2 Pianos,4 Hands,Piano Duet - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1175185 By Paul Posnak & Anita Castiglione. By George Gershwin. Arranged by Paul Posnak. 20th Century,Classical,Jazz,Standards. Score. 10 pages. Paul Posnak #775326. Published by Paul Posnak (A0.1175185). Arrangement for 2 pianos, 4 hands of Swanee by George Gershwin.Foreword by the arranger:George Gershwin, since his days as a teenage song-plugger in Tin Pan Alley, loved the medium of two pianos. A consummate improviser with a harmonically sophisticated, jazz-influenced,orchestral approach to the treatment of melody, he was born into the great age of touring duo piano teams, such as Bauer and Gabrilowitsch, Josef and Rhosina Levine, Luboshutz and Nemenoff, and Gershwin's favorite team, Arden and Ohman. Gershwin loved the multi-voiced orchestral color, power and range of two pianists playing and improvising together. In his first major show written with brother Ira, the 1924 Lady Be Good, he incorporated the renowned team of Phil Ohman and Victor Arden into the musical theater pit orchestra, not only to add to the orchestra's sound and rhythmic drive, but also to play during breaks in the action and during Intermission. They even played encores! This successful formula was repeated for the 1926 show, Oh, Kay, and for the 1927 show, Funny Face.Gershwin's own bravura improvisations on his songs sound, even to the trained ear, like two pianos. I have transcribed (and digitally re-recorded) a number of these improvisations note-for-note from the old LP-remastered 78 rpm records and radio broadcasts. I have tried to capture his own two-fisted orchestral keyboard style: his love of inner voices, contrapuntal runs, jazz figurations, sophisticated chordal textures, and swing.These arrangements resulted from my appearance in 2003 as one of two soloists in several all-Gershwin concerts with The National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Marvin Hamlisch. Marvin suggested that I also play a couple of my Gershwin improvisation transcriptions, and we thought it would be a perfect touch for Lorin Hollander, the other soloist, and me to play a short two-piano piece. I was surprised to find very few two-piano arrangements of Gershwin's songs. I became inspired to fill this void in the duo piano repertoire. It is my hope that these settings will offer a worthy challenge and musical reward for intermediate and advanced piano students and amateurs, and a unique addition to the duo piano literature for professional pianists and duo piano teams the world over.Paul Posnak.

Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.828227 Composed by John Hatton. Arranged by Paul Thurmond. 20th Century,Baroque,Christian,Sacred. Score. 7 pages. Paul Thurmond #4968929. Published by Paul Thurmond (A0.828227). Tune: DUKE STREETUse: Prelude, PostludeOne Sunday my church was singing Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun as the opening hymn. It’s our tradition that the last stanza of a hymn is sung in unison, so that I as the organist can change the harmonization and keep things interesting. Sometimes I know ahead of time what I’m going to do, and sometimes I make it up on the spot.On this particular morning I planned on being spontaneous. (Can spontaneity be planned?) When we got to the final stanza, I threw on the 16′ pedal reed and went to town.I don’t know if this is the case for all musicians, but while I’m playing my brain is working on several different levels. Most of these are involved in actually playing the music, but there’s also a running commentary on how things are going. This commentary is usually really boring: It’s going okay. It’s going okay. It’s going okay. Sometimes the messages are more interesting: Uh-oh. She just dropped her mute. I missed that chord; remember to circle it when we’re done. My page turner appears to be on fire.So: We’re in the final stanza of Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun. Big, majestic hymn. Over a hundred congregants and choir members are enthusiastically singing in unison. I’m leading them from the organ with an improvised accompaniment that involves all of my limbs. It’s fair to say that I was concentrating hard.Suddenly the commentary part of my brain breaks in: Dude, your feet are totally playing Canon in D. Cool!Canon in D is the most famous work of Johann Pachelbel, a German composer who preceded Bach by a few decades. It’s overused at weddings, but it’s actually a really good piece of music. The original is for three violins and a basso continuo part, which would usually have been played by harpsichord and cello. In this case, the basso continuo plays the same eight measures again and again throughout the piece. This technique of repetition is called a ground bass. While that’s going on, the violins play several different themes on top of it.When I was improvising that Sunday, my feet had accidentally wandered into that ground bass part, which happened to fit nicely with the melody we were singing. During the sermon (sorry Pastor!) I started going through the violin themes in my head, seeing if any of them could also match up with the hymn tune. Some of them worked and some didn’t. I decided to write a sort of theme and variations, where the hymn tune appears in various forms. Sometimes it’s played along with one of the violin themes, and sometimes a violin theme serves as an interlude on its own. And except for one passage, the left hand is always playing some version of the basso continuo theme. I also changed the meter from 4/4 to 3/4 to make it more interesting. It culminates in a climax worthy of a king. I hope you enjoy it.