SKU: A0.1272508

“Crossing Jordan� grew out of my daughter Kiana’s surprise request that I arrange a spiritual for voice, piano and cello for her senior recital. She received a degree in commercial music the year before COVID shut everything down, at a time before climate change made blizzards an anomaly here in Central PA. As a result, snow days still existed. I spent one of them doing the first draft of “Deep River,� her favorite.

Later, I decided that if singers engage a cellist for a concert, they might like to program more than one piece for them, so I chose two more water-themed spirituals to complete the set. “His Name So Sweet� is a more meditative version of the song than I’ve generally heard. I wanted the piano, cello, and briefly the voice to imitate the fountain in the text. The mood is ecstasy, resulting from the fundamental change that baptism is meant to create. “Deep River� also includes “Michael Row The Boat Ashore� and “The Water Is Wide.� The latter isn’t a spiritual, however, taken together the message is that the river is deep, the water is wide, but with (the Archangel?) Michael’s help, Jordan can be crossed. “Wade in the Water� is one of the most well-known spirituals. I focus on the idea of escaping enslavement: the opening is quiet, furtive, maybe even nervous. The Moses in the text can be understood to be Harriet Tubman, who might urge escapees to wade in the water so pursuing dogs couldn’t follow their scent. In my mind, the ending symbolizes that the party has vanished, never to be enslaved again.

The first instrumental version of “Deep River� was for trumpet and piano, performed by my sister, Alicia Thompson, and her son, Justin Griffin, during a church service in Atlanta shortly after I arranged it. After hearing a recording, I took borrowed her idea of adding a repeat (which she did to allow enough time for the ushers to take up collection). The clarinet, cello and piano version was premiered by the Isosceles Trio (Doris Hall-Gulati (clarinet), Sara Male (cello), and me (piano)). When Naima Burrs, violinist and conductor of the Petersburg Symphony, asked if I had any pieces for trio, I created a version for violin, piano and cello. Please note that the YouTube version for clarinet is slightly different than the one with violin, to accommodate the differences in range.

SKU: A0.1079330

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS - Duet for Violin & Cello with Piano accompaniment. Hymn Tune: OLD RUGGED CROSS Medium Difficult (Grade 4-) 65 measures. Performance Time approx 4:25 Key: G - D - A. Meter: 6/8 - 9/8 - 4/4 Instrument Ranges (C4=middle C): Violin G3 - F#6 Cello C#2 - A4 Parts included (PDF): Score, Violin, Cello, Piano.

SKU: A0.1085880

This lovely song is for a cello and violin duet - so peaceful. The violin part has a lot of moving parts. The cello carries the melody. Lyrics are included in both Latin and English if you want a soloist to sing along. It is available in other variations as well. For questions or requests, email cdboss@cvalley.net. If you perform this and video it, I would love to have it sent to me.

SKU: A0.614961

I WILL SING THE WONDROUS STORY is a hymn arrangement for Violin & Cello with Piano of one of our most cherished Hymns. The score, including cover and Instrumental parts is 9 pages long. This arrangement is perfect for any Church or gathering where Gospel hymns are enjoyed. A mp3 Piano Accompaniment (aka Rehearsal Track) is also available, listed as: I WILL SING THE WONDROUS STORY (Piano Accompaniment for Violin & Cello).