SKU: KJ.WB373

UPC: 8402702026.

Peaceful yet illuminating music in this chorale-like work allows new musicians to work on their phrasing, musicality, and ensemble playing. Here's a way to make your youngest players sound and feel great!

SKU: PR.164002720

UPC: 680160573042. 8.5 x 11 inches.

My third quartet is laid out in a three-movement structure, with each movement based on an early, middle, and late work of the great American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. Although the movements are separate, with full-stop endings, the music is connected by a common scale-form, derived from the name MARY CASSATT, and by a recurring theme that introduces all three movements. I see this theme as Mary's Theme, a personality that stays intact while undergoing gradual change.   I The Bacchante (1876) [Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]   The painting shows a young girl of Italian or Spanish origin, playing a small pair of cymbals. Since Cassatt was trying very hard to fit in at the French Academy at the time, she painted a lot of these subjects, which were considered typical and universal. The style of the painting doesn't yet show Cassatt's originality, except perhaps for certain details in the face. Accordingly the music for this movement is Spanish/Italian, in a similar period-style but using the musical signature described above. The music begins with Mary's Theme, ruminative and slow, then abruptly changes to an alla Spagnola-type fast 3/4 - 6/8 meter. It evokes the Spanish-influenced music of Ravel and Falla.   Midway through, there's an accompanied recitative for the viola, which figures large in this particular movement, then back to a truncated recapitulation of the fast music. The overall feeling is of a well-made, rather conventional movement in a contemporary Spanish/Italian style. Cassatt's painting, too, is rather conventional.   II At the Opera (1880) [Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts]   This painting is one of Cassatt's most well known works, and it hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The painting shows a woman alone in a box at the opera house, completely dressed (including gloves) and looking through opera glasses at someone or something that is NOT on the stage. Across the auditorium from her, but exactly at eye level, is a gentleman with opera glasses intently watching her - though it is not him that she's looking at. It's an intriguing picture.   This movement is far less conventional than the first movement, as the painting is far less conventional. The music begins with a rapid, Shostakovich-type mini-overture lasting less than a minute, based on Mary's Theme. My conjecture is that the woman in the painting has arrived late to the opera, busily stumbling into her box. What happens next is a kind of collage, a kind of surrealistic overlaying of two different elements: the foreground music, at first is a direct quotation of Soldier's Chorus from Gounod's FAUST (an opera Cassatt would certainly have heard in the brand-new Paris Opera House at that time), played by Violin II, Viola, and Cello. This music is played sul ponticello in the melody and col legno in the marching accompaniment. On top of this, the first violin hovers at first on a high harmonic, then descends into a slow melody, completely separate from the Gounod. It's as if the woman in the painting is hearing the opera onstage but is not really interested in it. Then the cello joins the first violin in a kind of love-duet (just the two of them, at first). This music isn't at all Gounod-derived; it's entirely from the same scale patterns as the first movement and derives from Mary's Theme and its scale. The music stays in a kind of dichotomy feeling, usually three-against-one, until the end of the movement, when another Gounod melody, Valentin's aria Avant de quitter ce lieux reappears in a kind of coda for all four players. It ends atmospherically and emotionally disconnected, however. The overall feeling is a kind of schizophrenic, opera-inspired dream.   III Young Woman in Green, Outdoors in the Sun (1909) [Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts]   The painting, one of Cassatt's last, is very simple: just a figure, looking sideways out of the picture. The colors are pastel and yet bold - and the woman is likewise very self-assured and not in the least demure. It is eight minutes long, and is all about melody - three melodies, to be exact (Young Woman, Green, and Sunlight). No angst, no choppy rhythms, just ever-unfolding melody and lush harmonies. I quote one other French composer here, too: Debussy's song Green, from Ariettes Oubliees. 1909 would have been Debussy's heyday in Paris, and it makes perfect sense musically as well as visually to do this.   Mary Cassatt lived her last several years in near-total blindness, and as she lost visual acuity, her work became less sharply defined - something akin to late water lilies of Monet, who suffered similar vision loss. My idea of making this movement entirely melodic was compounded by having each of the three melodies appear twice, once in a pure form, and the second time in a more diffuse setting. This makes an interesting two ways form: A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.   String Quartet No.3 (Cassatt) is dedicated, with great affection and respect, to the Cassatt String Quartet, whose members have dedicated themselves in large measure to the furthering of the contemporary repertoire for quartet.

SKU: CL.011-4830-01

Drawing inspiration from the Lunar New Year Firecracker Ceremony in New York City’s Chinatown, Firecracker is an exhilarating celebration at a sizzling tempo that’s sure to please. Images of crackling explosives, dazzling colors, and joyful dance fuel this annual event that honors Chinese culture. A contagious drumbeat played on traditional drums by musicians traveling from business to business wishes good fortune and prosperity in the coming year. This is emulated in this selection with flexible numbers of percussionists who can call all join in on the fun. Meanwhile, wind players will love the opportunity to nimbly play soaring melodic lines over the invigorating rhythmic figures found throughout. You’ll love Firecracker and its vigorous, jubilant spirit! Unique!

SKU: CF.BPS115

ISBN 9781491152010. UPC: 680160909513.

The Gauntlet is a piece written to sound bold and exciting while also being accessible to young performers with a limited range. Simple yet bold rhythms add excitement, heightened by the fact that every section has an opportunity to play melodic content. The interesting “development” section provides a contrast to the opening and helps to build the suspense before the return of the main theme. The percussion helps to drive the energy of the piece by providing a variety of colorful sounds including a gong solo at the end to signal the knight’s triumph.
A knight gallops over the rise of the hill into battle, determination shining in his eyes. He must charge through the treacherous lines and survive in order to preserve his kingdom and his honor. The pounding of the battle drums echoes the desperate pounding of his heart. Swords clash and the hooves of the horses strike the muddy ground. He must run this torturous gauntlet. Will he succeed before it is too late?The Gauntlet is a piece written to sound bold and exciting while also being easy for young players to perform due to the piece’s limited range (comprised of the first seven notes in most method books). Simple but bold rhythms add an air of excitement. This is heightened by the fact that every section has an opportunity to play melodic content, even the low brass. The interesting “development” section provides a contrast to the opening section and helps to build some intrigue and suspense before the return of the main theme. The percussion helps to drive the energy of the piece by providing lots of colorful sounds including a gong solo at the end to signal the knight’s triumph.

SKU: BR.EB-8029

ISBN 9790004174326. 9 x 12 inches.

This series of easy piano music for teaching purposes presents pupils in the lower and lower middle grades with a carefully chosen selection of well-known and lesser-known compositions by important masters. The volumes are deliberately kept small in extent, since it is more stimulating for children to change the teaching material frequently. There are four existing harpsichord books with a total of 226 compositions by Francois Couperin le Grand (1668 -1733). His works are as unknown to pianists as they are famous among harpsichord players. The grace and imaginativeness of his works lend themselves especially well to the sound of the harpsichord, which is why the piano interpretation of works by Couperin, Rameau, Scarlatti and other composers of that time has been categorically rejected. But, after all, the works of Bach and Handel were written for the haipsichord and clavichord, and no one would dare question their intetpretation on the pianoforte. In order to introduce these lmpressionists of the Baroque Era to piano instruction, the editor has added to this series a folio of both Couperin's and Rameau's (EB 8033) music. The selection of the pieces is based on two criteria: 1. relatively modest demands made on technique, 2. various musical forms of expression. The Butterflies and the Windmills are both especially typical of masterful character pieces. The demands made on technique certainly correspond to a level of moderate difficulty. The simplifications made are restricted to the artistically realized twopart accompaniment (eg. p. 4 f. and p. 8 f.) with regard to finger stretch and to the profuse ornamentation of the original. The indications for phrasing and articulation are those of the editor. The first two pieces have been precisely elaborated on in this respect to serve as a model, whereas the remaining pieces contain only suggestions. As in other folios of this series; what is here to be stressed, is the importance of working out independently the phrasing and the dynamics. Directions for this are given by the respective footnotes; these directions, however, are not obligatory. lndications pertaining to dynamics and tempo have been omitted completely; the clearly recognizable character of the individual pieces should be direction enough. The tonal possibilities of the piano should in any case be used subtly. The very precise fingerings have been adapted to the suggested phrasings and to the corresponding realization of trills (according to the table). Heinz Walter, Salzburg, Spring 1980.