SKU: CF.CM9549

ISBN 9781491150818. UPC: 680160908318. 6.875 x 10.5 inches.

Make Space for Life to Live by Michael John Trotta offers captivating, expansive melodies interwoven with a piano accompaniment that makes subtle allusions to the main theme. Its mesmerizing text resonates with the singer and the audience. Appropriate for concert or festival use throughout the year, this piece is also available for SA voices (CM9274), TB Voices (CM9283) and SAB voices (CM9289).
Editor's NoteAbout the WorkMake Space for Life to Live features expansive, yet accessible vocal lines perfect for choirs of all abilities and sizes. It offers compelling melodies and singable vocal lines interwoven with a piano accompaniment that makes subtle allusions to the main theme.About the TextThe text for this work was written while on an extended seashore retreat several years ago. It was the product of many long walks looking out into the vastness of the sea. It was a time in my life that was immediately preceded by great personal loss and turmoil. It was in that silence and space I was able to reconnect to that still, small voice within that reminded me that I was merely a part of something much bigger than myself. The text that was hewn from that experience is a reflection on the importance of allowing space in my daily life to experience the simple joys that every moment has to offer.Optional NarrationRegardless of race or creed the abundance that is found in the reality of the present moment is augmented by regular exposure to the arts. The capricious nature of time in the age of immediacy is that it is entirely flexible. Experience suggests that exposure to natural beauty, such as watching a sunrise unravel over the sea or a cloud formation sweep through a mountain range, allows an individual to feel part of something greater than themselves. Music has the ability to take time and slow it down, revealing to the participant their part in the whole. Taking part in choral music, whether as an audience member, singer, conductor or composer is an opportunity to slow down time long enough to allow the beauty of life to catch up with you.

SKU: FG.55011-320-6

ISBN 9790550113206.

Guitar sonata A Walk to the Mysterious Woods (2012-13) is so far the most extensive of the works Kai Nieminen has written for his own instrument, the guitar. The sonata features virtuosic and delicate timbre which is typical of Nieminen's musical idiom and which requires both technical and poetic skill of the performer. The music invokes a fairytale-like scene of nature with its references to Finnish mythology.

Kai Nieminen's guitar sonata is in four movements which follow each other attacca. The form of the work resembles the traditional sonata form: exposition (A Walk with Birdsong) - development (Along the Brook and Song(s) from the Arctic) - recapitulation (Return). The dark chords of the beginning, the pressing silence and the icy-sounding harmony created by the E flat bass line evoke an image of a winter forest. As if following birdsong, the music carries the listener through various landscapes and moods. Birdsong takes the listener to a brook, which then carries the traveller to the ancient Sami joik, a traditional form of chant, and allows him or her to bask in the serenity of natural beauty in a moment where the past and present meet.

SKU: AP.48830

UPC: 038081561547. Lat.

The title provides an important timestamp for an unprecedented year. Veteran choral composer Jay Althouse constructed this very special work in remembrance of lives lost during the pandemic. His setting of the traditional Latin text is built upon a melody inspired by nature: Near the end of my walk that day, I heard a bird singing three notes over and over again. I came home and began writing. The bird's song is the first three notes of the opening melody. Solemn, prayerful, and poignant.

About Alfred Choral Designs

The Alfred Choral Designs Series provides student and adult choirs with a variety of secular choral music that is useful, practical, educationally appropriate, and a pleasure to sing. To that end, the Choral Designs series features original works, folk song settings, spiritual arrangements, choral masterworks, and holiday selections suitable for use in concerts, festivals, and contests.

SKU: TA.TSPCS-31

Solo Piano for Percussion is an inventive piece by composer, Christopher D. Walker. It features a solo percussionist using various colorful techniques on a grand piano such as playing the strings with mallets, sliding mallets along the strings, using the fingers directly on the strings, playing the instrument on the keys, and utilizing various sostenuto effects.

Abstract in nature, it paints an audible landscape to reflect the included poem by Caitlin Ireland, El Mar (The Sea). This creative piece would be a unique and refreshing selection for percussionists to showcase their versatility while providing audiences something unexpected and soothing.

This piece ships as a printed, professionally bound folio with a full-color cover.

* A functioning sostenuto pedal is needed.

SKU: GH.CG-6349P

Nordic Nature Symphony No. 4 Op. 257 in orchestrated version. Does not contain the second movement (A Giant Troll A-Walking) from the original.