Par HINDSON MATTHEW. Matthew Hindson's Rush for guitar and string quartet takes its influence from the music of Felix Mendelssohn. The fast and technically challenging passages found in the final movement of the Mendelssohn String Octet influenced Hindson's decision to compose a work for the Goldner String Quartet that is highly virtuosic in nature. Hindson remarks, 'it is much more the spirit of …

Gradus ad Parnassum. Par COLERIDGE-TAYLOR SAMUEL / POSTER TOM (Ed.). Coleridge-Taylor wrote his Nonet in 1894, while still a teenage student at the Royal College of Music. At its premiere that same year, The Musical Times praised the ‘fresh and vigorous’ melodic material; it certainly feels like the work of a composer full of youthful exuberance, flexing his musical muscles and taking sheer deligh…

Par SILVERMAN ROB. Intended for the beginning drum student, this book contains many essential reading and playing skills for the snare and drumset. These studies are integrated in a logical, sequential order. For example, a new rhythm is introduced and studied on the snare drum, then later applied as a beat and then a fill. The same rhythm will appear later in the book for review and then in one o…

Par NG YING YING / O'SULLIVAN FARRELL MARGARET. Book 3 introduces the concepts of key, key signature, scales, triads, tones and semitones in a novel and exciting way: each key is a group of characters or objects with note-names (i.e. a band, a birthday party, a clothes-line with garments). Certain notes belong, while all other notes (accidentals) are outsiders. Transposition is a natural outcome o…

Par HIMES WILLIAM. A marvelous suite! The bright, cheerful opening will engage the entire audience from the first measure. Movement 1 is based on El Tortillero (The Tortilla Vendor), and is very creatively scored including the joyful dissonance of a busy street corner. The heartfelt and poignant second movement makes a pleasant contrast, and the Allegro Festivo marking for the third movement means…

Par GASIENIEC MIROSLAW. The first version of the Sonata for violin and piano was written in the autumn of 2008, when I had the opportunity to work with the violinist Robert Bachara, who was pursuing his doctoral studies at Wroclaw Music Academy. A few years later, around the turn of 2016, I revised the musical material, made some changes and shortened the work. It was then that Dr Jacek Ropski, a …

arranged for Classical Guitar Solo. Par GUERRA STEPHEN. Choro is a popular instrumental-music tradition flourishing in Brazil and around the world. It preceded, influenced, and in turn was influenced by samba and bossa nova. Its repertory is vast, including thousands of choros composed by all manner of string, wind, keyboard, and percussion players?in addition to the guitar classics by João Pernam…

\'A Cry against Facism\'. Par DE MEIJ JOHAN. The Painted Bird, the controversial novel by Jerzy Kosinski (1933-1991), tells the story of a Jewish boy during World War II. For his safety, the child was sent to the Polish countryside by his parents. The title refers to a barbaric tradition among Polish farmers. The wings of a captured bird were painted in bright colors, after which the animal was re…

Opera in three acts. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. George Frideric Handel's 'Siroe, Re di Persia', HWV 24, was premiered on February 17, 1728 at the King's Theatre in London's Haymarket. With Francesca Cuzzoni, Faustina Bordoni and Francesco Bernardi, known as Senesino, the composer had top-class vocal soloists famous throughout Europe at his disposal for no fewer than 17 consecutive performances. …