Orchestra Voice

SKU: AP.12-057154309X

Composed by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp. This edition: Limited. Full Orchestra; Larger Works; Performance Music Ensemble. Form: Opera. Living Composer. Book; Score. 112 pages. Faber Music #12-057154309X. Published by Faber Music (AP.12-057154309X).

ISBN 9780571543090. English.

Picture a Day Like This is the fourth operatic collaboration between George Benjamin and Martin Crimp, whose acclaimed partnership produced Written on Skin, Lessons in Love and Violence, and Into the Little Hill. This limited edition of the full score is one of only 150, presented in a cloth-bound hard cover. It is signed by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp and includes facsimile reproductions of pages from the manuscript, sketches by Benjamin and Crimp, and a photograph of Benjamin, Crimp, and directors Daniel Jeanneteau and Marie-Christine Soma in rehearsal at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

In this bittersweet fable of grief and renewal. Benjamin and Crimp tell the story of a woman who has lost her child: if, before nightfall, she meets one truly happy person and cuts a button from their sleeve, her child will live again. In her search she meets a pair of lovers, a composer and their assistant, an artisan, collector, and, in a beautiful garden, the mysterious Zabelle.

Benjamin proves with this taut, sharp miniature that he is the finest opera composer of today…a work of depth of feeling, humanistic artistry, and expressive rigor…a drama that is miraculously condensed.
-- Süddeutsche Zeitung (Reinhard J. Brembeck) 9 July 2023.

Orchestra

SKU: LO.30-3243L

Composed by Pepper Choplin. Arranged by Larry Shackley. Choral, cantatas. Christmas. Instrumental parts. Lorenz Publishing Company #30/3243L. Published by Lorenz Publishing Company (LO.30-3243L).

UPC: 000308142457.

One Silent Night long ago, a birth story began that forever changed the world. Lying in a crude manger was a new-born babe, who would become the Source of our Christian faith and our abiding hope. Using the power and simplicity of the event itself, composer and creator Pepper Choplin presents each of the familiar elements of that story through ballad-like recitatives of scripture, surrounded by anthems ranging from outbursts of unbridled joy to moving moments of introspection and gentleness. Weaving familiar carols and songs throughout original music, this timeless tale emerges in a deeply moving presentation that will lift one’s faith and deepen one’s understanding of the profound significance of that One Silent Night. Orchestration by Larry Shackley for 2 Fl, Ob, 2 Cl, Bsn (sub Bass Cl), 2 Hn (sub 2 A Sax), 3 Tpt, 2 Tbn (sub 2 T Sax), Tuba, 2 Perc, Timp, Harp, Pno, 2 Vln, Vla, Cello, Bass, Digital Strings.

Orchestra - Grade 2.5

SKU: AP.44799S

Composed by Franz Xaver Gruber. Arranged by Jeffrey E. Turner. MakeMusic Cloud; Performance Music Ensemble; Single Titles; String Orchestra. Belwin Intermediate String Orchestra. Christmas; Sacred; Winter. Score. 8 pages. Duration 3:20. Belwin Music #00-44799S. Published by Belwin Music (AP.44799S).

UPC: 038081517322. English.

A joyful departure from tradition, now set in 4/4 time by Jeffrey Turner, this fresh setting of the beloved carol is sure to add sparkle to any holiday celebration. Across the silent night, the blazing star of a solo cello beacons. A violinist follows, and the glory of a string orchestra suddenly bursts across the heavens. A twinkling piano announces that a child has been born unto the world; then, the high strings enter like angels singing from above. With its ending in 3/4, sure to put a smile on everyone's face, there's never been a happier birthday. (3:20) This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.

Orchestra - Grade 4

SKU: HL.14000916

Composed by Hans Abrahamsen. Music Sales America. Classical. Score. Composed 2002. 55 pages. Edition Wilhelm Hansen #WH29689. Published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen (HL.14000916).

ISBN 9788759859179. 12.0x16.5x0.538 inches. English.

Stratifications was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 1973-75 and was premiered in the summer 1977 by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at the Young Nordic Music Festival in Reykjavik. Programme note: The stratifications referred to in the title unfold two different levels. There is the stratification of the time dimension produced by the opposition of contrasting parts, at the same time the polyphony, the presence of several simultaneously sounding layers, is of great importance to the music. By garish colours and clear-cut outlines a polyrhythmic simultaneousness of simple melodies is produced with more gestic music and other material which give a peculiar set piece-like effect inthe sound picture. The new simplicity details are here woven together in a new kind of complex whole. Stratifications begins with a series of concretistic masklike pictures of the music. It is like seeing lantern slides. But this fictive form crackles and the music gets attentive and real. The music is in a night-mare condition, where it is not getting anywhere in spite of a great dynamic display. But finally is liberating itself and rising in triumph.

Orchestra

SKU: PR.41641576L

For Really Big Orchestra. Composed by PDQ Bach. Edited by Peter Schickele. Large Score. With Standard notation. Duration 11 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #416-41576L. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.41641576L).

UPC: 680160636549. 11 x 17 inches.

The 1712 Overture stands out in P.D.Q. Bach's oeuvre for two reasons, among others: it is by far the most programmatic instrumental piece among those by the minimeister of Wein-am-Rhein so far unearthed, and 2) its discovery has led to a revelation about the composer's father, Johann Sebastian Bach, that has exploded like a bombshell on the usually serene musicological landscape. The overture is based on an anecdote told to P.D.Q. Bach by a cousin, Peter Ulrich. Since P.U. Bach lived in Dudeldorf, only a few miles down the road from Wein-am-Rhein, he was P.D.Q.'s closest relative, and he was, in fact, one of the few members of the family who was on speaking terms with P.D.Q. The story, related to P.D.Q. (fortunately for us posterity types) in a letter, may be summarized thus: The town of Dudeldorf was founded by two brothers, Rudi and Dieter Dudel, early in the 18th century. Rudi remained mayor of the newborn burg for the rest of his long life, but Dieter had a dream of starting a musicians' colony, an entire city devoted to music, which dream, he finally decided, could be realized only in the New World. In 1712, he and several other bagpipers sailed to Boston, never to return to Germany. (Henceforth, Rudi became known as der deutscher Dudel and Dieter as the Yankee Dudel). Unfortunately, the head of the Boston Musicians' Guild had gotten wind of Dudel's plans, and Wilhelm Wiesel (pron. VEE-zle), known none too affectionately around town as Wiesel the Weasel, was not about to share what few gigs there were in colonial America with more foreigners and outside agitators. He and his cronies were on hand to meet Dudel's boat when it pulled into Boston Harbor; they intended to prevent the newcomers' disembarkation, but Dudel and his companions managed to escape to the other side of the bay in a dinghy, landing with just enough time to rent a carriage and horses before hearing the sound of The Weasel and his men, who had had to come around the long way. The Germans headed West, with the Bostonians in furious pursuit. soon the city had been left far behind, and by midnight so had the pursuers; Dieter Dudel decided that it was safe for him and his men to stop and sleep until daybreak. When they awoke, they found that they were in a beautiful landscape of low, forested mountains and pleasant fields, warmed by the brilliant morning sun and serenaded by an entrancing variety of birds. Here, Dudel thought, her is where I will build my colony. The immigrants continued down the road at a leisurely pace until they came upon a little church, all by itself in the countryside, from which there suddenly emanated the sounds of a pipe organ. At this point, the temptation to quote from P.U. Bach's letter to P.D.Q. cannot be resisted: They went inside and, after listening to the glorious music for a while, introduced themselves to the organist. And who do you think it was? Are you ready for this -- it was your old man! Hey, no kidding -- you know, I'm sure, that your father was the guy to get when it came to testing new organs, and whoever had that one in Massachusetts built offered old Sebastian a tidy sum to go over there and check it out. The unexpected meeting with J.S. Bach and his sponsors was interrupted by the sound of horse hooves, as the dreaded Wiesel and his men thundered on to the scene. They had been riding all night, however, and they were no spring chickens to start with, and as soon as they reached the church they all dropped, exhausted, to the ground. The elated Germans rang the church bells and offered to buy everyone a beer at the nearest tavern. There they were taught, and joined in singing, what might be called the national anthem of the New World. The melody of this pre-revolutionary patriotic song is still remembered (P.D.Q. Bach quotes it, in the bass instruments, near the end of the overture), but is words are now all but forgotten: Freedom, of thee we sing, Freedom e'er is our goal; Death to the English King, Long live Rock and Ross. The striking paucity of biographical references to Johann Sebastian Bah during the year 1712 can now be explained: he was abroad for a significant part of that year, testing organs in the British Colonies. That this revelation has not been accepted as fact by the musicological establishment is no surprise, since it means that a lot of books would have to be rewritten. The members of that establishment haven't even accepted the existence of P.D.Q. Bach, one of whose major works the 1712 Overture certainly is. It is also a work that shows Tchaikowsky up as the shameless plagiarizer that some of us have always known he was. The discovery of this awesome opus was made possible by a Boston Pops Centennial Research Commission; the first modern performance took place at the opening concert of the 100th anniversary season of that orchestra, under the exciting but authentic direction of John Williams.

Orchestra - Grade 2.5

SKU: AP.45883S

By Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. By Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Arranged by Scott Watson. Masterworks; Performance Music Ensemble; Single Titles; String Orchestra. Highland/Etling String Orchestra. Christmas; Masterwork Arrangement; Novelty; Romantic; Secular; Winter. Score. 20 pages. Duration 2:20. Highland/Etling #00-45883S. Published by Highland/Etling (AP.45883S).

UPC: 038081423903. English.

Have the cookies left out on Christmas Eve mysteriously vanished? Does it seem like the nutcracker and toy soldier figurines have moved by themselves overnight? Are you experiencing strange visions of holiday confections dancing in your head? There's only one operative with the right skill set for holiday capers like these: Secret Agent Sugar Plum of the Holiday Sweets Division of WinterPol!

This clever arrangement by Scott Watson fuses themes from Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (from The Nutcracker) with classic spy music idioms, all set to a driving rock beat. Sure to be a player and audience favorite in your holiday concert! (2:20).