SKU: AY.CC3674PM

ISBN 9790543574212.

Giovanni Gabrieli - Maria Virgo from 'Sacrae Symphoniae', Book 1, for Clarinet Choir, arranged by Matt Johnston. Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. He was born in Venice, where he trained as a musician and composer, initially studying with his uncle, Andrea Gabrieli, who was a prominent musician and composer in the city. Gabrieli eventually succeeded his uncle as the organist and composer at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, where he worked for most of his career. Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae is a collection of sacred instrumental music that was published in Venice in 1597 which includes canzonas, sonatas, and motets, all of which were composed for the unique acoustics of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. The Sacrae Symphoniae is an important work in the development of instrumental music, as it represents a shift away from vocal music and towards the use of instruments in sacred music. The collection features a range of different instrumental combinations, including brass, strings, and organ, and often employs multiple choirs or groups of instruments to create a rich, complex sound.

SKU: P2.30089

Composer Arthur Gottschalk says, Suite Nothings was commissioned by Houston Symphony clarinetist Richard Nunemaker for his Effortless Clarinet Studio. It is dedicated to Michael Perricone, a talented amateur clarinetists and member of Nunemaker's studio, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer just prior to rehearsals for the seventh annual studio recital. Movement 1 ('The March of the Licorice Stick Figures') is a strange little march, at times duple and others compound. Movement 2 ('Weird Harold's Stomp') is a touch more funky, albeit in 13 beat groupings, and owes a partial debt and perhaps apology to jazz legend Herbie Hancock. The final movement is an all-out atonal yet swinging romp, whose theme was originally written for the Band of the First Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, based in Townsville, Queensland. These guys march into battle with full field packs, their weapons, AND their instruments! Hence the title, 'The Royal Australian Regiment Rondo'..

SKU: P2.30083

Beethoven's Sextet for Two Horns and String Quartet, Op. 81b is a bit of an oddity in the composer's catalog. The sextet for the very old-fashioned instrumentation of two horns, two violins, viola and cello, is especially rare. The work seems to have been written around 1795, in the period when Beethoven was beginning to make his way in Viennese society as a composer and keyboard virtuoso after a period of study with Haydn. The work has the light-hearted, easy-going tone of the serenade/divertimento tradition, although the way that Beethoven writes for the horns makes the Sextet unusual. In this work, the horns are featured, with brilliant fanfares and technically challenging passages, while the four strings are relegated to a subsidiary role. In this arrangement, the Eb clarinet and a solo Bb clarinet play the role of the horns, while the rest of the choir assume the position of the string parts.