Composers Showcase, Book 2

SKU: GI.G-CD-989

UPC: 785147098928.

This latest release in the GIA Composer's Collection series showcases the work of Michael Daugherty. Grammy® award winning composer Michael Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed, and recorded composers on the American concert music scene today. His music is influenced by modern, post-modern, and romantic music and is performed extensively throughout the world.   Stunningly performed by the North Texas Wind Symphony, under the direction of Eugene Migliaro Corporon, this recording brings together some the best works of this accomplished composer. The booklet includes extensive liner notes about Michael Daugherty and his contribution to wind band repertoire.   The GIA Composer's Collection offers wonderful recordings of masterworks by some of the most respected wind symphony composers of all time. Contents: Niagara Falls (1997) • UFO (2001): Traveling Music, Unidentified, Flying, ???, Objects • On the Air (2012) • Lost Vegas (2011): Viva, Mirage, Fever • Red Cape Tango (1999) • Brooklyn Bridge (2005): East, South, West, North • Desi (1991) • Vulcan (2014): Pon Farr, Mind Meld, Vulcan's Forge • Bells for Stokowski (2002) • Winter Dreams (2015) • Bizzaro (1993) • Alligator Alley (2003) • Motown Metal (1994) • Rio Grande (2015).

SKU: PR.11442131S

UPC: 680160681006.

A lot of chamber music playing went on in Fargo, North Dakota during my teenage years. The participants included both high school friend - my brother, who plays viola, was an is an inveterate chamber music player - and members of parents' generation. The latter included not only professional musicians (the conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Community Orchestra, who also played cello and was my first composition teacher, his wife, who was the orchestra's concert mistress, and others) but also people from various other walks of life. Although I don't play a string instrument, I was almost always in attendance, with score in hand. (One summer, all the young cellists we played with went to the Interlochen Music Camp, so I got to play the cello parts on the bassoon.) Mostly it was string quartets that were played, but one of the larger pieces I remember being done more than once was the Brahms Sextet in G Major, and I think that the idea for utilizing that combination had been lurking in the back of my mind since then. In the middle 1980's, ideas for a string sextet began appearing in my sketchbooks; one movement (the fourth) was actually completed in one of the sketchbooks. But without a deadline, it's hard for me to finish a major work, since there are always other pieces (with deadlines) waiting to be completed. So when the Composers Showcase at Lincoln Center asked me to put together a retrospective of my work, I knew I wanted to have a premiere on the program, and May 7, 1990 became the deadline that I got the piece done. The work is in six movements, with a symmetrical key pattern; the movements range from the very dramatic to the very easy-going. I had contacted the Lark Quartet, who had commissioned my String Quartet No.2, about forming the core of the sextet. Unfortunately, one of the Larks had a scheduling conflict, but the other three rounded up three more players, and the six of them gave the piece a rousing performance, in spite of the limited rehearsal time. The players were Eva Gruesser, Genovia Cummins, Anna Kruger, Mary Hamman, Astrid Schween and Julia Lichten.
A lot of chamber music playing went on in Fargo, North Dakota during my teenage years. The participants included both high school friend – my brother, who plays viola, was an is an inveterate chamber music player – and members of parents’ generation. The latter included not only professional musicians (the conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Community Orchestra, who also played cello and was my first composition teacher, his wife, who was the orchestra’s concert mistress, and others) but also people from various other walks of life. Although I don’t play a string instrument, I was almost always in attendance, with score in hand. (One summer, all the young cellists we played with went to the Interlochen Music Camp, so I got to play the cello parts on the bassoon.)Mostly it was string quartets that were played, but one of the larger pieces I remember being done more than once was the Brahms Sextet in G Major, and I think that the idea for utilizing that combination had been lurking in the back of my mind since then. In the middle 1980’s, ideas for a string sextet began appearing in my sketchbooks; one movement (the fourth) was actually completed in one of the sketchbooks. But without a deadline, it’s hard for me to finish a major work, since there are always other pieces (with deadlines) waiting to be completed. So when the Composers Showcase at Lincoln Center asked me to put together a retrospective of my work, I knew I wanted to have a premiere on the program, and May 7, 1990 became the deadline that I got the piece done.The work is in six movements, with a symmetrical key pattern; the movements range from the very dramatic to the very easy-going.I had contacted the Lark Quartet, who had commissioned my String Quartet No.2, about forming the core of the sextet. Unfortunately, one of the Larks had a scheduling conflict, but the other three rounded up three more players, and the six of them gave the piece a rousing performance, in spite of the limited rehearsal time. The players were Eva Gruesser, Genovia Cummins, Anna Kruger, Mary Hamman, Astrid Schween and Julia Lichten.

SKU: ST.H457

ISBN 9790220221637.

The fourteen new pieces of The Light Touch for trumpet and piano capture the energy of popular music and the fascination of its ever-changing boundaries. In two books, graded Easy to Intermediate and Intermediate Plus, with accompaniments also available as free downloadable MP3 files, the collection has been compiled and edited by noted soloist Deborah Calland, who has showcased the work both of leading composers and exciting new talents.

The contents are wide-ranging, from funk, jazz and blues to ragtime, Latin American and minimalism, with additional scope for cross-curricula study. A major resource for players and teachers, the two albums will encourage fresh and revealing encounters with popular music in its many forms, while charming audiences with the allure of 'The Light Touch'.

SKU: WD.080689564178

UPC: 080689564178.

New this Easter season, the Very Simply Word series from Word Music & Church Resources presents a joyful, spirit-filled musical..RISEN KING! Bringing together top hymns and songs from today’s leading artists and songwriters, and arranging them in an easy-learn, easy-sing fashion, RISEN KING is sure to bring resounding worship and praise to your church this Easter as you celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

RISEN KING will be popular among your congregation with its showcase of beautiful hymn arrangements like Crown Him (Majesty), contemporary anthems such as Forever (We Sing Hallelujah) by Kari Jobe and Christ Is Enough from Hillsong, and worship favorites penned by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend.

Through its compelling narration and delicately-crafted arrangements, RISEN KING successfully recounts the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, reminding us that through His resurrection and conquering of the grave, sin was defeated, the battle won! Through Christ’s victory on the cross we are born again to a living hope, an everlasting promise of eternal life with our Father in Heaven…free from sin and brokenness and full of love and unending grace. What Good News! This Easter holiday, may you rest and rejoice once again in the truth that we are people of the “Risen King”!

SKU: WD.080689494178

UPC: 080689494178.