Fairy Tales, Op. 132

ISBN 9781470620325. UPC: 038081498768. English.

Another delightful offering from classroom teacher and storyteller Susan Milligan and jazz singer and music teacher Louise Rogers, Jazzy Fairy Tales Volume II continues the jazz adventures for young children with three new fairy tales designed to bring jazz music into your classroom. The activities provided are a charming way to introduce young children to jazz with the musical stories of Georgie the Jazzy Giant, The Gunnigator, and The Jazzy Gingerbread Man. Jazzy Fairy Tales II Book and CD may be used to supplement an existing program or to provide a ready-made, easy-to-use, all-encompassing music curriculum. The CD is narrated and beautifully sung by Louise Rogers with easy call-and-response exercises and songs to accompany the stories. Jazzy Fairy Tales II is user-friendly and requires no previous musical knowledge. A delightful educational resource for any classroom! Recommended for grades Pre-K to 3.

SKU: PR.164002950

ISBN 9781491114568. UPC: 680160633449. 9 x 12 inches.

Dan Welcher’s fascinating work for soprano sax is both a refraction of Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his own incidental music to Shakespeare’s comedy. The work’s title, AS LIGHT AS BIRD FROM BRIER, quotes from Oberon (King of the Fairies) invoking revelry at the play’s climactic wedding scene. Welcher’s fantasy skips among the most beloved themes of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer – giving the saxophonist quite a workout, and the listener a midsummer delight.
AS LIGHT AS BIRD FROM BRIER is loosely based on Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which has haunted me since I was nine years old. My parents subscribed me to The Children’s Record Guild, and every month a new 78rpm vinyl record would arrive in the mail. They were mostly fairy tales and “kids lit,” but in this case it was a very condensed performance of the actual play, with Mendelssohn’s music. I loved it immediately, and still do – I saw a performance in 2014 at the Stratford Festival that literally stalks my dreams.When I was commissioned by saxophonist Stephen Page to compose a work for soprano saxophone and piano two years later, I channeled Mendelssohn as an inspiration: specifically, the Overture, the Scherzo, the Intermezzo, the fairy’s song “You spotted snakes with double tongue,” and the Rustics’ Dance. But it’s not a pastiche – most of the music is completely my own, though attentive listeners will detect snatches of Mendelssohn’s haunting score throughout.This piece joins MILL SONGS and FLORESTAN’S FALCON among works honoring my favorite 19th-century composers (in those cases, Schubert and Schumann) without ripping them off. As Stravinsky did in his ballet Pulcinella, I have borrowed fragments of melody from a much-loved composer, and made a fabric of harmonies and scales that are genetically related to Mendelssohn, but unmistakably Welcher.In this work, the saxophonist is Puck – skittish, dazzlingly fast, and brilliant in the outer parts, and a mischievous Cupid in the long, central Love Song. (Remember how Puck anoints Titania’s eyes with the juice from a magic flower, which causes her to fall in love with Bottom the weaver, who has been bewitched and wears a donkey’s head?) The music traces Puck’s magic flight, the finding of the flower, Titania’s love-scene with Bottom and her fairies, and the rustic players – whose rehearsal of the funniest play-within-the-play in literature is interrupted by Puck’s dirty tricks.I greatly enjoyed the process of writing this piece, and often found myself quite moved even as I was writing it... which rarely happens. Stephen Page, who commissioned the work, is a consummate artist (and a bit of a Puck himself). The title comes from Oberon’s final speech in the play:Through the house, give glimmering light,By the dead and drowsy fire.Every elf and fairy spriteHop as light as bird from brier,And this ditty, after me,Sing, and dance it trippingly.

SKU: BT.DHP-1084674-140

9x12 inches. English-German-French-Dutch.

Maxime Aulio was so enthralled by Monique de Huetras’ book Contes et légendes de Savoie, which contains tales and legends from the depths of the earth to the tops of the mountains, that he had to translate it into music. Music presents the perfect medium to add colour to the stories and life to the characters. Like voices from the past The Bilberry Fairy and the Chamois, The Magic Stick and The Lady from Val de Fier all appear for a while, and time stands still as you are told The Legend of Duvallon.

Maxime Aulio ließ sich von Monique de Huertas’ Buch Contes et légendes de Savoie inspirieren, das Sagen und Geschichten aus allen Ecken von Savoyen - vom Innern der Erde bis zu den Berggipfeln - enthält. Die Musik, als ideales Medium der Fantasie, haucht Geschichten Farbe und den Figuren Leben ein. Wie magische Funken aus der Vergangenheit leuchten Sagen wie Die Blaubeerfee und die Gemse, Der Zauberstab und Die Dame von Val de Fier auf, bevor mit der Legende von Duvallon der Geschichtenreigen beendet wird.

Durant les longues soirées d’hiver, les familles savoyardes se racontent des histoires venues du fond des ges, des histoires qui ont forgé leur culture et leur identité. Au fil des siècles, le récit s’est s rement transformé ou tout simplement enrichi, mais il reste tout jamais solidement ancré dans le royaume de la mémoire, la mémoire des ancêtres. Maxime Aulio s’est inspiré du livre éponyme de Monique de Huertas qui reprend des contes et légendes en provenance de toutes les régions savoyardes, des abîmes jusqu’aux sommets, ce qui les rend si divers. La musique est un puissant vecteur d'imagination sous-jacent aux mots. Des couleurs apparaissent, les personnages et leshistoires prennent vie. Le temps d’un instant, nous croisons La Fée Myrtille et le Chamois, Le B ton Magique, La Dame du Val de Fier et découvrons La Légende de Duvallon. Le temps semble suspendre son vol.

Brano commissionato dalla Federazione Musicale di Faucigny (Alta Savoia)Nel corso delle lunghe serate d’inverno, le famiglie della Savoia raccontano storie e vicende dei tempi passati. Maxime Aulio si è ispirato al libro eponimo di Monique de Huertas che raccoglie fi abe e leggende provenienti da tutte le regioni savoiarde. La musica è un potente vettore d’immaginazione dei testi scritti. Come per incanto attraverso la musica, ci appaiono personaggi ed atmosfere dei tempi passati. Il tempo sembra essersi fermato.