This 6-minute sacred motet by John Harbison was premiered in January 2004 at the Vatican. Featuring a text from Psalm 17, it was composed to strengthen the ties between the Jews, Christians and Muslims and depicts Abraham as father of many nations - in Harbison's words: a bridge, a mode of communication and a point of commonality. An accessible work for both concert and worship.

Cast in two scenes, both movements of Abu Ghraib begin in unrest then transition into quieter places which leave the first music behind. Harbison incorporates an Iraqi lullaby and popular American hymns in this 14-minute work.

English Only.

For cello and orchestra (piano reduction).

For Brass Quintet.

Inspired by the use of the bass viol in Bach cantatas as well as jazz groups. Includes two piano reductions: Concert Pitch and Solo Tuning in D. Co-commissioned by 15 orchestras and the International Society of Bassists.

HARBISON'S ACCOLADE TO THE VIOLIST EMPHASIZES INSTRUMENTAL TIMBRES THE COMPOSER FEELS IS TYPICAL OF THE VIOLA. SCORE AND PTS AVAILABLE ON RENTAL

The composer's note: The Duo for Flute and Piano (1961) was composed in Berlin while I was a student at the Hochschule für Musik. It was written for the flutist Neal Zaslaw, who gave its first performance, with Juliette Arnold, at the Brooklyn Museum on August 20, 1961. For many years the manuscript was lost. The revival of the piece, from a copy whose origins are obscure, was effected by Fenwick Smith and Randall Hodgkinson, and the second life of the piece owes much to their advocacy.

G. Schirmer is proud to announce the publication of a set of five concert arias from Harbison's powerful new opera The Great Gatsby, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel about the dark side of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby was commissioned and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera, where these arias were performed by Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Everyone was Here is Gatsby's aria.

For String Orchestra (8, 8, 4, 4, 4), most of Fantasia on a Ground was composed for the Music School at Rivers, in Weston, Massachusetts. Duration: ca. 6 minutes.

Composed in 1988 on commission from the McKim Fund at the Library of Congress. Fantasy-Duo was written for David Abel and Julie Steinberg, who premiered the piece at the Library of Congress on December 2, 1988. Duration: ca. 14 minutes.

With 4 soloists, string quartet and percussion.

G. Schirmer is proud to announce the publication of a set of five concert arias from Harbison's powerful new opera The Great Gatsby, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel about the dark side of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby was commissioned and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera, where these arias were performed by Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.

A deeply moving song cycle on texts by William Carlos Williams, Eugenio Montale, Elizabeth Bishop and others. Composed for baritone Sanford Sylvan. Contents: On the Greve · Chemin de Fer · The Winds of Dawn · Cirque d'Hiver · To Be Recited to Flossie on Her Birthday · December 1.

Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize. For SATB Chorus, Soprano and Baritone solos and orchestra (piano reduction).

This 19-minute concerto was commissioned by a consortium of three orchestras, and premiered by Ransom Wilson with the American Composers Orchestra in 1995. The piece was recorded on Albany Records.

Four Psalms, composed in 1998, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. For SATB chorus and orchestra/ensemble. 40 minutes.

For unaccompanied violin. Composed in 1985 as a gift to his wife, who gave the first performance the following winter.

A set of three piano pieces based on music from John Harbison's magnificent new opera, The Great Gatsby, that the composer calls pianistically challenging and fun to play. Duration ca. 8 minutes.

New York's Metropolitan Opera ushers in the new millennium with the world premiere of John Harbison's splendid opera The Great Gatsby, with a libretto based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece. Among the highlights of the production are the fourteen Gatsby Songs, written in the energetic dance style of the 1920s with sparklingly witty lyrics by Murray Horwitz. Contents: By the Shore · Kind of in Love · Funny New Feeling · A Saturday Night To-Do · I'm Leavin' It All to You · I Could End Up Loving You Tonight · Dreaming of You · Blowing a Bundle on You · I Can't Believe It · Remember the Old Days · I'm Doin' Fine · Cool · Who Can Say · Strange.

G. Schirmer is proud to announce the publication of a set of five concert arias from Harbison's powerful new opera The Great Gatsby, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel about the dark side of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby was commissioned and premiered by the Metropolitan Opera, where these arias were performed by Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.

13 piano works inspired by anagrams based on the name of Leonard Stein. Stein was an American pianist, conductor, musicologist, professor, and champion of Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School.

Mirabai's ecstatic religious poetry was written in 16th century India. When she was 27, her husband was killed in a war. Mirabai refused to die on her husband's funeral pyre, as was the custom. Instead, she left her family compound, wrote her poems to Krishna, the Dark One, and sang and danced them in the streets. First performed on September 9, 1983, Susan Larson, soprano, and Craig Smith, piano. Recorded on Northeastern records, and on a very successful Nonesuch album by soprano Dawn Upshaw. This piece is also available in a version for voice and chamber ensemble, which is available on rental from G. Schirmer. Contents: All I Was Doing Was Breathing · Clouds · Don't Go, Don't Go · It's True, I Went to the Market · Where Did You Go? · Why Mira Can't Go Back to House. Duration: ca. 17 minutes.

John Harbison blends his musical voice with the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop to form a work which gives the impression of a poet/composer collaboration rather than just a setting of text to music. Harbison has also set the work with a chamber ensemble accompaniment, which is available from the G. Schirmer Rental Library.

This tribute to Franz Schubert contains only a brief fragment actually written by the composer. The rest of the work describes Schubert's journey to the next world, his awareness of the still-to-be-explored ideas of his musical language, and the completion of a fugue assigned to him shortly before his death on November 19, 1928. The work is a National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commission, composed for the Atlanta Chamber Players, the Da Capo Chamber Players and Voices of Change.

For oboe and orchestra (piano reduction). Commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for its principal oboist.

This piece for dancers and winds suggests to the composer an imaginative vision of ancient worlds. It was commissioned by a College Band Directors National Association consortium of 14 wind ensembles and concert bands, and was first performed by the North Texas Wind Symphony on February 20, 1997, under the direction of Eugene Corporon. Performance materials available on rental. Duration: ca. 18 minutes.

Orchestral reduction and solo part arranged by Harbison for Two Pianos, Four Hands. 2 Copies needed to perform.

Dedicated to Georgia O'Keefe, this was first performed by the Santa Fe Chamber Festival in 1981. Duration: ca. 25 minutes.

Written on a commission by the NEA in 1985, Sonata No. 1 was first performed in 1988 and has already been recorded twice. Comprised of 4 sections, it is technically challenging and written to allow room for personal interpretation.

Modern American composer John Harbison wrote this sonata for pianist Robert Levin.

Quintet for Winds was composed in 1978 for the Aulos Quintet, on commission from the Naumburg Foundation. The piece especially emphasizes mixtures and doublings. Duration c. 23 minutes.

Includes a program note by the composer for each movement. Contents: I. Summons · II. Line Dance · III. Couples' Dance. Duration: c. 14 minutes

Cycle of 6 songs. Simple Daylight was commissioned by Lincoln Center and dedicated to its first singer, Dawn Upshaw. The music is set to poems in Michael Fried's To the Center of the Earth, creating a song cycle that requires a motet-like partnership between singer and pianist. Recorded on Elektra Nonesuch.

Harbison's unique settings of familiar American songs. Includes: Amazing Grace · Careless Love · Will the Circle Be Unbroken? · Aura Lee · What a Friend We Have in Jesus · St. Louis Blues · Poor Butterfly · We Shall Overcome · Ain't Goin' to Study War No More · Anniversary Song.

This 1994 single-movement work is based on a hymn-like theme that both evokes the tradition of American hymn singing and echoes the much older tradition of plainchant. 22 minutes.

The expressive, personal music of John Harbison has been highly acclaimed and his style is a fitting match for the rich resonance of the unaccompanie cello. This 4-movement suite was written in 1994 and first performed at the PAC at SUNY in September of that year.