SKU: A0.987080

This piece is one of an album of my contemporary classical compositions. Yes, I too wince at offering you something saddled with this oxymoron--contemporary classical--but this phrase is now an irresistible, commercially recognized category defying any principled protest from the ranks of wounded musicological curmudgeons like me.  The style here employs a tonal palette that celebrates the more or less common practice of composers from J. S. Bach to Ravel, Prokofiev, and the 20th century American songbook.  You will see that I reject Arnold Schoenberg's assertion that by 1910 tonality had exhausted itself, and needed to be reinvented according to an aesthetics that dismiss our scales and harmonies as purely arbitrary human conventions with no basis in nature. On the contrary, I believe that we are endowed by our nature to respond emotionally to our traditional materials of music in the same way as nature equips us to respond to the taste of food and drink. We differ in our taste for savory, sweet, and sour, but it is wrong to say that our very capacity to taste is a merely cultural convention. There is biology, and then physics too! By the same standard, it can't be true that one person's taste for arsenic is as valid as another's taste for beer or kumquats. The major triad is a force of nature, like the sun, wind, and rain! I also like big fat juicy 13 chords, and contrapuntal weaving of melody! I believe the purpose of music is to sway us emotionally, and if it can uplift us too, so much the better! While I am not ashamed to write a bare triad, unadorned by chromatic alterations (much less by clusters of chord collisions) I have nevertheless employed much complicated harmony. Moreover, some passages are written in a spiky harmony that might be analyzed as bitonal, as at the meno mosso section, beginning at measure 112, where the mood I wanted to set inspired me to write the theme in C minor while the left hand climbs up from the bottom of the keyboard in a widely spaced, D-flat 13 arpeggio.  I have composed these pieces with the skills of intermediate to early-advanced pianists in mind. This piece demands the ability to play some counterpoint between two voices in one hand. There is a section that requires one to play moderately fast octaves, but nothing as difficult as the G minor Prelude of Chopin (to say nothing of his harrowing octave Etude from Opus 25!) While there are many polyrhythmic passages, none is more complicated than two-against-three notes. All said, there is nothing here to make your hands (or, I dare say, your ears) bleed. The performing time is around nine minutes and a breath or three. I have a number of videos posted on YouTube.com, I have a website under construction, ericpaulnolte.com, and, since 2011, an occasional blog of my ravings on life, love, and the cosmos, at ericpaulnolte.blogspot.com. You may write me at nolte0125@gmail.com.

SKU: A0.767336

A not quite so well known aria from Rigoletto this is none-the-less a great piece for a concert programme. The trombone is an ideal instrument to bring out the character of the Duke of mantua as he pursues This woman or that for his pleasure. The delightful 6/8 bounciness that is carried in the accompaniment carries this piece along with verve. allowing the soloist to swagger about his conquests!

Parts are supplied as follows:
Part 1 in Bb (Trumpet/Cornet)
Part 2 in Bb (Trumpet/Cornet)
Part 3 in F/Eb (Horn)
Part 4 in C/Bb (Trom./Euph./Barit. (Solo))
Part 5 in C/Eb (Tuba/Eb Bass)

SKU: A0.1246048

Key: D major.

From Carnival of the Animals, #4.

SKU: A0.1260800

This is the quintet  with parts.

SKU: A0.835220

A lively sonatina written in the classical style, characteristically similar to Muzio Clementi or early Mozart. Besides being a fun piece to play and delightful to listen to, with its light, playful melodic lines, this contemporary composition written in classical style is also wonderful material for intermediate students who are searching for additional - but not too difficult - repertoire to practice. The second of four sonatinas that echo the vivacious tone and cheerful character of Mozart, Haydn and their contemporaries, it provides some minor challenges, but none that the intermediate student cannot master. A great classical piece to perform at recitals, this is modern-day composition remains true to the classical tradition in style and tone.

SKU: A0.870372

Born in 1485, Hernando Cortez was a Spanish adventurer rewarded for his courage and skills in battle. In the spring of 1519 with 11 ships and 700 men, he landed on the newly discovered gulf coast of Mexico looking for gold that was rumored to be found there. To ensure that none of his men deserted him, he burned all except one of his fleet of ships. He quickly conquered the Aztec empire and its emperor Montezuma. There, he eventually killed Montezuma and seized the gold and treasure that had belonged to the Aztecs for centuries. By the end of 1520, he had won Mexico for Spain and put it under Spanish rule. As a reward, King Charles V of Spain made him governor and captain general of Mexico. He died in Seville, Spain in 1536. Although Cortez’ aims were for conquest and gold – many which resulted in suffering and misery for the Aztecs, there were interesting cultural side effects as Spain ruled Mexico. Ancient Indian folk tunes and ceremonial music were suddenly intermixed with the higher culture of the baroque and renaissance music from Spain. Much of what we now know of today in the way of Latin styles of music owes its roots to the invasion of Cortez and culture changes he inadvertently brought with him. The Golden Helmet Of Cortez musically commemorates the story of Cortez as he landed in Mexico on that spring day in 1519. The piece is a compilation of many Latin and Mexican musical styles. Some of these are light in style, others evoke the battles that took place. These are all brought together in an exciting programmatic style to be enjoyed by all. 2016 Arrangement New Release.