SKU: HL.49045014
ISBN 9790001202114. 9.0x12.0 inches.
The Belgian composer Nicholas Lens presents extremely varied etudes, exercises and simple phrases with wonderfully telling titles from poetry and everyday world for children and adults. For the most part the studies are tonal and simple and have no constructed line. They are not based on any educational concept but leave the musical dramatization to the pupils and teachers: 'Notes and rhythms are just notes and rhythms, they do not have that many rules, they do not have any pretension, they are just tools for you to use to express what you want to share'.
SKU: PR.114422520
ISBN 9781491134788. UPC: 680160683833.
After decades as a renowned oboe virtuoso, Katherine Needleman was improvising at the piano during the quarantine summer of 2020 when her ideas congealed in a powerful way. Within a week she completed a 16-minute oboe sonata inspired by the world’s overlapping crises. This riveting three-movement sonata bears the title qua resurget ex favilla, drawn from the Dies Irae text referring to rising back from ashes. Needleman won the International Double Reed Society’s Inaugural Commissioning Competition by entering her own recording of this work, performing as both oboist and pianist from her living room. As a result, IDRS commissioned her to compose a new work for English horn and piano which was premiered at their 2021 Virtual Symposium and programmed for the live 2022 convention.I’m not exactly sure how, in a life consumed by music, I never put anything on paper between the time I stopped at age 10 and the age of 42. I mean, I have some ideas why, but that could easily dissolve into a feminist manifesto or a condemnation of my musical education and the overwhelming culture of American oboe playing, the vehicle through which I’ve made a living my entire adult life. Rather than go there, I will just say this is the first piece I put on paper in my adult life.Six months into COVID-19 lockdown in the US, the world was feeling pretty weird. I had familiarized myself with the music notation program, Sibelius, for recent arranging projects. I had written some mockeries of A.M.R. Barret oboe etudes in response to an assignment I was given (and did appropriately first). When I descended into a dark chorale in the middle of the fourth mockery, I realized I needed a new vehicle. I wrote a short, ridiculous piece for my husband’s birthday, and then, the next night, when improvising at the piano, like I’ve done since I was seven years old, this piece came to me. However, this time, I sketched it out into Sibelius. Over the course of the next week, I found notating and picking permanent, official notes to enter into the computer challenging. But it was all done on paper in seven days, and I took another few for dynamics and articulations thinking they might be useful for someone else, if I would ever be lucky enough for someone else to play it.I don’t have much to say about the music of qua resurget ex favilla itself. It’s a personal statement couched in the feelings of that time. The US presidential election was looming large and ugly in my mind, well, that and the end of life as we knew it, but I also had some bizarre feeling that everything would be okay.
SKU: FG.55011-372-5
ISBN 9790550113725.
Images of the sea figure prominently throughout my life and memories: from holidays on the Atlantic coast during my Canadian childhood to my current Baltic home, and the imagined, only later experienced Mediterranean of my ancestral heritage. As an immigrant (son of an immigrant) bound to two northern countries, the sea is emblematic of my twin homelands, from the expanses of water surrounding them to those separating them. A Mari usque ad Mare. The sea is also an enduring image of the unknown, of expanses unexplored, of the raw power of nature and, for too many currently, of terror holding a hope of refuge - or the pain of loss. Such disparate ideas were captured for me in the seascapes of the New York painter MaryBeth Thielhelm, whom I met in 2008 during a residency on the Gulf of Mexico. Her vast, abstract, nearly monochromatic depictions of imaginary seas in wildly varying moods were the catalyst for a concerto where the piano is frequently far from a hero battling a collective, but rather acts as a channel for elemental forces surging up from the orchestra, floating - sometimes barely so - on its constantly shifting surface. There are few themes to speak of, beyond a handful of iconic ideas that periodically cycle upward. Rather, the piano's material is largely an ornamentation of the more primal rhythmic and harmonic impulses from the orchestra below - a poetic interpretation, if you will, of the more immediate experience of facing the vastness of some unknown body of water. The title Nameless Seas is borrowed from one of Thielhelm's exhibitions, as are those of the four movements, which are bridged together into two halves of roughly equal weight - one rhapsodic and free, the other more single-minded and direct, separated only by a short breath. The opening movement, Nocturne, is predominantly calm, if brooding, darkness and light alternating throughout. Lyrical arabesques sparkle over gently lapping cross-currents in the strings and mirrored timpani, the piano's full power only rarely deployed. The waves gradually build, drawing in the full orchestra for a meeting of forces in Land and Sea, a brighter, more warmly lyrical scene that unfolds in series of dreamlike, sometimes even nostalgic visions, which for me carry strong memories of sitting on rocks above surging Atlantic waves. The third movement, Wake, is a fast, perpetual-motion texture of glinting, darting rhythms and sudden shafts of light, with a prominent part for the steel drums, limning the piano's quicksilver figurations. An ecstatic climax crashes into a solo cadenza that grows progressively calmer and more introspective rather than virtuosic. Much of the tension finally releases into Unclaimed Waters, a drifting, meditative seascape in which the piano is progressively engulfed by a series of ever-taller waves, ultimately dissolving into a tolling, rippling continuum of sound. It has been a great privilege to realize such a long-held dream as this piece, and to write it for not one, but two great pianists. Risto-Matti Marin and Angela Hewitt, both of whose friendship and support have been unfailing and humbling, share the dedication. Nameless Seas was commissioned by the PianoEspoo festival and Canada's National Arts Centre, with the premieres in Ottawa and Helsinki led by Hannu Lintu and Olari Elts. Thanks are due also to the Jenny and Antti Wihuri fund, whose generous grant provided me with much-needed time, and Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, the source to which I returned to do a large part of the work.
SKU: CF.CM9608
ISBN 9781491154304. UPC: 680160912803. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. Key: E major. English. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892).
The beauty in Alfred, Lord Tennysons poem is reflected by the music with the use of text painting. The piano creates the sound of moving water in m. 19, providing the first instance of text painting. When the men enter, they continue this idea of the ocean tide while the descent into the word deep in m. 27 gives another instance of text painting. Take advantage of the minor second suspension on the word dark in m. 38 in order to achieve a feeling of suspense. The entrance at m. 41 is full, and while still minor, the text gives us hope for a change. The change comes in m. 45 with the staggered entrances creating a sense of building and ascent until the climax of this moment at m. 47 on the word embark, which is to be an ascent to Heaven. The melody moves between voice parts, even as early as m. 14 where the altos have the melody for only a single measure; it is then handed back to the sopranos. From mm. 5764, the altos trade the melody back and forth with the sopranos. Take note that the alto melody should be brought out, but the line does not actually begin until the word when. Lastly, be intentional with syllabic stress (no two eighth notes or quarter notes alike) and to give direction to any note longer than a quarter. I hope you enjoy learning and performing Crossing the Bar as much as I enjoyed writing it. ~Jamey Ray.The beauty in Alfred, Lord Tennysonas poem is reflected by the music with the use of text painting. The piano creates the sound of moving water in m.A 19, providing the first instance of text painting. When the men enter, they continue this idea of the ocean tide while the descent into the word adeepa in m. 27 gives another instance of text painting. Take advantage of the minor second suspension on the word adarka in m. 38 in order to achieve a feeling of suspense. The entrance at m. 41 is full, and while still minor, the text gives us hope for a change. The change comes in m. 45 with the staggered entrances creating a sense of building and ascent until the climax of this moment at m. 47 on the word aembark,a which is to be an ascent to Heaven. The melody moves between voice parts, even as early as m. 14 where the altos have the melody for only a single measure; it is then handed back to the sopranos. From mm. 57a64, the altos trade the melody back and forth with the sopranos. Take note that the alto melody should be brought out, but the line does not actually begin until the word awhen.a Lastly, be intentional with syllabic stress (no two eighth notes or quarter notes alike) and to give direction to any note longer than a quarter. I hope you enjoy learning and performing Crossing the Bar as much as I enjoyed writing it. ~Jamey Ray.The beauty in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem is reflected by the music with the use of text painting. The piano creates the sound of moving water in m. 19, providing the first instance of text painting. When the men enter, they continue this idea of the ocean tide while the descent into the word deep in m. 27 gives another instance of text painting. Take advantage of the minor second suspension on the word dark in m. 38 in order to achieve a feeling of suspense. The entrance at m. 41 is full, and while still minor, the text gives us hope for a change. The change comes in m. 45 with the staggered entrances creating a sense of building and ascent until the climax of this moment at m. 47 on the word embark, which is to be an ascent to Heaven. The melody moves between voice parts, even as early as m. 14 where the altos have the melody for only a single measure; it is then handed back to the sopranos. From mm. 57-64, the altos trade the melody back and forth with the sopranos. Take note that the alto melody should be brought out, but the line does not actually begin until the word when. Lastly, be intentional with syllabic stress (no two eighth notes or quarter notes alike) and to give direction to any note longer than a quarter. I hope you enjoy learning and performing Crossing the Bar as much as I enjoyed writing it. ~Jamey Ray.The beauty in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem is reflected by the music with the use of text painting. The piano creates the sound of moving water in m. 19, providing the first instance of text painting. When the men enter, they continue this idea of the ocean tide while the descent into the word deep in m. 27 gives another instance of text painting. Take advantage of the minor second suspension on the word dark in m. 38 in order to achieve a feeling of suspense. The entrance at m. 41 is full, and while still minor, the text gives us hope for a change. The change comes in m. 45 with the staggered entrances creating a sense of building and ascent until the climax of this moment at m. 47 on the word embark, which is to be an ascent to Heaven. The melody moves between voice parts, even as early as m. 14 where the altos have the melody for only a single measure; it is then handed back to the sopranos. From mm. 57-64, the altos trade the melody back and forth with the sopranos. Take note that the alto melody should be brought out, but the line does not actually begin until the word when. Lastly, be intentional with syllabic stress (no two eighth notes or quarter notes alike) and to give direction to any note longer than a quarter. I hope you enjoy learning and performing Crossing the Bar as much as I enjoyed writing it. ~Jamey Ray.The beauty in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem is reflected by the music with the use of text painting. The piano creates the sound of moving water in m. 19, providing the first instance of text painting. When the men enter, they continue this idea of the ocean tide while the descent into the word “deep†in m. 27 gives another instance of text painting.Take advantage of the minor second suspension on the word “dark†in m. 38 in order to achieve a feeling of suspense. The entrance at m. 41 is full, and while still minor, the text gives us hope for a change. The change comes in m. 45 with the staggered entrances creating a sense of building and ascent until the climax of this moment at m. 47 on the word “embark,†which is to be an ascent to Heaven.The melody moves between voice parts, even as early as m. 14 where the altos have the melody for only a single measure; it is then handed back to the sopranos. From mm. 57–64, the altos trade the melody back and forth with the sopranos. Take note that the alto melody should be brought out, but the line does not actually begin until the word “when.â€Lastly, be intentional with syllabic stress (no two eighth notes or quarter notes alike) and to give direction to any note longer than a quarter.I hope you enjoy learning and performing Crossing the Bar as much as I enjoyed writing it.~Jamey Ray.
SKU: PR.466411770
UPC: 680160640850. 9 x 12 inches.
Mississippi I. Father of Waters: born of the Highlands and the Lakes; the Glaciers, the Mountains, and the Prairies. The picture of your birth is clounded in the ice and mists of ancient ages but your spirit remains our life stream. II. The Red Man knew your bountiful gifts and gave thanks to the Great Spirit on your banks. -- The Spanish and French Fathers brought the glory of Christianity to America on Mississippi. But all men, white and dark; -- Indian, Spaniard, and Negro; Bourbon and Yankee, combined to make Mississippi the heart of America. Saga of the Mississippi Harl McDonald Born near Boulder, Colorado, July 27, 1899 Now living in Philadelphia The original suggestion for a symphonic work on the subject of the Mississippi came indirectly from the late Booth Tarkington who saw in it color and movement and atmosphere translatable into the terms of music. In the course of time, by the mysterious processes of composers' chemistry, it took shape as a tone-poem of two sections, one representing the rise of the great stream from its primeval geologic sources, the other the human history of the river. Mr. McDonald devised the following verbal outline of the general scheme of his diptych: I. Father of Waters: born of the Highlands and the Lakes; the Glaciers, the Mountains, and the Prairies. The picture of your birth is clounded in the ice and mists of ancient ages but your spirit remains our life stream. II. The Red Man knew your bountiful gifts and gave thanks to the Great Spirit on your banks. -- The Spanish and French Fathers brought the glory of Christianity to America on Mississippi. But all men, white and dark; -- Indian, Spaniard, and Negro; Bourbon and Yankee, combined to make Mississippi the heart of America. The first of the two movements, beginning molto andante, is vaguel modal to hint at antiquity. It is built upon the conventional two themes, with an episode, poco piu mosso, misterioso, for prehistoric murk and muck. There are various changes of pace and mood. The second, Allegro ma vigorosamente, prefigures an Indian ceremony. A theme presented by flute, clarinet and bassoon is a Canadian Indian fishing call collected by the late J.B. Beck. A later passage of quasi-Gregorian chant identifies the French and Spanish priests who made the great river their highway. The fishing-call is altered in rhythm and harmony to represent Negro field hands and roustabous. A turbulent close brings all these elemts together in the muddy swirling currents of the Mississippi. The work was begun in the summer of 1945, and was revised and completed in the summer of 1947. Harl McDonald, who is the manager of The Philadelphia Orchestra, has concerned himself with music as an art, as a science and as a business in course of his career. He was born on a cattle ranch in the Rockies, but since his was a musical family, his up-bringing combined piano lessons with ranch life. Years of study and professional experience followed in Los Angeles and in Germany. In 1927 he was appointed lecuter in composition at the University of Pennsylvania and he has since then made is home in Philadelphia. In 1933 under a grant of the Rockefeller FOundation he collaborated with physicists in research dealing with the measurement of instrumental and vocal tone, new scale divisions and the resultant harmonies. In that same year he was named head of the University's music faculty and conductor of its choral organizations. In 1939, having been a member of the Board of Directors for five years, he was appointed manager of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He continus to write, but otherwise his entire attention is now devoted to managerial duties. Chief items in the catalogue of his compositions are four symphonies, three orchestra suites, a half-dozen tone-poems, three concertos and considerable quantity of choral music.
SKU: CF.CM9735
ISBN 9781491161159. UPC: 680160919741. Key: A minor. Latin, English. Christopher Smart and ZRS.
Origins of the Tarantella The tarantella is a popular southern Italian dance with origins in the 11th century. (There is even some mention of the tarantella in ancient Greek mythology.) Of the possible sources of the dance, the most popular comes from the villages of Tanto and Tarentum (little spider), Italy. During harvest, workers in the field were sometimes bitten by the tarantula spider. To combat the poison, the afflicted workers went into a frenetic, almost musical exorcism to sweat the venom out of their pores. In the millennium since, the very energetic nature of the dance has remained, although the curative focus of the dance has given way to more enjoyable endeavors, even stately courtship. Origins of the Text Christopher Smart (1722-1771), also known as Kit Smart or Jack Smart, was born in Kent, England and suffered from what is now believed to be acute asthma and other health issues as a child. As such, he did not work in the fields, but spent much time reading and writing, a passion that he nurtured for a lifetime. Well known in London literary circles, his career as a writer floundered due to mounting debts and his falling out of favor with the literary establishment: Sadly, he was forced to confinement at St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics, though this was based on his mounting debt, and not on insanity. (Confinement, or debtor's prison, was common during this period if one's debts could not be paid.) During his confinement, he worked on two of his most famous works, Jubilate Agno and A Song of David. (Part of Jubilate Agno [Rejoice in the Lamb] was set to music by English composer, Benjamin Britten.) Smart's writing style (which, at times, bordered on the absurd), along with his many obsessions, lead to frequent misperceptions of his work and his lucidity. In this present work, portions of Smart's Jubilate Agno were used in mm. 24-31, 103-110 and 149-156. The remaining text was gathered by the composer, including the rapid, almost patter-like, delivery of words from A-Z in the alphabet. (Christopher Smart had a preoccupation with the alphabet.) These words both rhyme and accentuate the frenetic nature of the spider dance: theraphosa [teh-rah-fo-sa] a genus of tarantula spiders bellicose [beh-lee-ko-sah] hostile; aggressive odiosa [o-dee-o-sa] hateful; vexation tenebrosa [teh-neh-bro-sa] creeping; dark nemorosa [neh-mo-ro-sa] wooded; shady lapidosa [lah-pee-do-sa] stony area; gritty The convergence, then, of the medieval tarantella (spider dance), the writings of a brilliant poet who bordered on the absurd, and the infusion of strong, descriptive and otherwise random, rhyming words, synthesizes to make dramatic lyrics for this work. About the Composer Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer and conductor. He has served as Professor of Music at three universities (an Endowed Professor at two), conducted 47 all-state choirs, and directed over 40 times at Carnegie Hall, among other American venues. Randall guest conducts full-time, and composes from his home studios on Merritt Island, Florida and in Sandia Park, New Mexico. Performance Notes Text: In Latin, the r is flipped; use s instead of z on endings such as phosa, cosa, and so on; the Latin o is a cross between oh and aw; in the transliteration above, I chose to simply use an o for consistency. The director will blend the oh and aw in the rehearsals to his/her own preference. Lastly, tarantula is pronounced tah-rah-n-too-lah (avoid teh-ran-choo-luh) within the confines of this text. Stomp: This can be done by the entire chorus, or just the first row. It is as much visual as it is auditory. The string quartet is preferred over piano when that option affords itself. I created a piano score that is a viable option and included it in the piano/vocal score if a performance uses chorus/piano.The tarantella is a popular southern Italian dance with origins in the 11th century. (There is even some mention of the tarantella in ancient Greek mythology.) Of the possible sources of the dance, the most popular comes from the villages of Tanto and Tarentum (“little spiderâ€), Italy. During harvest, workers in the field were sometimes bitten by the tarantula spider. To combat the “poison,†the afflicted workers went into a frenetic, almost musical exorcism to sweat the venom out of their pores. In the millennium since, the very energetic nature of the dance has remained, although the curative focus of the dance has given way to more enjoyable endeavors, even stately courtship.Christopher Smart (1722-1771), also known as “Kit Smart†or “Jack Smart,†was born in Kent, England and suffered from what is now believed to be acute asthma and other health issues as a child. As such, he did not work in the fields, but spent much time reading and writing, a passion that he nurtured for a lifetime. Well known in London literary circles, his career as a writer floundered due to mounting debts and his falling out of favor with the literary establishment: Sadly, he was forced to confinement at St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics, though this was based on his mounting debt, and not on insanity. (Confinement, or debtor’s prison, was common during this period if one’s debts could not be paid.) During his confinement, he worked on two of his most famous works, Jubilate Agno and A Song of David. (Part of Jubilate Agno [“Rejoice in the Lambâ€] was set to music by English composer, Benjamin Britten.) Smart’s writing style (which, at times, bordered on the absurd), along with his many obsessions, lead to frequent misperceptions of his work and his lucidity. In this present work, portions of Smart’s Jubilate Agno were used in mm. 24-31, 103-110 and 149-156. The remaining text was gathered by the composer, including the rapid, almost patter-like, delivery of words from A-Z in the alphabet. (Christopher Smart had a preoccupation with the alphabet.) These words both rhyme and accentuate the frenetic nature of the spider dance:The convergence, then, of the medieval tarantella (spider dance), the writings of a brilliant poet who bordered on the absurd, and the infusion of strong, descriptive and otherwise random, rhyming words, synthesizes to make dramatic lyrics for this work.Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer and conductor. He has served as Professor of Music at three universities (an Endowed Professor at two), conducted 47 all-state choirs, and directed over 40 times at Carnegie Hall, among other American venues. Randall guest conducts full-time, and composes from his home studios on Merritt Island, Florida and in Sandia Park, New Mexico. In Latin, the “r†is flipped; use “s†instead of “z†on endings such as “phosa,†“cosa,†and so on; the Latin “o†is a cross between “oh†and “awâ€; in the transliteration above, I chose to simply use an “o†for consistency. The director will blend the “oh†and “aw†in the rehearsals to his/her own preference. Lastly, “tarantula†is pronounced “tah-rah-n-too-lah†(avoid “teh-ran-choo-luhâ€) within the confines of this text.Stomp: This can be done by the entire chorus, or just the first row. It is as much visual as it is auditory. The string quartet is preferred over piano when that option affords itself. I created a piano score that is a viable option and included it in the piano/vocal score if a performance uses chorus/piano.The tarantella is a popular southern Italian dance with origins in the 11th century. (There is even some mention of the tarantella in ancient Greek mythology.) Of the possible sources of the dance, the most popular comes from the villages of Tanto and Tarentum (“little spiderâ€), Italy. During harvest, workers in the field were sometimes bitten by the tarantula spider. To combat the “poison,†the afflicted workers went into a frenetic, almost musical exorcism to sweat the venom out of their pores. In the millennium since, the very energetic nature of the dance has remained, although the curative focus of the dance has given way to more enjoyable endeavors, even stately courtship.Christopher Smart (1722-1771), also known as “Kit Smart†or “Jack Smart,†was born in Kent, England and suffered from what is now believed to be acute asthma and other health issues as a child. As such, he did not work in the fields, but spent much time reading and writing, a passion that he nurtured for a lifetime. Well known in London literary circles, his career as a writer floundered due to mounting debts and his falling out of favor with the literary establishment: Sadly, he was forced to confinement at St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics, though this was based on his mounting debt, and not on insanity. (Confinement, or debtor’s prison, was common during this period if one’s debts could not be paid.) During his confinement, he worked on two of his most famous works, Jubilate Agno and A Song of David. (Part of Jubilate Agno [“Rejoice in the Lambâ€] was set to music by English composer, Benjamin Britten.) Smart’s writing style (which, at times, bordered on the absurd), along with his many obsessions, lead to frequent misperceptions of his work and his lucidity. In this present work, portions of Smart’s Jubilate Agno were used in mm. 24-31, 103-110 and 149-156. The remaining text was gathered by the composer, including the rapid, almost patter-like, delivery of words from A-Z in the alphabet. (Christopher Smart had a preoccupation with the alphabet.) These words both rhyme and accentuate the frenetic nature of the spider dance:The convergence, then, of the medieval tarantella (spider dance), the writings of a brilliant poet who bordered on the absurd, and the infusion of strong, descriptive and otherwise random, rhyming words, synthesizes to make dramatic lyrics for this work.Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer and conductor. He has served as Professor of Music at three universities (an Endowed Professor at two), conducted 47 all-state choirs, and directed over 40 times at Carnegie Hall, among other American venues. Randall guest conducts full-time, and composes from his home studios on Merritt Island, Florida and in Sandia Park, New Mexico.In Latin, the “r†is flipped; use “s†instead of “z†on endings such as “phosa,†“cosa,†and so on; the Latin “o†is a cross between “oh†and “awâ€; in the transliteration above, I chose to simply use an “o†for consistency. The director will blend the “oh†and “aw†in the rehearsals to his/her own preference. Lastly, “tarantula†is pronounced “tah-rah-n-too-lah†(avoid “teh-ran-choo-luhâ€) within the confines of this text.Stomp: This can be done by the entire chorus, or just the first row. It is as much visual as it is auditory. The string quartet is preferred over piano when that option affords itself. I created a piano score that is a viable option and included it in the piano/vocal score if a performance uses chorus/piano.
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