(Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack). By Grace Potter. By Alan Menken and ...(+)
(Music from the Motion
Picture Soundtrack). By
Grace Potter. By Alan
Menken and Glenn Slater.
Piano/Vocal/Guitar
Songbook. Softcover. 40
pages. Published by Hal
Leonard
366 More Great Songs for Better Living. Arranged by Jim Beloff, Liz Belof...(+)
366 More Great Songs
for Better Living.
Arranged by Jim Beloff,
Liz Beloff. Fake Book.
Country, Pop,
Standards. Softcover. 416
pages. Published by Hal
Leonard (HL.212971).
Chamber Music Piano SKU: PR.110418370 Composed by Charles Ives. Arranged ...(+)
Chamber Music Piano
SKU: PR.110418370
Composed by Charles Ives.
Arranged by Danny Holt.
Performance Score. 20
pages. Duration 8
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #110-41837.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.110418370).
ISBN
9781491135075. UPC:
680160686247.
Compo
sed as an organ solo by
the 17-year-old Ives for
his own performance
purposes, the beloved
Variations on America is
a treat for any occasion,
whether a holiday
concert, a serious
recital, or other special
event. Danny
Holt’s
transcription for Piano,
Four Hands adds a
dazzling new option to
play at home or on stage,
taking best advantage of
Ives’ tremendous
contrasts in color,
dynamics, and
texture. Composed when
Charles Ives was a
teenager, Variations on
“America†is
both a convenient
introduction to
Ives’ body of
work, and an early
example of his
iconoclastic musical
voice and creative
genius. Just a few years
after composing this
piece, Ives would leave
home to study music at
Yale. But until then he
had been taught by his
father, George (who had
been a bandmaster in the
Civil War). George
subjected the young Ives
to experiments such as
singing a song in one key
while being accompanied
in another, or arranging
for two marching bands to
converge on a town
center, with the
resulting cacophony that
ensued.The Variations
exemplifies an early
period of experimentation
in Ives’ work,
spurred on by the unusual
pedagogy of his father.
The piece is particularly
notable for its use of
bitonality in the two
interludes, subtly
foreshadowing more
well-known examples by
Stravinsky, Bartók,
and others by
approximately two
decades.The bitonal
interludes were so ahead
of their time, in fact,
they were omitted from
the first copy that was
submitted to a publisher
in 1892. (Alas, the piece
was rejected even despite
these
“shockingâ€
elements having been left
out, and it wasn’t
published until more than
five decades later.)
There is some ambiguity
about when exactly Ives
added the interludes into
his manuscript copy,
though ample evidence
suggests he had performed
the piece with the
interludes around the
time he notated the piece
in 1891-92. In any case,
in light of this piece
and his other polytonal
explorations from the
last decade of the 19th
century, it seems fair to
give Ives credit for
being a pioneer in this
area!This arrangement for
Piano, Four Hands,
closely follows
Ives’ original
version for organ,
setting aside William
Schuman’s popular
adaptation for symphony
orchestra and William
Rhoads’ band
transcription of the
Schuman orchestration.
Pianists will find that
the piece translates well
to the instrument.
Ideally, the choreography
and logistics of
elbow-to-elbow four-hands
playing approximates the
wild joy one gets from
watching an organist play
the piece (e.g., the
elaborate pedal part in
the final variation).In
preparing this
publication, attention
was paid to details in
the dual Critical
Editions (Presser
443-41003) of both
Ives’ manuscript
edition and the 1949
publication edited by
organist E. Power Biggs
(who is credited with
discovering what had been
a long-lost, forgotten
work.) But as with much
of Ives’ output,
attempting to create a
true
‘urtext’
score is a futile
endeavor, and especially
with a piece such as this
one – in which
Ives incorporated
improvisation in live
performance –
seems unnecessary anyhow.
True die-hards are of
course encouraged to
consult the critical
editions and even find
inspiration in the
orchestrated version.
Generally, performers are
advised to be wild, have
fun, and not to be too
rigid in their
interpretive
choices.Dynamics in this
arrangement mostly follow
the organ score closely.
Pianists will use good
judgment about pedaling
throughout, which should
be straightforward and
intuitive. Courtesy
accidentals have been
provided frequently
– without
parentheses –
balancing the need for
extra clarity in the
context of Ives’
murky musical language,
and a desire to avoid
unnecessary clutter.A few
notes that might inform
interpretive
decisions:mm. 15-16:
There are inconsistencies
here between Ives’
original manuscript and
the 1949 Biggs edition,
regarding the top voice
in m. 15, beat 3 (C# vs.
Cn) and m. 16 (D Major
vs. D Minor).mm. 76-84 &
143-146: In both
Interludes, Ives
emphatically notates
extreme dynamic contrast,
in order to highlight the
bitonality. Although it
may seem counterintuitive
(or even a misprint, as
has apparently been
misconstrued by some),
performers are urged to
follow the
composer’s
marking!m. 109: Two-note
slurs have been added
here for clarity and
consistency with other
similar passages, though
they do not appear in
either the original
manuscript or Biggs.m.
112: The last two eighth
notes of Primo appear as
16ths in the original
manuscript.mm. 183-186:
The original manuscript
has a slightly different
bass line.mm. 184 & 186:
Primo gestures have been
re-written to be slightly
more idiomatic for Piano,
Four Hands.m. 186: The
breath mark at the end of
this bar does not appear
in either the manuscript
or Biggs, but is an
editorial suggestion
– aside from being
appropriately dramatic,
it will indeed be
necessary in a
reverberant hall!I would
like to thank Steven
Vanhauwaert, the other
half of my piano duo,
4handsLA, for his input
on early drafts of this
arrangement.—
Danny Holt, April
2022.
By Nicolas Horvath. By Robert Orledge and Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Redi...(+)
By Nicolas Horvath. By
Robert Orledge and Claude
Debussy (1862-1918).
Rediscoverd Debussy.
Christmas. Score. Musik
Fabrik #MFCD017A.
Published
by Musik Fabrik
Piano - Grade 5 SKU: FA.MFCD017B By Nicolas Horvath. By Claude Debussy an...(+)
Piano - Grade 5
SKU:
FA.MFCD017B
By
Nicolas Horvath. By
Claude Debussy and Robert
Orledge. Rediscoverd
Debussy. Christmas.
Score. Musik Fabrik
#MFCD017B. Published by
Musik Fabrik
(FA.MFCD017B).
8.27 x
11.69
inches.
Contains Le
Roi Lear:
Prelude,Premiere Fanfare,
and La Mort de
Cordelia,Toomai des
elephants, Rodrigue et
Chimene: Prelude a l'acte
1p. Le Martyre de Saint
Sebastien: La Passion ,
and No-ja-li ou Le Palais
du Silence
From
Robert Orledge's
notes:
My interest
in the wonderful music of
Claude Debussy began in
the 1980s when I
researched and published
a book with Cambridge
University Press entitled
Debussy and the Theatre.
During the course of my
studies in Paris, I was
amazed to discover that
Debussy planned over 50
theatrical works but only
finished two of these
entirely by himself (the
opera Pelleas et
Melisande in 1893-1902
and the ballet Jeux for
Diaghilev's Ballets
Russes in 1912-13). Of
the rest, many were never
started musically (like
Siddartha and Orphee-roi
with the Oriental scholar
Victor Segalen, 1907);
some had a few
tantalising sketches
(like the Edgar Allan Poe
opera Le Diable dans le
beffroi, 1902-03); some
were half-finished (like
his other Poe opera La
Chute de la Maison Usher,
1908-17); while others
were musically complete
but had their
orchestrations completed
by other composers (like
Khamma, by Charles
Koechlin, 1912-13; or Le
Martyre de Saint
Sebastien and La Boite a
joujoux by his 'angel of
corrections' ['l'ange des
Corrections'] Andre
Caplet in 1911 and 1919
respectively).
For
it has to be admitted
that what some scholars
call Debussy's
'compulsive achievement'
could equally well be
viewed as laziness,
especially as far as the
minute detail required
for calligraphing his
orchestral scores was
concerned. It was as if
creating the music itself
was of greater importance
than controlling its
final sound, even if
Debussy was an
imaginative orchestrator
when he found the time
and energy to do it. It
also seems true that
Debussy also preferred
inventing ideas to
turning them into
complete pieces. However,
despite the lack of
detail in many of his
sketches (missing clefs,
key signatures, dynamics,
phrasing, etc.) the notes
themselves are
surprisingly accurate,
whether or not they can
be compared with a later
draft. Thus, a large
number of sketches exist
for his Chinese ballet
No-ja-li ou Le Palais du
Silence and it is not too
difficult to see which
parts of Georges de
Feure's 1913 scenario
(see below) inspired
which ideas. But Debussy
hardly made any attempt
to join them together
after the first few
bars.
It was
usually up to his
publisher, Jacques
Durand, to find solutions
when Debussy risked a
breach of contract.
Debussy was supposed to
supervise the
orchestrations completed
by others, but this
supervision was usually
very light and restricted
to quiet, sensitive
moments in which problems
were easier to spot. Far
from jealously guarding
every one of his created
notes, as Ravel did,
Debussy once even went as
far as to ask Koechlin to
'write a ballet for him
that he would sign' on 26
March 1914 when he was
hard-pressed to fulfil
his lucrative contract
for No-ja-li with Andre
Charlot at the Alhambra
Theatre in London. In the
end, Debussy (through
Durand) sent Charlot the
symphonic suite Printemps
instead, whose
orchestration had been
completed by Henri Busser
in the Spring of
1912.
So, when I
was offered early
retirement as Professor
of Music at Liverpool
University in 2004, I
seized the opportunity it
would give me to spend
time trying to
reconstruct some of
Debussy's lost potential
masterpieces from his
existing sketches and
drafts--then
orchestrating them in
Debussy's style when this
was appropriate. I had
begun this mission in
2001 with the most
promising project, the
missing parts of Scene 2
of La Chute de la Maison
Usher and the sheer joy
it gave me at every stage
persuaded me to tackle
other projects,
especially when Debussy
experts were unable to
identify exactly where I
took over from Debussy
(and vice versa) in
Usher.
Dan Welcher’s most enduringly and frequently played orchestral work, Prai...(+)
Dan Welcher’s most
enduringly and frequently
played orchestral work,
Prairie Light is a
fascinating musical
companion to three of
Georgia
O’Keeffe’s
most unusual paintings,
Light Coming on the
Plains, Canyon with
Crows, and Starlight
Night. This work is ideal
for performances using
visual projections of the
paintings, and is
frequently programmed for
subscription concerts as
well as those for
educational settings.
Duration: 14’
Parts available on
rental. This work for
full orchestra was
inspired by three
paintings of the noted
Americanartist Georgia
O’Keeffe. These
three watercolors were
done in 1917 while the
artist was living in
Canyon, Texas (near
Amarillo), and deal
primarily with color and
shape. Consequently, the
music is primarily
concerned with broad
lines and shapes rather
than rhythms, with subtle
washes of color rather
than constant harmonic
movement, and with
arching melody instead of
linear counterpoint.The
first movement, Light
Coming on the Plains, is
an elliptical-shaped
painting, deep blue to
indigo with a
“horizon†at
the bottom that seems
flat and unchanging. The
sun hasn’t risen
yet, although it does in
the course of this
movement, but it seems
instead to be providing
light from behind the
canvas. The music is
unmoving in terms of
rhythm or harmony
(although there is a
modulation midway
through), a color-infused
mantra of sound that is
almost Eastern.At the
height of the sun, we
proceed to the second
movement, entitled Canyon
with Crows. The canyon is
red-orange, with black
crows circling above
friendly unfolding hills.
The music is gentle but
lively and more rhythmic,
with the birds
represented by solo oboe,
clarinet, and sometimes
flute. Halfway through,
the brass have a chorale
version of the opening
motive, played very
slowly, over the unending
triplets of woodwinds and
strings. At the end of
the movement, the
birds return for a
duo-cadenza, accompanied
by the dying rays of the
sun in muted strings and
the ongoing triplets of
the solo quartet.The
stage is set for the
final movement, Starlight
Night. In
O’Keeffe’s
painting, the stars are
represented by
regularly-spaced
rectangles of bright pale
yellow on a blue-black
sky, with the same shape
to the field of vision
and the horizon that is
found in Light Coming on
the Plains. The stars
become audible: harp,
celesta, glockenspiel,
and string pizzicati all
lend a sparkle while a
solo flute introduces a
slowly unfolding theme.
After this theme has been
heard twice and the sky
has begun to really
brighten, there is a
sudden interruption: a
xylophone and a piano
begin another
“mantra†in
brittle staccato chords.
This is the same
mechanical eternity as
O’Keeffe’s
regularly-spaced square
stars, and it continues
on its own as the night
progresses. The music
builds and grows as the
moon rises and arcs, then
falls as the pre-dawn
light that opened the
work returns to bring it
to a close. Acycle of
light, changing with the
movements of sun, moon,
and stars, appearing
differently from various
points of view
Chamber Music SKU: PR.164002120 Composed by Dan Welcher. Set of Score and...(+)
Chamber Music
SKU:
PR.164002120
Composed
by Dan Welcher. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
32+16+12+12+12 pages.
Duration 16 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00212. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002120).
UPC:
680160037582.
Works
of chamber music
including flute and
strings are not nearly as
numerous as those for
clarinet, or even the
oboe. Probably the reason
for this is the less
assertive, more pure tone
the flute possesses - it
can't compete for volume
or range with the
clarinet, except in its
top octave, and the
oboe's tone is more
penetrating and easily
discerned from within a
string texture.
Consequently, composers
who have written for
flute and strings have
done so in lightweight
divertimento works:
compare, for instance,
the delicate flute
quartets of Mozart with
his monumental quintet
for clarinet and strings.
When Karl and Joan
Karber approached me with
the ideas of writing a
work for flute and string
trio, I originally
thought it would be best
to write a humorous,
rather offhand piece -
but a look at their
repertoire (mostly
comprised of smaller
works of the Rococo
period) convinced me that
it was the last thing
they needed. In spite of
the challenge (or maybe
because of it?), I
determined to write a
large work, and a serious
work. Zephyrus (named for
the God of the West Wind,
in deference to the
flute) is a
three-movement work, with
each movement cast in a
very different form, but
all three being built of
the same twelve-note
series. There is also a
rhythmic motive and a
pair of themes that
appear in all three
movements. The
first movement plays with
the idea of contrast and
persuasion. The flute, at
the outset, is the
hell-for-leather
protagonist, charging and
swooping around the
strings - who seem oddly
unconcerned by his
passion. Indeed, they
have a more somber song
to sing - and as the
movement unfolds, the
flute becomes less and
less active, while the
strings become
increasingly enlivened.
By the midpoint, when all
four instruments are
finally in the same meter
and the same tempo, the
flute's energy has
finally infected the
other three players, and
this energy does not let
up until the movement's
abrupt final cadence.
The second
movement begins with a
tag from the first - as
if the energy left over
was too great to simply
stop. At length, though,
a very poignant flute
melody appears over an
almost bluesy harmony in
the strings. After this
has been fully exposed, a
slight increase in
motion, marked gently
rocking in triplets,
features a theme-fragment
from Leonard Bernstein's
Symphony No. 2 (Kaddish).
Bernstein died as I was
writing this work, and it
seemed quite natural to
encourage what was
already implicit in the
music, and create an
Elegy for L.B. The music
rises and peaks, then in
the recapitulation of the
opening the Kaddish theme
reappears, as the
ensemble suggests a
gentle song of sleep.
The final movement
is a Rondo-Variations
form, with the slight
alteration of adding the
main theme of the second
movement in what would be
the trio of the form. The
ritornello theme is a
kind of ethnic dance
music, almost an allusion
to the Klezmer ensembles
of Eastern Europe. The
successive episodes
between the ritornelli
are loosely organized
variations on the basic
theme, but always
beginning with a metric
modulation, a rhythmic
changing of gears. The
movement reaches and apex
of speed and furious
pulsing, then abruptly
pirouttes, and finishes.
Zephyrus was
written between April and
November of 1990 in
Austin, Aspen, and
Honolulu, and is
dedicated to Karl Kraber
and The Chamber Soloists
of Austin. --Dan
Welcher.
SKU: PR.16400212S Composed by Dan Welcher. With Standard notation. Durati...(+)
SKU: PR.16400212S
Composed by Dan Welcher.
With Standard notation.
Duration 16 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00212S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.16400212S).
UPC:
680160037605.
Works
of chamber music
including flute and
strings are not nearly as
numerous as those for
clarinet, or even the
oboe. Probably the reason
for this is the less
assertive, more pure tone
the flute possesses - it
can't compete for volume
or range with the
clarinet, except in its
top octave, and the
oboe's tone is more
penetrating and easily
discerned from within a
string texture.
Consequently, composers
who have written for
flute and strings have
done so in lightweight
divertimento works:
compare, for instance,
the delicate flute
quartets of Mozart with
his monumental quintet
for clarinet and strings.
When Karl and Joan
Karber approached me with
the ideas of writing a
work for flute and string
trio, I originally
thought it would be best
to write a humorous,
rather offhand piece -
but a look at their
repertoire (mostly
comprised of smaller
works of the Rococo
period) convinced me that
it was the last thing
they needed. In spite of
the challenge (or maybe
because of it?), I
determined to write a
large work, and a serious
work. Zephyrus (named for
the God of the West Wind,
in deference to the
flute) is a
three-movement work, with
each movement cast in a
very different form, but
all three being built of
the same twelve-note
series. There is also a
rhythmic motive and a
pair of themes that
appear in all three
movements. The
first movement plays with
the idea of contrast and
persuasion. The flute, at
the outset, is the
hell-for-leather
protagonist, charging and
swooping around the
strings - who seem oddly
unconcerned by his
passion. Indeed, they
have a more somber song
to sing - and as the
movement unfolds, the
flute becomes less and
less active, while the
strings become
increasingly enlivened.
By the midpoint, when all
four instruments are
finally in the same meter
and the same tempo, the
flute's energy has
finally infected the
other three players, and
this energy does not let
up until the movement's
abrupt final cadence.
The second
movement begins with a
tag from the first - as
if the energy left over
was too great to simply
stop. At length, though,
a very poignant flute
melody appears over an
almost bluesy harmony in
the strings. After this
has been fully exposed, a
slight increase in
motion, marked gently
rocking in triplets,
features a theme-fragment
from Leonard Bernstein's
Symphony No. 2 (Kaddish).
Bernstein died as I was
writing this work, and it
seemed quite natural to
encourage what was
already implicit in the
music, and create an
Elegy for L.B. The music
rises and peaks, then in
the recapitulation of the
opening the Kaddish theme
reappears, as the
ensemble suggests a
gentle song of sleep.
The final movement
is a Rondo-Variations
form, with the slight
alteration of adding the
main theme of the second
movement in what would be
the trio of the form. The
ritornello theme is a
kind of ethnic dance
music, almost an allusion
to the Klezmer ensembles
of Eastern Europe. The
successive episodes
between the ritornelli
are loosely organized
variations on the basic
theme, but always
beginning with a metric
modulation, a rhythmic
changing of gears. The
movement reaches and apex
of speed and furious
pulsing, then abruptly
pirouttes, and finishes.
Zephyrus was
written between April and
November of 1990 in
Austin, Aspen, and
Honolulu, and is
dedicated to Karl Kraber
and The Chamber Soloists
of Austin. --Dan
Welcher.
(The Debra Wanless Intermediate Piano Library). Arranged by Debra Wanless. Piano...(+)
(The Debra Wanless
Intermediate Piano
Library). Arranged by
Debra Wanless. Piano Solo
Songbook. Softcover with
CD. 32 pages.
Professional Music
Institute #44044.
Published by Professional
Music Institute