SKU: HL.44012905

English-German-French-Dutch.

A Bluegrass Overture was commissioned by Gabriel Wooley and funded by a grant from Leslie and Cathy Anderson for the Central Kentucky Concert Band to celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2016. This energetic overture opens with an introduction loosely based on bluegrass chords before a slower, legato chorale appears in the clarinets and flutes. This is short-lived and soon a new mood is introduced, based on a repeated-note accompaniment. This leads to the main theme, heavily syncopated with bluesy inflections. A central section features a cantabile melody, which changes key frequently, before the main theme reappears, leading to a triumphal presentation of the earlier chorale melody.

SKU: PR.312416820

UPC: 680160050376. 8.5 x 11 inches.

Chen Yi’s most performed and most beloved choral music is a series of 10 Chinese folk songs adapted for S.A.T.B. Chorus (published in 3 volumes: 312-41731, 312-41732, 312-41733). This special version is a setting of the familiar collection, adapted for children’s chorus and strings.
Remembering when I studied composition in the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, I learned to sing hundreds of Chinese folk songs collected from more than twenty provinces and fifty ethnic groups, and went to countryside to collect original folk music every year.  I got to know that the folk songs are a mirror of people’s daily lives, their thoughts and sentiments, local customs and manners.  They are sung in regional dialects and use the idioms of everyday speech with their particular intonations, accents and cadences.  This correlation between speech and music distinguishes folk songs of one region from another.  I learned all songs by heart and sang them back in the exams every week.  They melted in my blood and became my natural music language.  The more I walk into the music life,the more I treasure the rich culture I have learned from my homeland. When I became the Composer-in-Residence of Chanticleer and was invited to write the first work for its concert program, as well as another version for its Singing-In-The-Schools program, I decided to introduce A Set of Chinese Folk Songs to my American audiences, and add a new flavor to Chanticleer’srich repertoire.  The work includes ten folk songs, taken from eight provinces (Anhui, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Shanxi, Taiwan, Sinkiang, Jiangsu and Guizhou) and five ethnic groups (Han, Hasake, Uighur, Miao and Yi).  I arranged them for choirs (men’s or children’s chorus) with various combinations in voices, to be sung mostly in Chinese, some in English.   From the mysterious mountain songs originally sung in the open air with high and long notes that can carry over great distances, the sweet and delicate melodies of young love compared with nature, the humorous antiphony by little children, and the lively dancing tune by villagers, you may get an idea of various music styles in Chinese folk songs according to geographic, ethnic and linguistic differences, and appreciate the beauty of the Chinese folk music.  The pure choir sound and the sophisticated singing by Chanticleer, in terms of pitches, language and musical expressions, really attract and inspire me to create some more new works in the years to come.  In thisedition of A Set of Chinese Folk Songs for standard SATB mixed choir (with piano rehearsal score), I divided these ten songs into three volumes.  They are Fengyang Song, The Flowing Stream, Guessing, Thinking of My Darling, Mayila, Jasmine Flower, Riding on a Mule, Awariguli, Diu Diu Deng, andMountain Song and Dancing Tune.—Chen Yi.

SKU: WN.OR004B

ISBN ISMN 9790570743766.

1.7.16 was commissioned by The Hamilton Flute Band to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, and was premiered in St Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderry on 1st July 2016. This new version for flute choir was written for The Woodbridge Flute Choir, Virginia, USA, in 2024. The piece takes some of its ideas from musical elements already connected to the story, from the signalling bugle calls that might have been used in battle, to hints of one of the March tunes that the band still use today.
794,628 lives were lost in the Battle of the Somme, a chilling statistic. These numbers are also woven into the music, colouring the choices of intervals, harmonies and chords, and building the central themes, including the slow march to the trenches, where the uncomfortable juxtaposition of 7ths and 9ths is used as a motif over the solo flute theme before the screeching whistle signal to go over the top.
One of the musical elements central to the piece is the bugle call for Assemble which is used as an enthusiastic call in the opening, then to give unity to the chilling fear of the trenches on the eve of the battle, and finally to lead into the Commemoration of the final section, as those in the Cathedral 100 years later became part of the story as they assembled to commemorate the huge sacrifice made.

SKU: AP.12-0571571395

ISBN 9780571571390. English.

March Barnes Wallis was commissioned by Royal Air Force Music Services to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the famous Dambuster's raid. It received its first performance on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night, broadcast live from Biggin Hill Airport on June 17, 2013 by the Central Band of the RAF, Director of Music Wing Commander Duncan Stubbs.

SKU: HL.4008225

UPC: 196288139294.

Banana Island is an extraordinary fictional place: coconut palms, date palms, mango trees, banana trees and mangroves grow in abundance. Animals live there in heavenly harmony. On a Caribbean dance rhythm, the Soca, several themes develop and create a dialogue between the various registers. A central section offers the trumpet and trombone the chance to display their soloist skills. This work is full of energy and brimming over with enthusiasm!