Oliver Knussen

Knussens wastes not a note, and though the work lasts only for seven minutes, its density of thought suggests something of sonata structure. Paul Griffiths, Musical Times, January 1981

This is the piano score only of Reflection Op.31a, composed by Oliver Knussen, for violin and piano in digital sheet music format.

Secret Psalm, composed by Oliver Knussen. Arranged for solo violin in digital sheet music format. Secret Psalm was originally written in 1990 for Nona Liddell to play at the memorial concert for Micha...

These songs, written quickly and completely by intuition, were among the first music I composed after two years of virtual silence. “Gong” was written in August 1988 for the 70th birthday celebrations...

... as in his operas, Knussen displays a rare feeling for word-setting and graceful melodic writing. Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 23 June 1991

I hear in this Symphony an extraordinary feeling for the sound of poetry and for its meanings, a sure skill in timing and in plotting the motions from event to event, and beyond any question, that gif...

The score to Hums And Songs Of Winnie-The-Pooh Op.6, composed by Oliver Knussen after AA Milne, for high soprano and instrumentalists in digital sheet music format.

‘The word Lullaby is used in the sense of an incantation to sleep’ explains Oliver Knussen in a programme note for his exquisite 6-minute piano piece Sonya’s Lullaby. ‘Sonya is my daughter, who was a...

Oliver Knussen’s Variations for piano were composed in 1989 and premiered by Peter Serkin. Although they are concise – the twelve variations play for a little more than six minutes in all – the compos...

Ophelia’s Last Dance (Ophelia Dances, Book 2) is based on a melody dating from early in 1974, which was among several ideas intended for - but ultimately excluded from – Oliver Knussen’s Third Symphon...

Prayer Bell Sketch is a hauntingly beautiful study in weight and measure, resonance and reverberation composed by Oliver Knussen. Lasting 6-minutes, it recollects and rearranges a few clear, bell-like...

Group A: 3 tpt - perc(1): t.bells/susp.cym Group B: 2 hn (or Wagner tubas/euphoniums etc.) - 3 trbn - tuba - perc(1): 2 tam-t Group C: 4 hn - perc(1): t.bells

‘Fantastical lunar beauty’ The Times (Hilary Finch), 4 November 2002

... a sumptuous piece, clotted with color, dense with incident, yet also transparent in its deisgn: it lets you know where you are. Richard Dyer, Boston Globe, 7 August 1991, Instrumentation: fl(=afl)...

A tightly constructed work inspired by Shakespeare's description of Ophelia's madness, it blends wind, string and keyboard timbres superbly and moves easily between sprightliness and dreamy introspect...

Taking the word Hum literally, Knussen has subjected A.A.Milne to some lighthearted but intense expressionist treatment, even developing a series of aphorisms which present such incidents as Piglet me...

Composer's note: 'The 12th-century organa of the Notre Dame school (most notably those of Pérotin) employ plainchant as the slow foundation for rapid, ecstatic, dance-like melismata. In June 1994 I us...

Instrumentation: 1111 - 1000 - 2 vln.vla.vlc

The three frammenti, whose text consists solely of the word chiara sung in a variety of languages depict St Clare being wafted to church by Angels.

... an engaging solo piano work by Oliver Knussen that draws the listener into its hazy texture and present fleeting moments of tension and release that make for compelling if nonspecific narrative. A...

'Prayer Bell Sketch' was commissioned by Ms. Masako Okamura and Mr. Motoyuki Nakagawa in memory of Toru Takemitsu. Here is the 'prayer Bell Sketch' for the solo piano.