Music Theory Puzzles and Games. By Katie Elliott. (Book). Boosey and Hawkes Scores and Books. Softcover. 32 pages. Published by Boosey & Hawkes.

4fl. Afl. Bfl. Cafl. Cbfl (4 flutes, alto flute, bass flute, contr'alto flute, contrabass flute) - Intermediate

SKU: FT.FM400

Composed by Maurice Ravel. Arranged by Robert Rainford. Arranged for Flute Ensemble/Choir - 4 Flutes, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Contr'alto Flute, Contrabass Flute. Score and Parts. Forton Music #FM400. Published by Forton Music (FT.FM400).

ISBN 9790570482993.

Flute Ensemble (4 flutes, alto flute, bass flute, contr’alto flute, contrabass flute). Maurice Ravel wrote this exquisite miniature piece originally for piano in 1909, to mark the centenary of the death of the composer Franz Joseph Haydn. Ravel has used the letters of Haydn's name to give him the initial theme of the piece at the very start (flute 1 of this arrangement). B natural represents H, A and D represent their own letters, the next D represents the letter Y, and the final G represents N. This theme then weaves through the whole piece in various versions, sometimes upside down, and sometimes backwards. Many composers have used this method of using letters to give melodic pitches, from Josquin back in the fifteenth century all the way through to such twentieth century composers as Shostakovich, Messiaen and Elliott Carter. This arrangement uses just about the full range of flutes, including contr'alto and contrabass. Each flute has it's own independant part, and the 'HAYDN' theme is shared between them all.Whilst not technically difficult, it needs sensitive playing to balance the parts, and a strong sense of musical colour to make the most of the piece.

String Quartet

SKU: HL.14036341

Composed by Hugh Wood. Music Sales America. Classical. Set. Composed 2001. Chester Music #CH60931. Published by Chester Music (HL.14036341).

ISBN 9780711955080.

Commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the Chilingirian String Quartet. Quoting Wood: In my Second and Third Quartets I attempted sectional, agglutinative forms: in my Fourth I return to the conventional four movement form of my First Quartet of 1962. Both works build up (as in the 19th century symphony) to the Finale, thus making it the most substantial movement, which provides a climax to the work. The First Movement has, in both works, only the status of an Introduction. But there the consciously willed resemblances end. This Introduction follows the Second Quartet to a certain extent, in that it provides a sort of 'cauldron', from which elements to be used later can all be plucked. Its opening will reappear at various points throughout the work, most completely at a climatic point of the Finale (bar 110). Subsequent material will be more fully worked out in the second movement, a large Scherzo. The Introduction concludes with an unusually placed violin cadenza (itself a rare feature in a string quartet, the idea lifted from Elliott Carter's First Quartet) of which the opening is to reappear halfway through the Finale. The Scherzo (which follows attacca) does not have at its centre a discretely characterized Trio: a figure in double-stops like a distant fanfare supplies the necessary contrast of a second idea. The Slow Movement has a secondary idea first heard on the cello and marked appassionato: an agitato middle section recalls the opening of the work, but in a formulation which will be found closely to anticipate its reappearance in the Finale. The Finale is planned on a broad scale. Only after a fully worked exposition of both primary and secondary material does the opening of the whole work return, now in a greatly extended form. Then, at bar 140, the tune of the violin cadenza is first harmonized in fanfare style on the upper instruments, then presented as a chorale on the lower ones, with a rushing semiquaver accompaniment above. This climatic activity mounts to the very end. The work is dedicated to the Chilingirian Quartet, old friends over many years. Score available separately: SOS04044.