Singing Violins

SKU: MB.30859

ISBN 9781513465951. 8.75x11.75 inches.

Imagine a campfire! Envision sitting around the bright flames with your friends and family singing songs out in the great expanse. Imagine that those melodies you sing stir up joy, hope, and belief in the great wonders of the world. Melodies have connected different kinds of people for many, many years. Music brings us closer, and music makes any occasion more festive and memorable. This book was written to promote the love of old folk melodies, provide processional music for special celebrations, and to include players of all levels. Music educators will find that there are many possibilities and combinations for practice and performance. Includes a 16-page pull-out section of twelve selected pieces for an optional cello part.

It is my great hope that music students, families, and educators will all enjoy this very special collection of Beautiful Melodies from Around the World. 

SKU: CA.246600

ISBN 9790007253158.

What would Christmas time be without music-making together? Advent, Christmas, and winter songs play an important role for all beginners on a melody instrument, because with these they can show off their progress on the instrument during the first year. And nothing is better suited to this than well-loved and popular pieces such as Christmas classics. The six volumes in our new series for instrumental teaching, developed in collaboration with the Landesakademie fur die musizierende Jugend in Baden-Wurttemberg, all contain 20 easy carols arranged in progressive level of difficulty. Experienced instrumental teachers have made a selection of carols for each instrument according to specific criteria. These can be mastered as part of music school lessons after just a few weeks and months. All the carols have been chosen and transposed so that the range and fingering combinations do not exceed the level of difficulty for the first three years of learning. The piano accompaniment is of moderate difficulty. For many of the carols, an ad lib upper or lower part is included which can also be played by instrumental pupils. The volumes are therefore suitable for individual as well as group tuition. The arrangements are based on the piano and instrumental books from the CHRISTMAS CAROLS project (Carus 2.403/03 und 2.404/03) which is part of the LIEDERPROJEKT, the charitable project to further singing with children. The books contain singing texts for all the carols, providing a full range of options for singing and playing together at Christmas. All the books include the printed music of the piano accompaniment. Digital playalong tracks are available for all the books. Further editions for flute, recorder, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet.

SKU: BR.EB-9243

ISBN 9790004185438. 9 x 12 inches.

It was the practice of Khoomii (throat singing) - following several workshops with Michael Ormiston - that first attracted me to Tuvan music. Composing this Songbook, the first in a series commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, I took the chance to reflect on compositional questions around transcription and arrangement of existing music, and frequently found myself asking: where is the boundary between the source material and the new substance? Of course the relationship varies from piece to piece, and moment to moment: sometimes we seem to glimpse the pure source, but most of the time there are differing degrees of distance, working towards or away from it. This new version for string orchestra corresponds closely to the original quartet version, with an additional part for double basses.The traditional Tuvan songs that I have transcribed and recomposed are all known to me from the Ay Kherel CD The Music of Tuva: Throat Singing and Instruments from Central Asia (2004, Arc Music). According to the notes from that CD, this is what the songs are about:1. Dyngylday: If you have come on a horse in blue, it doesn't mean that you are the best. My heart tells me something else: my sweetheart doesn't have such a beautiful horse, but he is my darling.An alternative interpretation from Alash Ensemble (alashensemble.com): The word dyngylday is a nonsense term with no translation. The song makes good-humored fun of somebody for being a good-for-nothing.2. Eki Attar (The Best Steeds): The horse is the basis of our life. It is a magic creature. Even its step is full of music and rhythm. You may not be a horse rider, but when you hear this song you will always remember horses.3. Kuda Yry: This wedding song glorifies the strength of the groom and the beauty of his Horse.4. Ezir-Kara ('Black Eagle'): This was the name of a horse, who became a legend through his remarkable strength and speed.It is not just overtones that abound here: there are galloping rhythms aplenty, and though I am no horse rider I tried to keep the horses galloping in my imagination while composing these pieces.Christian Mason (with quotes from Ay Kherel and Alash Ensemble)

World premiere of the original version: London/UK, May 10, 2016, World premiere of the string orchestra version: Clermont-Ferrand/France, October 8, 2020.

SKU: BR.EB-9244

ISBN 9790004185445. 9 x 12 inches.

It was the practice of Khoomii (throat singing) - following several workshops with Michael Ormiston - that first attracted me to Tuvan music. Composing this Songbook, the first in a series commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, I took the chance to reflect on compositional questions around transcription and arrangement of existing music, and frequently found myself asking: where is the boundary between the source material and the new substance? Of course the relationship varies from piece to piece, and moment to moment: sometimes we seem to glimpse the pure source, but most of the time there are differing degrees of distance, working towards or away from it. This new version for string orchestra corresponds closely to the original quartet version, with an additional part for double basses.The traditional Tuvan songs that I have transcribed and recomposed are all known to me from the Ay Kherel CD The Music of Tuva: Throat Singing and Instruments from Central Asia (2004, Arc Music). According to the notes from that CD, this is what the songs are about:1. Dyngylday: If you have come on a horse in blue, it doesn't mean that you are the best. My heart tells me something else: my sweetheart doesn't have such a beautiful horse, but he is my darling.An alternative interpretation from Alash Ensemble (alashensemble.com): The word dyngylday is a nonsense term with no translation. The song makes good-humored fun of somebody for being a good-for-nothing.2. Eki Attar (The Best Steeds): The horse is the basis of our life. It is a magic creature. Even its step is full of music and rhythm. You may not be a horse rider, but when you hear this song you will always remember horses.3. Kuda Yry: This wedding song glorifies the strength of the groom and the beauty of his Horse.4. Ezir-Kara ('Black Eagle'): This was the name of a horse, who became a legend through his remarkable strength and speed.It is not just overtones that abound here: there are galloping rhythms aplenty, and though I am no horse rider I tried to keep the horses galloping in my imagination while composing these pieces.Christian Mason (with quotes from Ay Kherel and Alash Ensemble)

World premiere of the original version: London/UK, May 10, 2016, World premiere of the string orchestra version: Clermont-Ferrand/France, October 8, 2020.

SKU: BR.EB-9271

ISBN 9790004185711. 0 x 0 inches.

I fell in love with the remarkable singing of the Tenores di Bitti on hearing their recordings as a student. Their uniquely intense vocal timbre, their harmony, which seemed pure and rough at once, and the sense that this music was, at root, not so much about performance as simply being together in the world, in a community of spirit. At the time, I had no intention of using this music to my own creative ends, but now, here we are: Sardinian Songbook is the second in a cycle of works for the Ligeti Quartet, all based on transcriptions of music from different throat-singing traditions. Like string quartets, the tenores usually sing in groups of four voices, but being free from instruments they stand very close together enabling the resonances of their voices to blend and interact in a special way. The quartet, of course, can only sit so close before their bows clash, so I have chosen instead to reflect this physical closeness inversely, by getting the players to stand increasingly far from one another as the piece progresses. In so doing, the initial state of sonic blend gives way to hocketing lines, opening up the sense of space.Christian Mason, 2018 The four movements may be played separately or as a collection. If played together the following order should be observed (see table of contents).

World premiere: Sheffield/UK, Firth Hall, April 14, 2018, Commissioned by Ligeti Quartet.

SKU: BR.EB-9270

ISBN 9790004185704. 9 x 12 inches.

I fell in love with the remarkable singing of the Tenores di Bitti on hearing their recordings as a student. Their uniquely intense vocal timbre, their harmony, which seemed pure and rough at once, and the sense that this music was, at root, not so much about performance as simply being together in the world, in a community of spirit. At the time, I had no intention of using this music to my own creative ends, but now, here we are: Sardinian Songbook is the second in a cycle of works for the Ligeti Quartet, all based on transcriptions of music from different throat-singing traditions. Like string quartets, the tenores usually sing in groups of four voices, but being free from instruments they stand very close together enabling the resonances of their voices to blend and interact in a special way. The quartet, of course, can only sit so close before their bows clash, so I have chosen instead to reflect this physical closeness inversely, by getting the players to stand increasingly far from one another as the piece progresses. In so doing, the initial state of sonic blend gives way to hocketing lines, opening up the sense of space.Christian Mason, 2018 The four movements may be played separately or as a collection. If played together the following order should be observed (see table of contents).

World premiere: Sheffield/UK, Firth Hall, April 14, 2018, Commissioned by Ligeti Quartet.

SKU: BA.BA09378

ISBN 9790006539086. 32.5 x 25.5 cm inches.

A modern sequel to the music of the Romantic era.

The first movement hints at the chromatic of “Tristan”; cantilena lines convey a mournful scene. It is succeeded by a brilliant scherzo with the cryptic title “Erste fremde Szene” (First Foreign/Unknown Scene – one is invited to solve this riddle), while the third movement, with its singing quality, is related to the first.
The final movement, a “Zweite fremde Szene” (“Second Foreign/Unknown Scene”), alludes to the “last dance” tradition, with its ironic undertones and the copious use of sixths, counterpointed with tarantella rhythms.

A rewarding, striking work, equally valuable for concerts combining older compositions with new works as for contemporary music programmes.

SKU: GI.G-6851

UPC: 785147685104. English, German. Text Source: Trier Gesangbuch, 1847, st. 1 tr. Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr., alt., st. 2 tr. Ronald F. Krisman.

A unison carol in German and English scored for unison choir, two violins, and a viola. The strings provide a lot of movement. Very festive. The instrumental parts, which add a festive character to the piece, are flexible: three violins, flute and two violins, flute or violin, violin and viola. It is possible to play the three instrumental parts on the organ, soft flute 8' and 4' are suggested. —William Tortolano.