Par CURNOW PAUL. Colorful lights, shining candles, sparkling bulbs, gifts beautifully wrapped and friends coming to visit. And with the friends come music, merry singing and joyous carols resounding through the house. When you think about and sing along to Good King Wenceslas and God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen, you can scarcely sit still. Then when Jingle Bells is heard, it seems as though you shou…

/ Jazz Band

You've heard of the legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex. Well, this Tyrannosaurus ROCKS! Another fun one for Beginning Band by Mike Hannickel, it's as easy as can be but the kids will love it. If you have an old sousaphone and a baritone sax mouthpiece you can make a mighty ?Tyrann-o-Phone? for the optional solo at the end of the piece. (Grade 1/2)

String Quartet #3 was written for, and first performed by the Balanescu Quartet, February 1990 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Duration 16 minutes. A score is available on sale.. Quoting composer: In the summer of 1989 I composed a choral work, Out of the Ruins , for Agnieszka Piotrowska's BBC2 documentary which dealt with the physical and emotional responses of some inhabitants of Leninakhan…

It's a fiesta for your basses in this colorful section feature that your students will love putting together. Carefully written to make your bass section sound their best, this piece written by Richard Meyer starts with 'Chiapanecas' (the famous Mexican 'Clapping Song') and segues into a clever 2/4 version of 'Cielito Lindo.' The two songs are then heard simultaneously, bringing this 'mini concert…

You know this Christmas carol, but you've never heard it like this before! Alan Billingsley's contemporary interpretation brings the traditional tune up to date. The SATB voicing sounds great a cappella, while a funky accompaniment works well to support the SAB and SSA. Bass and drums on the optional SoundTrax CD pump up the R and B groove, or add your own vocal percussion. / 3 Parties Mixtes

It's a casting call for the annual holiday revue and a host of familiar North Pole faces are lined up to audition, headshots and resumes in hand. Three Elves, a not-so-famous Reindeer, a stage-worthy Snowman, Mrs. C. herself, and regular kid Cameron make the first cut and are put to test by their never seen but consistently heard through a sound system director---Santa Claus! Fantastic Broadway-st…

Par MCCABE JOHN. This work is sub-titled 'Scherzo for soprano, counter-tenor, cello and harpsichord' and is dedicated to the Lydian Ensemble. The words are taken from translations by Robert Kotewall and Norman L. Smith in the Penguin Book of Chinese Verse and are three short poems about rain. The songs are performed as a continuous and very short work, in which thematic material of a scherzando na…

Par KHACHATURIAN ARAM. In 1941, Khatchaturian composed a ballet soon to be known throughout the world - Gayaneh. In this piece the composer describes the landscape of his native country Armenia, and the people who tried to build the country to create a happy life there. Evil powers, however, try to destroy the peaceful work. Gayaneh is a young ordinary woman who cares greatly for her village. In a…

This high-energy original Christmas spiritual is not to be missed! A driving gospel chorus alternates with contrasting verses, then a quote from 'Angels We Have Heard on High' introduces a lively, and briefly a cappella, refrain. Pair with the optional SoundTrax CD and choreography from the Step One! DVD and at alfred.com/video. / 2 Parties Mixtes

Par WENNAKOSKI LOTTA. Lotta Wennäkoski's Pige (2021-2022) for string quartet was commissioned to be paired with the Death and the Maiden quartet by Franz Schubert ('pige' is Danish for girl). The composer tells: 'The first movement Vorüber, ach, vorüber! is based on the first half of Schubert’s lied lying behind his The Death and the Maiden quartet. The ”maiden’s song” in the beginning of the li…

Fassung Ii. Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. The St. John Passion ranks alongside the St. Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the Magnificat and the B minor Mass as one of the great vocal works from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Leipzig years. In contrast to his other large-scale choral works, however, Bach never gave this work a definitive final form. Rather, for every performance he substantially revis…

Motet after Friedrich Rückert for Double Male Choir (Organ ad lib.). Par SCHUMANN ROBERT. At first described as 'religious song' by Schumann, the motet 'Verzweifle nicht' could be heard with organ accompaniment for the first time on 4 July 1850 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the University's choral society St. Pauli in Leipzig. He wrote the organ version specifically for this performan…

Par MATTHEWS COLIN. The title Cortege does not imply a funeral march, but rather a measured processional in which the colours are predominantly sombre and the mood dark and often menacing. One of the most important elements of the work is the sequence of minor triads heard at the outset and dominating the latter part of the work: these do not have a conventional harmonic function, but are a backgr…