This collection of 21 charming seasonal tunes arranged for the Solo Harp by Stephanie Claussen proves to be an excellent addition to your gig bag. Light so Brilliant promises to keep the holidayspirits high with classics such as;'The Holly and the Ivy''Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence''O Come O Come Emmanuel''God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen'These arrangements contain variationsthe intermediate through to advanced Harpists will find both challenging and satisfying. The entire collection can be performed cover-to-cover in fifty-five minutes. Contains dynamics chords and fingering suggestions. Suitablefor lever Harps with 33 strings or more.
SKU: LO.30-3218L
UPC: 000308142365.
Brimm ing with ancient Celtic flavor, Stars of Glory radiates the promise of the light of God’s salvation, fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ. Tom Fettke and Thomas Grassi have arranged a brilliant mix of eleven traditional carols for SATB choir, duet, optional solo, child’s solo, and women’s trio. Variously tender, introspective, joyous, and infectious, the selections in this work are connected by the common thread of their Celtic highlights, while Ken Bible’s readings beautifully illuminate the central theme—Jesus Christ, the Bright and Morning Star. Orchestration by Michael Lawrence for 2 Fl, Ob, 2 Cl, Bsn (sub Bass Cl), 2 Hn (sub 2 A Sax), 3 Tpt, 2 Tbn (sub 2 T Sax), Tuba, Perc, Timp, Harp, Pno, 2 Vln, Vla, Cello, Bass, Digital Strings.
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.
SKU: HL.50600472
8.25x12.0x0.076 inches.
In the field of New Music, Sofia Gubaidulina's “De profundis†has already achieved the status of a classic. It is not only an attainment of the New Music that instruments are capable of approaching the human voice in their sound, or that they can imitate areas of expression found in language and linguistic articulation. But the avant-garde has surely expanded the spectrum to a considerable extent. The piece for solo bayan is an impressive example of this. The listener witnesses a slow and inexorable intensification from the “rattling†of the lowest accordion register up to the pure, tender tones of the highest register. It is “anascent from the lowest to the highest, from the breath and soul to the world's soul or wisdomâ€, as Gubaidulina's friend and colleague Viktor Suslin once expressed it. With the means of sound, Gubaidulina transfers a symbol of life onto the music: breathing. Breathing distinguishes the living from the dead. What other instrument, other than the winds, perhaps, could better lendexpression to this characteristic than the accordion? In contrast to the wind instruments, however, the accordion is not an instrument into which the player breathes and creates breathing sounds - instead, the instrument itself assumes this function. It breathes through the pulling apart and pressing together of the bellows. As the basis of her composition, Gubaidulina chose the lines of the Psalm 130 “From the depths, o Lord, I call to you†for the characterisation of her interlaced message. Shadowy chorale melodies are occasionally heard, but the fundamental idea of ascent remains decisive. Sharp insertions and expressive gestures, intrusive glissandi and nervous vibrati repeatedly disturb the direction of movement. And then we hear consciously the integrated breathing of the instrument - breathing slightly, hardly audible, opposing the powerful chord blocks. The musicologist Valentina Cholopova once said of this: “All these sounds confront solemn chords richly ornamented with figurations, but there is also a long, monodic melody running through the entire symbolic path of the work - from the depths all the way up to the brilliant heights.†The work is dedicated to Friedrich Lips!