SKU: PR.114417570

ISBN 9781491107867. UPC: 680160636013. 9x12 inches.

The famous set of dances by Norway's greatest composer were written for piano duet. Grieg later created a piano solo version, but refused to orchestrate the set. After some study of Grieg and his music, Michael Webster has arranged the four dances for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano in a faithful setting, using the piano duet version as a guide. This lively Grieg classic will be a welcome new addition to performance programs. For advanced performers._______________________________________Text from the scanned back cover:Born in 1944, MICHAEL WEBSTER made his New York recital debut at Town Hall in 1968 with his eminent father, Beveridge Webster, as pianist. In the same year, he won the Young Concert Artists International Competition and succeeded his teacher, Stanley Hasty, as Principal Clarinet in the Rochester Philharmonic, a position he held for twenty years. Webster has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, with the Tokyo, Cleveland, Muir, Ying, Enso, and Dover String Quartets, and with the festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Norfolk, Chamber Music Northwest, Angel Fire, Steamboat Springs, Park City, Sitka, Kapalua, Bowdoin, Orcas Island, Skaneateles, La Musica di Asolo, Stratford, Victoria, and Domaine Forget.As soloist he has appeared with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra under Aaron Copland and the Boston Pops under John Williams. His travels have taken him as performer and teacher to most of the 50 states, as well as Canada, Mexico,Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Europe, Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand. Webster was Acting Principal Clarinet of the San Francisco Symphony, and has served on the clarinet and/or conducting faculties of New England Conservatory, Boston University, University of Michigan, and the Eastman School, from which he earned his three degrees. Currently he is Professor of Music at Rice Universityâ??s Shepherd School of Music and Artistic Director of the Houston Youth Symphony, which has won multiple first prizes in national performance competitions.With his wife, flutist Leone Buyse, and pianist Robert Moeling, he plays in the Webster Trio, which has recorded his arrangements on Tour de France and World Wide Webster for Crystal Records. Otherarrangements were recorded for Nami and Camerata Tokyo in Japan with pianist Chizuko Sawa. Webster has also recorded for Albany, Arabesque, Beaumont, Bridge, Centaur, CRI, and New World. He has played at many ClarinetFests for the International Clarinet Association and written a column entitled â??TeachingClarinetâ? in The Clarinet Magazine since 1998. Michael Webster is a Buffet artist-clinician, performing on Buffet clarinets exclusively. NORWEGIAN DANCES (Grieg)Michael Websterâ??s transcriptions for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano have created the core literature for this instrumental genre. Working directly from Griegâ??s original piano four-hands version of the charmingly familiar Norwegian Dances, Webster has given flutists and clarinetists another addition to the ensembleâ??s repertoire.

SKU: PR.312418590

UPC: 680160595785. 8.5 x 11 inches. Text by Chen Yi.

Often called the Ellis Island of the West, Angel Island in San Francisco was used as an immigration station in the first half of the 20th century, processing some one million Asian immigrants. Because of U.S. policy of the time, many spent years on Angel Island awaiting entry. Recently named a National Historical Landmark, Angel Island and its history is the inspiration behind Chen Yi's Angel Island Passages, commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus. Chen explores the experiences of the immigrants, even using poems carved in the walls, to express the mood, the patient yearning, and the ultimate release and embrace of a new country. Angel Island Passages was premiered June 4-5, 2010 by the SFGC and the Cypress String Quartet at the San Francisco Conservatory. For advanced performers. Duration: 15'.
Commissioned by San Francisco Girls Chorus (Executive Director Melanie Smith), and premiered by the SFGC and Cypress String Quartet on June 4, 2010, conducted by SFGC’s Artistic Director Susan McMane, at San Francisco Conservatory, CA, the 3-movement song cycle Angel Island Passages is written for children’s chorus and string quartet, with multimedia projection on the walls of the concert hall, produced by visual artist Felicia Lowe.  The creative idea of this work was initiated by Dr. McMane, who invited me to write the music, and sent me the book “Island, poetry and history of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940”, by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung for reference in 2009; also inspired by the Angel Island stories, and through cooperation with Felicia, who shared with me her film “Carved in Silence” and video productions “Chinatown” and “Road to Restoration”.I named the first movement of my work as “1882”, which reflected the dark mood under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  The collective poems carved on the wooden walls in Angel Island expressed deep emotion in sorrow and anxiety.  The music in the second movement “Longing” is sad and sentimental.  The third movement is called “We Are America”, which is ever-moving, energetic and optimistic.  The text sung in the beginning in Chinese means “I am an American”.  It’s sung in Cantonese dialect, then in Mandarin.  As the music develops, from homophonic to polyphonic with increasing layers, the climax is reached when the text is turned to English “We Are America”, which symbolizes the flourishing society with the great contribution from thousands of immigrants during the years.  The music fades out towards the ending of the work, which pushes the scene to a remote picture, to look forward to the future peace of the world.I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with such inspiring creative artists in this project, and hope the work is meaningful to our new society after the premiere performance.—Chen Yi.