SKU: SU.21000213
UPC: 820821003284.
Jazz Sonorities (2002) was composed for Esther Lamneck at her request and premiered by her and Barbara Allen on drums at the Loewe Theater of New York University on May 30, 2002. Ms. Lamneck asked me to compose a piece for either solo clarinet or clarinet and piano. I decided on the former to continue my Sonorities series of works for solo instruments which eventually resulted in Sonorities VII for solo b-flat clarinet (2003-04). However, shortly after getting started with my Sonorities VII I kept hearing the swinging sounds of a jazz clarinet backed up by a jazz drum set. Part of the reason I kept hearing these sounds is that I grew up listening to the big swing bands of such clarinet leaders as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, and Jimmy Dorsey. These musicians were my first exposure to the clarinet. So I decided to first compose a piece for clarinet with a jazz quality and a swinging partly ad lib part for the drums and to put my solo clarinet piece for Esther on hold for a year. There was also a personal reason to use the drums in the piece. My first ambition in music was to be a jazz drummer and indeed I studied drums with a jazz drummer and played drums professionally in dance bands for several years. Ms. Lamneck's part in this piece is almost entiirely written out except for a few measures of improvisation around the middle of the piece. The jazz quality of her part comes mostly in the prasing and using bluesy like pitch bends, slides, and microtones. The jazz quality of the drum set part is in the swinging beat that is used throughout most of the piece. The influence of the famous recording of Sing Sing Sing, with a swing by Benny Goodman & his orchestra in 1937 featuring Gene Krupa on drums is heard in the middle section when the drummer switches to a beat on the floor tom and high tom for several measures. Also, the Afro Cuban section toward the end of the piece was influenced by the many recordings of Stan Kenton & his orchestra particularly the 1950 Pete Rugolo arrangement of Cole Porter's Love for Sale. In the drum solo of the Afro Cuban section which is near the end can use optional claves and/or maracas (1-2 additional players). At the premiere the composer joined in this section on maracas. The drum set calls for a bass drum, floor tom, snare drum, high tom, ride cymbal, sizzle cymbal, and hi-hat. --Patrick Hardish.
SKU: MH.1-59913-054-8
ISBN 9781599130545.
Roya l Coronation Dances is the first sequel to the Fanfare Ode & Festival, both being settings of dance music originally arranged by Gervaise in the mid 16th-century (the next sequel is The Renaissance Fair, which uses music of Susato and Praetorius). Fanfare Ode & Festival has been performed by many tens of thousands of students, both in high school and junior high school. I have heard that some of them are amazed that the music they are playing was first played and danced to over 400 years ago. Some students tend to think that music started with Handel and his Messiah to be followed by Beethoven and his Fifth Symphony, with naught in between or before of consequence. Although Royal Coronation Dances is derived from the same source as Fanfare Ode & Festival, they are treated in different ways. I envisioned this new suite programmatically -- hence the descriptive movement titles, which I imagined to be various dances actually used at some long-ago coronation. The first movement depicts the guests, both noble and common, flanked by flag and banner bearers, arriving at the palace to view the majestic event. They are festive, their flags swirling the air, their cloaks brightly colored. In the second movement, the queen in stately measure moves to take her place on the throne as leader and protector of the realm. In the third movement, the jesters of the court entertain the guests with wild games of sport. Musically, there are interesting sonorities to recreate. Very special attention should be given to the tambourine/tenor drum part in the first movement. Their lively rhythms give the movement its power. Therefore they should be played as distinctly and brilliantly as possible. The xylophone and glockenspiel add clarity, but must not be allowed to dominate. Observe especially the differing dynamics; the intent is to allow much buzzing bass to penetrate. The small drum (starting at meas. 29) should be played expressively, with attention to the notated articulations, with the brass light and detached, especially in a lively auditorium. It is of some further interest that the first dance is extremely modal. The original is clearly in G mixolydian mode (scale: G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G). However, other editors might put in F-sharps in many places (changing the piece almost to G major), in the belief that such ficta would have been automatically put in by the 16th-century performers as they played. I doubt it. I have not only eschewed these within the work, but even at the cadences. So this arrangement is most distinctly modal (listen to the F-naturals in meas. 22 and 23, for instance), with all the part-writing as Gervaise wrote it. In the second movement, be careful that things do not become too glued together. In the 16th century this music might have been played by a consort of recorders, instruments very light of touch and sensitive to articulation. Concert band can easily sound heavy, and although this movement has been scored for tutti band, it must not sound it. It is essential, therefore, that you hear all the instruments, with none predominating. Only when each timbre can be heard separately and simultaneously will the best blend occur, and consequently the greatest transparency. So aim for a transparent, spacious tutti sound in this movement. Especially have the flutes, who do this so well, articulate rather sharply, so as to produce a chiffing sound, and do not allow the quarter-notes to become too tied together in the entire band. The entrance of the drums (first tenor, then bass) are events and as such should be audible. Incidentally, this movement begins in F Major and ends in D Minor: They really didn't care so much about those things then. The third movement (one friend has remarked that it is the most Margolisian of the bunch, but actually I am just getting subtler, I hope) again relies upon the percussion (and the scoring) to make its points. Xylophone in this movement is meant to be distinctly audible. Therefore, be especially sure that the xylophone player is secure in the part, and also that the tambourine and toms sound good. This movement must fly or it will sink, so rev up the band and conduct it in 1 for this mixolydian jesting. I suppose the wildly unrelated keys (clarinets and then brass at the end) would be a good 16th-century joke, but to us, our put-up-the-chorus-a-half- step ears readily accept such shenanigans. Ensemble instrumentation: 1 Full Score, 1 Piccolo, 4 Flute 1, 4 Flute 2 & 3, 2 Oboe 1 & 2, 2 Bassoon 1 & 2, 1 Eb Clarinet, 4 Bb Clarinet 1, 4 Bb Clarinet 2, 4 Bb Clarinet 3, 2 Eb Alto Clarinet, 1 Eb Contra Alto Clarinet, 3 Bb Bass & Bb Contrabass Clarinet, 2 Eb Alto Saxophone 1, 2 Eb Alto Saxophone 2, 2 Bb Tenor Saxophone, 2 Eb Baritone Saxophone, 3 Bb Trumpet 1, 3 Bb Trumpet 2, 3 Bb Trumpet 3, 4 Horn in F 1 & 2, 2 Trombone 1, 4 Trombone 2 & 3, 3 Euphonium (B.C.), 2 Euphonium (T.C.), 4 Tuba, 1 String Bass, 1 Timpani (optional), 2 Xylophone & Glockenspiel, 5 Percussion.
