Stars and Stripes - American Classical Composers!

America is home to some of the worlds most iconic and prolific classical composers.Inspired by the great classical composers from Europe, yet with a distictly American twist, these artists have redefined the classical genre, drawing influence from folk, jazz, blues, Native American and pop styles. 
A small selection of these composers and some of their most famous and popular works are listed below.

	Leonard Bernstein Composer, conductor, pianist, teacher, thinker, and adventurous spirit, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) transformed the way Americans and people everywhere hear and appreciate music. Bernstein's successes as a composer ranged from the Broadway stage to concert halls all over the world, where his orchestral and choral music continues to thrive.  Bernstein was the recipient of many honors, including the Antoinette Perry Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Theater, eleven Emmy Award, the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award and the Kennedy Center Honors. Works include:  Candide - Individual songs available for Orchestra West Side Story - Individual songs available for Orchestra Mass - Theatre piece - full and reduced version Trouble in Tahiti - One act opera for Orchestra or Ensemble Times Square - 5 mins - Orchestra On the Waterfront(Symphonic Suite) - 22 mins - Orchestra
	George Gershwin Critics were often at a loss as to where to place Gershwin's classical music in the standard repertoire and some simply dismissed him, but the music always found favor with the general public. He was very soon widely acclaimed in the concert world as piano virtuoso, conductor and composer.  Of Thee I Sing dealt pointedly with social issues of the time and became the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize. Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess is now recognised as one of the seminal works of American opera and includes such timeless favorites as "It Ain't Necessarily So," "I Loves You, Porgy," and "Summertime.". Gershwin's collaboration with his brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin, began a partnership that would continue for the rest of the composer's life and would elevate the musical comedy to an American art form. Works include:  An American in Paris - 16 mins - Orchestra Rhapsody in Blue - 16 mins - Piano & Orchestra      Porgy and Bess - individual songs available for Orchestra    Cuban Overture - 10 mins - Orchestra Piano Concerto in F - 33 mins - Solo Piano & Orchestra
	Aaron Copland Aaron Copland's name is synonymous with American music. It was his pioneering achievement to break free from Europe and create concert music that is characteristically American.   Aaron Copland was one of the most honored cultural figures in the history of the United States.  The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Award and the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "Oscar" were only a few of the honors and awards he received. In addition to composing, Copland conducted, organised concerts, wrote books on music, and served as an American cultural ambassador to the world. Works include:  Appalachian Spring - 25 mins - Chamber or Full Orchestra Billy the Kid Suite - 22 mins - Orchestra Old American Songs Set 1 - 13 mins - Voice & Orchestra Fanfare for the Common Man - 3 mins - Brass & Percussion Eight Poems of Emily Dickenson - 20 mins - Voice & Orchestra El Salón México - 12 mins - Orchestra
	John Cage John Cage was a pioneer of aleatoric music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments. Critics have lauded him as one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century. Cage is perhaps best known for his 1952 composition 4′33″, the three movements of which are performed without a single note being played. The piece became one of the most controversial compositions of the twentieth century. Another famous creation of Cage's is the prepared piano (a piano with its sound altered by placing various objects in the strings), for which he wrote numerous dance-related works and a concert pieces. Works include: Dance Four Orchestras - 18 mins - Orchestra Etcetera 2/4 Orchestras - 30 mins - Orchestra & Tape Quartets I - VIII - 40 mins  24 piece Orchestra Seventy Four - 12 mins - Full Orchestra Suite for Piano - 8 mins - Piano and Orchestra Twenty Nine - 29 mins - Percussion and Strings
	Steve Reich Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for 2008, Steve Reich has been called  "...the most original musical thinker of our time" (The New Yorker). His music has been influential to composers and mainstream musicians all over the world. His music is known for steady pulse, repetition, and a fascination with canons; it combines rigorous structures with propulsive rhythms and seductive instrumental colour. It also embraces harmonies of non-Western and American vernacular music (especially jazz). His studies have included the Gamelan, African drumming and traditional forms of chanting the Hebrew scriptures. Over the years his music has significantly grown both in expanded harmonies and instrumentation, resulting in a Pulitzer Prize for his 2007 composition, Double Sextet. Works include: Desert Music - 46 mins - Chorus & Orchestra New York Counterpoint - 11 mins - Clarinet/Sax Ensemble Different Trains - 25 mins - String Quartet & Tape Daniel Variations - 30 mins - Large Ensemble & Solo Voices Sextet - 28 mins - Percussion & Keyboards
Photo credit: Robyn Holland	Michael Torke The music of Michael Torke has been called "some of the most optimistic, joyful and thoroughly uplifting music to appear in recent years" (Gramophone). Hailed as "a master orchestrator whose shimmering timbral palette makes him the Ravel of his generation" (New York Times), Torke has created a substantial body of works in virtually every genre, each with a characteristic personal stamp that combines restless rhythmic energy with ravishingly beautiful melodies. Works include:  Adjustable Wrench - 11 mins - Mixed Ensemble Rapture - 28 mins - Percussion & Orchestra Vanda 12 mins - Keyboard, Brass & Percussion Slate - 32 mins - For Concertante Group & Orchestra Purple - 7 mins - Orchestra
Photo credit: Margaretta Mitchell	John Adams Composer, conductor, and creative thinker - John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of American music.  His works, both operatic and symphonic, stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. Over the past 25 years, Adams’s music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of contemporary musical aesthetics toward a more expansive, expressive language, entirely characteristic of his New World surroundings. Works include:  Nixon in China - Full length opera On the Transmigration of Souls - 27 mins - Chorus & Orchestra Son of Chamber Symphony - 23 mins - Chamber Ensemble Gnarly Buttons - 24 mins - Clarinet and Chamber Ensemble Short Ride in a Fast Machine - 4 mins - Fanfare for Orchestra Doctor Atomic Symphony - 25 mins - Orchestra
	Michael Daugherty Michael Daugherty is one of the most frequently commissioned, programmed, and recorded composers on the American concert music scene today. Daugherty first came to international attention when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performed his Metropolis Symphony at Carnegie Hall in 1994. Since that time, Daugherty’s music has entered the orchestral, band and chamber music repertoire and made him, according to the League of American Orchestras, one of the ten most performed living American composers Works include:  Dead Elvis - 10 mins - Bassoon & Chamber Ensemble Motown Metal 7 mins - Brass Ensemble           What's that spell? - 13 mins - Chamber Ensemble & Voice Letters from Lincoln - 25 mins - Baritone & Orchestra Strut - 6 mins - String Orchestra

From the libraries of.....
           
           

For more information about any of the listed composers and their works or
to find out about other composers from our catalogue please email
ausclassical@halleonard.com.au

 We look forward to working with you on your next performance!  

 With warmest regards,
Music Licensing & Hire Department
Stuart Hendricks, Nikol McKail, Megan Stapleton,
Neveen Byrnes, Nikki Aitken

Please note:
Standard Terms and Conditions Apply – please visit our website for details.

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The festive season is fast approaching and now is the perfect time to plan
your Christmas program! With a range of works from classic carols,
orchestral pieces, works for massed choirs and more we have something for
everyone - beginner to professional! We've listed a small selection below:

	St Nicolas by Benjamin BrittenCantata for tenor solo, chorus (SATB), semi-chorus (SA), four boy singers, and orchestra (1948) Duration: 50 minutes Description: Originally written for the centenary of Peter Pears’ old school Lancing College in 1948, Britten’s cantata tells the life of the fourth-century Bishop of Myra in a work of great poetry and sensitivity. It was conceived and composed with semi-amateur performance in mind and the technical demands of the choral and orchestral writing are appropriately straightforward. The audience also gets to join in two well-known hymns, All people that on earth do dwell and God moves in a mysterious way.
	In Terra Pax, op.39 (Christmas Scene) by Gerald FinziChristmas Scene for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra (also available for chamber orchestra) Duration: 14 minutes Description: Written just two years before Finzi’s death in 1956, In terra pax skilfully juxtaposes words of Robert Bridges (which are set for the baritone soloist) with the familiar Christmas passage from St Luke (set for the soprano soloist and chorus). With a childlike serenity of style, the work unites all its feelings, images and familiar events into one simple, shapely musical narrative. Given the varied possibilities of accompaniment, In terra pax is a work that is suited to choirs of all sizes. With its seasonal theme, it makes the most attractive centre-piece for any Christmas choral program.
	Star Carol by John RutterSATB & brass ensemble (SATB & orchestral version also available) Duration: 6 minutes Description: John Rutter is well known for his choral music. His compositions embrace choral, orchestral, and instrumental music, and he has edited or co-edited various choral anthologies including four Carols for Choirs volumes with Sir David Willcocks and the Oxford Choral Classics series. Star Carol is a simple melodic Christmas tune including the lyrics "Sing this night, for a boy is born in Bethlehem."
	Fantasia on Christmas CarolsSolo baritone, SATB or TTBB, organ and strings with optional wind and percussion Duration: 10 minutes Description: A single movement workwhich consists of the English folk carols "The truth sent from above", "Come all you worthy gentlemen" and "On Christmas night all Christians sing", all folk songs collected in southern England by Vaughan Williams. These are interposed with brief orchestral quotations from other carols, such as "The First Nowell."
	Christmas Fantasy by Gilbert VinterFor orchestra and choir (orchestral only version also available) Duration: 34 minutes Description: Born in Lincoln, Vinter was one of the finest conductors in the radio field during his day, and one of the foremost composers of contemporary brass music. Christmas Fantasy is inspired by some of the worlds most famous Christmas carols, artfully intertwined by Vinter.

Our classic carol selection includes: Once in Royal David's City, Away in a

Manger, Silent Night, O Come all ye Faithful, Joy to the World, Mary's
Lullaby, Good King Wenceslas, In Dulci Jubilo and many more. Email ausclassical@halleonard.com.au to check if we have your favourite carol!

From the libraries of.....


                  
           

Please note: Standard Terms and Conditions Apply – please visit our website for details.