Dacw 'Nghariad (there is my love) is a beautful Welsh folk song that I discovered whilst working on a cantata for the Aldeburgh Festival based on the Welsh myth of Lyn y Fan Fach. The song is about longing; longing for something that is unreachable and distant, for the moment at least. � Gavin Higgins

The Book of Miracles is a recently discovered 16th Century German manuscript made up of 167 surviving sheets, depicting in vivid detail miraculous signs, natural catastrophes and Christian myths. Bookended with depictions of biblical events - including stories from the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation - and overflowing with striking images of comets, fantastical beasts, miracles, celestial apparitions and other astronomical events, the manuscript is both an exceptional and unique work of renaissance art but also a comprehensive record of natural and supernatural phenomenon from antiquity to middle of the 16th Century. This collection of visually arresting illustrations is steeped in European folklore - inextricable events are playfully depicted with chimerical and wondrous detail. These images are at once strikingly modern - existing somewhere outside of time - and yet inhabit a world of myth and superstition that are inevitably linked to Christian mythology. From these images I have drawn inspiration for the four movements of this concerto. The piece won an Ivor Novello Award in 2019.

When I first moved to Manchester at the age of sixteen I lived directly beside the large carpark where the Urbis Centre currently stands. For the duration of my time there however this area was a building site and so, for two years, the sounds of hammering metal and the rhythms of machinery dominated my world. Having recently arrived in Manchester from a very quiet rural area this soundtrack was completely new to me and, as a response, I wrote this virtuosic, but playful, percussion solo. � Gavin Higgins

Whilst working on The Faerie Bride for the Aldeburgh Festival - a cantata based on the Welsh legend of Lyn y Fan Fach - I became fascinated by the rich and elusive world of Welsh folk music. Some of the tunes I discovered found their way into the cantata, but I inadvertently found myself arranging others for solo violin. Many welsh folk tunes and airs are very ancient, stretching back to the time of Henry V, whilst others are more recent, being written in the 17 and 1800's. But no matter when these melodies originated, most Welsh folk songs fall into three main categories: songs of love, songs of nature, and songs of battle. The songs in this arrangement explore a broad range of subjects including unrequited love, loss, friendship, infidelity, and even one about a cat who's lost it's fur! � Gavin Higgins

Rough Voices was commissioned by Radio 3 for the 2020 BBC Proms - a strange festival in the middle of the pandemic where orchestras played to empty halls across the country. As I was writing the piece I came across the poem 'Tough' by Tony Walsh (born 1965, aka Longfella) - a battle cry for the working-class - and his words resonated with the music I was composing: They don't like it when we make it despite all their ifs and cuts; They don't like it when we take it as our right to shake things up; They don't like it when rough voices start demanding better choices; But it's tough, we've had enough and we are coming. Being from a working-class background myself I know how life changing music can be; and so I wanted to write an anthem for those communities. As the number of people living in poverty continues to rise and working-class voices are marginalised, it's more important than ever that we are heard. As such, Rough Voices is a rallying call to arms: we've had enough. And we are coming! The piece starts with a scream - of anger, frustration - that seems to interrupt a chorale played on strings. The 'interruptions' move into an insistent, incessant procession that drives relentlessly onwards. The 'scream' returns at the climax of the work, though now in a righteously indignant tone, before the chorale reappears, changed somewhat with echoes of the rhythmic pulse that dominated much of the piece. � Gavin Higgins

When I was young I inherited a large pile of my dad's old Beano annuals (a popular comic book in the UK) which, torch in hand, I would consume with relish under my bed sheets at night. There was something about the anarchic and wild nature of the comics that appealed to me as child and, if I'm being honest, continues to appeal to me as an adult. The onomatopoeic words that were delicious to say out loud (Boing! Splat! Paarp! Sluurp!); the diverse range of colourful characters (the Bash Street Kids, Billy the Whizz, Bananaman, and Dennis and his dog Gnasher); the seemingly endless adventures and stories that saw our heroes overcome challenges, get into trouble (and sometimes deal with the consequences) all fed my imagination. It's not often I'm asked to write a piece of music that is, at it's core, fun; but luckily I take writing 'fun' music very seriously! This Percussion Concerto is a colourful, whacky, fast-paced, tour-de-force for solo percussion and orchestra. The concerto features an array of unusual instruments for the soloist (opera gongs, tin cans, plastic buckets), but within the orchestra itself, if you listen carefully, you will also hear slide whistles, kazoos, dustbin lids, car horns, and even some squeaky dog toys! � Gavin Higgins

The Faerie Bride is a cantata for two singers and orchestra inspired by the Welsh myth of the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach. The Welsh 'lady of the lake' myths are just one of many 'watery wife' tales from northern Europe that include the Mermaids of Ireland, the Kelpie of Scotland, and the Selkie of the Shetlands and Scandinavia. However, in each of those the women are portrayed as either malevolent, has something magical stolen from them, or is captured by a man and kept in human form. The Faerie myths of Wales are unique in that the woman sets very clear conditions under which she agrees to marry the man (they shall not strike her three blows or hit her with clay) the breaking of which would result in her returning to the lake forever. The Welsh myths are empowering, with strong female characters who set their own agenda. There is no coercion, theft, or kidnap but rather misunderstandings and cultural differences. The Faerie Bride is about compromise and respect in relationships, suspicion and fear of the outsider, and the societal pressures to conform in insular communities, something this faerie refuses to do. � Gavin Higgins

Having grown up in an ex-mining community - beginning my musical training in the local brass bands in which my whole family continue to play - this music is close to my heart. Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra is a love letter to that music and those communities. Drawing on banding's cultural legacy and musical style it is a celebratory work that puts the brass band front and centre. Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra is a five movement piece in two parts. Part one looks at the mediums geographical, industrial, and socio-economic roots; whilst Part two explores musical aspects synonymous with the music: high lyricism and dazzling virtuosity. � Gavin Higgins

Fanfare, Air and Flourishes is a suite for solo horn made from three pieces written during the COVID-19 pandemic for different purposes. The first, 'Fanfare', was written to a commission from the Royal Academy of Music, who invited two hundred composers to write pieces for all of the instruments taught at the Academy in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the institution. 'Fanfare' leans into one particular aspect of the horn's personality: it's assertive, loud and urgent. The expression mark at the start is 'bold and brassy'. 'Air' celebrates the horn's mellow tone; semplice espressivo is the instruction at the start of the piece and the horn plays a melody as expressive as anything you'd hear as a solo in a brass band. 'Flourish', the third piece, was a commission from BBC Radio 3 during lockdown. Rising melodies - or flourishes - run up and down the horn, returning even more elaborately after a simpler middle section. Flourish was written at the same time as Gavin was writing The Faerie Bride, and these flourishes appear in the oratorio to mark the turn of the seasons.

The Faerie Bride is a cantata for two singers and orchestra inspired by the Welsh myth of the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach. The Welsh 'lady of the lake' myths are just one of many 'watery wife' tales from northern Europe that include the Mermaids of Ireland, the Kelpie of Scotland, and the Selkie of the Shetlands and Scandinavia. However, in each of those the women are portrayed as either malevolent, has something magical stolen from them, or is captured by a man and kept in human form. The Faerie myths of Wales are unique in that the woman sets very clear conditions under which she agrees to marry the man (they shall not strike her three blows or hit her with clay) the breaking of which would result in her returning to the lake forever. The Welsh myths are empowering, with strong female characters who set their own agenda. There is no coercion, theft, or kidnap but rather misunderstandings and cultural differences. The Faerie Bride is about compromise and respect in relationships, suspicion and fear of the outsider, and the societal pressures to conform in insular communities, something this faerie refuses to do. � Gavin Higgins

Fanfare, Air and Flourishes is a suite originally for solo horn made from three pieces written during the COVID-19 pandemic for different purposes. The first, 'Fanfare', was written to a commission from the Royal Academy of Music, who invited two hundred composers to write pieces for all of the instruments taught at the Academy in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the institution. 'Fanfare' leans into one particular aspect of the horn's personality: it's assertive, loud and urgent. The expression mark at the start is 'bold and brassy'. 'Air' celebrates the horn's mellow tone; semplice espressivo is the instruction at the start of the piece and the horn plays a melody as expressive as anything you'd hear as a solo in a brass band. 'Flourish', the third piece, was a commission from BBC Radio 3 during lockdown. Rising melodies - or flourishes - run up and down the horn, returning even more elaborately after a simpler middle section. Flourish was written at the same time as Gavin was writing The Faerie Bride, and these flourishes appear in the oratorio to mark the turn of the seasons.

Having been a horn player my whole life, it's perhaps surprising it has taken me so long to write a piece for my instrument. But in my 40th year I felt finally ready to write a horn concerto. When thinking about this piece I went back to my roots. I grew up surrounded by trees in the Forest of Dean, at the borderland between England and Wales, and have been fascinated by woodlands ever since. Though abstract, this piece - in three movements - is an exploration of forests and trees and the undergrowth. The first movement entitled Understorey (pertaining to life on the forest floor) begins slowly in the key of E? - a nod to the opening of the Ring Cycle's evocation of nature; but also a reference to some of the most famous horn concertos by Strauss and Mozart. The second movement Overstorey (life in the canopy) begins 'like falling leaves' and features expressive horn solos against sparse orchestration. The third and final movement is entitled Mycelium Rondo (the network of fungal hyphae - affectionately known as the Wood Wide Web - that connects all forest plant life). Like all good horn concertos - and as the title suggests - this movement takes the form of a rondo. � Gavin Higgins

Illuminations, Fanfare Sinfonia is an optimistic, colorful, virtuosic, and vivid "Gratitude Fanfare." Encoded in the music are the rhythms of words. For example, the first two notes of the piece encode "Thank You!" There are many two-note "thank you" figures played throughout the composition whereby each player keeps adding onto the collection of "thank you" messages. The three-short-note-motive encodes the word "Grat-i-tude." The timpanist plays a main motive for which the encoded words are "We give you our gratitude." The composition, full of variations of the timpani motive, portrays an accumulation of appreciativeness.

This edition marks the first publication of Rontgen's Toccata. This work was discovered while digging through countless manuscripts of solo piano music in the Rontgen Archives at the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague in 2019 (catalogue No.107/087). The work is undated and has never been published. It is titled Toccata and has no dedication or other information regarding it's creation (date or location). Given the relative neatness of the manuscript, it is presumed that the composer intended it's publication. It's style suggests being composed during Rontgen's mature period, certainly after the first decade of the 20th Century. It is the only known stand-alone Toccata in Rontgen's output. In the present edition, editorial markings are in brackets, and fingering is by the editor. All pedal indications are by the composer unless otherwise indicated. � Mark Anderson

Abracadabra (Suncatchers) was co-commissioned by Aspen Music Festival and School, Robert Spano, Music Director and Oberlin class of 1984, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Abracadabra (Suncatchers) unfolds across 15-minutes a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the world-class musicians of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and superstar conductor Timothy Weiss.

Julius Rontgen's Passacaglia and Fugue dates from 1911 but was not published until 2007 by Friedrich Hofmeisterverlag, Leipzig (FH3247). While studying and preparing the work for recording from the first edition, I discovered significant and numerous errors and decided that a second edition was necessary. The manuscripts for the Passacaglia and Fugue reside in the Rontgen Archives in the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague. The catalogue numbers associated with this work are 107/027A (MS1), 107/027B (MS2) and 107/027C (MS3), each being a complete version. In preparing this edition, the latter version (107/027C) was used as the primary source as there is a clear progression of reworking and detail evident beginning with version A and ending with C. One obvious difference between the first edition (Hofmeister) and the present edition is the inclusion of four missing measures, m.217-220, that have been restored in this score. These measures are included in multiple versions of the manuscript, namely 107/027B and C. Editorial suggestions, such as metronome indications, are in brackets. Unless otherwise indicated, fingering and hand distribution suggestions are editorial. With some minor exceptions, pedal indications are by the composer. This is a major solo piano work from the early 20th Century that is a significant addition to the piano literature. This work demonstrates Rontgen's great artistry and expressive character and deserves a wider audience. I hope other pianists find this monumental piece important and feel compelled to perform it. � Mark Anderson

This edition marks the first publication of Rontgen's Sonata in C Minor (1911). This work was discovered while visiting the Rontgen Archives at the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague in 2019. Being previously unpublished and unrecorded, I am grateful to Rik Hendriks at the Netherlands Music Institute for his assistance and unrestricted access to Rontgen's manuscripts. There is a single manuscript source for this work (NMI Catalogue No.107/017). It is neatly penned, and great care has been taken in it's detail. This manuscript contains no corrected notes, scratched-out errors, or pencilled-in changes. Clearly, Rontgen prepared this work for publication, but he never saw that realized. It is a single-movement sonata that should interest both pianists and musicologists. The textures, form and expressive qualities are well defined, and I believe it deserves a wider audience. I hope other pianists find the work intriguing and feel compelled to perform it. Fingering, metronome suggestions and hand re-distribution suggestions are editorial. All pedal indications are by the composer. � Mark Anderson

Composing for voice is a passion for me, and as a result the largest part of my catalogue is music for voice. The human voice - possibly the most subtle, complex, and fragile yet forceful carrier of musical ideas and meanings - has always been an inspiration for my musical thinking. I strive for craft, clarity, and passion. The carefully sculpted music and poems of Far Past War develop a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the choir and musicians in a virtuosic display of their emotional palette, strength, clarity, and majesty. The opportunity to collaborate with my sister, Cammy Thomas, has been a highlight of my life. Music's eternal quality is it's capacity for transformation and renewal. Together, we have created a work that celebrates the unsurpassed power of nature, and it's potential to move us toward peace.

Words that leap to mind when I think of the sun include universal, energy, qi, ripples, vitality, life, spirituality, hope, renewal, radiance, and braids of light. "Plaits", "bridges", and "links" all function both as nouns and verbs. The dimensional meanings and images of the combination of the four words propelled the spiraling invention and creation of Sun Plaits - Bridges and Links. Across a 5-minute duration, the composition unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the soloist in a joyous, virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, double-stops (playing 2 notes at once), counterpoint, energy, dynamic range, timbre, clarity, and majesty. Throughout the kaleidoscopic journey, the work passes through several lively and lyrical episodes, never losing it's sense of radiance, effervescence, and expressiveness. The abundance of double-stops symbolizes "links" while the sparkling, fast-moving lines, which reach in all directions, fly out across the piece like "bridges." Musical materials are braided in dimensional ways like "sun plaits." � Augusta Read Thomas

Over the past forty-five years, I have composed many works whose titles point to natural and celestial radiances: galaxy, star, sun, earth, moon, sky, light, dawn, illumination, equinox, summer, etc. One central metaphor of my life's creative work is that of light refracting. Of interest to me, for my work, is to build, sculpt, and compose clean, clear, transparent, translucent, luminous, radiant, shining, resounding, and resonant musical materials. Solstice Ritual for 14 virtuosi shares many of these preoccupations. Solstice Ritual also pays homage to the composers Edgard Var�se and Maurice Ravel, and it celebrates their imagination, joy, love, vitality, soul, energy, great chords and rich chord progressions, resonant orchestrations, tight big-band-like splash-chords, and the sheer beating-heart inner life of their music. I love all of their compositions, and to give just two examples among many, Var�se's percussion writing and Ravel's gorgeous orchestrations have been longstanding sources of inspiration. - Augusta Read Thomas

The word "mobile" denotes both the noun (a decorative structure that is suspended so as to turn freely in the air) as well as the adjective (lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; animated, travelling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and on the move). On this mobile, three circa 4-minute dances are hanging. Between them are moments floating in the air until the suspended mobile is activated and set into motion. To be performed with dancers when feasible. Dance Mobile is a spin-off of material Augusta developed in her much longer ballet. Commissioned by the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Eastman School of Music.

Relatively speaking, bassoon concerti are rare. CARNIVAL shows off different attributes of the instrument and soloist with inventive music that seamlessly embraces lyrical, jazzy, spirited, stately, expressive, and many other qualities. This music is fun to play because it is engaging to bring to life Thomas' distinctive, personal, clever sonic-storytelling.

Inspired by Isaiah Zagar, award-winning mosaic mural artist of Magic Gardens in Philadelphia, my thanks are given with this composition for Zagar's montage of humankind's mutual celebration of life, creativity, human experiences of justice, love, joy, emotional health, knowledge, and beauty; and for insights into the nature of expression and of being. Music's eternal quality is it's capacity for change, transformation and renewal. I am honored and thrilled to have received to a Musical Fund Society McCollin Commission and send my gratitude to the Fund and to the Rolston String Quartet for their commitments to music's renewals. Movement #1 is in celebration of Naava and Sanford Grossman. Movement #2 is in celebration of Jeanne Guillemin.

Thomas said, "Music is akin to an infinite alphabet." Weaving together two texts, originally written in two different alphabets (about 800 years apart,) Freedom To be Free and Sky Bound unfolds and develops an elegant, resonant, graceful dialogue between Parks' "Freedom" and Rumi's "Love". Textual and musical braids embody Thomas' notion of "infinite alphabet." Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement." Parks received countless recognitions, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic. Like other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, Rumi's poetry speaks of love which infuses the world. This is made explicit in Rumi's verse (not included in this composition) that describes love as "that flame which, when it blazes up, burns away everything except the Everlasting Beloved." � Augusta Read Thomas

Across Shakespeare's Jesters' 9-minute duration, the composition unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the musicians in a virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic range, timbre, clarity, and majesty. Throughout the kaleidoscopic journey, the work passes through many lively and colorful episodes, never losing it's sense of dance, caprice, and effervescence. Shakespeare's Jesters'falls loosely into three arcs played without a pause. The opening three minutes is an exposition of animated materials with rhythmic vitality featuring contrapuntal hockets that ping-pong between players. Following are three contrapuntal phrases (lasting respectively 60, 120, and 90 seconds) throughout which the musical ingredients are further transformed and elaborated. The final 120 seconds, a mischievous caper. � Augusta Read Thomas