Concert band - Grade 2

SKU: CL.024-4424-01

Composed by Shaffer. Young Concert Band. Rising Band Series for Developing Bands! Audio recording available separately (item CL.WFR390). Extra full score. Composed 2016. Duration 2 minutes, 45 seconds. C.L. Barnhouse #024-4424-01. Published by C.L. Barnhouse (CL.024-4424-01).

Spirits of the Heavens is a lyrical composition combining simplicity of melody, bold and rich harmonies and powerful musical emotion. Not only an excellent lyrical programming piece, Spirits of the Heavens is an excellent teaching tool for phrasing, intonation, and musicality. Very moving and powerful!

Solo with Percussion Ensemble Solo with Percussion Ensemble (Solo Piano, Percussion 1 (4.3-octave Marimba, small suspended cymbal, high woodblock, cuica), Percussion 2 (4.3-octave Marimba, claves, medium suspended cymbal), Percussion 3 (vibraphone, xylophone, temple blocks, medium chain), Percussion 4 (chimes 4.3-o) - medium

SKU: CN.06300

Piano Feature. Composed by David J. Long. Score and parts. Duration 14:00. Published by C. Alan Publications (CN.06300).

Evoking the sounds of the spirits, this piece utilizes many unconventional sounds to achieve the desired effects. (i.e. box filled with broken glass, heavy chain) A beautifully haunting piano solo emphasizes the spectral nature of the work.

I. The Succubus: A demon of the night who masquerades as a seductive woman beguiling men in their sleep. II. The Poltergeist: A malevolent spirit whose hauntings are characterized by loud noises, strange lights, rapping sounds, shrieks, and moving objects.

Chamber Music Cello, Piano, Violin

SKU: PR.414411630

Composed by Shulamit Ran. Set of Score and Parts. With Standard notation. 28+28+20+24+20+24 pages. Duration 20 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #414-41163. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.414411630).

ISBN 9781491114551. UPC: 680160089956. 9.5 x 13 inches.

EXCURSIONS is a one-movement work exploring two “characters.” A rhapsodic, descending passage is introduced by the cello, followed by a  static, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello. Their individual developments are separated by a slow, contrasting middle section. The composer has written: “This is analogous to situations in life: we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option and forfeiting the other. But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination… or can we? It is symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place.”.
Excursions for violin, cello and piano, is a one-movement work of tripartite structure in which materials explored in the first of three large sections are brought back in the last section.  The traditional statement-contrast-restatement form, which is readily suggested by such a description, is, however, not at all in the mold in which the work is cast.  Rather, my aim was to subject the essential materials of the piece (two “characters” –the rhapsodic, descending passage played by the cello in the very opening and, later, a static, slow moving, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello) to two entirely different developments separated by a slow, contrasting middle section.  This is analogous to an exploration of the ramifications that two divergent choices made by the same person might lead to.  In life, as we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option usually means having to forfeit the other.  But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination…or can we?  It is, I believe, symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place: in composing Excursions, it seemed absolutely inescapable that at the end the slow, contrasting middle sections – both more resigned and peaceful than the battling spirits of the outer parts – should return briefly to end the work. The piano trio combination (once highly favored, but to this composer still as challenging today) is approached here as a collaborative effort of three equal soloists – partners.  Of the available pairings, the two strings find themselves occasionally approached as a team pitted against the piano.  The cello-piano combination is also not uncommon here, and there is an extended violin cadenza toward the end of the piece.  The writing for the three instruments is closely and at times interlinked, but the players are all instructed to play from scores. Excursions was first performed at Brandeis University in 1982.