Orchestra Piano

SKU: PR.11641861SP

Composed by William Kraft. Part. 35 pages. Duration 21 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #116-41861SP. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.11641861SP).

UPC: 680160685202.

What?! - my composer colleagues said - A concerto for the piano? It's a 19th century instrument! Admittedly we are in an age when originally created timbres and/or musico-technological formulations are often the modus operandi of a piece. Actually, this Concerto began about two years ago when, during one of my creative jogs, the sound of the uppermost register of the piano mingled with wind chimes penetrated my inner ear. The challenge and fascination of exploring and developing this idea into an orchestral situation determined that some day soon I would be writing a work for piano and orchestra. So it was a very happy coincidence when Mona Golabek phoned to tell me she would like discuss the Ford Foundation commission. After covering areas of aesthetics and compositional styles, we found that we had a good working rapport, and she asked if I would accept the commission. The answer was obvious. Then began the intensive thought process on the stylistic essence and organization of the work. Along with this went a renewed study of idiomatic writing for the piano, of the kind Stravinsky undertook with the violin when he began his Violin Concerto. By a stroke of great fortune, the day in February 1972 that I received official notice from the Ford Foundation of the commission, I also received a letter from the Guggenheim Foundation informing me I had been awarded my second fellowship. With the good graces of Zubin Mehta and Ernest Fleischmann, masters of my destiny as a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I was relieved of my orchestral duties during the Hollywood Bowl season. Thus I was able to go to Europe to work and to view the latest trends in music concentrating in London (the current musical melting pot and showcase par excellence), Oslo, Norway, for the Festival of Scandinavian Music called Nordic Days, and Warsaw, Poland, for its prestigious Autumn Festival. Over half the Concerto was completed in that summer and most of the rest during the 72-73 season with the final touches put on during a month as Resident Scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy. So much for the external and environmental influences, except perhaps to mention the birds of Sussex in the first movement, the bells of Arhus (Denmark) in the second movement and the bells of Bellagio at the end of the Concerto. Primary in the conception was the personality of Miss Golabek: she is a wonderfully vital and dynamic person and a real virtuoso. Therefore, the soloist in the Concerto is truly the protagonist; it is she (for once we can do away with the generic he) who unfolds the character and intent of the piece. The first section is constructed in the manner of a recitative - completely unmeasured - with letters and numbers by which the conductor signals the orchestra for its participation. This allows the soloist the freedom to interpret the patterns and control the flow and development of the music. The Concerto is actually in one continuous movement but with three large divisions of sufficiently contrasting character to be called movements in themselves. The first 'movement' is based on a few timbral elements: 1) a cluster of very low pitches which at the beginning are practically inaudibly depressed, and sustained silently by the sostenuto pedal, which causes sympathetic vibrating pitches to ring when strong notes are struck; 2) a single powerful note indicated by a black note-head with a line through it indicating the strongest possible sforzando; 3) short figures of various colors sometimes ominous, sometimes as splashes of light or as elements of transition; 4) trills and tremolos which are the actual controlling organic thread starting as single axial tremolos and gradually expanding to trills of increasingly larger and more powerful scope. The 'movement' begins in quiescent repose but unceasingly grows in energy and tension as the stretching of a string or rubber band. When it can no longer be restrained, it bursts into the next section. The second 'movement,' propelled by the released tension, is a brilliant virtuosic display, which begins with a long solo of wispy percussion, later joined in duet with the piano. Not to be ignored, the orchestra takes over shooting the material throughout all its sections like a small agile bird deftly maneuvering through nothing but air, while the piano counterposes moments of lyricism. The orchestra reaches a climax, thrusting us into the third 'movement' which begins with a cadenza-like section for the piano. This moves gently into an expressive section (expressive is not a negative term to me) in which duets are formed with various instruments. There are fleeting glimpses of remembrances past, as a fragmented recapitulation. One glimpse is hazily expressed by strings and percussion in a moment of simultaneous contrasting levels of activity, a technique of which I have been fond and have utilized in various fixed-free relationships, particularly in my Percussion Concerto, Contextures and Games: Collage No. 1. The second half of the third 'movement; is a large coda - akin to those in Beethoven - which brings about another display of virtuosity, this time gutsy and driving, raising the Concerto to a final climax, the soloist completing the fragmented recapitulation concept as well as the work with the single-note sforzando and low cluster from the very opening of the first movement.

Grade 4

SKU: CL.012-4722-01

A Gay Games Anthem. Composed by Galante. Concert Band. Extra full score. Composed 2019. Opus III Wind Orchestra Publications #012-4722-01. Published by Opus III Wind Orchestra Publications (CL.012-4722-01).

Rise: A Gay Games Anthem was commissioned by the Federation of Gay Games to accompany the raising of its official flag. This composition is heroic, uplifting, evocative of achievement, reverent, and welcoming. The work has global appeal, referencing the spirit embodied by the organization's three guiding principles: Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best.

SKU: ST.B847

Composed by Lucie Skeaping and Roddy Skeaping. Books & Study Scores. Book and CD. . 23 themed classroom projects for Key Stage 2 Music. Real Tudor songs, dances and drama, listening games and loads of things to do!. . In association with the Early Music Network. Book and CD. Stainer & Bell Ltd. #B847. Published by Stainer & Bell Ltd. (ST.B847).

ISBN 9780852498477.

Let's Make Tudor Music was runner-up in the 1999 Times Educational Supplement Award for Primary Music.

This publication contains 88 pages packed with ideas, including drama and dance as well as music making. The beautifully produced CD has 35 tracks for listening and for teaching. Books for the pupils are also available...

An exciting new Key Stage 2 education product brings a unique role to early music in the classroom.
Produced in association with the Early Music Network, Let's Make Tudor Music enables pupils to discover the joy of early music through a lively exploration of Tudor history and lifestyles, in the context of composing, improvising, appraising and performing targets set out in the National Curriculum.

The 23 themed classroom projects contained in the Teacher's Book and Pupil's Book are filled with real Tudor songs, dances and drama, listening games and other things to do. Children and adults with no previous experience gain the confidence to be performing genuine early music in minutes, using ordinary classroom instruments, but guided by the expert, authentic performances and unique Learning Tracks contained on the integral CD.

For teachers, Let's Make Tudor Music contains clear and practical instructions, plus authoritative attention to detail and historical accuracy. For pupils, the lively Tudor atmosphere created in the recorded performances and illustrations gives them the chance to discover early music through the active enjoyment of participation and performance, and the exciting sounds of period instruments.

Flexible in format, Let's Make Tudor Music can be used in a comprehensive manner to meet Key Stage Two music targets. But its step-by-step guidance makes it no less suited to non-specialist teachers wishing to broaden the scope of classroommusical activity, and use its stimulating materials in the context of a range of curriculum subjects.

The authors, Lucie and Roddy Skeaping, are leading early music and folk performers with the ensembles The City Waites and The Burning Bush. In addition, their celebrated workshops for schools, The Musical Mystery Tour, have introduced young audiences to early music and period performance in Britain, the USA and the Far East.

The Early Music Network is the national early music development agency, and is supported by the Arts Council. It promotes the understanding and enjoyment of early music and historically informed performances, and seeks to increase the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of early music by an audience of increasing numbers.

George Pratt, Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Huddersfield and board member of the Early Music Network comments: 'The authors combine musical professionalism with sensitivity both as teachers themselves and to their unknown colleagues in the classroom - a rare mix, and one which teachers will find deeply reassuring.'