SKU: AX.00-PC-0017175_TN2

UPC: 038081380049.

Red Clay from the Premier Jazz Series is designed for highs school and college bands. Full instrumentation includes 5 saxophones, 8 brass and 4 rhythm parts. background parts are provided behind improvised solos and guitar chord frames are provided to assist young guitarists.

SKU: AX.00-PC-0016191_TN1

UPC: 038081354309.

Crazy title? It's from the movie of the same name and is a tongue-in-cheek swing chart adapted from a much more difficult chart by Gordon Goodwin for the Big Phat Band. Arranged for the younger player, there are ensemble and some section solis but no improvised solos. A little challenging, but this will be a fun chart for any performance and will be a hit with both the band and audience. (3:35).

SKU: A0.549391

Duration: 4:55, Score: 6 pages, Solo part: 1 page, piano part: 2 pages. A very famous aria (Ombra mai fu) from Xerxes
Suitable for any venue requiring meditative music. Excellent choice for a recital encore.

Xerxes

Xerxes is, in fact, an opera seria in three acts by Handel. Moreover, Handel conducted the premiere performance in London in 1738. Handel casts the opera in Persia in 470 BC. The part of Xerxes was indeed originally sung by a soprano castrato. Nowadays, the part is generally sung by a mezzo-soprano or conversely a counter-tenor. In the first place, Xerxes sings an opening aria, Ombra mai fu to a plane tree. Handel sets this aria to one of his most truly famous melodies. Although many refer to it traditionally as Handel’s Largo, Handel has, on the contrary, clearly marked Larghetto in the score.

Handel Background

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) was born in Germany but eventually became a British citizen. Nonetheless, he was a famous Baroque composer. In fact, he became famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel studied music and, by and large, worked as a composer in Germany and Italy before moving to London. Overall, Handel was very familiar with the contemporary music of Italy and Germany.

Career in England

It is important to realize that Italian opera was all the rage in England at the time. Moreover, Handel was really good at writing them. Therefore, he started not one but three opera companies in England. Alexander's Feast was a huge success in 1736, but Handel nevertheless began composing English choral works. After success with the Messiah in 1742) he certainly never again wrote an Italian opera. Consequently, he died in 1759, a treasured genius. Accordingly, the English government gave him full state honors at his funeral. Hence, he is buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

Legacy

Music historians agree that Handel was one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era.  To demonstrate, his works such as the Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks remain consistently popular up to the present time. He composed the coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest for the coronation of George II. Nevertheless, it has specifically been performed at every succeeding British coronation since. His oratorio Solomon has by all means also continued to be prevalent. As a matter of fact, Sinfonia from act 3 was featured in the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. Handel was particularly prolific. To enumerate, he wrote over forty operas.  Since the late 1960s, we have expressly experienced a revival of baroque music. Similarly, we have seen a pique of interest in historically informed musical performances. Since his death in 1779, interest in Handel's music has all in all, expanded.

 

SKU: A0.570654

SKU: AX.00-PC-0016877_TN1

UPC: 038081496511.

This dynamic and colorfully scored original is a sure-fire choice for concert or contest. Expansive harmonies and soaring tunes combine to present an imaginative musical landscape that explores the tonal facets of the orchestra. Playable by strings alone or full orchestra. (3:00)
Concert/Contest; Festival.

SKU: AX.00-PC-0016816_TN4

UPC: 038081496009.

It's funky and accessible---it's a Gordon Goodwin tune arranged for young band. The tempo is around 180 BPM with written-out solos available for any saxophone. The lead trumpet range is to written G on top of the staff. Great chart! (2:38).

SKU: A0.1496149

Eight Easy Duets! Ode To Joy, Oh, When The Saints, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, The Can Can, Jupiter Hymn, Comin’ Round The Mountain, Scarborough Fair, Autumn from the Four seasons.

I have arranged these duets so that they can be played by players of all standards.

Each part gets the tune!

Download includes score and both parts.

SKU: A0.549502

Score: 11 pages, solo part: 3 pages, piano part: 5 pages. Duration: 4:20. This is a popular recital piece that would work well also in church or school programs.

Mendelssohn Background

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –1847) was, by all means, a German mastermind composer, musician, and orchestra conductor of the Romantic period. Consequently, Mendelssohn composed in the usual forms of the time - symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music, and chamber music. To summarize, his most famous works include his music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, The Hebrides Overture, his later Concerto for Violin & Orchestra, and his Octet for Strings. His most well-known piano pieces, by and large, are the Songs Without Words. 

Artistic Standing

 Musical tastes change from time to time. Moreover, just such a change occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This plus rampant antisemitism brought a corresponding amount of undue criticism. Fortunately, however, his artistic inventiveness has indeed been critically re-evaluated. As a result, Mendelssohn is once again among the most prevalent composers of the Romantic era.

Early Family Life

Mendelssohn was, in fact, born into a prominent Jewish family. His grandfather was, notably, the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Felix was, in fact, raised without religion. At the age of seven, he was suddenly baptized as a Reformed Christian. He was, moreover, a child musical prodigy. Nevertheless, his parents did not attempt to exploit his talent.

Early Adulthood

Mendelssohn was, in general, successful in Germany. He conducted, in particular, a revival of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, specifically with his presentation of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. Felix was truly in demand throughout Europe as a composer, conductor, and soloist. For example, he visited Britain ten times. There, he premiered, namely, many of his significant works. His taste in music was. To be sure, inventive and well-crafted yet markedly conservative. This conservatism separated him by all means from more audacious musical colleagues like Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz. Mendelssohn founded the Leipzig Conservatoire which, to clarify, became a defender of this conservative viewpoint.

Mature Adulthood

Schumann notably wrote that Mendelssohn was the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the most brilliant musician, the one who most clearly sees through the contradictions of the age and for the first time reconciles them. This observation points to a couple of features in particular that illustrate Mendelssohn's works and his artistic procedure.

Musical Features

In the first place, his musical style was fixed in his systematic mastery of the style of preceding masters. This being said, he certainly recognized and even developed early romanticism from the music of Beethoven and Weber. Secondly, it indicates that Mendelssohn sought to strengthen his inherited musical legacy rather than to exchange it with new forms and styles or replace it with exotic orchestration. Consequently, he diverged his contemporaries in the romantic period, such as Wagner, Berlioz, and Liszt. Mendelssohn revered Liszt's virtuosity at the keyboard but found his music rather insubstantial.

SKU: AX.00-PC-0016822_TN3

UPC: 038081499086.

Featuring a chorale introduction with trumpet melody, Love Is Here to Stay leads into a bright swing around 184 BPM with suggested solos for tenor and alto. The lead trumpet range is up to written B above the staff. A hot festival chart! (4:23).

SKU: HX.290643