SKU: BU.EBR-532

ISBN 9790560154558. 9.45 x 13 inches.

Solo Piano III complète la trilogie des albums Solo Piano.

Comme tout acte final, y figurent des complications et des conséquences auxquelles succède l’urgence de franchir la ligne d’arrivée. Et comme ses prédécesseurs, l’album s’achève sur un happy end en do majeur mais le chemin est ponctué de plus de dissonances, de tension et d'ambiguïté.

Solo Piano (2004) est sorti à une époque plus innocente, où Chilly Gonzales faisait figure de pionnier dans l’évocation des genres classique et jazz sur le déclin, pour les pousser à cor et à cri dans le 21ème siècle. Cet album à la virtuosité fortuite a surpris tout le monde, y compris le génie musical autoproclamé.

Solo Piano II (2012) est apparu tel un petit chef-d'oeuvre pop pour un monde connecté, une transition vers une nouvelle réalité. Devenu showman légendaire et collaborateur d’artistes renommés et estimés (Drake, Daft Punk, Feist) Chilly Gonzales y dévoilait une collection de morceaux accrocheurs et raffinés, visant à plaire, montrant qu’il était prêt pour le prime time.
Ce second opus a assurément satisfait un public grandissant et toujours plus avide des miniatures imparfaitement parfaites de Gonzo.

Solo Piano III surgit à un point d’inflexion plus problématique.

Les collaborations se poursuivent (Room 29 avec Jarvis Cocker, Ibeyi, Toddla T...) mais Chilly Gonzales ne cherche plus à plaire. A présent, il laisse les fausses notes. Les mystérieux accords et les structures singulières deviennent addictifs et finissent par résonner de façon inéluctable. La première édition du Gonzervatory, école de musique éphémère vient de s’achever et le professeur est redevenu l’étudiant qu’il a toujours été et sera toujours, n’ayant aucune crainte de laisser la musique parler pour elle-même.

La pureté musicale de Solo Piano III n'est pas un antidote à notre époque, elle reflète toute la beauté et la laideur qui nous entoure.


Ce recueil de partitions rassemble une sélection de 9 pièces de l'album fidèlement transcrites. Ces transcriptions révéleront pour beaucoup une fine mécanique musicale souvent trompeuse ou même invisible à l'écoute. Leur édition a exigé de faire des choix, le premier étant de proposer aux pianistes des partitions aussi confortables que possible.

En bonus, les partitions de 2 titres extraits de l'album Chambers, une respiration Solitaire et un happy end Cello ni majeur, ni mineur, mais en mode à 2 (Duo Piano / Violoncelle).

SKU: TM.05699SET

P/C in set. Theatre Orch Arr. (No Arr. Name indicated) Leo Feist Edition.

SKU: PR.140401310

ISBN 9781491134153. UPC: 680160684250. 9 x 12 inches. Key: G major.

NORA’S DANCE is a jazz-influenced rag from 1921, and among the only surviving compositions by Nora Douglas Holt. A charming and exciting work rejuvenated by Lara Downes’ 2021 recording for the Rising Sun label, the rag is both a fun 2 minutes for pianists and audiences, and also a fascinating time capsule. Composed several years after Scott Joplin’s death, and several years before the Charleston pervaded popular music, NORA’S DANCE blossoms with the energy and jazz harmony starting to emerge as The Roaring 20’s, using ragtime and stride as the seed for pianistic style.
My own life in music has been driven by a quest to find strong female role models, trails to follow, shoulders to stand on. In Nora Douglas Holt, I find an inspiring example of creativity, independence, and resilience – with a dash of troublemaking. She was a free spirit, a force of nature, and she lived a fascinating and eventful life on her own terms. She reinvented herself through five marriages and at least as many careers. From her beginnings at the piano at age four, she explored many avenues of musical expression – performing, composing, music journalism, broadcasting, teaching – all with inventiveness, style, and zeal.She made the most of the Roaring ’20s, as an artist, socialite, jetsetter, muse, and patroness of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1921 she started an independent arts journal called “Music and Poetry,” where the charming piano solo Nora’s Dance was first published. I think the piece captures beautifully, in a little under 2 minutes, the energy and excitement of those heady years.In 1926, Nora left New York to travel the world, performing in nightclubs throughout Europe and Asia. She put her belongings in storage before she left, and when she came back she discovered that many of her things had been stolen, including more than 200 of her musical compositions. She never composed again.When the Depression hit, she moved out to Los Angeles, where she studied music education at USC, taught music in the LA public schools, and opened her own beauty salon. She returned to New York in the ’40s and worked as a music critic for several major newspapers, then launched yet another career, this time in broadcasting. Her popular radio concert series “Nora Holt’s Concert Showcase” broadcast to New York’s classical music audience, with a focus on Black composers and performers.Ahead of her time, larger than life, full of ideas…. I am so pleased to introduce you to the feisty and free spirited Nora Douglas Holt!

SKU: PR.114419450

ISBN 9781491130506. UPC: 680160675906.

Garrop’s intense-yet-droll program note refers back to her earlier Tantrum for Alto Saxophone and Piano (2000), noting that WRATH is a new work revisiting Tantrum’s voice while “re-imagining it as a leaner, meaner, ferocious teenager who has moved on from an infant’s temper tantrum into an all-out vengeful fury.” Bearing the movement titles I. Menace, II. Shock, and III. Amok, WRATH is a rare major work in the tenor sax repertoire, with occasional explosions of wailing freedom, generous amounts of altissimo, and long patches of dark, traditional beauty. For advanced players.
In 2000, I wrote a feisty piece called Tantrum for alto saxophone and piano. Sixteen years later, Idecided to revisit Tantrum and re-imagine it as a leaner, meaner, ferocious teenager who hasmoved on from an infant’s temper tantrum into an all-out vengeful fury. Wrath shares a fewstructural similarities with Tantrum: both have three movements that follow a fast – slow – superfast pattern; both works also open with a declamatory statement issued by the saxophone; andboth are high in energy and very dramatic. Musically, the works are independent.One of the intriguing features of Wrath was inspired by the manner in which the piece wascommissioned. Saxophonist David Stambler and I built a consortium of fifteen saxophonists whoall took part in commissioning the piece. I wanted each saxophonist to have multipleopportunities to personalize the music by bringing his or her own interpretation to the notes. So Iincorporated several spots in the first movement in which the saxophonists are encouraged toexperiment and tinker with the way they perform the written material (you’ll hear a primeexample of this in the opening material of the first movement). Additionally, near the end of thefirst movement, there is a spot in which the saxophonists are asked to improvise.

SKU: LO.75-1041H

ISBN 9780787753313.

PreK-2. We all know the classic tale of the feisty gingerbread man who meets an untimely end, but in this zingy reimagining—SPOILER ALERT—he doesn't get eaten by the fox thanks to one gigantic sneeze! Start by listening to the full performance, then use the narration, sing-along, and accompaniment-only tracks, all on the included CD, to tailor this fun, easy, and flexible musical to the needs of your classroom. Make learning and performing fun for the little ones, as author Carol Kaplan-Lyss has been doing for decades with her Milliken musicals!

SKU: AP.48837

UPC: 038081561615. English. William Blake.

Captivating. Adventurous. With just a hint of danger. This feisty minor key setting of William Blake's gripping poem immediately garners attention with a ferocious fanfare. Then a jaunty, detached piano motive (which later becomes a choral counterline), leads to contemporary choral writing firmly rooted in traditional techniques. Angular intervals and syncopated agitation provide energy, vim, and vigor. Guaranteed to be a highlight of rehearsals, concerts, contests, and festivals. Visit to download a free choral rehearsal guide: www.alfred.com/tigerrehearsalguide This title is available in MakeMusic Cloud.

About Alfred Choral Designs

The Alfred Choral Designs Series provides student and adult choirs with a variety of secular choral music that is useful, practical, educationally appropriate, and a pleasure to sing. To that end, the Choral Designs series features original works, folk song settings, spiritual arrangements, choral masterworks, and holiday selections suitable for use in concerts, festivals, and contests.