SKU: CF.CPS225F

ISBN 9781491153192. UPC: 680160910694.

Tartan Tapestries is an original piece that sets out to emulate Scottish folk music. Composer Larry Clark has created a concert overture in triple meter to capture the essence of music from Scotland. After a lilting first section,  lush and beautiful moments weave a tapestry of sounds with the lyrical, middle section of the piece. There is an optional part for bagpipes, and an optional ending should you chose to use this instrument as part of the piece. Alert your contest music committee about this strong new piece for advancing groups.
Tartan Tapestries was commissioned by Friends of the Arts for the Saint Andrew's School Band in Boca Raton, Florida. The band program at Saint Andrew’s School is under the direction of Andrea Wolgin. The premiere took place on November 29, 2017.When I was asked by their conductor Ms. Wolgin to write a piece for the Saint Andrew’s School, I asked her what kind of involvement she wanted the students to have in the process. We discussed several options for having the students involved in the process of creating with the type of piece they wanted.  We set up a “Skype” meeting with members of the band to discuss the piece. During this discussion, the consensus of the students was that they wanted a piece depicting the Scottish influence to the school. They also wanted a piece that would challenge all sections of the band and to include bagpipes if possible. I asked that the students be involved in helping to name the piece once it was completed, for which they agreed and were very helpful. Armed with this information, I set out to compose a piece for them, and Tartan Tapestries is the result.The piece begins with a fanfare gesture based upon rhythms and harmonies that appear throughout the piece. I chose the lilting triple feel to the piece, to bring about the Scottish flavor. I wanted the fanfare to be bardic sounding, to depict the strength of the Scottish people and for the piece to have a dynamic opening. The fanfare contains material that alludes to the main theme and with a bit of dissonance and tension that is resolved in the main body of the piece.The main theme is a lilting original melody, but one that I hope with have the essence of Scottish folk songs. The main idea is followed by a more modal and dark sounding secondary theme, first stated in the horns. This material is later used in the development section of the piece. The main theme returns several times, with different and varied orchestrations and harmonic treatments. This is followed by a short transition leading to the more lyrical and slower second section of the piece. A transparent presentation of the lyrical theme, which is based on aspects of the main theme, is presented first by a solo flute. This section is a nod to famous composer Malcom Arnold’s wonderful works for orchestra in its style and orchestration. After a transition or bridge section with a solo euphonium, the piece builds to a dramatic climax of the lyrical theme by the full band. This subsides to a return of the solo flute to end this second section of the piece, followed by a transition back the main theme.The solo bagpipes play a central role in the return of the main theme and take center stage after being heard in the distance earlier in the work. The piece brings back a shortened version of the darker secondary theme, followed by a hint of the fanfare material that builds to one last statement of the main theme by the full band, before leading to a dramatic coda to complete the work.It has been my pleasure to have been given the opportunity to compose this piece for the Saint Andrew’s School Band! I thank Andrea Wolgin for making it happen, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed bringing the piece to life.–Larry ClarkLakeland, Florida 2017.

SKU: CF.YAS45

ISBN 9780825863462. UPC: 798408063467. 8.5 X 11 inches. Key: A major.

Two Daughters is a flowing and impassioned composition dedicated to the composer's daughters that gives the young string orchestra ample chances to display its lyrical abilities. Several solo passages vary the texture, which displays Alan Lee Silva's usual flair for lush contemporary harmonic writing.
From the poignant, heartwarming violin melody at m. 5, to the soaring ensemble climax at m. 61, Two Daughters is a flowing, lyrical composition with a wide dynamic range. Written in AABA form with a bridge, the delicate introduction sets up a legato violin solo at m. 5. The piece builds to the singing B-section (m. 21) and returns again to the gentle A-melody (m. 29). The cello is featured in m. 37 under a soft, high string sustain. Two modulations (mm. 37 and 52) move seamlessly and build excitement to the bridge, highlighted by alternating melodic phrases. The slower ending section (m.69) is played with intensity, featuring more sixteenth-note passages. The final two measures return to the sweet, gentle feeling of the introduction.

About Carl Fischer Young String Orchestra Series

This series of Grade 2/Grade 2.5 pieces is designed for second and third year ensembles. The pieces in this series are characterized by:
--Occasionally extending to third position
--Keys carefully considered for appropriate difficulty
--Addition of separate 2nd violin and viola parts
--Viola T.C. part included
--Increase in independence of parts over beginning levels

SKU: GH.GE-11464

ISBN 979-0-070-11464-6. A4 inches.

Work note by the composer:

When I received the news of this commission, I had no idea what it would lead to. Writing for guitar solo is not the same as composing for orchestra where you have forty voices where you can easily mask an entire section. Here you are very naked to the bone.
The starting point for this work was from J.S. Bach's Chaconne in D-minor that Johannes had performed in concert, originally written for violin but there is a version transcribed for guitar and piano made by Ferruccio Busoni. When I went to Cortona (in Tuscany, Italy) completed the southern mentality of this work.
Arpalineais actually a merged word in Italian language. Arpa means harp, however in a musical context it's more or less resembled with the word arpeggio, which means broken chords. Lineameans line.

The work is divided in three parts.
I. Arpeggio: It starts with an opening chaconne-like sequence and is marked with a certain depth in which the chords starts to separate from the organum note in the bass and it culminates into a section called with rhythmical focus. These sections alternates, variates which each other.
The middle section has a playful and childish atmosphere where the guitarist knocks on the body of the guitar resembling a Spanish folk instrument cajon. This is leading to a section which tends more to a very aggressive fusion-like riff that loses control and reaches its climax at the end.

II. Linea: The static rhytmical pulse is now disintegrated and it forms more or less sort of a free, improvisational state in a rubatolike tempo. The character is described as a very hot day with temperatures rising above 37! C (or 100! F) where you can hardly do anything just sitting dozed off and pespiring because of the extreme heat watching a huge fog coming up in the evening that spreads around the Tuscan atmosphere.

III. Finale: It starts off with fast one-note ostinati then more and more notes pop up like a gradual rain storm with thunder strikes! And eventually it leads to that is a large flood through the streets of an medieval Southern town. The work ends with a short circuit slapped strings along with extremely fast tremolos that reaches higher and louder as possible!

Benjamin Staern

SKU: BO.B.3292

English comments:
This is the definitive version of Biogenesis, a piece that Cervello had written in 1976, together with his friend Jorge Wagensberg, and which was awarded the First Prize at the Spanish Ministry for Education and Science's Permanent Composition and Musical Research Competition. The new version was made at 1984-85 Lux et umbra is written for a string group consisting of four first and four second violins, three violas, three cellos and a double bass. The conceptual battle between darkness and light is represented by the instability between the notes B and C, and by the compartmentation of the group of fifteen strings into divisi that provide an independent arrangement for each instrument, thus bestowing great substance upon the texture of the music. A cello cadence emerges from a slow and straightforward beginning. A process of contrasts then begins, culminating in a molto vivace passage of a scherzando nature, which alludes to the Baroque concerti grossi. The music once again plays with chiaroscuro until reaching its climax, from which point the conclusion slowly begins, establishing itself in the high register until fading away. The work was first performed at Barcelona's Palau de la Musica by the English Chamber Orchestra, directed by Enrique Garcia Asensio, in 1987. That same year, in the newspaper El Pais, the observations of the composer and critic Francesc Taverna-Bech paid tribute to the work's intelligence as regards the use of and search for instrumental resources (in this case, string instruments, about which Cervello knows a great deal), the skill involved in endowing the lyrical line with tension, and a singular touch that confers formal essence upon the musical discourse. In La Vanguardia, Jordi Llovet wrote that this is a work in which, as is the case with most of Cervello's compositions, the listener finds something covertly religious, a mysterious secret, a transcendence linked to the origins of communication requiring more than a single being, which provides excitement. In 1990, when the Orquesta de Granada (Orchestra of Granada) performed the work at Barcelona's Grec festival, the critic Cesar Calmell opined, in the same newspaper, that inch by inch, surely and imperturbably, Cervello built up a perfect world that reflects the image of the craftsman who, so astonished at the delights of his trade, is unable to do anything but turn the very backdrop of tragedy into something pleasant. Lux et umbra was recorded by the Orchestra Estatal of the Hermitage, conducted by Alexis Soriano (CD SA01210 Fundacion Autor). --Xavier Casanoves Danes Music critic

Comentarios del Espanol:
Se trata de la version definitiva de Biogenesis, obra que habia escrito en 1976 en colaboracion con su amigo Jorge Wagensberg y que obtuvo el Primer Premio, en el ano de su creacion, en el Concurso Permanente de Composicion e Investigacion Musical del Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia. La nueva version fue realizada en 1984-85. Lux et umbra esta escrita para un grupo de cuerda integrado por cuatro primeros violines, cuatro segundos, tres violas, tres violoncelos y un contrabajo. El combate filosofico entre la oscuridad y la luz lo lleva a cabo la inestabilidad entre las notas si y do y la compartimentacion del grupo de quince cuerdas en unos divisi que llegan a una escritura independiente para cada instrumento, otorgando una gran importancia a la textura sonora. De un principio lento y descarnado emerge una cadencia del violonchelo. A continuacion da comienzo un proceso de contrastes que culmina en un pasaje molto vivace de caracter scherzando que alude a los concerti grossi del barroco. La musica juega de nuevo con el claroscuro hasta llegar a la cumbre sonora iniciando el final lentamente que se instala en el registro agudo hasta desvanecerse. La estreno en el Palau de la Musica de Barcelona la English Chamber Orchestra en el ano 1987 bajo la direccion de Enrique Garcia Asensio. Ese mismo ano, en el periodico El Pais, el compositor y critico Francesc Taverna-Bech reconocia en sus comentarios la inteligencia en el uso y la busqueda de los recursos instrumentales -en este caso la cuerda, de la que Cervello es profundo conocedor-, la destreza para revestir de tension la linea lirica y un tacto particular para conferir entidad formal al discurso sonoro. Jordi Llovet, en La Vanguardia, escribia que en esta obra, se encuentra, como en la mayor parte de la produccion de Cervello, algo secretamente religioso, un arcano misterioso, una trascendencia vinculada a los origenes de la comunicacion impracticable con el ser unico que resulta apasionante. En el ano 1990, cuando la Orquesta de Granada la toco en el Grec de Barcelona, era el critico Cesar Calmell quien, en el mismo periodico consideraba que Cervello construyo palmo a palmo, segura e imperturbablemente, un mundo perfecto que refleja la imagen del artesano que, de tan admirado con las delicias de su oficio, no puede hacer otra cosa que convertir en agradable el fondo mismo de la tragedia. Lux et umbra esta grabada por la Orquesta Estatal del Hermitage, dirigida por Alexis Soriano (CD SA01210 Fundacion Autor). --Xavier Casanoves Danes Critico musical.

SKU: BT.DHP-0920462-030

This piece attempts to portray atmospheric pictures through music. The opening section evokes the somewhat misty and hazy early morning atmosphere surrounding the ancient monument. When the band reaches its first dynamic climax it is as if the massive boulders are audible, even touchable through the use of minor 3rd chords. The main theme - constructed on the notes CAFBG symbolises the arrangement of the central boulders in the shape of a horseshoe, which forms the focal point of this huge collection of stones. Towards the end of the work you will experience a fantastic effect when five soloists play a five part hymn whilst other members of the band create a specialatmosphere by imitating a choir of monks and druids. A fantastic major new concert work for advanced bands.

Een enorme cirkel van gigantische rechtopstaande stenen staat al zo’n 3500 jaar lang in het zuidwesten van Engeland. In dit werk zijn sfeerbeelden omgezet in muziek. Hoewel er geen concreet verhaal aan ten grondslag ligt en er geenduidelijk scenario is gebruikt, verklankt deze compositie het mysterie en de grootsheid van het eeuwenoude geheimzinnige monument Stonehenge op voortreffelijke wijze.

Dans le sud-ouest de l’Angleterre, se dresse, depuis plus de 3 500 ans, un impressionnant cercle de blocs de grès. En dépit de multiples recherches et calculs scientifiques, on ne connaît toujours pas la signification exacte de ce site. Au fil des siècles, de nombreuses suppositions et spéculations ont été avancées quant la fonction de Stonehenge, lieu de cérémonies religieuses, lieu de rituels et d’adoration, mais aucune de ces hypothèses n’a pu être démontrée de façon probante ce jour. Actuellement, on s’accorde penser que Stonehenge est un calendrier géant. La disposition particulière des blocs permet d’observer le lever du soleil ou le coucher de la lune, de prédire lessolstices d’été et d’hiver, de déterminer les positions de la lune travers les diagonales, etc. En résumé, ce mystérieux monument de pierre permet d’observer les changements de saison.Stonehenge est une mise en musique d’images et d’impressions atmosphériques ; un paysage sonore dont la trame ne suit aucun scénario précis, mais dont les images sont réelles.

SKU: GI.G-8422

UPC: 785147842200. English. Text by Kathy Powell.

A sweet text by Kathy Powell joins the sound of a lullaby on the air calling to the shepherds with images of the bright star that led them to the Christ child. Interesting harmonic textures lead each verse to its climax. The accompaniment and choral movement work together in a lovely blend creating a singular motif that depicts the journey of the shepherds and then invokes us to hear the lullaby and find the love of God in the infant Jesus.

SKU: BT.DHP-1053805-140

340 X 250 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.

This piece attempts to portray atmospheric pictures through music. The opening section evokes the somewhat misty and hazy early morning atmosphere surrounding the ancient monument. When the band reaches its first dynamic climax itis as if the massive boulders are audible, even touchable through the use of minor 3rd chords. The main theme, constructed on the notes CAFBG, symbolises the arrangement of the central boulders in the shape of a horseshoe, whichforms the focal point of this huge collection of stones. Towards the end of the work you will experience a fantastic effect when five soloists play a five part hymn whilst other members of the band create a special atmosphere byimitating a choir of monks and druids. A fantastic major new concert work for advanced bands.

Een enorme cirkel van gigantische rechtopstaande stenen staat al zo’n 3500 jaar lang in het zuidwesten van Engeland. In dit werk zijn sfeerbeelden omgezet in muziek. Hoewel er geen concreet verhaal aan ten grondslag ligt en er geenduidelijk scenario is gebruikt, verklankt deze compositie het mysterie en de grootsheid van het eeuwenoude geheimzinnige monument Stonehenge op voortreffelijke wijze.

Im Südwesten Englands steht seit fast 3500 Jahren ein Ring riesiger Steine: Stonehenge. Das gleichnamige Werk von Jan Van der Roost bringt mystische Stimmungen und Bilder rund um die alte Stätte auf musikalische Weise zum Klingen. Das Hauptmotiv aus fünf Tönen zieht sich durch das gesamte Werk und symbolisiert den hufeisenförmigen inneren Ring des riesigen Steinkreises. Später gemahnen fünf Vokalsolisten sowie ein gesungener Druiden- und Mönchs-Chor an Stimmen aus einer fremden Welt. Stonehenges ungelüftetes Geheimnis schlug den Komponisten in seinen Bann und inspirierte ihn zu diesem ebenso unwiderstehlichen Werk, das Tohru Takahashi nun für Blasorchester transkribierte.

Dans le sud-ouest de l’Angleterre, se dresse, depuis plus de 3 500 ans, un impressionnant cercle de blocs de grès. En dépit de multiples recherches et calculs scientifiques, on ne connaît toujours pas la signification exacte de ce site. Au fil des siècles, de nombreuses suppositions et spéculations ont été avancées quant la fonction de Stonehenge, lieu de cérémonies religieuses, lieu de rituels et d’adoration, mais aucune de ces hypothèses n’a pu être démontrée de façon probante ce jour. Actuellement, on s’accorde penser que Stonehenge est un calendrier géant. La disposition particulière des blocs permet d’observer le lever du soleil ou le coucher de la lune, de prédire lessolstices d’été et d’hiver, de déterminer les positions de la lune travers les diagonales, etc. En résumé, ce mystérieux monument de pierre permet d’observer les changements de saison.Stonehenge est une mise en musique d’images et d’impressions atmosphériques ; un paysage sonore dont la trame ne suit aucun scénario précis, mais dont les images sont réelles.

SKU: CF.YPS96F

ISBN 9780825884702. UPC: 798408084707. 9 x 12 inches.

From its opening fanfare to its aggressive final climax, The Royal Sword provides both the performer and listener with a musical portrayal of medieval times. Its regal and exciting depiction of stately kings and queens makes this piece an exciting addition to your concert or festival program.

SKU: CF.CPS213F

ISBN 9781491153079. UPC: 680160910571.

Alcazar is a dynamic piece with a definite Spanish flair.  Using changing meters and syncopated rhythms in its Allegro introduction, the piece continues this vitality into its main theme alternating between 4/4 and 6/8 time signatures.  Alcazar should prove to be a favorite of your student musicians as well as your audiences.  This is the perfect vehicle for concert and contest performance.
Alcazar is a concert band work commissioned by the Cortland High School Concert Band, Richard B. Eleck, conductor, of the Cortland Enlarged City School District, Cortland, N.Y.  Premiered on June 1, 2017, Alcazar is a dynamic piece with a definite Spanish flair.  Using changing meters and syncopated rhythms in its Allegro introduction, the piece continues this vitality into its main theme alternating between 4/4 and 6/8 time signatures.  This opening theme then moves to a secondary theme largely in 5/4, first presented in the woodwinds, followed by a tutti section finishing with a punctuated conclusion to this Allegro.  The clarinets then take us into a melodic Andante middle section, using quarter-note triplets as its rhythmic motive. As this builds to a climax, we are moved into a return to the 5/4 Allegro heard earlier in the piece. As it seems to come to an end, a sudden use of the alternating 4/4, 6/8 earlier motive returns and takes us through an extended ending with a dynamic conclusion. Alcazar should prove to be a favorite of your student musicians as well as your audiences. This is the perfect vehicle for concert and contest performance.