Thomas Buchholz: Four Chamber Symphonies

THE MUSIC - You have no idea the silly translations I have gone through to get you some information. So silly, that the sentences make no sense at all. Who pays these people? Anyway, this is interesting music but I don't know how to write about it. As things go the chamber symphonies of Thomas Buchholz are for the adventurous music listener only; such a listener will have a good time with this music - and it is music.

"Press: FANFARE 11/12 1998 - Prolific Thomas Buchholz (b.1961) has written 10 chamber symphonies, along with many other works.

"No. 6, “death joint,” comes from 1994, while Seven through Nine all were written in 1995. Chamber Symphony No. 6 contains NO fugue into the normally scythe, though its texture is extremely linear. A theme, too, runs throughout, appearing in different forces after being introduced in bassoon. The short theme's contour is almost exhaustively chromatic, like a 12-tone melody, but I doubt Buchholz used that process here. The piece proceeds into restrained waves of activity, and each voice of the ensemble is constantly audible. The bemused, unfocused nature of the piece contradicts the expressionist fear one might expect from the headlines (meaning “Death Fugue”). This “death” more closely resembles dissolution.

"Chamber Symphony No. 7, “ex-Sequi,” takes as its special musical starting point the words of the musical Exequies,“found on the 17th-century sarcophagus of Heinrich Reuss. Buchholz employs harpsichord as one direct connection to the past, though its use recalls Ligeti's practice rather than Corelli's. Passages of tonally harmonic progression or cadences thus provide the tones of the early Baroque. The disconnected phrases present in “death joint” show up here as wave. The fifth movemcnt calls for a speaker intoning the Latin Credo (I think) in 12 phrases. Though the piece of center on the D pitch, there really is no overriding sense of key.

"Chamber Symphony No. 8, “ellipse:” features a concertino of harpsichord and bassoon, and orchestra of Baroque character. The two groups progress with vastly different material that occasionally intersects. When one sound world meets the other, the effect feels almost transdimensional. The Baroque variations of Lucas Foss might be a model, though the material that Buchholz assigns to the concertino group is original, faux Baroque. The resulting combination of styles is charmingly bizarre.

"Chamber Symphony No. 9 features thc theorbo, a big lute from the Renaissance. Normally a continuo instrument, it acquires a soloist's role in Buchholz's piece. Again, the orchestra and soloist exist mostly on different levels with occasional cross-pollination ofF material. The less derivatives lute part sets this piece distinctively from Chamber Symphony No. 8; though Buchholz borrows from the past here, he attempts to create a larger, quasi Baroque of passages, opting instead for inference and allusion. This piece contains on actual old hymn, tbough, unlike No. 8, Buchholz's incorporation of external sources and stylistic flexibility, in addition to small scale structural discontinuity, places his aesthetic philosophy into the grand modern tradition. (Robert Kirzinger - even so the previous is heavily edited by moi)

CD (Thorophon CTH 2380) is used but in unblemished sonic condition. Please see scans for more information.

STORY FOR YOU - Igor Stravinsky was once offered $4000.00 to write a film score. He declined saying that it was not enough money. The Hollywood producer commented that another serious composer agreed to write a score for that sum. Igor said, "He is much more talented than I am. I would have to work harder." The haggling continued until a more sizeable sum was agreed upon. After which the producer announced to a friend of his: "Now I've learned that the musical scale begins and ends with dough." (from Dudley Moore's "Off Beat - a Musical Companion.")

THE PARTICULARS - First class domestic postage for one CD is $2.00 - for two CDs,$ 2.50 - for three CDs, $3.10 - For 4 CDs, 4.95 (flat rate box). 5 CDs and up will be sent at cost (which is what the previous numbers are). Priority (domestic) shipping for one to 3 CDs is $4.95 - four or more CDs, shipped at cost. Overseas shipping: with the case, 1 CD,$ 5.00 - 2 CDs, $7.40 - 3 or more CDs, at cost; without the case (in cardboard folder), 1 CD, $1.50 - 2 CDs, $2.50 - 3 or more CDs, at cost.

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