In Certainty of Song

SKU: BT.WA-4094-401

English.

Sir Edward Elgar was born in Worcester in 1857. Until the outstanding success of the 'Enigma' Variations in 1899, he was considered a 'provincial' composer - and a largely self taught one at that.In the earlier part of Elgar's career as a composer, he wrote several short pieces which became very popular indeed. Chanson de Matin is one such, the second of a pair (the other being Chanson de Nuit), which carried his name far and wide before his larger orchestra works appeared. It was published in several versions at once: for string orchestra, for small orchestra, for violin and piano and so on - so it is almost impossible to say, with any degree of certainty, which was theoriginal version. This arrangement makes a useful addition to the repertoire for piano.

SKU: GI.G-EH1001

UPC: 748769410011. Text by Rabbi Ruth Sohn.

Inspired by the empowering poem by Rabbi Ruth Sohn, this piece for SSA choir with piano describes the journey of a young woman who finds bravery amid uncertainty and fear. Middle Eastern harmonies paint an expansive desert landscape, while the voices search for faith and risk taking the first step, ultimately conquering fear to find the song in my heart. Soaring melodies and choral rhythms that create a delicious tension against the piano accompaniment make this a wonderful choice for mature treble choirs.

SKU: PR.114423770

UPC: 680160688579.

When RoseWind Duo’s Clifford Leaman and Scott Herring commissioned me for Silver Linings, we could not have anticipated that we would be in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when I composed the piece. In the early summer of 2020, when the three of us met virtually to discuss possible topics, we had all been in lockdown for several months; the causes and effects of the lockdown were at the forefront of our discussion. In themidst of daily tragedies, I had been seeing news stories using the words “silver lining” to describe unexpectedly positive situations arising from our global situation, ranging from small effects (i.e. people having time to work on projects they never could get around to doing) to global ramifications (resurging animal populations in areas where they’re no longer challenged for space with humanity).Silver Linings consists of two movements. Groundhog Day, the first movement, is slow and brooding. It embodies the strong feeling of déjà vu that so many of us experienced early on into lockdown, as we seemed to live the same day repeatedly with minor variances to our schedules. There are two main musical gestures: the first opens the piece as a slow, ascending minor chord which is a representation of uncertainty, and the secondis a falling minor scale. These gestures depict how our lives were reduced to the basic building blocks of life – wake up, eat, work, eat, sleep – as our daily activities and livelihoods were suddenly knocked down. These same two gestures are utilized in the energetic second movement, Making Lemonade, except that they are spun around to reveal their silver linings: the minor chord falls to sound centered and decisive, and the minor scale rises as it bubbles with activity. Among the seeds of despair are also foundseeds of hope, and the saxophone and marimba explore this hopefulness with great vigor and excitement.

SKU: PE.EP73535B

ISBN 9790577022833. Words by Vikram Seth.

Earth and Sky was commissioned by the BBC for the Proms 2000 season. In keeping with the millennial theme, a work presenting a vision of the future was requested. Trying to be helpful, the BBC provided me with the predictions of various pundits, but their ideas seemed dizzyingly contradictory. Then the simple thought struck me that however varied and complex the answers, the big questions will always remain the same. We may now have a map of the human genome, but how to use the map? How shall I know where I should go? How may I see the I that's me?
As a musician I am hopeful that, no matter how the world develops, future generations will still come together to dance and sing and play. The mysterious power of music to bind us socially and inspire us individually seems to be built into our genes. So, a song of questions; a song about music---these were the ideas which I took to Vikram Seth, who had generously agreed to write the words for me. The resulting poem provided lots of inspiration. It is entirely monosyllabic, enabling considerable variety of rhythmic treatment. I love its permutations and its imagery of paradox and inversion and I have amused myself by playing similar games with the musical material. But there is seriousness as well as fun---the text's juxtaposition of the certainty of death with the search for purpose in life achieves great poignancy when sung by young voices.
(Alec Roth)

This product is Printed on Demand and may take several weeks to fulfill.

SKU: PE.EP73535

ISBN 9790577022581. Words by Vikram Seth.

Earth and Sky was commissioned by the BBC for the Proms 2000 season. In keeping with the millennial theme, a work presenting a vision of the future was requested. Trying to be helpful, the BBC provided me with the predictions of various pundits, but their ideas seemed dizzyingly contradictory. Then the simple thought struck me that however varied and complex the answers, the big questions will always remain the same. We may now have a map of the human genome, but how to use the map? How shall I know where I should go? How may I see the I that's me?
As a musician I am hopeful that, no matter how the world develops, future generations will still come together to dance and sing and play. The mysterious power of music to bind us socially and inspire us individually seems to be built into our genes. So, a song of questions; a song about music---these were the ideas which I took to Vikram Seth, who had generously agreed to write the words for me. The resulting poem provided lots of inspiration. It is entirely monosyllabic, enabling considerable variety of rhythmic treatment. I love its permutations and its imagery of paradox and inversion and I have amused myself by playing similar games with the musical material. But there is seriousness as well as fun---the text's juxtaposition of the certainty of death with the search for purpose in life achieves great poignancy when sung by young voices.
(Alec Roth)

This product is Printed on Demand and may take several weeks to fulfill.

SKU: PR.11441825S

UPC: 680160643745. 9 x 12 inches.

In 2011, Barbara Garrop, my mother, commissioned me to write a piano trio in memory of Norman Garrop, my father, who passed away about thirty years ago. When I started brainstorming about topics for the piece, I found it difficult to recall many moments of my early life involving my father. Too many years had passed, and the memories that I could summon were of achild looking up to her father, not an adult relating to an equal. However, while collecting stories of my father from various family members, along with discovering a number of objects that had once belonged to him and that I had stored away in boxes decades ago, I began to realize that this piece wasn't so much about my father as it was about my re-discovering the man that he was: a loving husband and dad who cared deeply about his family and his passions (which included bike riding, collecting coins, strumming our guitar, playing baseball, watching football games, entertaining people, helping to run local theater and puppet productions, and carving objects out of wook); an accountant who dreamed of a better future: a treasurer of our local synagogue; an early advocate for computers (we owned an Apple II+); and a pranster with a great sense of humor. Ultimately, I decided to musically tell the story of my search for these memories. In the first movement (Without), a child calls out in a sing-song voice, searching for her lost parent. This search intesifies over the course of the movement through a series of themes, including a stepping motif in which a two-note progression steadily climbs higher, a pseudo-jewish folksong, and a passionate longing theme. The child's search becomes increasingly intense throughout the movement, calling out fervently and repeatedly to the parent; the movement ends in a moment of great tnesion and uncertainty. The second movment (Within) quietly opens with the lost parent finally answering, represented by a solo cello; the child (now personified by the violin) has found the parent within the sanctuary of her own heart. This movement highlights the joy and solemnity of this beautiful discovery. -S.G.

SKU: GI.G-7266

ISBN 9781592403196. English.

Every fall, marching bands take to the field in a uniquely American ritual. From the stands, it looks easy. You don’t see them sweat. For millions of kids, band is more than a show. It’s a rite of passage—a first foray into leadership and adult responsibility, and a chance to learn what it means to be part of a community. Nowhere is band more serious than at Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, where the entire town is involved with the success of its defending state champion band, the Marching Minutemen. In the place where this tradition may have originated, in the city that became the band instrument capital of the world, band is a religion. But it’s not the only religion, as director Max Jones discovers. After four decades. Jones’s single-minded devotion to musical excellence has fallen out of step with a younger generation increasingly focused on personal salvation. In what his students do not know is his final season of directing, he has assembled his most ambitious show ever, for the strongest senior class he has ever directed. Amid conflicting notions of greatness, the band marches through a season that starts in hope and promise, progresses through uncertainty and disappointment, and ends, ultimately, in redemption. American Band is an unusually intimate chronicle of life, in all its triumph, disappointment, and drama, in the kind of community in which most of America lives. It is an especially timely portrait, capturing as it does the spirit of the heartland at a time of profound change. If you have ever been— or yearned to be— part of something bigger than yourself, you will be rooting for the kids whose voices fill this book. Kirsten Laine is an award-winning journalist whose commentaries can be heard on Vermont Public Radio. She lives in New Hampshire with writer Jim Collins and their two children. “American Band has everything going for it, from tempo to heart to the grand bittersweet finale. What a gift for readers: a pitch-perfect tribute to kids and song and community.” —Madeleine Blais Pulitzer Prize winner and author of In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle.