SKU: AP.12-0571539327
ISBN 9780571539321. English.
Nature, Tansy Davies' gloriously offbeat concerto for piano and ten instruments from 2012, teems with invention. This 20-minute work was inspired by shamanic rituals and the supernatural, and Davies describes the piano as 'part moth, part Maenad'. There is a feral quality to much of the tumultuous solo writing---all hyperactive trills and gutsy bass eruptions, shot through with rare and unexpected moments of calm. Brilliantly imaginative, and packed full of glistening, ever-changing ensemble textures, this remarkable reimagining of the concerto form sees Davies craft yet another thrilling and wholly distinctive soundworld.
SKU: PR.114423820
ISBN 9781491136263. UPC: 680160688746.
Composed for her own performances, Laurel Zucker’s DOG TOYS SUITE is a short collection of adorable and jazzy little concert etudes which may be performed as a fast-slow-fast set, or as individual movements. I. Duck Pond is a melody that flows through ornamental variations, II. Moo the Blues is gutsy and less demanding on the fingers, and III. Minimal Donkey is a dazzling toccata-like etude. Zucker has recorded DOG TOYS SUITE for Cantilena Records.
SKU: HL.155578
UPC: 888680600846. 6.75x10.5x0.029 inches.
This chart hit by Elle King has a powerful alt-rock kick to it and will be a gutsy SSA showcase for your women's group with the thrashing guitars and full-throated vocals.
SKU: HL.8203046
UPC: 884088635947. 5x5 inches.
Nobody's going to make a fool of Kelly Clarkson with this empowered anthem that shows she can stand up for herself! Opening with a subtle guitar groove, the R&B infused vocals cross genres between urban, country and rock for a gutsy tune your girls will love to sing! Available separately: SSA, ShowTrax CD. Duration: ca. 2:45.
SKU: SU.80300151
A bright girl, a jungle girl, shining quick as a snake is the gutsy narrator of this morning song of bold greeting. The voices have strong, syncopated rhythmic figures on nn and la sounds, and slide upward on girl for well-crafted—and enjoyable—instrumental effects. 10 pages; duration: 3:00 min.; range: g to a; difficulty: medium. SSA, a cappella Published by: Treble Clef Music Minimum order quantity: 8 copies.
SKU: PR.11641861SP
UPC: 680160685202.
What?! - my composer colleagues said - A concerto for the piano? It's a 19th century instrument! Admittedly we are in an age when originally created timbres and/or musico-technological formulations are often the modus operandi of a piece. Actually, this Concerto began about two years ago when, during one of my creative jogs, the sound of the uppermost register of the piano mingled with wind chimes penetrated my inner ear. The challenge and fascination of exploring and developing this idea into an orchestral situation determined that some day soon I would be writing a work for piano and orchestra. So it was a very happy coincidence when Mona Golabek phoned to tell me she would like discuss the Ford Foundation commission. After covering areas of aesthetics and compositional styles, we found that we had a good working rapport, and she asked if I would accept the commission. The answer was obvious. Then began the intensive thought process on the stylistic essence and organization of the work. Along with this went a renewed study of idiomatic writing for the piano, of the kind Stravinsky undertook with the violin when he began his Violin Concerto. By a stroke of great fortune, the day in February 1972 that I received official notice from the Ford Foundation of the commission, I also received a letter from the Guggenheim Foundation informing me I had been awarded my second fellowship. With the good graces of Zubin Mehta and Ernest Fleischmann, masters of my destiny as a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I was relieved of my orchestral duties during the Hollywood Bowl season. Thus I was able to go to Europe to work and to view the latest trends in music concentrating in London (the current musical melting pot and showcase par excellence), Oslo, Norway, for the Festival of Scandinavian Music called Nordic Days, and Warsaw, Poland, for its prestigious Autumn Festival. Over half the Concerto was completed in that summer and most of the rest during the 72-73 season with the final touches put on during a month as Resident Scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation's Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Italy. So much for the external and environmental influences, except perhaps to mention the birds of Sussex in the first movement, the bells of Arhus (Denmark) in the second movement and the bells of Bellagio at the end of the Concerto. Primary in the conception was the personality of Miss Golabek: she is a wonderfully vital and dynamic person and a real virtuoso. Therefore, the soloist in the Concerto is truly the protagonist; it is she (for once we can do away with the generic he) who unfolds the character and intent of the piece. The first section is constructed in the manner of a recitative - completely unmeasured - with letters and numbers by which the conductor signals the orchestra for its participation. This allows the soloist the freedom to interpret the patterns and control the flow and development of the music. The Concerto is actually in one continuous movement but with three large divisions of sufficiently contrasting character to be called movements in themselves. The first 'movement' is based on a few timbral elements: 1) a cluster of very low pitches which at the beginning are practically inaudibly depressed, and sustained silently by the sostenuto pedal, which causes sympathetic vibrating pitches to ring when strong notes are struck; 2) a single powerful note indicated by a black note-head with a line through it indicating the strongest possible sforzando; 3) short figures of various colors sometimes ominous, sometimes as splashes of light or as elements of transition; 4) trills and tremolos which are the actual controlling organic thread starting as single axial tremolos and gradually expanding to trills of increasingly larger and more powerful scope. The 'movement' begins in quiescent repose but unceasingly grows in energy and tension as the stretching of a string or rubber band. When it can no longer be restrained, it bursts into the next section. The second 'movement,' propelled by the released tension, is a brilliant virtuosic display, which begins with a long solo of wispy percussion, later joined in duet with the piano. Not to be ignored, the orchestra takes over shooting the material throughout all its sections like a small agile bird deftly maneuvering through nothing but air, while the piano counterposes moments of lyricism. The orchestra reaches a climax, thrusting us into the third 'movement' which begins with a cadenza-like section for the piano. This moves gently into an expressive section (expressive is not a negative term to me) in which duets are formed with various instruments. There are fleeting glimpses of remembrances past, as a fragmented recapitulation. One glimpse is hazily expressed by strings and percussion in a moment of simultaneous contrasting levels of activity, a technique of which I have been fond and have utilized in various fixed-free relationships, particularly in my Percussion Concerto, Contextures and Games: Collage No. 1. The second half of the third 'movement; is a large coda - akin to those in Beethoven - which brings about another display of virtuosity, this time gutsy and driving, raising the Concerto to a final climax, the soloist completing the fragmented recapitulation concept as well as the work with the single-note sforzando and low cluster from the very opening of the first movement.
