This hauntingly beautiful melody is an ideal teaching piece for expressive style and 6/8 meter. Taken from Bizet's stage work The Pearl Fishers the style of the vocal melody has been wonderfully transformed for string orchestra by Robert Longfield.

Get ready to stamp your feet for fearless fun in this great piece for younger players. Everyone gets the line and each section can play fearlessly and with a sense of fun. Towards the end, don't be surprised if there is a quote from Tchaikovsky and a whiff of Brandenburg---it's all in the spirit of a good time! 'The Sailor's Hornpipe,' arranged by Sandra Dackow, is familiar to many listeners through its opening words, 'With a yo heave ho---and a slap upon the knee,' and it is easy to imagine foot stomps and slaps upon the knees of sailors accompanying their singing. This classic hornpipe will help your students with dexterity, playing in the lower half of the bow, and bow lifts! (2:25) / Orchestre A Cordes

Concerto for String Orchestra - the magnum opus of Grayna Bacewicz (1909-1969) the outstanding composer and violinist - was composed in 1948 and at once became one of the most frequently performed works of this Polish artist. This masterpieceof neoclassicism fascinates as much by its invention and virtuosic briliance as its harmonious combination of formal elements of a traditional nature with new tonal ideas. The form of the three-movement Concerto oscillates between that of the baroqueconcerto grosso and the early classical sonata cycle. The neoclassical tendency is evident above all in the articulation of the musical structure in keeping with the rigours of periodicity and the manner of developing thematic threads derived fromthem while the concertato character of particular movements and the generally linear texture indicate baroque connections. The first movement (Allegro) - in the form of an early classical sonata allegro - begins with a subject with energeticfigurations emblematic for the whole piece and based on a constant pendulum-like semiquaver movement anchored securely on D. It is precisely because of the nature of this subject that Bacewiczs work has been compared to the Brandenburg Concertosby Jan Sebastian Bach The second movement (Andante) while retaining its concertato charakter is at the same time an example of the composers ability to create emotionally serene lyrical moods and her sense of cantilena derived from the spiritof romantic song (a motto-subject presented at the beginning by cello solo). In this movement it is both the process of evolution and the instrumental colouring which constitute the constructional agents forming here a self-containedvalue. In thethird movement (Vivo) the composer returns to her favourite type of music understood as an expression of pure motion in the form of figural motives with infinite transformational possibilities. The spontaneity of the music the constant mutabilityof the tonal situations and the sophisticated acerbic harmonies - as Witold Lutosawski described them - form a colourful mosaic built in the structural skeleton of a sonata rondo. Concerto for String Orchestra is not only proof of thestylizing tendency of the composer but also of an unerring intuition concerning the technical and expressive possibilities inherent in a string instruments ensemble. [Magorzata Gsiorowska translated by Ewa Cholewka]

Via Della Fortuna by Sadie Harrison. Written in 2013 especially for the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and Donatus Katkus.6; for String OrchestraWorld premiere: 25th April 2013 St. Katharine'sChurch Vilnius St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra conducted by Donatus Katkus.UK premiere: 10th May 2013 Cardiff Millennium Centre Vale of Glamorgan Festival.I - Casa di Caccia Antica (The House of the AncientHunt)II - Casa degli Amorini Dorati (The House of the Golden Cupids)III - Casa del poeta tragico (The House of the tragic poet)IV - Return to the Casa di Caccia Antica and northwards to Lithuania and the Amber Road(Gintaro Kelias)The piece is in four short movements each taking its title from one of the houses that line the main streets in Pompeii. Borrowing Mussorgsky's 'Promenade' from Pictures at an Exhibition the piece has twowalkers (violas) who take the listener with them onto the Via Della Fortuna then lead them from house to house. Several amber objects were found within the houses linking Pompeii with Lithuania. The lastmovement returns to the House of the Ancient Hunt then heads northwards along the Gintaro Kelias. The jubilant closing music refers to an earlier work (Geda's Weavings) based on Lithuanian folksongs.

Of all his early chamber works the Nocturne is most clearly by the mature Vaughan Williams almost anticipating the influence of Ravel which followed his lessons from the French composer in 1908. In the veiled beauty of its highly chromatic harmonies we hear already the tone-poet of the slow movement of A London Symphony while in the fleet-footed Scherzo there is already a French influence in the way the folk-song is subtly woven into the texture only brief snatches of the tune being heard until the penultimate page when it receives fuller treatment. The work plays for about 10 minutes. The 1904 Scherzo is a vigorous march with fugal episodes whichlasts some 6 minutes and may effectively be performed by itself.

Hear the drama in the overture to Gluck's most popular opera, Iphigenia in Aulis, now abridged for string orchestra by Kirk Moss. The clearly marked bowings and fingerings will save precious rehearsal time and lead to a more sophisticated sound. (4:05) / Orchestre A Cordes

This Simple Symphony is entirely based on material from works which the composer wrote between the ages of nine and twelve. (The actual sources are given in footnotes to each movement.) Although the development of thesethemes is in many places quite new there are large stretches of the work which are taken bodily from the early pieces - save for the re-scoring for strings. It is suitable for string quartets or string orchestras beingscored for Violin I Violin II Viola Cello and Double Bass.

Robert Frost. Twenty fun-to-play early grade pieces intended for use as materials to supplement any beginning string orchestra course. A quality selection encompassing a variety of keys styles and tempos. Each section has theopportunity to play the melody or an important melodic line.

This Simple Symphony is entirely based on material from works which the composer wrote between the ages of nine and twelve. (The actual sources are given in footnotes to each movement.) Although the development of these themes is in many places quite new, there are large stretches of the work which are taken bodily from the early pieces - save for the re-scoring for strings. It is suitable for string quartets or string orchestras, being scored for Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Double Bass.

Authoritative Urtext edition of Johann Sebastien Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.3 In G BWV 1048.The six Brandenburg Concertos BWV 1046-1051 prized jewels of the world's musical heritage were written in 1721 during Bach?s appointment in Cöthen.Of the six works Bach originally wrote earlier versions of numbers 1 and 5 which differ not only with regard to articulation but also at times different tones different rhythms instrumentation and of course form.These Urtext publications [BA 5201-BA 5206] taken from the New Bach Edition now give performers the possibility to play these earlier versionsperhaps even along side the version known today.

Authoritative Urtext edition of Johann Sebastien Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.4 In G BWV 1049.The six Brandenburg Concertos BWV 1046-1051 prized jewels of the world's musical heritage were written in 1721 during Bach?s appointment in Cöthen.Of the six works Bach originally wrote earlier versions of numbers 1 and 5 which differ not only with regard to articulation but also at times different tones different rhythms instrumentation and of course form. These Urtext publications [BA 5201-BA 5206] taken from the New Bach Edition now give performers the possibility to play these earlier versionsperhaps even along side the version known today.

Clearly one of Mozart's most well-known and beloved compositions this overture will be sure to thrill both your audience and students from the immediately recognizable opening statement through the triumphant final chords. Anoutstanding arrangement of a classical masterwork! Dur: 3:40

Easy String Ensemble-A superb opportunity to introduce early string players to the joys of playing celebrated melodies and pieces as an ensemble. Cecilia Weston has carefully arranged three timeless tunes for an easy string ensemble with parts for 2 Violins Viola and Cello with optional Double Bass and Piano allowing for several players per part.