A Walk in the Woods

SKU: FG.55011-320-6

ISBN 9790550113206.

Guitar sonata A Walk to the Mysterious Woods (2012-13) is so far the most extensive of the works Kai Nieminen has written for his own instrument, the guitar. The sonata features virtuosic and delicate timbre which is typical of Nieminen's musical idiom and which requires both technical and poetic skill of the performer. The music invokes a fairytale-like scene of nature with its references to Finnish mythology.

Kai Nieminen's guitar sonata is in four movements which follow each other attacca. The form of the work resembles the traditional sonata form: exposition (A Walk with Birdsong) - development (Along the Brook and Song(s) from the Arctic) - recapitulation (Return). The dark chords of the beginning, the pressing silence and the icy-sounding harmony created by the E flat bass line evoke an image of a winter forest. As if following birdsong, the music carries the listener through various landscapes and moods. Birdsong takes the listener to a brook, which then carries the traveller to the ancient Sami joik, a traditional form of chant, and allows him or her to bask in the serenity of natural beauty in a moment where the past and present meet.

SKU: HL.282479

ISBN 9781540034366. UPC: 888680789237. 9.0x12.0x1.01 inches.

Starting with the songs released just after Woodstock all the way through the disco era, this collection features almost 100 songs from the 1970s arranged for easy piano with lyrics: ABC • American Pie • Bridge over Troubled Water • (They Long to Be) Close to You • Dancing Queen • Free Bird • Goodbye Yellow Brick Road • How Deep Is Your Love • I Shot the Sheriff • I Will Survive • Imagine • Killing Me Softly with His Song • Layla • Lean on Me • Maybe I'm Amazed • Piano Man • Reeling in the Years • Smoke on the Water • Stairway to Heaven • Stayin' Alive • Sweet Home Alabama • Time in a Bottle • Walk This Way • We Will Rock You • Y.M.C.A. • and more.

SKU: GI.G-CD-605

Prayer and praise hymns have become an integral part of the sacred hymnody of the African American religious experience. Twenty years after the Emancipation, the children of the slaves found themselves living in the reality of separateness, and their religious practice turned increasingly inward. A unique body of hymnody grew out of that period, approximately 1885–1925. These are songs of Southern origin, of a rural people working the land. These songs are different from spirituals and Black meter music, yet show their influences. These songs are Bible-based, highly repetitive in accord with the nature of oral tradition, and of anonymous authorship. Wyatt Tee Walker has researched this segment of the history of African American church music more than any other known scholar. His original three paperback volumes have been edited and combined by James Abbington into this clothbound edition worthy of its historical and musical significance. The book now includes a recording of the twenty-four selected “prayer and praise” hymns researched by Rev. Dr. Walker. This exciting CD highlights not only the hymns, but the singing style of the period as well, being faithful to the impromptu harmonies and dissonance brought about by inspired song. A separate songbook for choirs and congregations is also available, making this valuable repertoire accessible for use in Sunday worship.