SKU: FG.55011-683-2
ISBN 9790550116832.
Duet tini for two double basses by Laszlo Rossa and Berengere Scheppler brings along chamber music from the very beginning! In these 15 miniature duos the easy first double bass part consists of only open strings and natural harmonics. This part is to be played by the beginner, whilst the second double bass part is intended for an advanced pupil or the teacher. To aid the reading the first double bass part appears with child-friendly coloured and large notation, as well as with traditional notation (have a look inside by clicking sample). Duettini can be fully utilized also without any previous use or knowledge about the Colourstrings method. The book is B4 sized.
SKU: PR.416411770
UPC: 680160091508.
I was tempted to call the piece Throw Back because it consciously employs rhythmic and harmonic approaches characteristic of the earlier part of the twentieth century, much of which plays a part in forging my musical personality. Going along with the impetus, I have paid homage by subtly interpolating stylistic or actual references to such unexpected bedfellows as Scriabin, Ravel, Debussy, Piston, Roussel, and Ysaye. I hope I will be musically forgiven. In one continuous movement, there are three definite internal sections: Presto-Largo-Allegro. The first section opens with a very soft percussion cadenza. If the acoustics allow it, the player will use sponge pottery mallets (sponge-headed mallets employed to smooth the interior of a pot as it is being spin-dried). No matter how hard the percussionist strikes the drums, the dynamic cannot go above pp (pianissimo). This cadenza serves as a basis for the first movement. The elements of the cadenza are taken by the orchestra to make the first major statement, similar to the classical concerto; but rather than making a restatement, the soloists, when they come in, begin with variational ideas. The second section is given over to the soloists, and is lyrical. The third section begins with an alternation between strict rhythmic pulsation and free-sounding timbres, as if reluctant to leave the second section behind. The rhythmic aspect takes over more and more as the piece progresses toward its conclusion. Double Play was commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with financial assistance from the Northwest Area Foundation. It received its premiere on January 7, 1983, in St. Paul, with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Pinchas Zukerman, violinist; Marc Neikrug, piano; and the composer conducting.
SKU: CF.CPS225
ISBN 9781491152515. UPC: 680160910014.
Tarta n Tapestries is an original piece that sets out to emulate Scottish folk music. Composer Larry Clark has created a concert overture in triple meter to capture the essence of music from Scotland. After a lilting first section, lush and beautiful moments weave a tapestry of sounds with the lyrical, middle section of the piece. There is an optional part for bagpipes, and an optional ending should you chose to use this instrument as part of the piece. Alert your contest music committee about this strong new piece for advancing groups.Tartan Tapestries was commissioned by Friends of the Arts for the Saint Andrew's School Band in Boca Raton, Florida. The band program at Saint Andrew’s School is under the direction of Andrea Wolgin. The premiere took place on November 29, 2017.When I was asked by their conductor Ms. Wolgin to write a piece for the Saint Andrew’s School, I asked her what kind of involvement she wanted the students to have in the process. We discussed several options for having the students involved in the process of creating with the type of piece they wanted. We set up a “Skype†meeting with members of the band to discuss the piece. During this discussion, the consensus of the students was that they wanted a piece depicting the Scottish influence to the school. They also wanted a piece that would challenge all sections of the band and to include bagpipes if possible. I asked that the students be involved in helping to name the piece once it was completed, for which they agreed and were very helpful. Armed with this information, I set out to compose a piece for them, and Tartan Tapestries is the result.The piece begins with a fanfare gesture based upon rhythms and harmonies that appear throughout the piece. I chose the lilting triple feel to the piece, to bring about the Scottish flavor. I wanted the fanfare to be bardic sounding, to depict the strength of the Scottish people and for the piece to have a dynamic opening. The fanfare contains material that alludes to the main theme and with a bit of dissonance and tension that is resolved in the main body of the piece.The main theme is a lilting original melody, but one that I hope with have the essence of Scottish folk songs. The main idea is followed by a more modal and dark sounding secondary theme, first stated in the horns. This material is later used in the development section of the piece. The main theme returns several times, with different and varied orchestrations and harmonic treatments. This is followed by a short transition leading to the more lyrical and slower second section of the piece. A transparent presentation of the lyrical theme, which is based on aspects of the main theme, is presented first by a solo flute. This section is a nod to famous composer Malcom Arnold’s wonderful works for orchestra in its style and orchestration. After a transition or bridge section with a solo euphonium, the piece builds to a dramatic climax of the lyrical theme by the full band. This subsides to a return of the solo flute to end this second section of the piece, followed by a transition back the main theme.The solo bagpipes play a central role in the return of the main theme and take center stage after being heard in the distance earlier in the work. The piece brings back a shortened version of the darker secondary theme, followed by a hint of the fanfare material that builds to one last statement of the main theme by the full band, before leading to a dramatic coda to complete the work.It has been my pleasure to have been given the opportunity to compose this piece for the Saint Andrew’s School Band! I thank Andrea Wolgin for making it happen, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed bringing the piece to life.–Larry ClarkLakeland, Florida 2017.
SKU: CF.CPS225F
ISBN 9781491153192. UPC: 680160910694.
SKU: CF.YAS13F
ISBN 9780825848339. UPC: 798408048334. 8.5 X 11 inches. Key: G major.
IApart from some of his Sonatinas, Opus 36, Clementi's life and music are hardly known to the piano teachers and students of today. For example, in addition to the above mentioned Sonatinas, Clementi wrote sixty sonatas for the piano, many of them unjustly neglected, although his friend Beethoven regarded some of them very highly. Clementi also wrote symphonies (some of which he arranged as piano sonatas), a substantial number of waltzes and other dances for the piano as well as sonatas and sonatinas for piano four-hands.In addition to composing, Clementi was a much sought after piano teacher, and included among his students John Field (Father of the 'Nocturne'), and Meyerbeer.In his later years, Clementi became a very successful music publisher, publishing among other works the first English edition of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, in the great composer's own arrangement for the piano, as well as some of his string quartets. Clementi was also one of the first English piano manufacturers to make pianos with a metal frame and string them with wire.The Sonatina in C, Opus 36, No. 1 was one of six such works Clementi wrote in 1797. He must have been partial to these little pieces (for which he also provided the fingerings), since they were reissued (without the fingering) by the composer shortly after 1801. About 1820, he issued ''the sixth edition, with considerable improvements by the author;· with fingerings added and several minor changes, among which were that many of them were written an octave higher.IIIt has often been said, generally by those unhampered by the facts, that composers of the past (and, dare we add, the present?), usually handled their financial affairs with their public and publishers with a poor sense of business acumen or common sense. As a result they frequently found themselves in financial straits.Contrary to popular opinion, this was the exception rather than the rule. With the exception of Mozart and perhaps a few other composers, the majority of composers then, as now, were quite successful in their dealings with the public and their publishers, as the following examples will show.It was not unusual for 18th- and 19th-century composers to arrange some of their more popular compositions for different combinations of instruments in order to increase their availability to a larger music-playing public. Telemann, in the introduction to his seventy-two cantatas for solo voice and one melody instrument (flute, oboe or violin, with the usual continua) Der Harmonische Gottesdienst, tor example, suggests that if a singer is not available to perform a cantata the voice part could be played by another instrument. And in the introduction to his Six Concertos and Six Suites for flute, violin and continua, he named four different instrumental combinations that could perform these pieces, and actually wrote out the notes for the different possibilities. Bach arranged his violin concertos for keyboard, and Beethoven not only arranged his Piano Sonata in E Major, Opus 14, No. 1 for string quartet, he also transposed it to the key of F. Brahm's well-known Quintet in F Minor for piano and strings was his own arrangement of his earlier sonata for two pianos, also in F Minor.IIIWe come now to Clementi. It is well known that some of his sixty piano sonatas were his own arrangements of some of his lost symphonies, and that some of his rondos for piano four-hands were originally the last movements of his solo sonatas or piano trios.In order to make the first movement of his delightful Sonatina in C, Opus 36, No. 1 accessible to young string players, I have followed the example established by the composer himself by arranging and transposing one of his piano compositions from one medium (the piano) to another. (string instruments). In order to simplify the work for young string players, in the process of adapting it to the new medium it was necessary to transpose it from the original key of C to G, thereby doing away with some of the difficulties they would have encountered in the original key. The first violin and cello parts are similar to the right- and left-hand parts of the original piano version. The few changes I have made in these parts have been for the convenience of the string players, but in no way do they change the nature of the music.Since the original implied a harmonic framework in many places, I have added a second violin and viola part in such a way that they not only have interesting music to play, but also fill in some of the implied harmony without in any way detracting from the composition's musical value. Occasionally, it has been necessary to raise or lower a few passages an octave or to modify others slightly to make them more accessible for young players.It is hoped that the musical value of the composition has not been too compromised, and that students and teachers will come to enjoy this little piece in its new setting as much as pianists have in the original one. This arrangement may also be performed by a solo string quartet. When performed by a string orchestra, the double bass part may be omitted.- Douglas TownsendString editing by Amy Rosen.
About Carl Fischer Young String Orchestra Series
Thi s series of Grade 2/Grade 2.5 pieces is designed for second and third year ensembles. The pieces in this series are characterized by:--Occasionally extending to third position--Keys carefully considered for appropriate difficulty--Addition of separate 2nd violin and viola parts--Viola T.C. part included--Increase in independence of parts over beginning levels
SKU: PR.16400213S
UPC: 680160037636. 8.5 x 11 Landscape inches.
The unusual combination of cello, percussion and piano seems more incongruous than it actually sounds. When I first heard the ensemble Aequalis, in a full evening program I was absolutely astonished at the combination of lyricism, pulse, and color. Something about the mix causes the cello to sound marimba-like, the vibraphone to imitate the cello's harmonics, and the piano to become a kind of proto-orchestra of colors and effects. Tsunami was written for Aequalis in the summer and fall of 1991 with the assistance of a grant from Chamber Music America. The title, the Japanese word for tidal wave (which is a misnomer -- tsunamis have nothing to do with the tides), refers to the phenomenon of an undersea disturbance causing a huge wall of water to flood the first land in its path. The initial earthquake or volcanic eruption that sends a seismic shock through the water is invisible -- it's only when that shock wave hits land, recoils, and takes ocean swells back with it, that the wave begins to form. In successive landings, recoilings, and re-landings, this force finally spends itself, usually inundating anything in its path, sometimes to a depth of one hundred feet or more. My piece does not attempt to depict this natural cataclysm -- how could it, with three instruments? -- but the form of the first half of the work is based on it. The initial percussive shock that opens the piece creates a stir in the form of a cello motive marked swelling and employing long portamenti pushing upwards. After a second shock, the cello motive begins an undersea journey -- very slow and lyrical at first -- accompanied by non-pitched percussion only. Eventually the piano joins, first with echoing bass notes, then with a rather mechanical motive high on the keyboard. This force grows, the cello line climbs higher and higher until another double-shock is heard -- perhaps the energy has hit land? Following this, the percussion becomes melodic (marimba), and we now have two lines in canon accompanied by a separate line in the piano. This, too, builds to a climax, and an even louder and more vigorous shock results. Now the texture is a three-way canon with cello, vibraphone, and piano chasing each other in ever faster cycles of sound. The height of this is a triple cadenza in which all three players spend their pent-up energy, one at a time. The second part of the piece follows after a settling-down, and is marked Dancing. This is a rondo, with a recurring theme (heard first in the marimba) followed by three contrasting sections heard between reiterations of the main tune (the form could be diagrammed A-A-B-A-C-A). The mood is one of joyous kinetic energy, with elements of Eastern or Balinese gamelan sounds, and employing several pentatonic scales (as does the first half of the work). It ends in a vigorous, stomping dance. --Dan Welcher .
