Here is a string quartet arrangement of Joe Hisaishi's "Summer," which serves as the main theme for the movie Kikujiro, a 1999 Japanese film directed by Takeshi Kitano. This arrangement comes with a score and a set of parts for 2 violins, viola, and cello. The original piece really embraced the movie's light-hearted atmosphere, which I really wanted to replicate in this arrangement with lots of pizzicato and syncopated rhythms. I know it says for Advanced Intermediate, but as long as you know how to play up to 4th position (for first violin), and you are comfortable with syncopated rhythms and some 16th-note runs, you should be fine.

Here is my arrangement of Joe Hisaishi's "One Summer's Day" from the 2001 animated film, Spirited Away, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. However, I will note that this arrangement is more based on Joe Hisaishi's concert versions that you will find on most of his albums, and not the movie version, although both are nearly identical. I did add some musical techniques that are not present in the original piece ( ex. the tremolos in the very beginning), but those techniques were mainly used to help translate the piano parts in the original into more idiomatic parts for each instrument, and the overall majority of the arrangement is still very faithful towards its source material. That being said, there are some two-note chords, large interval jumps, various dynamic and tempo changes, and other very subtle details that I would expect an intermediate to advanced-intermediate group to be able to perform successfully. I hope you enjoy this arrangement!

Here is my string orchestra arrangement of Joe Hisaishi's "Summer" from Takeshi Kitano's film, Kikujiro. This arrangement is very similar to my string quartet arrangement, but was re-arranged with an above-average high school-level string orchestra in mind given the syncopated rhythms, 16th-note runs, 4th position passages in the first violin section, and divisi parts in both the second violin section and the viola section. Feel free to make the tempo a little faster than what's suggested.

Item Number: A0.992167 Music collection of best Christmas carols, Jingle bells, Adeste fidelis, Deck the Hall!!!, Tu scendi dalle stelle, Astro del ciel, White Christmas, O Tannenbaum, Cantique de Noel, We wish you a merry Christmas, arranged for saxophone quartett SATB.