SKU: MQ.6475-E

English.

Rain Down was written during the summer of 1989 as a work that could be performed by a good amateur choir. This piece is made of a continuous seven note pattern repeated within an eight beat structure. A floating quarter note syncopates and displaces the pattern within the measure. The pattern is transformed by a variety of musical operations, including octave doublings, register changes, and canons between the hands. The original pitches (A, D, G, C, E, F#, Bb) undergo transposition, inversion, retrograde, and retrograde inversion, occasionally with two forms of the pattern occurring at the same time. In addition, the pattern is truncated in the middle of the piece, and repeats every four eighth notes rather than every eight.
The structure of the choral entrances is also based on the pattern. Each voice enters at the same time and on the same pitch as that played by the piano. Monophonic lines, homophony, counterpoint, and imitation are created from the basic structure of the pattern. Even when the piano is absent, the structure of the pattern controls the entrances of the voices.
Mary Ellen Solt’s rain down is an example of concrete poetry. Its gradually changing repetitive patterns inspired the form of the music. Duration: 8:00.

SKU: A0.1264673

About the composer

Orlando Lasso, Orlande de Lassus, Orlando di Lasso or Orlandus Lassus was born in Bergen (Dutch) or Mons (French) in Henegouwen, Belgium – which was a place in the Habsburg Netherlands at the time – in 1532, and was highly regarded as the best composer of his time. Temopraries appointed him titles like ‘ruler of music’ and ‘master of motets’.

The roman-catholic composer was also one of the most productive composers of all times. Among his works are 53 masses for four to eight voices, and 1250 works for two to twelve voices in the form of motets, requiems, madrigals, chansons and songs for choir. Later in life, he wrote German drinking songs, as well as Dutch songs. From the latter category, none have been preserved.

One of his drinking songs ‘Un jour vis un foulon qui fouloit’ was translated to English by William Shakespeare, after which it was used in his theatre play ‘Henry IV part 2’.

About this work

Prophetiae Sibyllarum is a motet in Latin for four voices. Posthumously published in 1600, it sets 12 prophecies attributed to the Sibyls (priestesses of Apollo later adopted by Christians) with a prologue.
The movements are catalogued in order under separate opus numbers LV 1048 to 1060.

About this edition

This edition was notated from the composer’s manuscript (published around 1600), Das Chorwerk (Wolfenbüttel, 1937) and an anonymous reading score. The note values were halved for easier sightreading by modern singers. Recordings by De Labyrintho were studied for interpretation. On the base of these recordings, small checkmarks are added at places where collective breathing moments are suggested. These are not part of the manuscript.
Great care has been put in the correct notation of the original work, as well as in solving apparent inconsistencies in the source materials. However, this edition was made purely to acommodate singers to study the melodic lines and should not be used for historic purposes.

SKU: A0.889873

There are 3 movements. Sarabande, March, and Fugue, ranging from 3 to 5 minutes in duration. The Sarabande is serious and melodic, the March is cute, and the Fugue is an orchestrated version of my Fugue for Four Winds. You can get some idea of the sound of Sarabande and March by listening to the sound clips of the versions of them in my Seven Easy Melodies for Oboe with Piano Accompaniment, either in SheetMusicPlus or on my website, www.garyfriedmanmusic.net. The original Fugue for Four Winds may also be heard in these two places. Suitable for chamber orchestra. The Sarabande instruments are 2 each of flute, oboe, clarinet in A, bassoon, and horn, plus strings. In the March a trumpet (which has a nice short solo) and snare drum and triangle are added. In the Fugue, oboe 2 becomes English horn and a second trumpet is added. There are also optional parts in the Fugue for trombone, tuba, which can be covered by the bassoons, and for bells. Year: 2000.

SKU: A0.1088119

Arranged wind quintet. Horn Part in Bb basso ( same as Beethoven's )(alt Hn in F part provided) The Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 is a symphony in four movements composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1812. Beethoven fondly referred to it as my little Symphony in F, distinguishing it from his Sixth Symphony, a longer work also in F.[1] The Eighth Symphony is generally light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places cheerfully loud, with many accented notes. Various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes. As with various other Beethoven works such as the Opus 27 piano sonatas and the later Ninth Symphony, the symphony deviates from Classical tradition in making the last movement the weightiest of the four.

This is my arrangement of the 2nd mvt. There is a widespread belief that this movement is an affectionate parody of the metronome, which had only recently been invented (or more accurately, merely improved) by Beethoven's friend, Johann Maelzel. Specifically the belief was that the movement was based on a canon called Ta ta ta... Lieber Maelzel, WoO 162, said to have been improvised at a dinner party in Maelzel's honor in 1812. However, there is no evidence corroborating this story and it is likely that WoO 162 was not written by Beethoven but was constructed after-the-fact by Anton Schindler. A more likely inspiration was the similar rhythmic parody of Joseph Haydn's Clock Symphony.

The metronome-like parody starts at the very beginning of the movement with even staccato chords in 16th-notes (semiquavers). This basic 16th-note rhythm continues fairly steadily through the piece. The tempo is unusually fast for a symphonic slow movement. Richard Wagner has argued that the third movement was intended as the slow movement of this symphony and that the second should be played as a scherzo.

SKU: S9.Q564360

Start Point is a collection of four tunes written for the Sanday Fiddle Club. First performed in their entirety in 2006 at the St Magnus Festival, the names of the tunes are names of places on the Orkney Islands. Evocative and unassuming, the appealing character and flexibility of these works reflects their genesis. They are suited to a variety of purposes and could be played by both string quartet and string ensemble. Accessible by standard and style, to the extent that they are rooted in the community they form an illustration of Maxwell Davies’ engagement with his locality, where he has lived since the 1970s.

SKU: S9.Q564361

Start Point is a collection of four tunes written for the Sanday Fiddle Club. First performed in their entirety in 2006 at the St Magnus Festival, the names of the tunes are names of places on the Orkney Islands. Evocative and unassuming, the appealing character and flexibility of these works reflects their genesis. They are suited to a variety of purposes and could be played by both string quartet and string ensemble. Accessible by standard and style, to the extent that they are rooted in the community they form an illustration of Maxwell Davies’ engagement with his locality, where he has lived since the 1970s.

SKU: A0.1127840

An arrangement by Philip Le Bas of a very early wind quintet written by Edward Elgar while still based in Worcester in 1878-9, entitled Harmony Music No.1, after the German Harmoniemusik, meaning music for wind instruments. His quintet group (in which he played the bassoon) consisted of two flutes, an oboe, a clarinet and a bassoon, which by modern standards is rather unusual (omitting the usual French horn). He agreed to write a quintet for the group once a week, and he claimed to have written most of them during the 25-minute sermons at St. George's R.C. Church, where he had taken over the organ-playing from his father (and where the arranger ministered for three years in the 1990s!) It is a wonderful, cheerful, tuneful short piece (4-5 minutes long), but the original version is rarely performed, perhaps because of its difficulty on several fronts. First it is very fast, challenging performers' ability to tongue rapidly. Secondly, it repeatedly leaves no time to breathe, especially for the flautists (meaning that it has to be performed even faster, in order to get through it.) Thirdly, Elgar's oboist must have been extremely versatile, as its part is very low indeed in places (several low B's played pp at speed.) Finally, published copies seem to have rather a lot of editorial errors... This arrangement was therefore created in the hope that the piece might become more accessible and be more frequently performed. Although the bassoon part remains Elgar's, the other four players are used imaginatively to overcome many of the difficulties of the original. For example, the original low oboe parts are here played by one of the clarinets instead, and the severe breathing problems are solved by sharing repeated quavers between the four higher instruments.

SKU: S9.Q564359

Start Point is a collection of four tunes written for the Sanday Fiddle Club. First performed in their entirety in 2006 at the St Magnus Festival, the names of the tunes are names of places on the Orkney Islands. Evocative and unassuming, the appealing character and flexibility of these works reflects their genesis. They are suited to a variety of purposes and could be played by both string quartet and string ensemble. Accessible by standard and style, to the extent that they are rooted in the community they form an illustration of Maxwell Davies’ engagement with his locality, where he has lived since the 1970s.

SKU: S9.Q564362

Start Point is a collection of four tunes written for the Sanday Fiddle Club. First performed in their entirety in 2006 at the St Magnus Festival, the names of the tunes are names of places on the Orkney Islands. Evocative and unassuming, the appealing character and flexibility of these works reflects their genesis. They are suited to a variety of purposes and could be played by both string quartet and string ensemble. Accessible by standard and style, to the extent that they are rooted in the community they form an illustration of Maxwell Davies’ engagement with his locality, where he has lived since the 1970s.