SKU: A0.1370381

From Debussyâ??s Préludes, Book I:

I: The Wind Over The Plains
II: The Girl With The Flaxen Hair
III: Puckâ??s Dance
IV: The Sunken Cathedral

Debussyâ??s piano music is filled with colour, texture, vibrancy, sonority. To play it is to be taken inside a sound world greater than the instrument itself. In other words, it seems to demand orchestration. Whether the fanfare call of Puckâ??s Dance, the sotto voce flurries evoking The Wind Over The Plains, or the deepest and highest reaches of the musical spectrum explored in the under-water world of The Sunken Cathedral, Debussyâ??s music seems to drop hints at obvious orchestral manoeuvres. His great skill, of course, was condensing these musical ideas to the piano. But the fruit is there fo the taking, and indeed other orchestrations exist of the complete suite of piano preludes â?? Books I and II. So, why another?

This particular suite cherry-picks some of my own favourite movements from the suite, and arranges them in a â??symphonicâ?? structure to present an opening, expository movement (The Wind Over The Plains), a romantic Adagio (The Girl With The Flaxen Hair), a sprightly â??scherzoâ?? (Puckâ??s Dance), concluding with an epic finale (The Sunken Cathedral). This condensed suite may make the music more approachable for some orchestras, and offers something shorter to concert programmes wishing to feature other major works alongside, instead of performing all 24 preludes.

I hope you enjoy performing this suite as much as I enjoyed arranging it.

Instrumentation:

• Piccolo
• 2 Flutes
• 2 Oboes
• Cor Anglais
• 2 Clarinets in Bâ?­
• Bass Clarinet in Bâ?­
• 2 Bassoons
• Contrabassoon
• 4 Horns in F
• 3 Trumpets in Bâ?­
• 2 Trombones
• Bass Trombone
• Tuba
• Timpani
• Percussion (3/4 players):
  • Triangle, Crash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Bass Drum, Tam-Tam, Glockenspiel, Tubular Bells
• Celesta
• Harp
• Violin 1 (divisi à 4)
• Violin 2 (divisi à 4)
• Viola (divisi à 4)
• Violoncello (divisi à 4)
• Contrabass (B extension where possible) (divisi à 4)

SKU: A0.944033

Composer’s Note: Enchanted Landscapes was commissioned by the Colorado Springs Philharmonic in recognition of the Association’s 90th  Anniversary. Inspired by the theme of America the Beautiful, I decided to portray the actual beauty of the land, rather than to use Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel Ward's famous song as a musical reference. Thus, Enchanted Landscapes was composed as a single-movement Symphonic Poem,  which transforms various visual elements of our magical views into an audible experience. The main melody is vast; Spanning over 30 measures, it conveys the feeling of spaciousness. Then, the same long melody repeats in a different, higher key. The middle part of the composition presents a fanfare-like theme, which builds up through both dynamics and polyphonic means. This section, dominated mainly by the brass and wind instruments, brings in a sense of drama, mystery, and purple mountain majesties. Finally, the use of Melodica sound in the otherwise traditional orchestration, adds a feeling of nostalgia and longing to the pure and proud landscape that watches upon us constantly, and connects us with the earth, with nature, and with ourselves.

SCORING INFORMATION: fl. (2),  ob. (2), Eng. hn., cl. in b-flat (2), bass cl. (in b-flat), Trp. (2), Fr. hn. (2), Tbn (2), Tuba, Perc (2) Melodica (or Accord.), Harp, strings.

Total Duration: 11 min.

Performance material by rental only! For demo recording, questions, or any additional information please e-mail Ofer Ben-Amots at: thecomposerspress@gmail.com

SKU: A0.755297

This four-movement composition contains musical interpretations of four of Georgia O’Keeffe’s New Mexico paintings. The score prints on legal size paper and the parts on letter.

I. From the Faraway Nearby

The highly charged contrast of closely viewed foreground details and hugely distant horizons, which typified the New Mexican Views of O'Keeffe, was not a mere optical illusion. The large scale, bright light, and clear air of the region permitted one to see for the proverbial forever, and the juxtaposition of faraway and nearby was an integral aspect of desert vision. Soft dynamics and orchestration represent the faraway while the loud dynamics and orchestration represent the nearby. Near the end, the faraway and nearby begin to merge.

II. Jimson Weed, White Flower No. 1

This painting depicts one of O'Keeffe's favorite subjects: a magnified flower. To her, the delicate blooms stood as some of the most overlooked pieces of naturally occurring beauty, objects that the bustling contemporary world ignored. So she made it her mission to highlight their complex structures, explaining: When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not. This movement is slow and lyrical reflecting the beauty of the close-up image.

III. Red Hills and Bone

O'Keeffe 's most effective composition of bones in the landscape appeared in 1941, with Red Hills and Bone; the large canvas is also among her most ambitions evocations of the arid country of which she was by then an owner, having purchase the house at Ghost Ranch the preceding year. In 1939, O'Keeffe had written of the bones as strangely more living than the animals walking around, and in the 1941 painting her response is given visual from. The minimalistic noodling represents the red hills and the bold triplets represent the mystique of the bone.

IV. Ladder to the Moon

            This painting shows a handmade wooden ladder suspended in the turquoise sky. In the background are the pitch-black Pedernal Mountains and a pearl colored half moon. This painting was very similar to a picture taken of O'Keeffe and her surroundings at Ghost Ranch. In the picture, a large wooden ladder is leaned against an outer wall of a patio from where it rises up into the sky with the Pedernal Mountains in the background. In Pueblo culture the ladder is used to symbolize the link between the Pueblos and cosmic forces. The fact that the ladder is pointed up in the sky may represent the link between nature and the cosmos.

While there are motifs that depict specifics of the painting, such as the scale-wise ascending and descending figure for the crescent mood and rising arpeggios for the ladder, the focus of this movement is the spiritual element. The music rises and grows in intensity from a ground bass-like theme to a soaring ending.

SKU: A0.861960

Americana Symphony Variations on Appalachia Waltz (wind parts – symphony orchestra) MO164B-I

Wind Parts (score and parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

164 pages – 33:00 minutes in length

Americana Symphony Variations on Appalachia Waltz

For Large Symphony Orchestra

3333/4331/timp/perc/pno/harp+strings

Composed and orchestrated by Mark O’Connor

1st Movement: Brass Fanfare: Wide Open Spaces

2nd Movement: New World Fanciful Dance

3rd Movement: Different Paths Towards Home

4th Movement: Open Plains Hoedown

5th Movement: Soaring Eagle, Setting Sun

6th Movement: Theme: Splendid Horizons

Note: Any movement or combination of the movements can be singled out or re-organized for performance. Most any order of movements is acceptable. Suggestions for consideration included I., II., III., and IV., all recommended as stand alone pieces. Most an order of movements is acceptable. The composition was designed for maximum flexibility. Three or four movements combine to make a shorter variation Symphony.

What is American Classical music? This CD contains Mark O'Connor's latest orchestral works: Americana Symphony Variations on Appalachia Waltz(2006) and Concerto No. 6 Old Brass (2003). Sony Classical//BMG label director Gilbert Hetherwick explains; Dvorak and Copland painted symphonic landscapes using melodies inspired by the Americana tradition, and Mark O'Connor actually comes from that tradition itself. He's lived it every day of his life. And you hear it in every note of his Americana Symphony. For the majority of his solo career, O'Connor has dedicated himself to composing for orchestra: he has written six full-length concertos, several orchestral suites and string orchestra compositions, and most recently his first Symphony.

David Wallace, Juilliard School faculty member and Senior Teaching Artist with the New York Philharmonic, comments on the overall characteristics of O'Connor's music: The Americana Symphony combines historical narrative with classical and folk variation principles. The Symphony contains instrumental virtuosity, rhythmic drive, poignant lyricism, and probing counterpoint. With the Americana Symphony, Mark O'Connor provides his answer to a question that has intrigued U. S. composers since the debut of Dvorak's New World Symphony in 1892: How do you write the great American Symphony?

William Intrilligator, artistic director of the Dubuque Symphony, conducted one of the first performances of the Americana Symphony: Very few pieces of new music have the same emotional and visceral effect as this Symphony, he writes. It has such power and beauty, and these traits are expressed in original ways that are pure O'Connor and truly American.

Marin Alsop, artistic director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and this recording's conductor of the Americana Symphony, calls the Symphony simply A hit!

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 2006 - 2007

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by: Cabrillo Music Festival and Marin Alsop, Colorado Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Fargo Moorhead Symphony, Fox Valley Symphony, Garrett Lakes Arts Festival, Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium, Imperial Symphony, Reading Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Rockford Symphony, Santa Fe Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Springfield Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Youngstown Youth Symphony.

Can be heard on Americana Symphony! OMAC Records

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop