SKU: ST.C130

ISBN 9790570811304.

As I sit myself down to write this brief foreword, I ask myself can there be music more stirring than these old Cornish folk melodies? Though not Cornish myself (I confess to being born a little further up the road, in Bristol), I feel I have spent sufficient time in these 'ere parts to resonate with the sturdy brass band tradition that continues to permeate this incomparably beautiful, rugged county. One can almost detect a French 'accent' when listening to the piano music of Debussy, and likewise, speaking as a lapsed brass player, there is undoubtedly something of the Cornish twang about Trelawny when played on a cornet or euphonium. Then again, one gets a different, yet entirely convincing effect upon hearing these melodies rendered on woodwind instruments; hence, with a little gamesmanship on my part, I am pleased to see my collection of these fifteen delectable ditties come to fruition in the form of arrangements for treble clef brass instruments (in B flat and E flat), trombone and tuba (bass clef), horn in F, flute, clarinet and bassoon. While many will find themselves humming the likes of Going up Camborne Hill, Lamorna or The Helston Furry Dance even before they have turned to the first page - for these are indelibly intertwined with Cornish culture – I wonder if I might draw your attention to The Cornish Squire, The Pool of Pilate and Cold Blows the Wind Today Sweetheart, which are quite simply sublime melodies, perhaps needing that extra bit of help in bringing them to mind nowadays. In the best tradition of musical hand-me-downs, Cornish folk music works equally ideally sung and played, and only by doing so on a regular basis can such traditions hope to continue forward with vigour and authority. A legitimate way of achieving this is to revitalise the harmonic scheme of these ancient tunes and bring them up to date for a modern audience; after all, it was such an approach that fuelled the imagination of Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams in decades past, while skilfully paying homage to the underlying charm and, for want of a better word, simplicity, of the original music. But this is only a start – for without an energetic response from younger generations, Cornish folk music is destined to wither on the vine in much the same way as is happening with the Cornish dialect. So, put your instrument to your lips and proceed, not with caution, but with enthusiasm and a smile, for your great grandparents (and perhaps even their grandparents) would surely raise a glass if they could hear you doing your bit to ensure the survival of this splendid heritage.
Timeless Cornish melodies, cooked up for hungry clarinet players
Grades 1–4
Former Spartan Press Cat. No.: SP1219.

SKU: FG.55011-586-6

ISBN 9790550115866.

A pioneer of Finnish modern jazz, Heikki Sarmanto (1939-) is renowned for his renderings of jazz numbers. No wonder, therefore, that broken chords and familiar keys resonate and sit well under the hand in the piano part of this Northern Dreams suite. The solo passages for the piano are like stylised improvisations. In addition to jazz idioms, the suite features Chopin-style arpeggios. His music is melodic and communicative, painting feelings, situations and events. Northern Dreams was originally composed with the tenor sax of Juhani Aaltonen in mind, and the solo part is a transcription of his improvisation. The solo part is also available in arrangements for alto sax, flute, clarinet, bassoon and trumpet.

SKU: FG.55011-524-8

ISBN 9790550115248.

In Kirmo Lintinen's Rondo burlesque (2007-2008) for bassoon and piano , the qualitative elements of the bar, with their upbeats, accents and GPs, create a refined musical rhetoric and are very much to the fore. At the premiere, Lintinen's manner of playing, with its sparing use of the pedal obscuring the first beat but not the sense of time, underlined the inherent character of the piece. The roguish poetic metres gambolled jerkily along, and although at surface level the music may appear guileless, Lintinen knows his polyphony, judging by the capital roving of his voices even in the homophonic textures. Kirmo Lintinen (b. 1967) is a man of many musical talents: composer, pianist and conductor. His catalogue encompasses almost all gen-res and categories of composition, from solo work to opera, and he operates with ease from one to another without being a crossover artist; in his case, the versatility is both internalised and innate. He often finds inspiration in French music of the 1920s and its intrinsic musicality. Humour and playfulness are characteristic elements of his music, as are a natural, musicianly approach and an enchantingly effervescent, even tongue-in-cheek texture.

SKU: ST.C184

ISBN 9790570811847.

March of the Day
The subtitle says it all, I think. The piece has three main ideas each in the contrasting keys of Bb, Eb and F majors. Can you find a different character for each one? The danger for bassoonists in this sort of piece is that everything can sound accented, so be careful to follow the articulation marks as closely as you can.

Rondolettinetto
This is all about building phrases through repetition. It relies largely, therefore, on control of the sound. Try to achieve a really obvious contrast of character between the opening phrases and the less refined con spirito episode. This might be played just a touch faster than the opening and closing sections, if you wish. There is a hint of gentle parody in this piece if you can find a way of expressing that too.

Sand-dance Kid
This piece stretches the compass and range of expression even further. There are very obvious contrasts of staccato and legato and the phrase lengths of the middle section are far from regular. Try to scale down the dynamics at the end so that you end as softly as you can play.
Three Pieces for Bassoon and Piano

Grade 4
Former Spartan Press Cat. No.: SP1164.

SKU: BR.SON-421

ISBN 9790004802663. 9 x 12 inches.

Nearly an entire decade lies between the first mention (1831) and the printing (1840) of the Trio op. 49. Mendelssohn kept trying to set it to paper, but he was probably again making too many demands on this work, his first in the piano trio genre. Yet his efforts were immediately rewarded: It is the master trio of the present, and Mendelssohn the Mozart of the 19th century, proclaimed Robert Schumann, who was also to compose a landmark D minor Trio seven years later. Mendelssohn's second Trio op. 66 was composed with a relatively light hand in 1845. Over and beyond the familiar Trios opp. 49 and 66, the corresponding volume of the Leipziger Mendelssohn-Ausgabe contains sketches and drafts in the same scoring, which were not further developed.