Concerto for Piano, Jazz Trumpet and Orchestra

SKU: FG.55011-906-2

ISBN 9790550119062.

Harr i Wessman's Summer Variations for viola and piano (1998) exploites the rich and romantic sound of the viola and enjoys the many shades of summer days. It is dedicated to violist Yuri Gandelsman, who premiered the suite with Risto Lauriala 15th June 1998.

Duration: c. 11'

Movements:
1. Summer theme
2. What is this?
3. Pizzicato
4. Con sordino
5. Stile concitato ostinato
6. Tango
7. Finale

Harri Wessman (b. 1949) is interested in all aspects of music that may be expressive, without in any way ignoring the possibilities of melody. He himself describes his harmonic method as a kind of contrapuntally treated jazz harmony. Wessman is particularly preoccupied with the ability of music to express emotions, an interest which has led him to study the so-called doctrine of the affections and the musical rhetoric of the baroque era. His Eine kleine Figurenlehre for wind quartet and piano is a playful application of a set of baroque musical figures.

His output is dominated by chamber and vocal music as well as a number of concertos for various instruments such as the Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra and the Serenade for Piano and String Orchestra. During recent years pedagogic music has become a more and more central area in his output with an emphasis on creating repertoire for budding musicians, from beginners to young professionals. He has even tailored some solo and chamber works for young musicians that he personally knows: e.g. Five Trombone Pieces for Minna Kajander (1992), Five Horn Pieces for Jenni Kuronen (1993), Five Piano Etudes for Tiina Karakorpi, Five Trumpet Pieces for Alevtina Parland and Five Double Bass Pieces for Amanda Thieme. Other chamber and solo pieces include Pan and the Nymph Pitys (1979) for flute and guitar, Three Caprices for Konstantin Weitz (1994) for solo violin and Capriccio for wind ensemble (1989).

SKU: FP.FHP05

ISBN 9790570504039.

Pete r Hope's Recorder Sonata is the most substantial piece in his growing body of work for the recorder, published by Forsyth. Hope has written and arranged for many internationally known names, including Jose Carreras and Kiri te Kanawa, and other composers including John Williams and James Horner. His original compositions include the Suite: Ring of Kerry (which won an Ivor Novello Award in 1968/9), a Trumpet Concerto, performed by Elgar Howarth, a Concertino for bassoon and orchestra, recorded by Graham Salvage with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, and a Recorder Concerto, recorded by John Turner with the Manchester Camerata Ensemble. His Bramall Hall Dances, for recorder and guitar/piano are published by Forsyth has become a standard repertoire work for the recorder.

SKU: SU.32040021

Trombone & Piano Duration: 17' Composed: 2013 Published by: Amy Mills Music, LLC …the audience loved Red Dragonfly. Definitely a keeper in my repertoire! Dr. James Bicigo, Associate Professor of Trombone, University of Alaska, Anchorage Virtuoso piece, the dramatic first movement opens with a Bold statement followed by the beautiful love theme. It reaches up to the Cry of the Heart, then everything ruptures and crashes. Now the trombonist must rebuild and gain strength through dramatic cadenzas until reaching the recapitulation where the opening Bold melody is transformed into a majestic march in 3/4 time. The love theme returns, and the movement ends in triumph. The second movement is a setting of the famous Japanese folksong, Red Dragonfly. The trombonist and pianist play the lovely song amidst the sound of fluttering wings that appear and disappear like memories of the heart. Thank you to the Nihon Gakugeki Kyoukai Foundation for permission to use the melody in this trombone sonata. A solo glissando opens the third movement in American folk dance style with tongue in cheek and twinkle in both eyes. The subsequent variations include a perfect triple canon, a taste of New Orleans jazz, and a dramatic augmentation which spills into a flashback of the first movement’s love theme. This melts away and we recapture a glimpse of the Red Dragonfly melody, this time growing to the Triumphant restatement of the first movement’s main theme. And finally, the exuberant coda drives to a spectacular ending. Difficulty Level: Trombone 6 (Professional) Piano 5 (Advanced) See also Red Dragonfly, Concerto for Trombone and Band for the version with band accompaniment. See composer website for audio sample.

SKU: PR.466000640

UPC: 680160599189. 8.5 x 11 inches.

SKU: PR.46600064L

UPC: 680160599196. 11 x 17 inches.

SKU: PR.11641867S

UPC: 680160683208.

Conte xtures: Riots -Decade '60 was commissioned by Zubin Mehta and the Southern California Symphony Association after the successful premiere of the Concerto for Four Percussion Soloists and Orchestra. It was written during the spring and summer months of 1967. Riots stemming from resentment against the racial situation in the United States and the war in Vietnam were occurring throughout the country and inevitably invaded the composer's creative subconscious. Contextures, as the title implies, was intended to exploit various and varying textures. As the work progressed the correspondence between the fabric of music and the fabric of society became apparent and the allegory grew in significance. So I found myself translating social aspects into musical techniques. Social stratification became a polymetric situation where disparate groups function together. The conflict between the forces of expansion and the forces of containment is expressed through and opposition of tonal fluidity vs. rigidity. This is epitomized in the fourth movement, where the brass is divided into two groups - a muted group, encircled by the unmuted one, which does its utmost to keep the first group within a restricted pitch area. The playful jazzy bits (one between the first and second movements and one at the end of the piece) are simply saying that somehow in this age of turmoil and anxiety ways of having fun are found even though that fun may seem inappropriate. The piece is in five movements, with an interlude between the first and second movements. It is scored for a large orchestra, supplemented by six groups of percussion, including newly created roto-toms (small tunable drums) and some original devices, such as muted gongs and muted vibraphone. There is also an offstage jazz quartet: bass, drums, soprano saxophone and trumpet. The first movement begins with a solo by the first clarinetist which is interrupted by intermittent heckling from his colleagues leading to a configuration of large disparate elements. The interlude of solo violin and snare-drum follows without pause. The second movement, Prestissimo, is a display piece of virtuosity for the entire orchestra. The third movement marks a period of repose and reflection and calls for some expressive solos, particularly by the horn and alto saxophone. The fourth movement opens with a rather lengthy oboe solo, which is threatened by large blocks of sound from the orchestra, against an underlying current of agitated energy in the piano and percussion. This leads to a section in which large orchestral forces oppose one another, ultimately bringing the work to a climax, if not to a denouement. Various thematic elements are strewn all over the orchestra, resulting in the formation of a general haze of sound. A transition leads to the fifth movement without pause. The musical haze is pierced gently by the offstage jazz group as if they were attempting to ignore and even dispel the gloom, but a legato bell sound enters and hovers over both the jazz group and the orchestra, the latter making statements of disquieting finality. Two films were conceived to accompany portions of Contextures. The first done by Herbert Kosowar, was a chemography film (painting directly into the film using dyes and various implements) with fast clips of riot photographs. The second was a film collage made by photographically abstracting details from paintings of Reginald Pollack. The purpose was to invoke a non-specific response - as in music - but at the same time to define the subject matter of the piece. The films were constructed to correspond with certain developments in the piece and in no way affect the independence and musical flow of the piece, having been made after the piece was completed. Contextures: Riots - Decade '60 is dedicated to Mehta, the Southern California Symphony Association and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The news of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King came the afternoon of the premiere, April 4, 1968. That evening's performances, and also the succeeding ones, were dedicated to him and a special dedication to Dr. King has been inserted into he score. All the music that follows the jazz group - beginning with the legato bell sound playing the first 2 notes to We shall overcome constitutes a new ending to commemorate Dr. King's death.