SKU: PR.114417130

ISBN 9781491110409. UPC: 680160626687. 9x12 inches.

A recipient of the New Music USA 2013 Live Music For Dance Award commissioning grant, Not Alone is inspired by the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai's poem Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow. The premiere was given on April 26, 2014 by the PRISM Quartet with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which commissioned the work to celebrate its 25th Anniversary NYC Season. From the Program Note by Matthew Levy (The PRISM Quartet), Not Alone (2014) is an interdisciplinary work...but it stands alone in a chamber music setting. The work spans a stunning range of textures, from introspective solos for each of the four saxophones to majestic hyper-active gestures. The PRISM Quartet recorded Not Alone for a 2017 release on XAS Records titled Paradigm Lost. But we're excited for a wider community of saxophonists to embrace the work, and share it with their own audiences. Not Alone is published together with Happy Birthday to PRISM, a brief miniature that Chen Yi wrote for the quartet's 20th anniversary celebration in 2004. For advanced performers.______________ ___________Text from the scanned back cover:NOT ALONE for Saxophone QuartetHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PRISM for Saxophone QuartetNot Alone is a 14-minute saxophone quartet and dance score inspired by the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai’s “Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow.” The expansively-textured sax quartet matches the exploratory and dramatic movements and gestures in the dance. NOT ALONE was commissioned by the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company which premiered the work in collaboration with the PRISM Quartet. Also included in this publication is Chen Yi’s fascinating take on “Happy Birthday to You,” composed in celebration of Prism’s 25th anniversary season.
A recipient of the New Music USA 2013 Live Music For Dance Award commissioning grant, Not Alone is inspiredby the ancient Chinese poet Li Bai’s poem “Drinking Alone under the Moon with the Shadow.” The premierewas given on April 26, 2014 by the PRISM Quartet with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, which commissioned thework to celebrate its 25th Anniversary NYC Season. Program Note by composer Chen YiThe original inspiration for this work for both the choreographer and the composer came from the Tang Dynasty poem - Alone Under the Moon by Li Bai. The poem describes the poet being alone in a garden. The moon and his shadow became his companions that night. The choreographer brings this idea to modern life in an urban setting. She created a series of “mindscapes” which are the result of the exploration of the different mental and physical states of being alone.Through self-examination, the choreographer raises the question: are we ever really alone? Our physical being may be standing by itself, but what about our introspective self? When we are still, we let our thoughts pass by like flowing water. If we could engage with our shadows, what would it be like?Program Note by Matthew Levy, The PRISM QuartetThe PRISM Quartet has commissioned a great many composers since our founding days in 1984. Chen Yi is among ahandful of our very favorites, and one to whom we’ve returned time and time again. Her music is powerful, expansive,intimate, and draws connections between Eastern and Western, ancient and modern traditions in a voice all her own.Chen Yi has written or adapted four works for the PRISM Quartet. She penned a wonderful miniature called HappyBirth day to PRISM to celebrate the ensemble’s 20th anniversary back in 2004 (Dedication, Innova Recordings).We subsequently commissioned her to compose Septet (2008) for Erhu, Pipa, Percussion, and Saxophone Quartet(2008), premiered and recorded with the New York ensemble Music From China (Antiphony, Innova Recordings 2010).In 2015, the PRISM Quartet performed and recorded (XAS Records) a new version of her saxophone quartet concerto,BA YIN, with the University of Missouri-Kansas City Wind Ensemble under the baton of Steven Davis (originally writtenfor the Rascher Quartet and scored for saxophones and string orchestra.).Finally, Not Alone (2014) is an interdisciplinary work written for the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company with the PRISMQuartet, but it stands alone in a chamber music setting. The work spans a stunning range of textures, from introspectivesolos for each of the four saxophones to majestic hyper-active gestures. The PRISM Quartet recorded Not Alonefor a 2017 release on XAS Records titled Paradigm Lost. But we’re excited for a wider community of saxophonists toembrace the work, and share it with their own audiences.In his liner notes for the recording, WNYC’s John Schaefer writes: “As with much of her music, Chen employs percussiveeffects and glissandi; in Chinese music these are not considered “extended techniques” or special effects, but animportant part of the performer’s arsenal. Here, they help create the twilit mood of the opening moments. The piecesoon becomes more dramatic, suggesting the arrival of the drinker’s companions (real or imagined) and his or herincreasingly garrulous outbursts. Passages of consonance and discord can easily be heard as companionable singingand bouts of drunken argument. The piece bustles along on a kind of restless energy, until, finally, that restlessnesssubsides, giving way to a gently humorous ending where a short falling phrase signals the drinker falling asleep.”.

SKU: SU.50600030

Commissioned by the Colonial Symphony, Paul Hostetter, Music Director and Conductor First performed in 2006 Published by: Dunsinane Music Composer's Note: My inspiration for Smiling Dennis is the great bass clarinet virtuoso Dennis Smylie. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Dennis over the past several years owing to our mutual affiliation at Montclair State University. We would meet unintentionally in the halls and begin conversations regarding all manners of topics: from the colorful history of the bass clarinet—and bass clarinetists—to the furious appetite of the New Jersey groundhog. Dennis inevitably finds the humor in things—he revels in discovering the comic story that can often be found, just underneath the topic. When Maestro Hostetter asked me to compose a new piece during his initial season with the Colonial Symphony, and mentioned the possibility of a work related to humor, I immediately thought of the Dennis. When I spoke with Maestro Hostetter the following day, I had already conceived of the title (very unusual for me—I’m much more a musical/visual thinker than a verbal one) as well as the overall musical narrative. Smiling Dennis is a concerto in one movement for one bass clarinetist and twenty string players. Somewhat unusually, each performer has a unique musical assignment—that is, the string players are not aligned into their typical alliances of first violins, second violins and so forth. This permits a more complex string texture, allowing each performer to assert his or her individuality. Indeed, the notion of individuality is essential to this concerto, as it often is in concerti. For example, Smiling Dennis begins with the bass clarinet not quite obeying the conventions of tuning to the orchestra. Rather than simply take the A offered by the Concertmaster, the soloist playfully performs a gently descending series of notes. Offered another A, the soloist repeats this gesture (though with a different descending series). This exchange occurs four times. In the final one, members of the string orchestra join the soloist in the first significant statement of one of the central melodies. The bass clarinet completes this introductory section alone, playing all the way down to a low A, a third below the lowest note in the celli. Following the introduction, Smiling Dennis consists of six sections, somewhat along the lines of a dance suite: an energetic Allegro, a lyric Arioso, a forward Piú mosso, a light-hearted and syncopated dance, a even more energetic passage for strings alone, and finally a modified return to the introduction. In the return, the string ensemble is no longer at all oppositional to the soloist. Rather, in response to the soloist’s gentle cajoling and supportive commentary, the strings accompany—with pleasure, you might say—the quiet, individual playfulness of the bass clarinet. The work ends with a return to the soloist’s substratum A, accompanied quietly by the strings.

SKU: CF.BE10F

ISBN 9780825891175. UPC: 798408091170. 8.5 x 11 inches. Key: G major.

Commissioned by the Princeton-Columbia Electronic Music Center for Speculum Musicae in 1981. The first movement, In Preparation, is a study in tuning and intonation and is based on the open strings in perfectly tuned fifths, with the violins D string tuned 294 hertz. The first moments of the piece provide opportunity to tune to the tape part. (This tuning probably differs imperceptibly from a tempered tuning since the E string of the violin is only 1/33 of a semitone sharper then in a tempered system and the C strings of the viola and cello 1/33 of a semitone flatter.) Most subsequent pitches in the movement are either the open strings or major and minor thirds above and below the open strings. The minor thirds will be slightly sharp with respect to equal tempered tuning about 15 cents or 1/6 of a semitone and the major thirds will be slightly flat about 14 cents, or one seventh of a semitone. Listen to the tape part as a guide. All harmonics in this movement are to be played as natural harmonics and open strings are to be used whenever possible. In the second movement, At a Distance, the tape part largely doubles selected pitches in the string parts and should be thought of as a backdrop rather then counterpart. In this and the remaining movements equal tempered tuning is used though it will probably not be necessary to retune the instruments for this reason alone. The third movement, In Practice, is a study in modes of performance particularly with respect to rhythmic rigidity and flexibility. While the tape part may seem to bend and sway a great deal, the string parts are to be played with as much rhythmic precision as possible. At many points it may be necessary to delay or anticipate beats in order to coincide with the arrival of beats in the tape part, though in general the quarter equals 120 is accurate. In the fourth movement, In Distinction, different kinds of musical conceptions are counter-pointed and counter-posed. Here the beat is quite accurate although the notation of the synthetic saxophone part is only approximate. All the tape parts are based on computer reprocessed violin except for parts of the fourth movement in which synthetic saxophone is used. The tape part was synthesized on the IBM 3033 and 3081 computers at Princeton University and converted at the Winham Laboratory. The violin source was performed by Cyrus Stevens.
Commissioned by the Princeton-Columbia Electronic Music Center for Speculum Musicae in 1981. The first movement, In Preparation, is a study in tuning and intonation and is based on the open strings in perfectly tuned fifths, with the violinas D string tuned 294 hertz. The first moments of the piece provide opportunity to tune to the tape part. (This tuning probably differs imperceptibly from a tempered tuning since the E string of the violin is only 1/33 of a semitone sharper then in a tempered system and the C strings of the viola and acello 1/33 of a semitone flatter.) Most subsequent pitches in the movement are either the open strings or major and minor thirds above and below the open strings. The minor thirds will be slightly sharp with respect to equal tempered tuning about 15 cents or 1/6 of a semitone and the major thirds will be slightly flat about 14 cents, or one seventh of a semitone. Listen to the tape part as a guide. All harmonics in this movement are to be played as natural harmonics and open strings are to be used whenever possible. In the second movement, At a Distance, the tape part largely doubles selected pitches in the string parts and should be thought of as a backdrop rather then counterpart. In this and the remaining movements equal tempered tuning is used though it will probably not be necessary to retune the instruments for this reason alone. The third movement, In Practice, is a study in modes of performance particularly with respect to rhythmic rigidity and flexibility. While the tape part may seem to bend and sway a great deal, the string parts are to be played with as much rhythmic precision as possible. At many points it may be necessary to delay or anticipate beats in order to coincide with the arrival of beats in the tape part, though in general the quarter equals 120 is accurate. In the fourth movement, In Distinction, different kinds of musical conceptions are counter-pointed and counter-posed. Here the beat is quite accurate although the notation of the synthetic saxophone part is only approximate. All the tape parts are based on computer reprocessed violin except for parts of the fourth movement in which synthetic saxophone is used. The tape part was synthesized on the IBM 3033 and 3081 computers at Princeton University and converted at the Winham Laboratory. The violin source was performed by Cyrus Stevens.
Commissioned by the Princeton-Columbia Electronic Music Center for Speculum Musicae in 1981. The first movement, In Preparation, is a study in tuning and intonation and is based on the open strings in perfectly tuned fifths, with the violin's D string tuned 294 hertz. The first moments of the piece provide opportunity to tune to the tape part. (This tuning probably differs imperceptibly from a tempered tuning since the E string of the violin is only 1/33 of a semitone sharper then in a tempered system and the C strings of the viola and 'cello 1/33 of a semitone flatter.) Most subsequent pitches in the movement are either the open strings or major and minor thirds above and below the open strings. The minor thirds will be slightly sharp with respect to equal tempered tuning about 15 cents or 1/6 of a semitone and the major thirds will be slightly flat about 14 cents, or one seventh of a semitone. Listen to the tape part as a guide. All harmonics in this movement are to be played as natural harmonics and open strings are to be used whenever possible. In the second movement, At a Distance, the tape part largely doubles selected pitches in the string parts and should be thought of as a backdrop rather then counterpart. In this and the remaining movements equal tempered tuning is used though it will probably not be necessary to retune the instruments for this reason alone. The third movement, In Practice, is a study in modes of performance particularly with respect to rhythmic rigidity and flexibility. While the tape part may seem to bend and sway a great deal, the string parts are to be played with as much rhythmic precision as possible. At many points it may be necessary to delay or anticipate beats in order to coincide with the arrival of beats in the tape part, though in general the quarter equals 120 is accurate. In the fourth movement, In Distinction, different kinds of musical conceptions are counter-pointed and counter-posed. Here the beat is quite accurate although the notation of the synthetic saxophone part is only approximate. All the tape parts are based on computer reprocessed violin except for parts of the fourth movement in which synthetic saxophone is used. The tape part was synthesized on the IBM 3033 and 3081 computers at Princeton University and converted at the Winham Laboratory. The violin source was performed by Cyrus Stevens.
Commissioned by the Princeton-Columbia Electronic Music Center for SpeculumMusicae in 1981.The first movement, In Preparation, is a study in tuning and intonation and isbased on the open strings in perfectly tuned fifths, with the violin’s D stringtuned 294 hertz. The first moments of the piece provide opportunity to tuneto the tape part. (This tuning probably differs imperceptibly from a temperedtuning since the E string of the violin is only 1/33 of a semitone sharper then ina tempered system and the C strings of the viola and ‘cello 1/33 of a semitoneflatter.) Most subsequent pitches in the movement are either the open stringsor major and minor thirds above and below the open strings. The minor thirdswill be slightly sharp with respect to equal tempered tuning about 15 cents or1/6 of a semitone and the major thirds will be slightly flat about 14 cents, or oneseventh of a semitone. Listen to the tape part as a guide. All harmonics in thismovement are to be played as natural harmonics and open strings are to be usedwhenever possible.In the second movement, At a Distance, the tape part largely doubles selectedpitches in the string parts and should be thought of as a backdrop rather thencounterpart. In this and the remaining movements equal tempered tuning is usedthough it will probably not be necessary to retune the instruments for this reasonalone.The third movement, In Practice, is a study in modes of performance particularlywith respect to rhythmic rigidity and flexibility. While the tape part may seemto bend and sway a great deal, the string parts are to be played with as muchrhythmic precision as possible. At many points it may be necessary to delay oranticipate beats in order to coincide with the arrival of beats in the tape part,though in general the quarter equals 120 is accurate.In the fourth movement, In Distinction, different kinds of musical conceptions arecounter-pointed and counter-posed. Here the beat is quite accurate although thenotation of the synthetic saxophone part is only approximate.All the tape parts are based on computer reprocessed violin except for parts ofthe fourth movement in which synthetic saxophone is used. The tape part wassynthesized on the IBM 3033 and 3081 computers at Princeton University andconverted at the Winham Laboratory. The violin source was performed by CyrusStevens.

ISBN 9781622776436.

Draw ing from his five decades of success as a conductor and educator in the choral field, Will Kesling has compiled a comprehensive choral methods resource that addresses every necessary fundamental for achieving artistry in the choral art. Written in clear and conversational language, this resource covers: Building a healthy and beautiful choral sound Dealing with vocal issues Selecting repertoire and programming concerts Developing score study skills and interpretive insights Understanding the characteristics of musical periods and composers Planning, preparing for, and running rehearsals The Voices I Hear also explores important but often overlooked topics, including a discussion of performing sacred music in secular education settings, techniques for performing choral-orchestral works, choral versus orchestral conducting, and how to become a true “maestro.” Individual chapters also function as standalone topics of study. A valuable read for emerging and seasoned conductors alike, The Voices I Hear is an expert study of the aesthetic, intellectual, and practical aspects of the choral art. Dr. Will Kesling is Professor of Choral and Orchestral Conducting at the University of Florida, where he has taught for two decades. He has conducted hundreds of choral ensembles and nearly fifty of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. His ensembles have received international attention for their excellence and musical expression.   Thank you, Dr. Kesling, for the decade you gave of yourself to write the most complete and comprehensive writing on the topics of choral techniques, methods, and conducting I have seen. It is in-depth yet practical, to the point of being a valuable resource for both the young conductors entering the choral field to the well-established professionals. You have given us a solid foundation in all significant areas of the choral art, including, among many others, the production of beautiful vocal tone, detailed physical vocal production, textual and physical components of English diction, repertoire programming, appropriate style, interpretation and phrasing, and a pathway to successful conducting of combined choral and orchestral forces. Your enormous and highly successful career, with worldwide performances and numerous awards and honors, has enabled you to bring validity and integrity to the entire writing. —Donald Neuen     Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UCLA     Former member of the Robert Shaw Chorale     Mr. Shaw’s Assistant Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Choruses For more than 50 years, Dr. Will Kesling has been and continues to be a prominent figure and voice in the International and American choral profession. His new book, The Voices I Hear, is the distillation of his long and distinguished career as a conductor and choral music educator. The driving and consuming passion throughout Kesling’s life is the preparation and performance of the world’s rich and diverse choral and orchestral repertoire and the education, development, and growth of those who perform and conduct it. This book is a summation of a lifetime immersed in the choral art and all its many aspects. It overflows with insights into the choral art that will not only instruct the beginning conductor but also will enlighten and entertain the seasoned professional conductor and educator. It is filled with wit, wisdom, and practical advice to all practitioners of the choral arts. I enthusiastically recommend Kesling’s enlightening new book as an important addition to the choral pedagogy bibliography and for use as an invaluable new text for choral practicum classes for both graduate and undergraduate students. Dr. Kesling has brought to the choral profession significant new insights to all lovers of the choral art. —Craig Jessop     Professor of Music, University of Utah     Former Music Director of the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square     and the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants Will Kesling’s book, The Voices I Hear, is practical and philosophical, useful and inspirational, focused and comprehensive. The observations and advice are based on his vast personal experiences on the podium with choirs and orchestras, and the book is a monumental resource for both the young conductor and the veteran. Containing a broad spectrum of musical styles, composers, and topics, Kesling’s direct and practical writing connects immediately with today’s choral musician. Keep The Voices I Hear nearby as there will be many times down the road where the information and opinions in Dr. Kesling’s book will answer the questions you have, as well as the ones you didn’t even know to ask! —Jerry Blackstone     Professor Emeritus of Music (conducting) and Director of Choirs (retired)     School of Music, Theatre & Dance, University of Michigan This is the textbook I wish had been available when I was beginning my studies. It is comprehensive in scope, practical and helpful in its suggestions, and, perhaps most surprising in a book from an academic, superbly written in clear and powerful English. Kesling speaks with conviction, clarity, and polish, and he finds colorful and memorable ways of making his points and presents the material from the perspective of one who has done all these things for decades at a highly professional level. I give this volume the highest possible recommendation. —Daniel Gawthrop     Composer & Conductor.