Three Improvisations

SKU: AP.1-ADV7662

UPC: 805095076622. English.

Three Improvisations has been revised by the composer, Phil Woods, and has been re-typeset in 2001.

SKU: PR.110418490

ISBN 9781491137260. UPC: 680160690022.

Carter Pann writes, the piece might have been titled Three Improvisations, but there is an expressive inertia baked in to these works which makes them truer as rhapsodies. This description tells us much about the work, whose movements are an enterprising tango, a bombastic central movement with virtuosic thrust, and a and a hymn heard from afar without any sense of marked time.
Three Rhapsodies was commissioned by the American Composers Forum with complete support from the Thelma E. Hunter Fund. The premiere performance took place in Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York by pianist Marina Lomazov.As with all of my piano works, this was very much an at-the-piano compositional experience. As a pianist I cannot imagine writing a solo work away from the instrument (though at times that would be quite convenient).The whole work explores a palette of impassioned emotions – sometimes veiled, sometimes emboldened, or even outrageous at times. There are technical freedoms in each movement, allowing the pianist to stretch their interpretive inclinations to great lengths. In this way the piece might have been titled Three Improvisations, but there is an expressive inertia baked in to these works which make them truer as rhapsodies.The first movement is a tango with real wanderlust. The second reminds me of Rachmaninoff’s Polka de W.R. in its bombast, but also Chopin’s sixteenth prelude with its sheer virtuosic thrust. The third is a hymn heard from afar with no rhythmic drive, only sheened sonority.

SKU: MB.30949M

ISBN 9781513470207. 8.75x11.75 inches.

While traditional Richter-tuned, 10-hole diatonic harmonicas have a remarkable three-octave range, one can only play a complete major scale spanning one octave in a single key from holes 4 through 6. By contrast, the country-tuned diatonic harmonica with its 5th-hole draw reed voiced a halftone higher F to F# in a C harmonica , is not only capable of playing 2 complete major scales but can also play one of them from the second hole in two full octaves.Harmonica enthusiasts who are already familiar with the cross-harp concept of playing a C harmonica in the key of G to achieve the Mixolydian mode, with a blues sound, will be delighted to learn of a further valve alteration that gives players access to 4 chromatic tones from the 5th hole ?facilitating play in the relative minor key.Seasoned Mel Bay harmonica author, Phil Duncan, presents this unique book of technique and six melodies for the country-tuned 10-hole diatonic harmonica. All music is presented with lyrics, standard notation and tablature with suggested guitar chords and studio-quality online audio.

SKU: HL.49047286

ISBN 9798350115772.

The initial stimulus for this set of pieces was a painting by Kandinsky, Composition VII (1913). The painting represents a period when he was concerned with emotional, abstract paintings of two sorts: (a) improvisations ('unconscious, spontaneous expression of inner character, the non-material nature' that contain no recognizable objects, but coloured shapes that express feelings) and (b) compositions ('an expression of a slowly formed inner feeling, tested and worked over repeatedly' that include recognizable objects,but ones that have been 'stripped' and 'veiled'). Taking the latter idea as a starting point I began to mould and form a tripartite piece which conveyed the energy and colour from canvas to notes. The movement titles are derived from the number of notes in the note rows for each movement, i.e. “Etude Four” uses a note row made up of four notes.

SKU: OT.21027

ISBN 9789655050158.

Three pieces inspired by the The Scream by E. Munch, Tragedy by G. Klimt, and The Cafe Terrace at Night by V. Van Gogh. Gr. 4-5.