SKU: MN.10-927

Cityscape dates from 1992 and was composed for inclusion in an organ recital of Chicago composers as part of the Fourth Presbyterian Church's annual Festival of the Arts. The theme of that year's festival was Faces of the City. This three movement work, which depicts facets of the city, is based on a three-note descending scale (C-B-A), the opening notes of the popular song, Chicago, Chicago, that Toddlin' Town. Coincidentally, this same melodic sequence marks the beginning of OLD HUNDREDTH, and a citation of that melody occurs in the third movement. The Fourth Presbyterian Church is located on the part of North Michigan Avenue which is known as The Magnificent Mile. Each of its Sunday morning services begins with the singing of OLD HUNDREDTH, sung to the text of the Doxology. The first performance of Cityscape was played by David Schrader, to whom it is dedicated.

SKU: AP.43478

UPC: 038081490182. English.

The Chicago Transit Authority (now known just as Chicago) had their third straight Billboard top ten single with this 1969 classic. Based on the radio version and featuring a soloist, this arrangement includes all of the well-known instrumental licks. Hard to resist!

About Alfred Pop Choral Series

The Alfred Pop Series features outstanding arrangements of songs from the popular music genre. These publications provide exciting, contemporary, and educationally-sound arrangements for singers of all ages, from elementary through high school, to college and adult choirs.

SKU: CF.SC88

ISBN 9781491158845. UPC: 680160917563.

William Grant Stillas catalog of works comprises over 200 pieces, including five symphonies, nine operas, four ballets and numerous works for chamber ensembles. He initially found employment as an oboist in pit orchestras in New York City, later as an arranger of popular music for various ensembles, including those by William C. Handy, James P. Johnson and Paul Whiteman. His career as a composer was launched with a performance in 1931 of his Symphony No. 1 aAfro-Americana by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson, who would remain a life-long champion of Stillas orchestral works. By the 1950s the symphony had been performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and various European capitals. This notoriety earned Still a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1934, after which he moved to Los Angeles. He is credited as the first African-American to conduct a major orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra), the first to have an opera performed by a major company (Troubled Island by the New York City Opera in 1949), and one of the first composers to write for radio, films and television. So numerous were his awards and accolades, including three Guggenheim Fellowships and a variety of honorary doctorates, that he was designated as the aDean of Afro-American Composers.a Still composed his Serenade for Orchestra in 1957 on a commission by the Great Falls High School in Great Falls, Montana. He later transcribed the work for a chamber ensemble of flute, clarinet, harp and strings. The piece reflects Stillas interest in American folk idioms, with conventional melodies and harmonies that nonetheless express a fresh and individual compositional voice.
William Grant Still's catalog of works comprises over 200 pieces, including five symphonies, nine operas, four ballets and numerous works for chamber ensembles. He initially found employment as an oboist in pit orchestras in New York City, later as an arranger of popular music for various ensembles, including those by William C. Handy, James P. Johnson and Paul Whiteman. His career as a composer was launched with a performance in 1931 of his Symphony No. 1 Afro-American by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson, who would remain a life-long champion of Still's orchestral works. By the 1950s the symphony had been performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and various European capitals. This notoriety earned Still a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1934, after which he moved to Los Angeles. He is credited as the first African-American to conduct a major orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra), the first to have an opera performed by a major company (Troubled Island by the New York City Opera in 1949), and one of the first composers to write for radio, films and television. So numerous were his awards and accolades, including three Guggenheim Fellowships and a variety of honorary doctorates, that he was designated as the Dean of Afro-American Composers. Still composed his Serenade for Orchestra in 1957 on a commission by the Great Falls High School in Great Falls, Montana. He later transcribed the work for a chamber ensemble of flute, clarinet, harp and strings. The piece reflects Still's interest in American folk idioms, with conventional melodies and harmonies that nonetheless express a fresh and individual compositional voice.
William Grant Still’s catalog of works comprises over 200 pieces, including five symphonies, nine operas, four ballets and numerous works for chamber ensembles. He initially found employment as an oboist in pit orchestras in New York City, later as an arranger of popular music for various ensembles, including those by William C. Handy, James P. Johnson and Paul Whiteman. His career as a composer was launched with a performance in 1931 of his Symphony No. 1 “Afro-American” by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson, who would remain a life-long champion of Still’s orchestral works. By the 1950s the symphony had been performed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and various European capitals.This notoriety earned Still a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1934, after which he moved to Los Angeles. He is credited as the first African-American to conduct a major orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra), the first to have an opera performed by a major company (Troubled Island by the New York City Opera in 1949), and one of the first composers to write for radio, films and television. So numerous were his awards and accolades, including three Guggenheim Fellowships and a variety of honorary doctorates, that he was designated as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers.”Still composed his Serenade for Orchestra in 1957 on a commission by the Great Falls High School in Great Falls, Montana. He later transcribed the work for a chamber ensemble of flute, clarinet, harp and strings. The piece reflects Still’s interest in American folk idioms, with conventional melodies and harmonies that nonetheless express a fresh and individual compositional voice.