Two Sketches (1), For Flute And Piano

SKU: BT.ALHE26582

French.

Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941) was a distinguished performer on the Flute. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that his compositions for the instrument are at the forefront of the Flute's repertoire, his Two Sketches being noexception. After a prominent career as a flautist with the Paris Opéra, Gaubert was appointed as professor of Flute at the Paris Conservatoire as well as principal conductor of leading orchestras. It was during this time thatGaubert composed, including his Two Sketches for Flute and Piano, which is made up of two movements. The first of these, Night on the Plain, conveys many technical features, including flourishing semiquaver passages, a wide range,lyricism, intervals, chromaticism and complex rhythms. Night on the Plain from Two Sketches is a challenging yet exciting piece for aspiring flautists.

SKU: CF.WF228

ISBN 9781491153529. 9 x 12 inches.

Compiled and edited by Amy Porter, Treasures for Flute and Piano is acollection of Philippe Gaubert’s shorter works for flute and piano. Gaubertwas a multi-talented musician, a marvelous flutist as well as a composer,teacher, and master conductor. Over his lifetime, he became one of the mostimportant musical figures in France between the World Wars in the first halfof the 20th century. Trained in theory and harmony at the Paris Conservatory,Gaubert was also deeply influenced by other composers at the time, includingDebussy, Fauré, and Dukas. Editor Amy Porter is a distinguished Professorat The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and hasbeen praised by critics for her exceptional musical talent and her passion forscholarship. This edition represents eleven of the sixteen works from AmyPorter and Dr. Penelope Fischer’s video study guide, “The Gaubert Cycle: TheComplete Works for Flute and Piano by Philippe Gaubert”.
Philippe Gaubert (1879–1941) was a very important teacher and flutist in our classical flute playing lineage. In this edition we have gathered his beautiful, shorter compositions for flute and piano all in one place, to be cherished as “Gaubert’s Treasures.”Philippe Gaubert personified the modern French school of flute playing as introduced by his teacher Paul Taffanel (1844–1908) at the Paris Conservatory. Gaubert was a multitalented musician, a marvelous flutist as well as a gifted composer, teacher and master conductor. Over his lifetime he became one of the most important musical figures in France between the World Wars in the first half of the twentieth century. Gaubert’s musical andpedagogical gifts to us are passed along through generations of students and continue to touch the hearts of many who listen to his fine, and refined, music.Philippe Gaubert studied composition at the Paris Conservatory with Raoul Pugno, Xavier Leroux, and then for a brief time with Charles Lenepvu. It was after this study that he won the famous Prix de Rome second prize in composition. Even with his schooling of theory and harmony in Paris, he was deeply influenced by other composers of the time, namely Debussy, Fauré and Dukas. Between the years of 1905–1914 Gaubert’s early workswere arrangements and short pieces written for the year-end final exam pieces at the Conservatory.Between 1914–1918 Gaubert served in the French Army during World War I, most notably in the battle of Verdun in 1916. This was considered one of the largest battles against the Germans in WWI. He was wounded but his creativity level was not dampened. He was rewarded for his service and awarded medals for his bravery. It was during this time that he found the energy to compose his Deux Esquisses or 2 Scenes, and sketched out his first flute sonata.Gaubert composed his remaining five flute and piano works after 1922 in Paris, and clearly his poetic soul was transformed from the earlier years. He took in new forms and styles of compositions such as a Suite, a Ballade and a Sonatine. He also completed his Second and Third Sonatas for Flute and Piano, all of them dramatic works in terms of compositional techniques and grandeur of tone.Gaubert composed music easily throughout his lifetime, especially during summer breaks when the orchestra and Paris Opera seasons were on hiatus and he was not conducting. He loved literature and poetry which inspired over thirty vocal works from 1903 through 1938.He also wrote twenty-six instrumental chamber works for other instruments: oboe, cornet, clarinet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, harp and combinations of these instruments with piano. Some of these were commissioned jury pieces, but many were for his musician friends.Six full-length stage works, both ballets and operas for the stage, several tone poems and symphonies were written throughout his lifetime.This edition represents eleven out of the sixteen works from our video study guide “The Gaubert Cycle: The Complete Works for Flute and Piano by Philippe Gaubert” with guest pianist Tim Carey. Omitted in this edition are Sonatas Nos. 1–3, Ballade, and Sonatine.

SKU: BT.EMBZ2524

English-German-Hungarian.

An Evening in the Village was composed in 1908 as no. 5 of the Ten Easy Piano Pieces. It has become one of Bartók s favorite works, which the composer himself was fond of playing at recitals. As he explained in an American interview, it was an original composition that is ... with themes of my own invention but ... the themes are in the style of the Hungarian-Transylvanian folk tunes. There are two themes. The first one is a parlando-rubato-rhythm and the second one is more in a dance-like rhythm. The second one is more or less the imitation of a peasant flute playing. Bartók also orchestrated the piece in 1931 as no. 1 of Hungarian Sketches.

SKU: BT.EMBZ8318

English-German-Hungarian.

An Evening in the Village was composed in 1908 as no. 5 of the Ten Easy Piano Pieces. It has become one of Bartók's favorite works, which the composer himself was fond of playing at recitals. As he explained in an American interview, it was ''an original composition that is ... with themes of my own invention but ... the themes are in the style of the Hungarian-Transylvanian folk tunes. There are two themes. The first one is a parlando-rubato-rhythm and the second one is more in a dance-like rhythm. The second one is more or less the imitation of a peasant flute playing.'' Bartók also orchestrated the piece in 1931 as no. 1 of Hungarian Sketches. In 2015 we are launching aseries entitled Bartók Transcriptions for Music Students to mark the 70th anniversary of the composer s death. This involves reissuing our tried publications, and publishing some further, new transcriptions that fulfill in every respect the strict aesthetic demands of the earlier ones. We trust these publications will allow us to introduce still more music students to the realm of one of the great geniuses of 20th-century music.

Das 1908 als Nr. 5 der Zehn leichten Klavierstücke komponierte Klavierwerk Ein Abend am Lande ist ein echter Bartók-Schlager, der auch vom Komponisten selbst mit Vorliebe im Rahmen seiner Konzerte vorgetragen wurde. In einem amerikanischen Interview äußerte er sich dazu, ''… es handelt sich um eine Originalkomposition, das heißt, ihre Themen stammen von mir, wobei diese Themen jedoch den Stil der siebenbürgisch-ungarischen Volkslieder aufgreifen. Von seinen zwei Themen hat das erste Parlando-Rubato-Charakter, das zweite ist eher von einem Tanzrhythmus geprägt … und ist mehr oder weniger die Imitation eines bäuerlichen Blockflötenspiels.'' Im Jahr 1931 instrumentierte Bartókdas Stück als Nr. 1 der Bilder aus Ungarn auch für Orchester.

SKU: PR.165001000

ISBN 9781491129241. UPC: 680160669776. 9 x 12 inches.

Commissioned for a consortium of high school and college bands in the north Dallas region, FOR THEMYSTIC HARMONY is a 10-minute inspirational work in homage to Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon,patrons of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Van Cliburn Competition. Welcher draws melodic flavorfrom five American hymns, spirituals, and folk tunes of the 19th century. The last of these sources toappear is the hymn tune For the Beauty of the Earth, whose third stanza is the quatrain: “For the joy of earand eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony, Linking sense to sound and sight,”giving rise to the work’s title.
This work, commissioned for a consortium of high school bands in the north Dallas area, is my fifteenth maturework for wind ensemble (not counting transcriptions). When I asked Todd Dixon, the band director whospearheaded this project, what kind of a work he most wanted, he first said “something that’s basically slow,” butwanted to leave the details to me. During a long subsequent conversation, he mentioned that his grandparents,Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon, were prime supporters of the Fort Worth Symphony, going so far as to purchase anumber of high quality instruments for that orchestra. This intrigued me, so I asked more about his grandparentsand was provided an 80-page biographical sketch. Reading that article, including a long section about theirdevotion to supporting a young man through the rigors of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition fora number of years, moved me very much. Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon weren’t just supporters of the arts; theywere passionate lovers of music and musicians. I determined to make this work a testament to that love, and tothe religious faith that sustained them both. The idea of using extant hymns was also suggested by Todd Dixon,and this 10-minute work is the result.I have employed existing melodies in several works, delving into certain kinds of religious music more than a fewtimes. In seeking new sounds, new ways of harmonizing old tunes, and the contrapuntal overlaying of one tunewith another, I was able to make works like ZION (using 19th-century Revivalist hymns) and LABORING SONGS(using Shaker melodies) reflect the spirit of the composers who created these melodies, without sounding likepastiches or medleys. I determined to do the same with this new work, with the added problem of employingmelodies that were more familiar. I chose five tunes from the 19th century: hymns, spirituals, and folk-tunes.Some of these are known by differing titles, but they all appear in hymnals of various Christian denominations(with various titles and texts). My idea was to employ the tunes without altering their notes, instead using aconstantly modulating sense of harmony — sometimes leading to polytonal harmonizations of what are normallysimple four-chord hymns.The work begins and ends with a repeated chime on the note C: a reminder of steeples, white clapboard churchesin the country, and small church organs. Beginning with a Mixolydian folk tune of Caribbean origin presentedtwice with layered entrances, the work starts with a feeling of mystery and gentle sorrow. It proceeds, after along transition, into a second hymn that is sometimes connected to the sea (hence the sensation of water andwaves throughout it). This tune, by John B. Dykes (1823-1876), is a bit more chromatic and “shifty” than mosthymn-tunes, so I chose to play with the constant sensation of modulation even more than the original does. Atthe climax, the familiar spiritual “Were you there?” takes over, with a double-time polytonal feeling propelling itforward at “Sometimes it causes me to tremble.”Trumpets in counterpoint raise the temperature, and the tempo as well, leading the music into a third tune (ofunknown provenance, though it appears with different texts in various hymnals) that is presented in a sprightlymanner. Bassoons introduce the melody, but it is quickly taken up by other instruments over three “verses,”constantly growing in orchestration and volume. A mysterious second tune, unrelated to this one, interrupts it inall three verses, sending the melody into unknown regions.The final melody is “For the Beauty of the Earth.” This tune by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872) is commonly sung atThanksgiving — the perfect choice to end this work celebrating two people known for their generosity.Keeping the sense of constant modulation that has been present throughout, I chose to present this hymn in threegrowing verses, but with a twist: every four bars, the “key” of the hymn seems to shift — until the “Lord of all, toThee we praise” melody bursts out in a surprising compound meter. This, as it turns out, was the “mystery tune”heard earlier in the piece. After an Ivesian, almost polytonal climax, the Coda begins over a long B( pedal. At first,it seems to be a restatement of the first two phrases of “For the Beauty” with long spaces between them, but it soonchanges to a series of “Amen” cadences, widely separated by range and color. These, too, do not conform to anykey, but instead overlay each other in ways that are unpredictable but strangely comforting.The third verse of “For the Beauty of the Earth” contains this quatrain:“For the joy of ear and eye, –For the heart and mind’s delightFor the mystic harmonyLinking sense to sound and sight”and it was from this poetry that I drew the title for the present work. It is my hope that audiences and performerswill find within it a sense of grace: more than a little familiar, but also quite new and unexpected.

SKU: CA.1040221

ISBN 9790007311223. Key: F sharp minor. French. Text: Montesquiou-Fezenzac, Robert de.

Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane is one of his most popular compositions. What is less known, however, is that the premiere of this stylized dance in April 1888 was actually performed in this present version for mixed choir rather than in the now more familiar orchestral version or instrumental arrange­ments. The text, in the style of Verlaine, sketches the carefree society of the Belle Époque, in particular the various flirtations and dalliances of the dancers. Based on Fauré’s autograph score, this new Carus edition reflects the original (faster) tempo marking. In addition to the composer’s revised piano reduction, Carus is also publishing a modern version for choir and four hands (Carus 10.402/10). Score and part available separately - see item CA.1040200.