major. Antonín Dvořák's Quintet Op. 77 uses a double bass, and Mozart's famous '' Eine kleine Nachtmusik'' may be performed with this instrumentation (the double bass being optional). Alternative additions include clarinet or piano (see clarinet quintet, piano quintet); and other closely related chamber music genres include the string quartet (much more common), the string trio, and the string sextet. A ...
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Guinness Prize
Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to . In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually. The Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over 20 million visitors. Guinness's flavour derives from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley, a relatively modern development, not becoming part of the grist until the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness's palate still features a characteristic "tang", the company has re ...
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Oliver Knussen
Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor. Early life Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and also participated in a number of premieres of Benjamin Britten's music. Oliver Knussen studied composition with John Lambert between 1963 and 1969, and also received encouragement from Britten. He spent several summers studying with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood in Massachusetts and in Boston. Musical life Knussen began composing at about the age of six; an ITV programme about his father's work with the London Symphony Orchestra prompted the commissioning for his first symphony (1966–1967). Aged 15, Knussen stepped in to conduct his symphony's première at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 7 April 1968, after István Kertész fell ill. After his debut, Daniel Barenboim asked him to conduct the work's first two movements in New York a ...
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Royal College Of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performance, composition, conducting, music theory and history. The RCM also undertakes research, with particular strengths in performance practice and performance science. The college is one of the four conservatories of the ABRSM, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and a member of Conservatoires UK. Its buildings are directly opposite the Royal Albert Hall on Prince Consort Road, next to Imperial College and among the museums and cultural centres of Albertopolis. History Background The college was founded in 1883 to replace the short-lived and unsuccessful National Training School for Music (NTSM). The school was the result of an earlier proposal by the Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Con ...
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Black Music
Black music is a sound created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Latin music, Brazilian music and African-American music. These genres include spiritual, gospel, rumba, blues, bomba, rock and roll, rock, jazz, salsa, R&B, samba, calypso, soca, soul, kwaito, cumbia, funk, ska, reggae, dub reggae, house, Detroit techno, amapiano, hip hop, pop, gqom, afrobeat, and others. Background Many genres of music originate from communities that have visible roots in Africa. In North America, it was a way that the early slaves could express themselves and communicate when they were being forcibly relocated and when there were restrictions on what cultural activities they could pursue. The sorrows of song were the only freedom slaves had working on cotton fields, and overall through labor tactics. This burden of s ...
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Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, Davis left to study at Juilliard in New York City, before dropping out and making his professional debut as a member of saxophonist Charlie Parker's bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948. Shortly after, he recorded the ''Birth of the Cool'' sessions for Capitol Records, which were instrumental to the development of cool jazz. In the early 1950s, Davis recorded some of the earliest hard bop music while on Prestige Records but did so haphazardly due to a heroin addiction. After a widely acclaimed comeback performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, he signed a long-term contract wi ...
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St John's, Smith Square
St John's Smith Square is a redundant church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Sold to a charitable trust as a ruin following firebombing in the Second World War, it was restored as a concert hall. This Grade I listed church was designed by Thomas Archer and was completed in 1728 as one of the so-called Fifty New Churches. It is regarded as one of the finest works of English Baroque architecture, and features four corner towers and monumental broken pediments. It is often referred to as ' Queen Anne's Footstool' because as legend has it, when Archer was designing the church he asked the Queen what she wanted it to look like. She kicked over her footstool and said 'Like that!', giving rise to the building's four corner towers. History In 1710, the long period of Whig domination of British politics ended as the Tories swept to power under the rallying cry of "The Church in Danger". Under the Tories' plan to strengthen the position of the Anglican Church an ...
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London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—giving the world premiere of Sir John Tavener’s ''The Whale''—the London Sinfonietta's commitment to making new music has seen it commission over 300 works, and premiere many hundreds more. The core of the London Sinfonietta is its 18 Principal Players. In September 2013 the ensemble launched its Emerging Artists Programme. The London Sinfonietta's recordings comprise a catalogue of 20th-century classics, on numerous labels as well as the ensemble's own London Sinfonietta Label. Directors David Atherton and Nicholas Snowman founded the orchestra in 1968. Atherton was its first music director, from 1968 to 1973 and again from 1989 to 1991. Snowman was its general manager from 1968 to 1972. Michael Vyner served as the artistic directo ...
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Simon Bainbridge
Simon Bainbridge (30 August 1952 – 2 April 2021) was a British composer. He was also a professor and head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and visiting professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. Biography Bainbridge was born in London. He had his first major break with ''Spirogyra'', written in 1970 while he was still a student. This work displays a passion for intricate and sensuous textures that remained the hallmark of Bainbridge's style. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. After graduating from the Royal College of Music, he studied with Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood; his fondness for American culture was occasionally portrayed in works such as ''Concerto in Moto Perpetuo'' (1983), which contains echoes of American minimalism, and the be-bop inspired ''For Miles'' (1994). In the 1990s, his work took on a new expressive dimension such as in ''Ad Ora Incerta'' (1994) which earned him the G ...
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Schott Music
Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz in 1770. Schott Music is one of the world's leading music publishers. It represents many important composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, and its publishing catalogue contains some 31,000 titles on sale and over 10,000 titles on hire. The repertoire ranges from complete editions, stage and concert works to general educational literature, fine sheet music editions and multimedia products. In addition to the publishing houses of Panton, Ars-Viva, Ernst Eulenburg, Fürstner, Cranz, Atlantis Musikbuch and Hohner-Verlag, the Schott group also includes two recording labels, Wergo (for new music) and Intuition (for Jazz), as well as eight specialist magazines. The Schott Music group also includes the printing ...
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