Large Ensemble Cello,Clarinet,Double Bass,English Horn,Flute,Viola,Violin - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.869348 Composed by Thomas Oboe Lee. 20th Century,A Cappella,Baroque,Classical,Contemporary,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 46 pages. Thomas Oboe Lee #6073. Published by Thomas Oboe Lee (A0.869348). Septet, opus 77 ... Variations on a Shaker Tune was commissioned by Mark Ludwig for his educational series in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. When he approached me about writing a theme and variations work for the purpose of illustrating musical form, texture and orchestration to a young audience, I thought what better thing to do than to use as a theme a Shaker hymn from nearby Hancock Shaker Village. As it turns out Deborah Leath Rentz, a mezzo-soprano who is Mark's assistant at the Terezin Music Foundation, has been researching and transcribing a Shaker Hymnal, ca. 1850, created and compiled at the Hancock Shaker Village. (Deborah's project is sponsored by the Hancock Shaker Village and the Richmond Performing Series.) So I asked her to put on DAT tape a number of these hymns for me. I immediately fell in love with the very first one on the tape: Grateful Remembrance. It had a soulful, melancholic core; an almost bluesy feeling to it. In this performance, Deborah will sing the hymn a cappella in the beginning. Then, seven variations will follow. I. Grateful Remembrance An instrumental version of the hymn. II. Grateful Chanting Featuring the B-flat clarinet in a pentatonic chant setting. III. Grateful Funk The bluesiness of the hymn is transformed into a funk riff. IV. Tango Remembered A four-note fragment from the hymn is transformed into a sultry tango. V. Sambinha agradecida The yearning flat 6th in the hymn is transformed into a samba Carmen Miranda would've loved. VI. Canonized Remembrance The hymn is treated to a canonic transfiguration. VII. Grateful Groove The pentatonic nature of the hymn is spun out in an Afro-cuban razzle dazzle finale!!! Enjoy!!!
