Chamber Music Cello, Piano, Violin

SKU: PR.414411630

Composed by Shulamit Ran. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. 28+28+20+24+20+24 pages. Duration 20 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #414-41163. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.414411630).

ISBN 9781491114551. UPC: 680160089956. 9.5 x 13 inches.

EXCURSIONS is a one-movement work exploring two “characters.” A rhapsodic, descending passage is introduced by the cello, followed by a  static, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello. Their individual developments are separated by a slow, contrasting middle section. The composer has written: “This is analogous to situations in life: we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option and forfeiting the other. But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination… or can we? It is symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place.”.
Excursi ons for violin, cello and piano, is a one-movement work of tripartite structure in which materials explored in the first of three large sections are brought back in the last section.  The traditional statement-contrast-restat ement form, which is readily suggested by such a description, is, however, not at all in the mold in which the work is cast.  Rather, my aim was to subject the essential materials of the piece (two “characters” –the rhapsodic, descending passage played by the cello in the very opening and, later, a static, slow moving, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello) to two entirely different developments separated by a slow, contrasting middle section.  This is analogous to an exploration of the ramifications that two divergent choices made by the same person might lead to.  In life, as we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option usually means having to forfeit the other.  But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination…or can we?  It is, I believe, symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place: in composing Excursions, it seemed absolutely inescapable that at the end the slow, contrasting middle sections – both more resigned and peaceful than the battling spirits of the outer parts – should return briefly to end the work. The piano trio combination (once highly favored, but to this composer still as challenging today) is approached here as a collaborative effort of three equal soloists – partners.  Of the available pairings, the two strings find themselves occasionally approached as a team pitted against the piano.  The cello-piano combination is also not uncommon here, and there is an extended violin cadenza toward the end of the piece.  The writing for the three instruments is closely and at times interlinked, but the players are all instructed to play from scores. Excursions was first performed at Brandeis University in 1982.

Chamber Music Cello, Piano, Violin

SKU: PR.114423360

Composed by Stacy Garrop. Set of Score and Parts. 24+12+12 pages. Duration 8:30. Theodore Presser Company #114-42336. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114423360).

UPC: 680160686285.

When the Newport Music Festival commissioned me for a piano trio in honor of their 2021 season, I looked for a topic that would celebrate an aspect of the Newport community. While researching the area, I was struck by the nine lighthouses situated around the island. The dual nature of lighthouses was particularly appealing to me: not only do they serve a vital role in the navigation of ships around rocks and land, but they are also a beautiful sight, particularly at night when their blinking beacons are clearly visible to the eye. It occurred to me that lighthouses link the past with the present, and will endure long into the future, with their beacons serving the same purpose for every generation.I became fascinated with the lighthouse on the property of Castle Hill Inn, located at the opening of the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay. This squat thirty-four foot granite structure was erected in 1890 on a very picturesque spot, right at the water’s edge. Its “characteristic,â� �� the nautical term for each lighthouse’s unique light sequence that allows ships to identify the lighthouse, is to alternate on for three seconds, then off for three seconds. The lighthouse has also served as the starting and finish line for numerous high profile yacht races, as well as survived a massive hurricane in 1938, though the lighthouse keeper’s nearby residence wasn’t so lucky. American novelist Thornton Wilder wrote much of his 1973 novel Theophilus North while staying at the Castle Hill Inn; a passage from the book perfectly captures the dual nature of lighthouses:“At a later visit I was able to engage the pentagonal room in a turret above the house; from that magical room I could see at night the beacons of six lighthouses and hear the booming and chiming of as many sea buoys.”In Beacon of the Bay, we first hear the lighthouse’s characteristic as its ruby light blinks on and off. This is followed by a simple theme that represents the lighthouse performing its solitary duty. As the piece progresses, we hear waves playfully lapping around its base, then yachts gracefully floating by; this is followed by a violent storm that churns the waves with so much force that they crash against the lighthouse’s granite body. But the steadfast lighthouse holds firm to the rocks, grandly blinking its ruby light. The music quiets back down to its simple theme, with yachts sailing by once more as the piece concludes.

Chamber Music Clarinet, Piano, Violin

SKU: PR.164002390

Composed by Dan Welcher. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. Composed 1995. 26+14+14 pages. Duration 14 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #164-00239. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.164002390).

UPC: 680160038091.

I became interested in the work of Plato through my friend and collaborator, the writer and philosopher Paul Woodruff. Paul's new translation, with Alexander Nehamas, of the Symposium gave me insights into ancient Greek ways of thinking about Love, Beauty, and Wisdom -- and managed to keep the earthy, and often bawdy side of it all in full view. But their new translation of Plato's later dialogue Phaedrus went even further: the beauty of the speeches is breathtaking, and the discourse itself is enough to keep one awake at night. Basically the Great Speech of Socrates in the Phaedrus dialogue has to do with the place of Eros in the world, and with the conflict in the soul between fleshly pleasure and philosophic discovery. I will not attempt to encapsulate this brilliant discourse in a program note: suffice it to say that reading it gave rise to my two-sided work for clarinet, violin, and piano, Phaedrus. The first movement represents the Philosophic life, and is thus subtitled Apollo's Lyre (Invocation and Hymn). It begins with an unaccompanied melody for the clarinet, which (after a pair of harp-like flourishes for the piano, expands into an accompanied canon. The voices in the dialogue (clarinet and violin) follow each other by a prescribed number of beats, but the music is totally devoid of any meter at all. The piano, representing the lyre, accompanies this lyric love-feast with repeated strummed chords. The canon has three large sections, and ends with violin echoing the unaccompanied clarinet invocation as the sound of the lyre fades. The second movement, called Dionysus' Dream-Orgy (Ritual Dance) presents, after a brief introduction, another kind of unmetered music. Rather than long lyric flights of philosophic song, however, this time we hear a unison dance of unbridled energy and sensual transport. The piece soon forms itself into a loose arch form, with contrasting metered dance sections divided by the unison unmetered orgy tune. Midway through the movement, Apollo's melody returns from the first movement, but it is a temporary reminiscence. The orgiastic dance returns, reaches a climax, and ends with a stomping of feet. While Plato asserts that a proper balance between lust and reason is necessary in all men, he (naturally) gives the nod to Philosophy as the better choice in which to live. Not so in my music: the two sides are meant to coexist and to complement each other. No sides are taken. Phaedrus was commissioned of the Verdehr Trio by Michigan State University. It is dedicated to the Vedehr Trio with great affection and admiration.

Piano; Violin - intermediate

SKU: HL.49019514

Violin and Piano. Composed by Joe Duddell. This edition: Saddle stitching. Sheet music. String. Classical, Contemporary. Softcover. Composed 2010. 24 pages. Duration 9'. Schott Music #ED13358. Published by Schott Music (HL.49019514).

ISBN 9790220132575. 9.0x12.0x0.111 inches.

“All Stars Aligned was originally to be a set of variations on a theme that is almost hidden in the opening bars. However, the piece took on much more of a fantasia feel and shape as I wrote it and it could be argued that a second theme first heard in the violin of the ground (derived from material in bar 5) becomes more dominant than the first as the piece progresses. The piece is in one continuous movement but is in three distinct sections and tempi: medium, slow and fast. The material shares some similarities with my piano trio, Nightswimming, and in some ways can be seen as a companion piece (minus the cello of course). The title comes from a track on an album by the artist St. Vincent called Marry Me which I hope is appropriate for a piece commissioned to celebrate a wedding anniversary.” Joe Duddell 2010.

(Violin and Piano). By Various. Arranged by Edward Huws Jones. For Guitar, Piano, Violin (Violin). Boosey and Hawkes Chamber Music. Softcover with CD. 120 pages. Boosey and Hawkes #M060124037. Published by Boosey and Hawkes