Instrumental
Instrumental
Ed Duling is an eastern Ohio organist whose background includes life as a trombonist, tubist, and music education professor.
Residential moving uncovers the past; in my case, a re-
cent move from Northwest Ohio revealed a stack of music that I was to review … two years or so ago. I kept think- ing I had a backlog and, in the end, there it was, almost in plain sight. It was a pleasant find with several worthy compositions and arrangements that would fit the sum- mer schedule as we hopefully ease back into playing – and eventually singing.
Wedding Music (for String Quartet), Randall Tomp-
son, E. C. Schirmer Music Company/ECS Publishing 0263, 1984. Includes score and parts. Tis set of pieces – an exception to Tompson’s usual
well-known output – is subtitled “A Suite of Eight Festive Pieces for String Quartet” written and compiled for his son’s wedding in 1971. Exhaustive research notes on the composition’s background precede the score and furnished parts. Te set includes reworked “Amens” composed for previous family weddings, a processional, recessional, and several pre-service dance movements. If anyone is hiring a wedding quartet in the coming months, here’s a great possibility for a break with the norm. Tis collection requires mature and experienced players, though outstand- ing younger players will be able, with practice, to master portions of the set. Of course, appropriate individual pieces may be used in any service or at any event.
Fanfare (for Brass Quartet and
Organ), David Lasky, MorningStar Music Publishers MSM-20-855, 2015. Fiſty-one bars of triumphant music
with the “twist” of shiſting meter and repetition of themes would be worth the bit of practice it may take for both individuals and ensemble to perform this fanfare. Te repetition increases
accessibility for the organist and for younger brass play- ers – learn it once and play it several times. Te key lends credence to use of the piece as a lead-in to a processional hymn for Easter Sunday or a joyful start to a summer festival service. Reproducible parts are included for two trumpets (both B-flat and C) and two trombones (with a horn part as a sub for trombone I).
Te Deum (for Brass Quartet and Organ with opt.
Timpani), Charles Callahan, MorningStar Music Publish- ers MSM-20-454, 2016. Based on the Te Deum (as a plainchant), the two trum-
pets (B-flat or C), two trombones (with optional horn as a sub for trombone I) and organ play an arrangement that while not technically difficult, requires a mature approach to sustained playing and dynamics – including muting. Tis composition is also worthy of consideration for a different kind of Easter opening as it builds to a thundering end. Reproducible brass parts are included; the timpani part is limited to about a dozen bars.
Duo Baroque: Classic Chorale
Preludes Arranged for Keyboard and Any Solo Instrument, Volume 3, Ben- jamin M. Culli, Concordia Publishing House 97-7722, 2016. I wondered why some of these
19 arrangements looked and sound- ed familiar; it was because the solo instrumental parts (downloadable
in various transpositions) are the cantus firmi of organ chorale preludes I’d played by Bach, Zachow, Telemann and others. Subtitled “Classic Chorale Preludes,” this third volume, with optional pedal, is immediately playable by less-experienced organists. Composers, tunes, and titles of all three volumes are indexed at the end of this set. Te solo melodies vary in complexity as in their original form, but could be learned by good high school players. Tese are well worth acquiring if you have a regular instrumental soloist at hand.
Come Down, O Love Divine: Six Preludes for Solo
Instrument and Organ, Charles Callahan, MorningStar Music Publishers MSM-20-618, 2016. Tis Callahan contribution, titled for the opening
setting of the tune Down Ampney, consists of six pre- ludes also including “Let Us Break Bread Together,” “Te Lord’s My Shepherd” (Crimond), “O God, Beyond All Praising” (Thaxted), “Will You Come and Follow Me” (Kelvingrove), and “Remember the Poor.” Te collec- tion’s title rightly leads us to consider these arrangements for any service in which we may invite the presence of God through Jesus Christ. A suggested list of solo instruments is provided for each tune, with reproducible parts included, while parts for other suggested instruments are available for download – range oſten being a deciding factor. Any excellent high school musician who has experience beyond a few common concert band keys will be able to learn these parts without stressing.
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