Perusal scores available on request

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Banteay Srei

1988 (appx. 15’)

2.1.1.1 – 0.2.1.0 hp, celeste, 3 perc., – 0.0.3.2.1
First perf as ballet “Wild Child”, part of “Prince Albert’s Vision”, Britten Theatre, London (1990).

Banteay Srei is an exquisite temple complex only a few miles north of the great Cambodian city of Angkor. The name mean ‘Citadel of the women’ and it is so-called because of its graceful design and petite proportions.

 

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Prambanam – Concerto for Oboe d’amore, Trombone, Percussion and 22 solo strings 

1991 (appx 15’)
solo oboe d’amore, solo trombone, solo percussion, 9vv, 6vla, 5 vc, 2db

The greatest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia is Prambanam. This triple concerto takes both the narrative of the temple and the actual physical structure as a source for its musical construction.

Published by Warwick Music. Music available from the publisher at http://www.warwickmusic.com/Main-Catalogue/Sheet-Music/Trombone/Tenor-Trombone/Tenor-Trombone-Orchestra/Edlin-Prambanam-TB055

 

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But Life Changed

1999 (appx. 35’)

solo flute, solo bass-clarinet, solo horn
2.oboe d’amore.2.1 – 1.1.1.0, – guitar, hp, pno, 2 perc. – 7vv, 4vla, 2vc, 1db

This substantial work is inspired by the chiastic designs that Bach uses in his passions, most particularly the St John Passion. It is composed in a quasi triple concerto type style and the solo parts are highly virtuosic.

 

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Three Old Gramophones

2005 (appx.15’)

solo bassoon
2 (I + picc., bass fl, II + bass fl).1.2 (I + picc.Eb cl, II + bass cl).sop sax Bb.1 – 1.2.1.0, – pno/harm, 2/3 perc. – 4.4.3.3.1

Programme note:

Three Old Gramophones examines symbolism in music, principally in two ways. Firstly, it presents music that appears ‘familiar’ in a generally unmodified way. Secondly, it envelops this music with another layer of sonorities that may appear recognisable, though not necessarily in the context in which it is heard. Three Old Gramophones uses both ‘private’ and ‘shared’ symbolism. ‘Two Gentlemen in Japan’ re-works the overture to The Mikado, manipulating it to sound rather more like genuine Japanese Gagaku court music. This ‘shared’ element examines Edlin’s personal political stance that the West has often abused its relationship with the East. Sousa’s composition El Capitan was (apparently) the last piece to be played as the Titanic sank. El Capitan’s famous demise envelops this piece with fragments of familiar ‘sea related’ pieces. The final piece has several subtexts: principally a re-enactment of a scene in a story by Gabriel García Marquez, where an old woman retells her youthful memories to her granddaughter as they listen to a quasi-Hispanic tune on an old ‘78’. On another level, it also pays a personal tribute to a life tragically cut short. The score also explores new techniques in instrumental timbres and new approaches to notation, where individual musicians ‘lead’ varying groups of instruments, while the conductor maintains an overview of proceedings.  © Paul Max Edlin 2005

 

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Don - Cello Concerto

2006 (appx.34’)

solo cello and orchestra: 1(+ alt.fl).1.1.1 – 1.1.1.0, – hp, perc, – 5vv, 2vla, 1vc, 1db
First perf. St. John’s Waterloo, Gabriella Swallow, Southbank Sinfonia, cond. Nicholas Cleobury 

Programme note:
Don continues a theme of symbolism that permeates and guides so many of my compositions. In this instance it explores certain moral issues in a somewhat enigmatic way, while exploiting the distinct nature of the concerto medium. Indeed it is the master/servant relationship, in which the soloist both guides and follows those around it, that stimulates much of the musical argument. The use of a semi-solo bassoon part acts as a ‘doppelganger’ as well as allowing for that ‘master/servant’ relationship to be explored (hence the title Don as in Don Giovanni and Don Quixote, etc.) The ‘solo role’ in any concerto has dramatic connotations, but it must reach beyond ‘pure theatre’ even if it embraces it. This cello part is hugely virtuosic, as are many of the passages the other instrumentalists have to play.

The harmonic impetus stems from the opening chord to the central movement of Bartok’s fourth string quartet – a chord built up of two whole-tone triads which together form a diatonic hexachord. This particular chord, composer and quartet are important to me. There is an inherent symmetry of Bartok’s chord – and the way in which it is expanded as the movement progresses. My work expands it, and symmetrically too, but delves into the world of microtones and harmonies that allude to other cultures. Issues of ‘convergence’ and ‘divergence’ form the basis of the concerto, with the principals of two differing groups (cello and bassoon) responding to the harmonic realms established by each other. While the cello continually sets the pace, its own musical material evolves and adapts as a result of varying ‘influences’ from others. Political issues can be alluded to, of course. Not least in the suggestion that interaction of seeming opposites can share common ground through debate. Bartok’s own music is particularly apposite to use in this way. The renowned musicologist Theodore Adorno pointed out that Bartok’s music ‘spans the gulf between, on the one hand, the ahistorical, epic ‘natural community of the pre-industrial world where the ‘individual’ is represented by the hero… and, on the other hand, the highly industrialised societies of the modern world, within which the individual … exists in a state of alienation’.  © Paul Max Edlin 2007

 

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Requiem Fragment – The trumpet, scattering its terrible cry…

2006 (appx. 2’15’’)

2clar., 2bsn, 2tpt, 3tbn, timp, org, strings

This short work was commissioned for a special performance of Mozart’s Requiem on the anniversary of his death. It is designed to precede the Tuba Mirum.

 

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A Chain of Wonders

2010 (appx. 8 mins)
1,1,1,1 – 1,1,1 – perc, pno, – 1,1,1,1,1

Programme note:

A Chain of Wonders takes the listener on an imaginary tour of special and exotic places, usually in nocturnal settings. The very opening borrows from an earlier piece of mine called The Sphinx at Night, itself inspired from an evocative watercolour of the famous Egyptian sphinx under a canopy of stars by Edwardian artist Walter Tyndale. Thereafter, we venture into a set of places that exist only in the mind’s eye. There are certainly places that generate excitement and fear, there are places of gentle solitude, places that allude to grandeur and others of turmoil and finally a place that is surely hot and close in atmosphere and climate, welcoming and comforting, and a place where one would be happy to stay. The piece is short – no longer than some eight minutes.  © Paul Max Edlin 2010

 

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…and of transformations

2018 (appx 21’)

1,1,1,1 – 2,0,1,0 – perc, harp, celeste guitar, – 1,1,1,1,1

Programme Note: 

The temple complex of Preah Khan is part of the vast area known as ‘Angkor’ in Cambodia. Much information can be found about the temple complex of Preah Khan, built by the exceptional God King Jayavarman VII. The history of the ancient Khmer civilisation, and the surreal, mysterious and magnificent temples of Angkor itself, have long caught my imagination. In this regard, I had written a series of large-scale works based on the architectural designs as well as encrypting the pieces with a set of relative information. Angkor, in effect, had become an obsessional source of extra-musical inspiration. However, it was not until 2017 that I actually visited Cambodia and saw ‘in person’ these wondrous temples. It was as if I was visiting a number of pen friends. I knew every temple so well, even if I had never seen them before ‘in the flesh’.

I felt a need to return ‘musically’ to Angkor and to respond to what I had seen. Of all the extraordinary sights, Preah Khan left a new and immensely strong impression. This was a place I knew about, but its specialness had never been made quite so clear. Books generally refer to the unique two-storey pavilion with its almost Romanesque columns, no doubt because they initially appear more ‘European’. However, there is nothing remotely of the ‘West’, and its neighbouring ‘Hall of Dancers’ bears some of the most exquisite bas reliefs in all of Angkor. Similarly, the mix of man made and now ‘natural’ architecture is exemplified by the way in which trees and buildings entwine, as if purposefully juxtaposed by a surrealist artist. I know that I will never forget standing in what still seems like a surreal and other worldly part of the complex, surrounded by mysterious buildings encrusted in fine and ornate bas reliefs. That was a literal ‘dream’ in a day’s reality. The mix of man and nature is surreal, for sure.

The curious thing I found was that while my music had moved on, I returned to the same schemes of creating ciphers and designing musical structures I had adopted twenty to thirty years ago. I realised that these compositional tools were ‘within’ my natural way of thinking. The fact that I had now seen Angkor in reality, as opposed to through illustrated books, ultimately made little actual difference to the creative spur the inspiration ignited. Yet there is a difference, which I can acknowledge. To attempt to recreate a ground plan, a physical structure that can be viewed from an infinite number of angles, through the necessary medium of a single musical pathway, plus the heady atmosphere of a moment in time is impossible. All we can ever do is evoke a perceived mystery or atmosphere and ‘report’ aspects of an inspiration.

Preah Khan has a famous stele with inscriptions that tell of the gods it invokes, the context of the temple and its relationship with the God King. The opening lines translate as "The Lord (bhagaván) is divided, for his body is the Body of the Law, the Body of Enjoyment, and the Body of Transformations". From here evolves the title of this work, which is ultimately all about transformations.

This sound version is for reference and was created using Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional.  © Paul Max Edlin 2018

 

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Duello Romano – Concerto for Trumpet, Percussion and 10 Strings

2020 (appx 13’)

Solo Trumpet, Solo Percussion, strings (4 violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos, 1 bass)

Programme Note: 

This short concertante style work derives from a short piece for solo trumpet, Gone in 60 Seconds, commissioned by Oxford Festival of the Arts for trumpeter Brendan Ball. I was so inspired by Brendan’s virtuoso performance that I decided to create a larger piece using the same musical material. The principal motif is a three-note pattern that literally spirals in varying directions.

Pitted against the trumpet is a percussion part that literally duels and spars, with the two players 'jousting' with each other. The strings act as both a backdrop, a resonating chamber and as a partner, though always responding directly to the musical material presented by the main protagonist – the trumpet. A perpetual energy is the final result, either in dramatic or more tranquil sections.

This work was composed during the Christmas period of 2020.  © Paul Max Edlin 2020

 

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A New Horizon 

2021 (appx 1’)

Solo Piccolo Trumpet in A, strings 

Programme Note: 

This work, commissioned by London Chamber Orchestra for its centenary season and for soloist Alison Balsom, explores ideas of new horizons while basing the notes of the music on the names of the performers (Alison Balsom – hence so many As and Bs in the solo trumpet part) and LCO, either using their initials of their names or in full.  Therefore the piece becomes an extemporisation on the names of the very people to first play it.  Optimistic in tone, with a mix of cultural influences embedded within, it is designed to represent the internationalism of this orchestra – one that only in 2019 toured the Far-East. The work is dedicated to Alison and the LCO.  © Paul Max Edlin 2021

 

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New Horizons – Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra

2022 (appx 15’)

Trumpet solo (trumpet in C, piccolo trumpet & flugelhorn), 1,2,1,1 - 2,1,0,0 – 1 perc - strings

Programme Note: 

I was about to move country, to new horizons, and this work grew out of a shorter earlier work as a result. The short piece I wrote for Alison Balsom and the London Chamber Orchestra in celebration of the LCO’s 100th birthday had further to go. It does so in this concerto. Cast in a single movement but in a symmetrical form of seven sections, complete with a cadenza, the work was composed between England and Italy, as I was travelling backwards and forwards from country to country. It strikes a new path in its style, and is, dare I say it, more ‘open’ in its musical language.  I have no doubt that the openness of the Italian people and the landscape I knew I would be moving to had an impact on the music’s overall impression. And, of course, being a trumpeter, I wanted to write a solo concerto that responded to the instrument I know most of all, and reflect many of the works and styles I have worked with as a trumpeter. The soloist plays three different trumpets, a standard trumpet in Bb or C, a piccolo trumpet and flugelhorn, which has the most mellow and beguiling of sonorities. © Paul Max Edlin 2022

 

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Piano Concerto No. 1

2023 (appx 20’)

I - calmo, simpatico e sereno
II - veloce, giocoso e furioso / serioso e sfacciata / veloce, giocoso e furioso / energico e bruto
III - sereno e quasi nebbia 

Piano solo, 1,1,1,1 - 2,0,0,0 – 1 perc - strings

Programme Note: 

This concerto is the first significant work composed having moved to Italy – to start a totally new life. There is a new-found peace in this work, even if the second movement is intentionally exciting. The music's harmonies are more open and purposefully beautiful, and lines move with grace rather than any angularity. 

The concerto, cast in three movements, has no programmatic intent, but there is a clear musical journey, based on a mix of dialogue between soloist and orchestra, where ideas bounce back and forth, and where independence of spirit is always evident, suggesting that the two characters (so to speak) are always good companions. The work is dedicated to my wife, Giuliana. © Paul Max Edlin 2023

 

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Città D’oro

2023 (appx 20’)

Violin solo, 1,2,0,1 - 2,1,0,0 – 1 perc - strings

Programme Note: 

Having moved to the Italian renaissance town of Montepulciano, I felt impelled to look into its musical history. Quickly I discovered that the composer Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli was born here in 1624. Little is known about Pandolfi, other than he mainly worked in Innsbruck, probably having been trained in Perugia. He moved to Messina, and here he murdered the castrato Giovanni Marquett in 1675 following a political argument in the Duomo. Pandolfi had to flee the country, and we only presume he died in 1687 because there are no references to him after that date. 

Pandolfi’s music is scarce, and all that we can be sure is his are two sets of sonatas for violin and continuo, Opus 3 and Opus 4, each set containing six sonatas. And what breath-taking works they are! Rich in virtuosity, brim full of ideas, containing heart rending melodic lines and often daring harmonies. Instantly, I was transfixed by this music, and started relating it to the ‘golden city’ (città d’oro) that we see each evening when the sun sets, as we look up at Montepulciano from our garden. Our view is centuries old, but each day it is different as the skies evolve constantly. And just when the sun has set, the town turns from a glowing orange gold to a warm grey. I wanted to immerse myself in this landscape and atmosphere and get ‘inside’ this music. 

The result is a quasi violin concerto which sets the first three of Pandolfi’s sonatas from his Opus 3. No notes are changed, and the harmonies are almost always accurately realised. But we do not live by candlelight, and times have changed, so this set of (fundamentally) imaginative orchestrations pushes boundaries and is of our time. Only occasionally did I indulge in repeating some virtuoso passages to make greater formal sense with the larger forces of an orchestra. And only twice did I invent a few brief bars of new melodic material, always absolutely respectful to Pandolfi’s ideas. 

This is music that is intentionally colourful and joyous, that has pathos and intends to make us smile. I smile as I look toward Montepulciano, and I want to share that experience with others. © Paul Max Edlin 2023