Sketchbook

A Romantic Sketchbook For Piano explores the wealth of piano music from the Romantic period in five carefully graded albums. Mostly composed between 1830 and 1930 the pieces in these albums have been selected to introduce players to a wide range of music from works by some of the leading Romantic composers (such as Schumann Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky) to unfamiliar pieces by lesser-known figures.Each volume presents a variety of keys time signatures and textures within a comprehensive range of tempi which will be invaluable to students in the development of their musical skills. Players will also respond imaginatively to the varying styles and moods offeredin these colourful sketchbooks from the lively dances and mood pictures to the tender songs and gentle serenades.The five books in this series are graded in terms of difficulty Book 1 being relatively easy and Book 5 advanced.

Zdenek Fibich: Moods Impressions and Reminiscences Op.41 Volume 3 (Nos.86-125).The monumental collection of intimate Piano poems Moods Impressions and Souvenirs was published in four volumes as Op.41 (1892 4) Op.44 (1895) Op.47 (1892 5) and Op.57 (1897). It is a set of 376 short character pieces a sketchbook of sorts a notebook of motifs and ideas. Fibich’s musical diary a unique document of his romantic relationship is a valuable contribution to Czech Piano music.In the stylisation of the intimate testimonies of the pieces we find the wordless tones of a Romantic song a Chopinesque poetry glimpses of Impressionisticcolourfulness and an almost Neo-Classicist wittiness.Also available Op.41:Volume 2 (Nos 45-85) H425Volume 3 (Nos 86-125) H675Volume 4 (Nos 126-169) H676

A singer's sketchbook-Silence! Singers at Work is a wry collection of drawings about the everyday experiences of singers. Anyone who sings or has sung whether on the world’s greatest opera stages or in the local choir will instantly relate to the illustrations. Internationally-acclaimed opera singer and recitalist Joyce DiDonato has collaborated with the author on the drawings and has written a preface to the book. Silence! Singers at Work makes a perfect gift for anyone who is or who knows a singer.

Jazz Compositions In Various Styles For Tenor Saxophone. Par MATTHIAS PETZOLD. Des scènes d'un carnet de croquis est une collection de neuf morceaux de concert de jazz et de musiques pour saxophone ténor dans une variété de styles de ballades à chansons pop et de la bossa nova. Toute oeuvre dans l'ensemble est un portrait d'un style de jazz, un compositeur de jazz ou un musicien de jazz comme Charlie Parker ou Stan Getz. Les compositions variées sont tous ar un niveau intermédiaire et prêtent bien à la performance live. Notes de performance sont offerts pour chaque pièce. Le CD contient la démo (avec le soliste) et du play-long (sans le soliste) les versions de chaque pièce. Les versions le long de jouer de la musique sur le CD, dont certaines ont été enregistrés à deux tempos différents, vous permettent de créer vos propres improvisations sur le thème tandis qu'accompagnée d'un piano ou d'une section rythmique complète. Certaines des pièces conviennent aux improvisateurs inexpérimentés tandis que d'autres assument certaines connaissances pratiques. / Niveau : Intermédiaire / Jazz - Transcribed Solos / Recueil / Saxophone Ténor

Just back from a trip to Leipzig in the early autumn of 1950 where he heard Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier at the Bicentennial Bach Competition played by the Russian pianist Tatiana Nikolaeva Shostakovich began his own series of 24 Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 based on Bach's model. He composed them quickly starting on October 10 1950 and finishing on February 23 1951. While his work would pay homage to Bach Shostakovich's work would have several fundamental differences. First the order of the individual pieces would be organized around the circle of fifths with a prelude and fugue in the relative minor following each major key piece rather than in ascending semi-tonalorder of Bach's work. Second Shostakovich's pieces would be composed in order — that is C major - A minor followed by G major - E minor followed by D major - B minor — and more significantly this order would have a sort of subliminal narrative sub-text taking the music from the 'innocent' tonal world of the C major Prelude and Fugue to the profound and sublime severity of the concluding D minor Prelude and Fugue. Finally Shostakovich's work although conservative in its counterpoint and harmony — that is there are no examples of invertible or reversible themes or counterpoint and the pieces are for the most part recognizably tonal in language — is still clearly the work of a modernist composer; his counterpoint and harmony may be conservative but the emotional and spiritual worlds of the preludes and fugues is at once sincere and ironic. The result is a work which can not only stand comparison with Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier it is both Shostakovich's masterpiece for the piano and one of the contrapuntal masterpieces of the twentieth century.

Music for the Film-Dmitri Shostakovich's score for the 1964 Russian film-adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. When Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet was released in 1964 it gained critical acclaim from audiences in the UK and US despite the fact that Shakespeare's work was not heard in its original language. This praise was at least in part due to Shostakovich's impressive score. As one New York Times reviewer described: 'The lack of this aural stimulation - of Shakespeare's eloquent words - is recompensed in some measure by a splendid and stirring musical score by Dmitri Shostakovich. This has great dignity and depth and at times anappropriate wildness or becoming levity'.  This miniature score from the Shostakovich Complete Edition includes commentary by Koichi Owa in English and Japanese.

The Scherzo is the 2nd movement from Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony; a short brutally fierce movement which is constantly loud and uses some of Shostakovich’s most violent musical language. This arangement for brass band is a wonderful way to celebrate the centenary of Shostakovich’s birth.

Shostakovich’s fifteenth symphony differs substantially in many ways from his other late symphonies. The eleventh (1957) subtitled The Year 1905 and the twelfth (1960) subtitled The Year 1917 are both programmatic symphonies relating to political and historical events within the year of which they are subtitled. The next two symphonies are sung texts with vocal and/or choral parts: thirteenth (1962) and fourteenth (1969) symphonies.With the Symphony No.15 In A Op.141 Shostakovich’s last foray in the genre the composer returned to a purely instrumental and non-programmatic composition which inhabits a purely emotional andintellectual plane quite removed from the world of politics and history.Available here is the pocket or study score of Shostakovich’s last symphony the Symphony No.15 in A Op.141. This is an excellent Sikorski edition score and is ideal for study and perusal purposes.

Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No.2 accurately and beautifully arranged for 2 Pianos. Composed in 1957 the premiere was given on 10th May in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatoire conducted by Nikolai Ansonov. The piece is dedicated to and was first played by Dmitri's son Maxim Shostakovich.    This is an abridged version for two Pianos. 

Festive Overture was composed in 1954 to commemorate the 37th birthday of the October Revolution of 1917. With this overture Shostakovich shows his brighter side in contrast to his melancholy 10th symphony written in the previous year. The premiere of this piece took place on November 6 1954 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Shostakovich makes great use of different themes which he alternates and intermingles in a masterly way. This skilful transcription by Tohru Takahashi retains all the grandeur of the original.