SKU: HL.14048249
9.0x12.0 inches. English.
Released in 2005, the album Once Around The Sun is the outcome of Joby Talbot's residency with Classic FM. During his year in residence, Talbot composed a new piece of music each month, scored for up to five instruments. The resulting twelve compositions were then premiered on Classic FM and were recorded on CD. April - The First Day Of Summer was the fourth piece to be composed and is scored here for solo piano.
SKU: HL.14003425
ISBN 9780711922778. 12.0x9.0x0.125 inches.
Arrangements of 26 favourite nursery rhymes with full colour illustrations and fascinating information on the pieces' origins. Specially designed for young children to be able to play themselves rather than just be played to. Suitable for pre-Grade 1 to Grade 1 pianists. Contents: Baa, Baa, Black Sheep * Girls and Boys Come Out to Play * Hey Diddle Diddle * Hot Cross Buns * I Love Little Pussy * Jack and Jill * Little Bo-Peep * London Bridge * London's Burning * One, Two, Three, Four, Five * Pop Goes the Weasel * Rock-a-Bye, Baby * Sing a Song of Sixpence * This Old Man * Three Blind Mice * Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star * Yankee Doodle * Lavenders Blue * Little Jack Horner * Pat a Cake * Polly Put the Kettle On * Pussy-Cat, Pussy-Cat * Hickory, Dickory Dock * Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush * Ring-a-Ring o Roses * Humpty Dumpty.
SKU: BT.EMBZ20084
English-Hungarian.
Bartók's Mikrokosmos has been one of the milestones in pedagogical piano repertoire for 80 years - and yet it is also far more than a classical piano primer. These 153 piano pieces, organized in ascending order of difficulty, engage not only with technical aspects of piano playing but also with the fundamentals of composition - from Imitation and Inversion, Ostinato, and Free Variations, concerning compositional technique, to mood pieces and pieces with programmatic ideas such as Notturno, Boating, From the Diary of a Fly, or the famous Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm. Mikrokosmos first appeared in 1940 in six volumes. Based on volume 40 of the Bartók CompleteEdition published in 2020(Z. 15040), the present Urtext edition offers the series gathered in three volumes. This edition includes Bartók's preface, exercises, and notes written for the first edition. Furthermore, it also features a preface and comments by the editor, which not only discuss the genesis and the compositional sources but also provide performers, teachers and pupils alike, with authentic and detailed information about Bartók's notation and the specific performing problems of Mikrokosmos.
SKU: PR.110418370
ISBN 9781491135075. UPC: 680160686247.
Composed as an organ solo by the 17-year-old Ives for his own performance purposes, the beloved Variations on America is a treat for any occasion, whether a holiday concert, a serious recital, or other special event. Danny Holt’s transcription for Piano, Four Hands adds a dazzling new option to play at home or on stage, taking best advantage of Ives’ tremendous contrasts in color, dynamics, and texture.Composed when Charles Ives was a teenager, Variations on “America†is both a convenient introduction to Ives’ body of work, and an early example of his iconoclastic musical voice and creative genius. Just a few years after composing this piece, Ives would leave home to study music at Yale. But until then he had been taught by his father, George (who had been a bandmaster in the Civil War). George subjected the young Ives to experiments such as singing a song in one key while being accompanied in another, or arranging for two marching bands to converge on a town center, with the resulting cacophony that ensued.The Variations exemplifies an early period of experimentation in Ives’ work, spurred on by the unusual pedagogy of his father. The piece is particularly notable for its use of bitonality in the two interludes, subtly foreshadowing more well-known examples by Stravinsky, Bartók, and others by approximately two decades.The bitonal interludes were so ahead of their time, in fact, they were omitted from the first copy that was submitted to a publisher in 1892. (Alas, the piece was rejected even despite these “shocking†elements having been left out, and it wasn’t published until more than five decades later.) There is some ambiguity about when exactly Ives added the interludes into his manuscript copy, though ample evidence suggests he had performed the piece with the interludes around the time he notated the piece in 1891-92. In any case, in light of this piece and his other polytonal explorations from the last decade of the 19th century, it seems fair to give Ives credit for being a pioneer in this area!This arrangement for Piano, Four Hands, closely follows Ives’ original version for organ, setting aside William Schuman’s popular adaptation for symphony orchestra and William Rhoads’ band transcription of the Schuman orchestration. Pianists will find that the piece translates well to the instrument. Ideally, the choreography and logistics of elbow-to-elbow four-hands playing approximates the wild joy one gets from watching an organist play the piece (e.g., the elaborate pedal part in the final variation).In preparing this publication, attention was paid to details in the dual Critical Editions (Presser 443-41003) of both Ives’ manuscript edition and the 1949 publication edited by organist E. Power Biggs (who is credited with discovering what had been a long-lost, forgotten work.) But as with much of Ives’ output, attempting to create a true ‘urtext’ score is a futile endeavor, and especially with a piece such as this one – in which Ives incorporated improvisation in live performance – seems unnecessary anyhow. True die-hards are of course encouraged to consult the critical editions and even find inspiration in the orchestrated version. Generally, performers are advised to be wild, have fun, and not to be too rigid in their interpretive choices.Dynamics in this arrangement mostly follow the organ score closely. Pianists will use good judgment about pedaling throughout, which should be straightforward and intuitive. Courtesy accidentals have been provided frequently – without parentheses – balancing the need for extra clarity in the context of Ives’ murky musical language, and a desire to avoid unnecessary clutter.A few notes that might inform interpretive decisions:mm. 15-16: There are inconsistencies here between Ives’ original manuscript and the 1949 Biggs edition, regarding the top voice in m. 15, beat 3 (C# vs. Cn) and m. 16 (D Major vs. D Minor).mm. 76-84 & 143-146: In both Interludes, Ives emphatically notates extreme dynamic contrast, in order to highlight the bitonality. Although it may seem counterintuitive (or even a misprint, as has apparently been misconstrued by some), performers are urged to follow the composer’s marking!m. 109: Two-note slurs have been added here for clarity and consistency with other similar passages, though they do not appear in either the original manuscript or Biggs.m. 112: The last two eighth notes of Primo appear as 16ths in the original manuscript.mm. 183-186: The original manuscript has a slightly different bass line.mm. 184 & 186: Primo gestures have been re-written to be slightly more idiomatic for Piano, Four Hands.m. 186: The breath mark at the end of this bar does not appear in either the manuscript or Biggs, but is an editorial suggestion – aside from being appropriately dramatic, it will indeed be necessary in a reverberant hall!I would like to thank Steven Vanhauwaert, the other half of my piano duo, 4handsLA, for his input on early drafts of this arrangement.— Danny Holt, April 2022.
SKU: HL.49046242
ISBN 9783795716691. UPC: 888680950040. 9x12 inches. German - English - French.
“These real masterpieces, even if only a few minutes long, are of tremendous melodiousness and expressiveness!”, Franz Schubert said about Friedrich Kuhlau's sonatinas.The four Sonatinas Op. 88 were written in 1827, i.e. during Friedrich Kuhlau's middle creative period, even before the great success of the opera “Elfenhügel.” and the year of Beethoven's death. All four works contain beautiful melodic ideas, but Sonatina Op. 88 No. 3 with its minor tonality, its free treatment of form and tempo in the first movement and the lively last movement is something special. Of medium difficulty, this sonatina is great fun to play.This edition is accompanied by a preface and “Teaching Notes” by Monika Twelsiek. It is part of the new Schott Student Edition series which offers varied literature at five different levels of difficulty, from 1 (easy) to 5 (difficult), for instrumental lessons. For further information on this series, see www.schott-student-edition.com.
About Schott Student Edition
The Schott Student Edition gathers instrumental works for music lessons providing a unique and varied repertoire resource including standard teaching works, lesser known pieces which are perfectly suited to lessons as well as to student concerts and competitions.The repertoire is divided into levels 1-5, from very easy to difficult, and includes works from the Renaissance up to modern performance pieces. Each title is graded, from very easy works for beginners up to demanding pieces for more advanced students who are preparing for further study or examinations.Every work in the series has been carefully selected and edited by experienced music teachers. The editions also contain a wealth of information on the pieces as well as useful advice on studying, rehearsing and interpreting the works. The first titles to be published in the Schott Student Edition series contain works for violin, violoncello, flute, clarinet and recorder. Further editions are in preparation.
SKU: PR.140401310
ISBN 9781491134153. UPC: 680160684250. 9 x 12 inches. Key: G major.
NORA’S DANCE is a jazz-influenced rag from 1921, and among the only surviving compositions by Nora Douglas Holt. A charming and exciting work rejuvenated by Lara Downes’ 2021 recording for the Rising Sun label, the rag is both a fun 2 minutes for pianists and audiences, and also a fascinating time capsule. Composed several years after Scott Joplin’s death, and several years before the Charleston pervaded popular music, NORA’S DANCE blossoms with the energy and jazz harmony starting to emerge as The Roaring 20’s, using ragtime and stride as the seed for pianistic style.My own life in music has been driven by a quest to find strong female role models, trails to follow, shoulders to stand on. In Nora Douglas Holt, I find an inspiring example of creativity, independence, and resilience – with a dash of troublemaking. She was a free spirit, a force of nature, and she lived a fascinating and eventful life on her own terms. She reinvented herself through five marriages and at least as many careers. From her beginnings at the piano at age four, she explored many avenues of musical expression – performing, composing, music journalism, broadcasting, teaching – all with inventiveness, style, and zeal.She made the most of the Roaring ’20s, as an artist, socialite, jetsetter, muse, and patroness of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1921 she started an independent arts journal called “Music and Poetry,†where the charming piano solo Nora’s Dance was first published. I think the piece captures beautifully, in a little under 2 minutes, the energy and excitement of those heady years.In 1926, Nora left New York to travel the world, performing in nightclubs throughout Europe and Asia. She put her belongings in storage before she left, and when she came back she discovered that many of her things had been stolen, including more than 200 of her musical compositions. She never composed again.When the Depression hit, she moved out to Los Angeles, where she studied music education at USC, taught music in the LA public schools, and opened her own beauty salon. She returned to New York in the ’40s and worked as a music critic for several major newspapers, then launched yet another career, this time in broadcasting. Her popular radio concert series “Nora Holt’s Concert Showcase†broadcast to New York’s classical music audience, with a focus on Black composers and performers.Ahead of her time, larger than life, full of ideas…. I am so pleased to introduce you to the feisty and free spirited Nora Douglas Holt!
