Chester-Music

First performed in January 1980 by the National Symphony Orchestra Washington conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. Duration c.18 mins. Full score and orchestral parts available on hire from the publisher.

Raymond Briggs' charming Christmas story about the adventures of a boy and the snowman that comes to life is a modern children's classic. The tales popularity has been further enhanced by frequent television broadcasts of theaward-winning cartoon film The Snowman.In this music booklet of the classic theme song Walking In The Air for Trumpet or Cornet in B Flat and Piano composer Howard Blake recreates the story in music basedon the scenes from the film.

Britten's Te Deum In C is arranged for Treble (Soprano) solo SATB choir and Organ accompaniment.In preparing for publication the 1935 orchestral version of Britten's Te Deum in C it became clearthat there were a number of discrepancies between the manuscript and the original 193 vocal score. Some of these were minor: different articulation and dynamic markings something Britten was later very fussy about but perhapsleft unchanged on proof because of his relative inexperience at this stage of his career with the processes of music publishing. Others were more important: wrong pedal notes for example which Britten failed to notice on proof and which have been perpetuated in performances and recordings for nearly seventy years. These have been corrected in the new edition of the vocal score and in the orchestral score (Britten clearly used the published vocal scoreto prepare his orchestral version).The two versions have been made consistent in other details - rehearsal cues and bar numbers for example - since Britten intended choristers to use the vocal score to perform theorchestral version. This would have been an easy task for these is little discrepancy in essential details between versions (a rare departure occurs in bars 53 to 56 where the works 'Lord God of Sabaoth' are unaccompanied in theorchestral version but doubled by Organ in the original). Sustained Organ chords are often filled out with arpeggiated string writing while the spacing of chords is frequently much wider in the string version with melodiestransposed into different octaves.Although harmony in both versions is identical voice leading is sometimes altered in the latter to make it better suited to the idioms of the instruments concerned. So although inessence the two versions are the same the soundworld explored in each is quite distinct. Britten's orchestral version should neither be viewed as an occasional piece nor considered solely a liturgical work like many of his

For solo Clarinet in Bb and Ensemble.Clarinet and Piano Reduction.Commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center through the generous support of the Mervyn Geffen M.D. and Norman Solomon M.D. New CommissionsFund.First performance by Brent Besner Clarinet and fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center August 2010.1. With Vigour2. Free and Enigmatic3. CalmoThere is usually some sort of extra-musicalstarting point for my pieces and for the Clarinet Concerto this was ‘The Cracked Bell’ by Baudelaire. In a short space of time the work seemed to take over and move further away the original stimulus with the character andinteractive roles of the soloist and ensemble were suggested by the wintry evocative atmosphere of the poem.The piece opens with declamatory cadenza-like passages in the clarinet that are in turn commented on by theensemble. A more playful section where the clarinet line is very virtuosic leads to a long gently-unfolding melody in the ensemble that begins in the depths of the bass register and gradually gets much higher. Virtuosicclarinet lines interject against the accompaniment and both pursue their own course until culminating in a high impassioned melody for the clarinet coloured by fast-moving passage work in the higher registers of ensemble. Themovement ends with the ‘call and response’ lines of its opening.The second movement opens with an extended solo for the clarinet in its haunting chalumeau register. With each rising phrase the clarinet line gets higheruntil the ensemble enters in unison. The movement becomes much faster and energetic from this point with brisk fleeting lines for soloist and ensemble.The third movement is the most reflective of the three. It opens witha flute solo leading to the solo clarinet line and makes much of the poignant singing style which is so characteristic of the instrument. A melancholy falling passage in the ensemble becomes a recurring feature before the

Peter Maxwell Davies' 1994 work for unaccompanied SATB choir using text from George Mackay Brown's 1971 poem A Hoy Calendar.A girdle round the year in five minutes. In twelve clear simple images George Mackay Brown'spoem turns through the months of Orkney life and as it turns so the modal music for a modestly able school or amateur choir moves it on its way with images of matching lucidity.Vocal score with piano accompaniment forrehearsal purposes.

Kaleidoscope will save you time! Do you spend hours arranging music for odd assortments of instruments? Kaleidoscope is specially arranged to suit almost any instrumental combination and these varied ensembles are easy andenjoyable too. So much scope for virtually any combination of instruments!The series is successful with recorders guitars percussion and keyboard as well as with orchestral groupings. Whether there are five or fiftyplayers every Kaleidoscope title will work! Just make sure that melody and keyboard parts are included - all other parts are optional. Kaleidoscope is superb value for money - each set contains a score plus around 50 parts eachone carefully written to suit the needs of each instrument. For example easy string parts are in first position only whilst easy clarinet parts take care to avoid the break. There are more demanding parts too for experiencedplayers. To help you choose the right pieces for your players we have given the key of each Kaleidoscope in brackets. The complete performance option! These super-flexible arrangements of well-known titles are a must forevery school. Why not choose a theme for your concert and perform a selection of Kaleidoscope show titles and film themes or have an evening of classical favourites? In F. Edited by Nicholas Hare.

Junior Just Brass No. 15-Edited by Philip Jones & Elgar Howarth. The Just Brass series is regarded by brass players worldwide as the most important brass ensemble series available. There are more than 100 titles subdivided into Just Brass (mainstream) Junior Just Brass Just Brass Lollipops and Giant Just Brass. Supplied as score and parts together. Junior titles have been specifically chosen and edited for young players. The pieces are scored for four or five players and insome there are optional percussion parts. A large number of alternate parts are given allowing for maximum flexibility in instruments required.

A Selkie Tale is a short music-theatre work (duration about 25 minutes) designed for performance by seven- to eleven-year-olds year olds. Four solo roles and several separate chorus groups give scope for the participation of a large number of children of all ability levels.The story is a humorous version of the Orkney folk-tale of an islander kidnapping a Selkie wife - a creature who is a seal in the sea and a woman on the land. Things go hilariously wrong with the Selkie wife escaping to rejoin her companions in the sea and Mansie the islander facing a most uncongenial alliance with his cousin and housekeeper Miss Trowie-Tattibogle.Xylophone part.Thisis a special item which is made to order. Please e-mail our Mail Order Department for further information.