SKU: HL.48182082

UPC: 888680847784. 10.5x13.5x0.055 inches.

Eugene Goossens: Two Ballades (Harp Solo).

SKU: PR.110406720

UPC: 680160001316.

I have always been fond of writing works for specific people or organizations. It has been my good fortune during most of my creative career to be asked to compose for many extraordinary performers. The Sonata for Harpsichord Solo is such a case in point: it was written in 1982 for Barbara Harbach, a superb performer, close friend, and collaborator on many musical projects. The Sonata was premiered on March 2, 1984, in a recital given by Dr. Harbach at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. During my formative years as a composer, one seldom heard of the harpsichord as a modern instrument, though while I attended undergraduate school at Boston University, some of us banded together to construct a small harpsichord from one of the first do-it-yourself kits which began to appear in the late '40s. It was also during this time that I heard the Sonatina for Violin and Harpsichord by my teacher Walter Piston and consequently specified that the accompanying instrument for my second violin sonata could either be a piano or a harpsichord. It was not until recently, however, that my interest in the harpsichord as a solo instrument for new music was aroused. This was because of the emergence of so many young virtuosi, such as Barbara Harbach, who are interested in the performance of new music besides the great harpsichord music of the Classical, Baroque, and pre-Baroque eras. The keyboard music of Domenico Scarlatti has always intrigued and fascinated me. The brevity, excitement, and clarity of this sparkling music is charming as well as exhilarating. It is this type of Baroque sonata that inspired the conception and form of my harpsichord sonata. The entire work is loosely based on the musical translation of Barabara Harbach's name, especially the conflict of the B (B-flat) and H (B-natural in German notation). This secondo rub or dissonance especially pervades the first movement, which is in a modified sonata form, pitting jagged and tense melodic elements against most lyrical and smooth lines. This second movement is a song-like melody accompanied by rolled chords which may be played on the lute stop of the instrument if this sonata is performed on a two-manual harpsichord. The final movement is an ever-driving joyous toccata which brings the work to an exciting close with a coda made up of accelerating repeated chords. --Samuel Adler.

SKU: CF.H84

ISBN 9781491165539. UPC: 680160924530.

Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. Over his long career, he added a significant catalogue of very beautiful works to the harp repertoire. Many of his solo works, almost one hundred, have been consistently in print since they were first published. But in recent years harpist Carl Swanson has discovered a treasure trove of pieces by Tournier heretofore unknown and unpublished. These include the Déchiffrages in this edition, as well as songs set for voice, harp, and string quartet, and ensemble arrangements of some of his most beloved works.All of the works that Carl Swanson found were in manuscript only. With the help of the great harpist Catherine Michel, he has put these pieces into playable form, and they are being published for the very first time. He and Catherine often had to re-notate passages to show clearly how they could be played, adding fingerings and musical nuances, tempos, pedals, and pedal diagrams.Tournier wrote these pieces when he was in his 20s, and before he became the impressionistic composer those familiar with his work know so well. They are written in the late nineteenth-century romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. They are beautiful short, intermediate level pieces by a first rate composer, and add much needed repertoire to that level of playing.
Marcel Tournier (1879–1951) was one of the most important harpist/composers in the history of the harp. He graduated from the Paris Conservatory with a first prize in harp in 1899. He also studied composition there and won a second prize in the prestigious Prix de Rome competition, as well as a first prize in the Rossini competition, another major composition competition of the day. From 1912 to 1948 he taught the harp class at the Paris Conservatory. But composition, and almost entirely, composition for the harp, was the main focus of his life. His published works, including many works for solo harp, a few for harp and other instruments, and several songs, number around one hundred pieces.In 2019, while researching Tournier for my edition MARCEL TOURNIER: 10 Pieces for Solo Harp, I discovered that there was a significant list of pieces by this composer that had never been published and were not included on any inventory of his music. Principal on this list were his déchiffrages (pronounced day-she-frahge, like the second syllable in the word garage).The word déchiffrage means sight-reading exercise, and that was their original purpose. Tournier numbered and dated these pieces, with dates ranging from 1900 to 1910, indicating that they were in all likelihood written for Alphonse Hasselmans’ class at the Paris Conservatory. Tournier was probably told how long to make each one, and how difficult. They range in length from two to four pages, with only one in the whole series extending to five, and from thirty to fifty-five measures, with only one extending to eight-five. The level of difficulty for the whole series is intermediate, with some at the easier end, and others at the middle or upper end.We don’t know if they were intended to test students trying to enter the harp class, or if they were used to test students in the class as they played their exams. The fact that they were never published means that students had to not only sight read them, but sight read them in manuscript form!I worked from digital images of the original manuscripts, which are in the private music library of a harpist in France. She had twenty-seven of these pieces, and this edition is the second in a series of three that will publish, for the first time, all of the ones that I have found thus far. The manuscripts themselves consist of little more than notes on the page: no pedals written in, no fingerings, few if any musical nuances and tempo markings, and no clear indication as to which hand plays which notes. These would have been difficult to sight read indeed! My collaborator Catherine Michel and I added musical nuances, fingerings, pedals and pedal diagrams, and tempo indications to put them into their current condition.At the time these were written, Tournier would have been in his twenties, having just graduated from the harp class himself (1899), and might still have been in the composition class. These are the earliest known pieces that he wrote, and they were written at the very beginning of a cultural revolution and upheaval in Paris that was to completely and profoundly alter musical composition. Tournier himself would eventually be caught up in this new way of composing. But not yet.All of the déchiffrages are written in the late romantic style that was being taught at that time at the Paris Conservatory. Each one is built on a clear musical idea, and the variety over the whole series makes them wonderful to listen to as well as to learn. They are also great technical lessons for intermediate level players.The obvious question is: Why didn’t Tournier publish these pieces, and why didn’t he list them on his own inventory of his music? Actually, four of them were published, with small changes, as his collection Four Preludes, Op. 16. These came from the ones that will be in volume three of this series from Carl Fischer. His first large piece, Theme and Variations, was published in 1908, and his two best known and frequently played pieces, Féerie and Au Matin, followed in 1912 and 1913 respectively. We can only speculate because there is so much still unknown about Tournier and about these unpublished pieces. He may have looked at them, fresh out of school as he was, as simply a way to make some quick money. The first several pieces that he did publish are much longer than any of the déchiffrages. So it could be that, because of their shorter length, as well as the earlier musical style that he was moving away from, he chose not to publish any more of them. We may never know the full story. But all these years later, more than a century after they were composed, we can listen to them for their own merits, and not measured against whatever else was going on at the time. The numbers on these pieces are the ones that Tournier assigned to them, and the gaps between some of the numbers suggest that there are perhaps thirty or more of these pieces still to be found, if they still exist. They will, in all likelihood, be found, as these were, in private collections of harp music, not in institutional libraries. We can only hope that more of them will be located in years to come.—Carl SwansonGlossary of French Musical TermsTournier was very precise about how he wanted his pieces played, and carefully communicated this with many musical indications. He used standard Italian words, but also used French words and phrases, and occasionally mixed both together. It is extremely important to observe and understand everything that he put on the page.Here is a list of the French words and phrases found in the pieces in this edition, with their translation.bien chanté well sung, melodiousdécidé firm, resolutediminu peu à peu becoming softer little by littleen diminuant becoming softeren riten. slowing downen se perdant dying awayGaiement gayly, lightlygracieusement gracefully, elegantlyLéger light, quickLent slowmarquez le chant emphasize the melodyModéré at a moderate tempopeu à peu animé more lively, little by littleplus lent slowerRetenu held backsans lenteur without slownesssans retinir without slowing downsec drily, abruptlysoutenu sustained, heldtrès arpegé very arpeggiatedTrès Modéré Very moderate tempoTrès peu retenu slightly held backTrès soutenu very sustainedun peu retenu slightly held back.

SKU: HL.50606509

ISBN 9781705190722. UPC: 196288126850.

The two harp pieces by Gergely VAJDA (*1973) approach the instrument as a machine, moreover, as a machine that can produce several sounds and noises and create a specific polyphony from them. The two movements, composed in 2020 and 2022, are dedicated to the Ars Nova Ensemble and Collegium21, respectively. Contents: 1. Idle Time 2. Minute Machinery.

SKU: UT.HS-284

ISBN 9790215326460. 9 x 12 inches.

Melodia for Solo Harp/ Alleluja Modo II - Wachet auf for Harp and Organ

This publication gathers together in these three pieces the only compositions by Santucci devoted to the harp, both as a solo instrument and in dialogue with the organ, his favourite instrument.
The little Melodia per arpa, a simple piece having an apparently didactic purpose, does not show the date of composition but, judging by the handwriting of the manuscript, it probably dates back to the period between 1980 and 1990. No other information has reached us as to why the piece was composed.
The two pieces Alleluja Modo II and Wachet auf, both dated 20 March 1993, composed for the unusual duo of harp and organ, are dedicated to Anna Maria Restani, first harp in the orchestra of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna from 1965 to 2002, and to her son Wladimir Matesic, organist and now teacher at the Conservatoire in Trieste. Gregorian chant is the protagonist of the first piece, evoking a Gothic and rarefied atmosphere. The second is instead a blatant tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach (right from the first bars the reference to Prelude no. 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier is clear), through one of his most famous chorales (Wachet auf, ruft uns die stimme), also used by Santucci for numerous other compositions, including Il corteo dei Magi [for trumpet, organ, orchestra and choir, 1986, ms.], still performed in the Christmas concerts in Bologna.
(Giuseppe Monari).

SKU: HL.48182311

UPC: 888680787066. 9.25x12.25x0.055 inches.

Written by Marcel Grandjany on a tune of Haydn, Fantasy is a piece for Harp that includes 5 variations of the main theme. Ideally to be played on pedal Harp, it would fit the skills and abilities of advanced Harp players. The technical difficulties encountered are various as this piece involves some hand-crossings, arpeggios, natural harmonies, accidental alterations as well as some pedal changes. Marcel Grandjany is a French-born American who lived in the 20th century. He studied with Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatoire from the age of 11 and got the First Prize at 13 years old. He composed numerous pieces for Harp, of all levels: '3 Very Easy Little Pieces, Op. 7', 'Divertissement, Op. 29', 'Variation on the Londonderry Air, Op. 20' and 'Two Duets for 2 harps, Op. 26' among many others..

SKU: SU.90840120

Instrumentation: Harp
Duration: 11'
Composed: 2006
Published by: Subito Music Publishing.

SKU: HL.128725

ISBN 9780936661636. UPC: 888680012588. 8.5x11.0x0.038 inches.

Castle on a Cloud is sung by the child Cosette in Les Miserables. It is a hopeful song of her imaginary world where life is beautiful, and she is not subjected to the drudgery of her hard existence. Sylvia Woods has arranged this lilting song for lever or pedal harp. There are 7 lever changes in the piece, so it is for lower intermediate to intermediate level players. Fingerings and lyrics are included, as well as lever and pedal changes. Two, 2-page versions are included: one for lever harps tuned to C, and the other for lever harps tuned to flats. Pedal harpists can play either version. The arrangement for lever harps tuned to C is in the key of D (2 sharps), with A and C lever changes needed. The arrangement for lever harps tuned to flats is in the key of C, with B and G lever changes needed. Either version may be played on most small harps with about 26 strings if you play everything an octave higher than written. There are special instructions in the introduction telling you what you'll need to change if you have a small harp.