SKU: SU.80111202

Violin & Clarinet Duration: ' Composed: 1972 Published by: Soundspells Productions Includes set of 2 scores The Garden of My Father's House (1973) is a dramatic rhapsody for violin and clarinet duo. The composer wrote the following: I composed THE GARDEN OF MY FATHER'S HOUSE in 1972 in memory of my father, who was my first music teacher. Although he played many instruments and loved to sing, he could not read a note of music. When I was very young he would sing Gypsy songs, Yiddish folk-songs and Rumanian tunes to me and I would play them back on my clarinet, often with ornaments and variations. Sometimes he would accompany me on the piano; he had a few favorite chords which always seemed to pop up no matter what the tune. The piece is a musical ritual, based on a C-sharp drone, or pedal note, that is heard without interruption, across several ranges, throughout the piece. The violin's drone tremolos, often combined with perfect fifths and quarter-tone tunings, imply the key of Csharp minor. The violin part is always rubato — lyrical, expressive and frequently very passionate. But, most importantly, the violin is always tonal. The clarinet, on the other hand, is atonal, its pitches drawn from the twelve-tone row that I used to write my Cycles of Infinities. The style of the clarinet is contemporary, using wide-range intervals, biting accents and unusual instrumental effects, including fluttertonguing and quarter-tone trills. In combining the 'contrasting' roles of the two instruments, I sought to create a musical ritual-game that would draw energy and bits of information from the polarized instruments. The language of the piece calls the listener's attention to the cogent features of both instrumental personalities in a manner that is somewhat similar to the way in which Yiddish combines German and Hebrew. The drone becomes more and more magnetic and begins to join the parts together until they become one in the final C-sharp unison.

SKU: GI.G-017074

Keeping Advent in a school or parish is challenging, especially when the surrounding culture begins the celebration of Christmas earlier and earlier each year.  Creation to Christmas is a wonderful tool to remind all involved that the anticipation of the season is for someone, not some thing.  This Advent program is rich in both musical and catechetical content as it teaches students not only about salvation history but music history as well, incorporating various spirituals throughout the program.  Everything your community needs to prepare this program is provided here: a full script with keyboard or guitar arrangements of the songs, director’s notes, templates for the Jesse Tree ornaments, and necessary participation forms, with reprintable elements provided on the included CD-ROM.  Sure to become a well-loved tradition year after year!

SKU: HP.C5108O

UPC: 763628451080.

Medley of two familiar hymn tunes by Stuart K. Hine and Jack Hayford In this blending of two well-loved pieces from two different eras, Joel Raney interweaves the themes between voices and piano, creating the illusion that the two pieces were meant to be heard simultaneously. The medley begins lyrically and builds to a powerful presentation of the final stanza of How Great Thou Art. For SATB or SAB choir and piano, with optional four-hand piano accompaniment.

SKU: BT.YE0001

It was a chance visit to a second hand bookshop in Nottingham that set me on the trail of Rossini's now well-known Duetto for cello and double bass. But the story begins earlier than that. In the 1960s I was studying the double bass at the Royal College of Music with Adrian Beers, who was at that time principal of the English Chamber Orchestra, on the front desk of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and a member of the Melos Ensemble of London (then one of the leading ensembles of the world). I was working on the 'Dragonetti Concerto', as most young players do, and I wanted to find out a bit about it. My teacher said he thought the autograph manuscript might be in the British Library,which was all the encouragement I needed to secure a pass to the Reading Room so I could go and see for myself.

There, sure enough, I found a large collection of Dragonetti's autograph manuscripts, together with other bound volumes relating to his life. The papers had been lovingly collated and annotated by Vincent Novello, one of Dragonetti's closest friends, then deposited in the library before his departure to Italy in 1848, two years after Dragonetti's death. One of the volumes included a lot of letters about various engagements and music festivals, copies of orders for strings Dragonetti wanted from Italy, details about paintings he wanted to buy, and numerous invitations to private functions. The manuscript of the 'Dragonetti Concerto', of course, wasn't among the papers â?? we now know it to have been written by Edouard Nanny a century or so later.

One name that came up regularly in the documents was that of Sir George Smart. Smart had been a violinist in Salomon's orchestra and had played for Haydn at his London concerts in the 1790s. As a child he had learnt much about music from his father, who had in turn been present at many of Handel's rehearsals when he was preparing some of his major works for the first time. Smart was also a fine keyboard player, becoming organist of the Chapel Royal in 1822. As a conductor.