Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.869295 Composed by Thomas Oboe Lee. 20th Century,Baroque,Classical,Contemporary,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 149 pages. Thomas Oboe Lee #431379. Published by Thomas Oboe Lee (A0.869295). Instrumentation: 3222-4231-timp-2perc-hp-chorus-strings Program note:It has been a wonderful two years of thinking, learning and working on my Continental Harmony Project with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. It is a rare occasion that a composer in the 21st century would receive a commission to write a musical work of such scale: a 40-minute piece for symphony orchestra, 200-plus chorus and a ballet company.   At the Bangor Public Library I found some wonderful evocative 19th century texts for the chorus about the city of Bangor and its environs: the Penobscot River, Mt. Ktaadn, the logging industry, the native American culture, etc.   At times I felt overwhelmed, but most of the times I was exuberant and quite inspired by the music that came forth in the process.   The premiere is less than a month away, and I am looking forward to it. Susan Jonason, Executive Director of the Bangor Symphony, has made the occasion a very public one: a free concert on a Saturday evening! I hope the audience will go home humming the tunes from the work as they walk into the crisp, cool Bangor night.Formally the work is in five movements. The first, third and fifth movements are choral, and the two in between are orchestral.   In the premiere, the Robinson Ballet will dance in the orchestral movements.  The first movement is about the Penobscot River from winter to spring. The melting of the ice is a harbinger of things to come: warmer weather, for instance; but it has also contributed to a lot of flooding in the city of Bangor and its surroundings.The second movement is a waltz, a grand 19th century ballroom waltz for the ladies of the rich lumber barons. They come to the ball showing off their latest hats and gowns from London, Paris and Milan.The third movement is about the woods and the people who work in them. Thoreau’s text about Mt. Ktaadn is full of awesome thoughts about how nature is beautiful, yet unkind to man.   It is followed by a J.G. Whittier lyric entitled The Logger’s Boast. The original song had twenty stanzas to it. I whittled it down to five. I don’t know what the original song sounded like, so I made up my own version of a lumberjack’s drinking song.The fourth movement is a wild, drunken polka. After a long week of working in the woods the lumbermen come back to the city and spend all their earnings on booze, women and gambling. And they dance the night away …The last movement begins with a funeral march for Joe Attien, a native American who was Thoreau’s guide when he came up here in the 1900’s. The work ends with a rousing march, a centennial hymn to the city of Bangor.   God bless our city Bangor, now! On this its birthday morn …NB: The two ballet movements, II. La Valse and IV. Drunken Polka, are optional.

Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.869351 Composed by Thomas Oboe Lee. 20th Century,Baroque,Classical,Contemporary,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 81 pages. Thomas Oboe Lee #15869. Published by Thomas Oboe Lee (A0.869351). Instrumentation: 3232-4331-timp-2perc-strings. When I received the invitation from Jonathan Cohler to write a Concerto for Orchestra for the Brockton Symphony, I immediately thought of all the composers who wrote works inspired by Bartok’s seminal work of the same title: Roger Sessions, Elliott Carter, Michael Tippett, Witold Lutoslawski, Joan Tower and, most recently, Jennifer Higdon. My Concerto for Orchestra, opus 111, is in five movements. It will be heard without pause between movements. I. Largo … Misterioso! II. Allegro con moto … Evidence!!! III. Adagio … Epistrophy! IV. Andante … In Walked Bud! V. Presto … Rhythm-a-ning!!! My initial idea for the Concerto was contrast - contrast between the timbres and colors that the various sections in an orchestra provide. For example, the woodwinds would provide a sharp contrast against the brass; the percussion section against the strings, etc. I also was interested in writing a work where each movement would flow into the next without pause – thus providing another form of contrast, that of tempi and mood change. A third form of contrast would be the different styles and forms of music that I would come up with. And I had a lot of fun conjuring up the many possible scenarios and orchestral tableaux. I actually started with the second movement: the Allegro con moto. I wanted something that had a nice surging quality that the whole orchestra could jump into. When I finished that, I thought perhaps it would be too intense for the opening of the work. I thought, maybe I should begin with something slower, more brooding in nature before the explosive stuff. I noticed that Carter’s Concerto began with a slow Introduction. It had a title: Misterioso. Being an avid fan of Thelonious Monk, aka Thelonious Sphere Monk, Misterioso brought to mind a Monk composition of the same title. That epiphany gave me the idea of naming each of the five movements after a Monk tune. Monk’s Misterioso is a blues with an insistent theme of 8th note patterns of rising 6ths; which has nothing to do with my first movement. My Misterioso features a solo for the bass clarinet in the midst of a shimmering atmosphere that is punctuated by accents in the bass. They are both mysterious, but divergently opposed in mood and substance. Monk’s Evidence is a tune with jabs and punches, irregularly placed within the measure – not unlike what I did in the second movement. This movement is perhaps the most Monk-ish of all. Monk’s Epistrophy is a tune constructed with a four-note pattern that is angular and twisted. I wrote a solemn brass choir movement that is an epistle in nature, a sermon of sorts. The title of Monk’s In Walked Bud refers, of course, to the amazing pianist Bud Powell. I took the word walk and translated it into an andante. What resulted was a silly, but jolly movement featuring the woodwinds. I wanted to end the work with a fast and furious finale. Inspired by the word rhythm in Monk’s Rhythm-a-ning, I began the last movement with a solo for the percussion section – timpani, tom-toms, bass drum!!! The orchestra eventually joins in the mayhem, breaking into a scherzo-like frenzy. It ends with a big bang!!! Enjoy!!!Audio link: https://thomasoboelee.bandcamp.com/album/concerto-for-orchestra-opus-111-2005

Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.755154 Composed by Sy Brandon. 20th Century,Contemporary. Score and parts. 174 pages. Sy Brandon #3408009. Published by Sy Brandon (A0.755154). Origins musically represents three important recent scientific explorations of space and matter that are designed to give humans a better understanding of the origins of the universe and the origins of life. The first movement, Black Holes and Cyclotrons, represents the quest to understand and reproduce the relationship between gravitation and energy that scientists believe caused the big bang and our ever-expanding universe. The music of this movement represents the danger inherent in these explorations into the unknown. There are sections of the movement that are lighter in nature that depict subatomic particles dancing around in a particle accelerator. The end of the movement increases in tempo reflecting the ever-increasing speeds of particle accelerators and the gravitational pull of black holes. The Surface of Mars is the title of the second movement that depicts NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity have explored the surface of Mars and have revealed the surface as being mostly a barren landscape void of life. The outer sections of this movement reflect this discovery. The middle section of the movement represents the excitement of one of the rovers finding indications of water having existed on Mars and therefore the possibility that life may have also existed. The third movement, Window Into Deep Space, is a tribute to the Hubble Space Telescope. This movement has many uplifting sections as the Hubble Space Telescope has provided views of the universe never before seen from Earth. It also has sections of anxiety as this mission was wrought with several failures that nearly derailed it. The promise of increased understanding of our universe is reflected in the ending of this composition. The score prints on legal size paper and the parts on letter.

Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.755101 Composed by Sy Brandon. 20th Century,Concert,Contemporary,Folk. Score and parts. 124 pages. Sy Brandon #3384577. Published by Sy Brandon (A0.755101). Arizona Centennial Overture was commissioned by the Arizona Commission on the Arts as part of the Centennial Legacy Project to help celebrate Arizona’s centennial. There are three versions of the compositions, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, and band. The overture pays tribute to the unique blend of the various cultures that had a part in shaping Arizona into what it is today. This six and a half minute composition is divided into three main sections. The first section begins with fanfares that announce the celebration. After thirty seconds, the introduction fades into music that pays tribute to the pioneers that migrated to Arizona. The music has a rustic quality reflecting the pioneering spirit of the ranchers, farmers, miners, and merchants who came to Arizona seeking a better way of life. This section is intended to be inclusive as it is impossible to represent each culture individually in a short musical composition. The second section pays tribute to the various Native American cultures that are a large part of Arizona’s history and its present way of life. Flutes and percussion instruments are used in the beginning of this section to represent the Native American respect for nature. This quiet section evolves into a ceremonial dance that increases in intensity. Towards the end of this section one hears fragments of the pioneer melody as these culture come together. The third section is influenced by Mariachi music to recognize the Hispanic influence in Arizona. The first part uses an original rollicking tune with four beats to the measure over syncopation. The second part contains a lyrical melody with three beats to the measure accompanied by instruments playing accents that create the Hispanic sounding grouping of six notes into three groups of two alternating with two groups of three. A brief ending using the fanfares of celebration interspersed with figures from the Native American and pioneer sections brings the work to a rousing close.The score prints on legal size paper and the parts on letter.

Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.976721 Composed by 12th Century Plainchant. Arranged by Robert Myers. Christian,Christmas,Contemporary,Sacred. Score and parts. 76 pages. WheatMyer Music #4798079. Published by WheatMyer Music (A0.976721). DIVINUM MYSTERIUM is a chant tune dating to the 12th century which is associated with the hymn, Of the Father's Love Begotten, based on the Latin hymn, Corde natus ex parentis, written by Prudentius in the late 4th / early 5th century. This is thus one of the very oldest texts and tunes still sung in our churches today. The shape and flow of this arrangement, which includes quotations from CANTIQUE de NOEL (O Holy Night) – Adolphe Adam (1844), was strongly influenced by what one writer described as the strong wave shapes of the tune. I’ve attempted to make these waves a significant feature of the piece, featured in both the constant crescendo/decrescendos and the interweaving of the two tunes. And, just as ocean waves don’t arrive in steady rhythms, these musical waves are variable – sometimes closely spaced, sometimes not, and sometimes overlapping. The unique character of each of the three major sections is implied in their headings: (1) with mystery and wonder, (2) Joyfully – a child is born, and (3) contemplative – God is with us. The opening section portrays the mystery of the trinity (the hymn text was written as an apology for the Nicene Creed) mixed with the wonder of the Creator God lying in a manger. Since the tune is derived from medieval chant, I wanted this section to reflect the loose metrical nature of that genre, so the melodic phrasing should predominate over any sense of meter up to letter C. The initial tonal and metrical ambiguity and the fractured melodic lines gradually meld into conventional tonality and clear statements of the two main themes. Don’t let the poco rit. just before C be too poco. Build a definite sense of tension in anticipation of the Presto section. The Presto section presents the first complete statement of the main theme. I felt a strong, rhythmic treatment should follow the ambiguity of the opening to reflect the joy of the Messiah’s incarnation realized. However, the gravity of the text demands avoidance of frivolity and banality. Thus, I used a combination of the long, flowing lines with a syncopated pulse and echoing rhythms to produce what I hope is a fresh but still reverent treatment of this ancient hymn – one that produces a kaleidoscope of tonal color. Arriving at the third section at letter F, the asymmetrical pulse gradually shifts into a straight 3 pattern. The slower tempo and return of the secondary theme call us to reflect on the import of God now with us. The marking of Let off the gas and coast to the end is a word picture of how the tempo should draw to a close, as would an expert helmsman allow the ship’s momentum to stop just as it taps the dock. One parting moment is provided to savor the woodwinds closing phrase from CANTIQUE de NOEL. Robert Myers S.D.G. INSTRUMENTATION Fl 1,2; Oboe 1,2; Bb Cl 1,2 ; Bsn 1,2 Hn in F 1/2, 3/4; C Tpt 1,2 (Opt Bb Tpt 1,2); Tbn 1, 2; Tuba Timpani Perc. 1 (cymbals, tam-tam, vibraphone) Perc. 2 (chimes, snare) Perc. 3 (concert toms (4), bass drum) Vln 1,2; Vla 1,2; VC; DB

Full Orchestra - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.755129 Composed by Sy Brandon. 20th Century,Contemporary. Score and parts. 157 pages. Sy Brandon #3397035. Published by Sy Brandon (A0.755129). Horseshoe Curve was composed for the Altoona Area High School Orchestra, Kelly Detwiller, director. This composition is in three movements. The first movement, Man Versus Nature, is moderate and intense, paying tribute to the designers and laborers for the Horseshoe Curve project. It uses parts of three railroad songs, Drill, Ye Tarriers by Thomas Casey, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, and Dinah. The introduction uses phrases from I’ve Been Working on the Railroad that are disguised by ending on a different note than the traditional song. The main body of the movement uses phrases of Drill, Ye Tarriers that are interrupted by phrases of the other two songs as well as original material by the composer. It developes in intensity as the movement progresses, but ends softly, suggesting the ongoing labor of the project. The second movement, Doorway to the West is a celebration of the completion of the project. It uses She’ll Be Coming ’Round the Mountain in fragments, in canon, and as a basis for a hoe down and a waltz variation. The celebration becomes wild at the end as all ideas come together at once. The third movement, Growth and Opportunity is slow and expansive in the beginning with a quicker section at the end. It depicts the growth of Altoona as a result of Horseshoe Curve. The initial idea that appears in the celli is expanded and developed, therefore evolving into a constant stream of new, but related, ideas.The score prints on legal size paper and the parts on letter.