A new edition of Nicholas Scarim's opera is now available. The opera was workshopped at Yale's Composer/Librettist Conference (Scarim was both, in this instance) and premiered by the Opera Company of Philadelphia in 1980. The premiere took place on a modular stage set designed by Isamu Noguchi, and the production was staged and choreographed by Saeko Ichinohe.
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The full score is now available for Scarim's Symphony no.2..
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. The symphony is in five movements and lasts
about twenty-two minutes. Scored for flute, oboe, clarinet,
bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone and tuba, with harp, percussion and
strings. You can preview and purchase the score by clicking here.
You can listen to a midi of the fifth movement here:
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Here is the first movement of Symphony no.3:
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The full score is now available for Scarim's Symphony no.3.
To view and purchase the score click here.
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. The symphony is in three movements and lasts about fifteen minutes. Scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones and a tuba, with percussion and strings.
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Here is the second movement:
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And here is the final movement:
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Two new publications will appeal to audiences with verbal and musical humor. Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll created two of the most enduring bits of sweet (Lear) and sardonic (Carroll) nonsense the world has ever known. Add one or both of them to your next recital. As do all of our publications, these spiral bound volumes stay open nicely on the piano.
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Press play to listen to The Owl and the Pussycat:
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Scarim's 1980 opera is now available in a spiral-bound piano/vocal edition.
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Over the years, The Tiger has been performed by regional opera companies and university opera departments from California to New York. The half-hour work has been a hit with school-touring productions and special family performances.
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Synopsis:
In a forest, three hunters are boasting about what they will do with their trophies. They spot a tiger, and give chase. Nearby, a young student named Chang is walking in the same woods, admiring the spring greenery. The tiger rushes up to Chang, and begs to hide in his traveling bag until the hunters are gone.
Even after Chang has saved his life, the ungrateful tiger nevertheless wants to eat the child. Chang points out this ingratitude, and convinces the tiger to submit to a test: they will ask three elders if this is fair.
They first come upon some old fruit trees, then some old farm animals. Chang twice presents his case, but each time these old characters say, "Ah - it's the way of the world, youngster."
Finally, they meet an old man coming along the road. After hearing Chang's story, he says to the tiger, "This is a difficult case. Perhaps you should give me a demonstration of what happened..."
Press play to hear the overture to The Tiger of Chungshan:
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Spanning more than thirty years of art songs by Scarim, this collection gathers most of the shorter songs into a single volume. Settings of poems by Shakespeare, Keats, Blake, Hesse, Whitman, Nietzsche and many more. Most are for voice and piano, although there is a selection of songs for 3-part a cappella ensemble, based on Native American poems.
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Here is the song "Origins" on a poem by Francois Clemmons:
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Here is the song "The Learn'd Astronomer" on a text by Walt Whitman:
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Press play to listen to "O Mistress Mine," words by Shakespeare:
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To preview or purchase a copy of the book, click this link:
. 40 SONGS by Nicholas Scarim
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This piece was written in 1998, and is scored for violin, cello and piano. Here's the first movement, Allegro:
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To preview or purchase the score, click this link:
. Scarim Piano Trio (buy score)
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This piece is subtitled "The Brooklyn Bridge," in part because the second movement was inspired by the recent ritual devised by the members of Poet's House in NYC - a "poetry museum." Here's a description of the event, which they call the Bridge Walk:
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Though written before the bridge was built, Whitman's poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" depicts the East River passage from the Fulton Ferry Landing, where the bridge’s anchorage now stands. It is a poem about traversing many boundaries, both physical and metaphysical. This experience is (ritualized) each spring, when Poets House hosts its Bridge Walk. Just before sunset, scores of poetry lovers gather on the Manhattan side of the bridge and walk across en masse while reading poems about the bridge and the city. Once the group reaches the Fulton Ferry Landing, they listen to the entirety of "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" read aloud as the sun sets behind the stunning arc of the bridge.
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To hear the second movement of the trio, click the play button...
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The third movement...
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Showing the composer's penchant for weaving together fugues, cantabile melodies and furiously driving rhythmic passages, this single-movement work was written in 1996. Press play to hear
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(for Woodwind Quintet) This piece was written for family concerts. It's scored for a standard woodwind quintet of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon and includes a narrator. This video was created from ink paintings by Jennifer Ross. Versions are now available for brass quintet and string quintet. Write to sheetmusic2000@gmail.com for more info.
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To preview or purchase a copy of the score, click this link:
. Scarim: The Garden at Night (buy the score)
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For performance permission and a copy of the instrumental parts, write to sheetmusic2000@gmail.com
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or visit www.sheetmusic2000.com
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In three movements, the piece is scored for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and french horn, and is about eleven minutes long. Here's the first movement, Allegro:
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To preview or purchase the score, click this link:
. Scarim Woodwind Quintet (buy score)
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The second movement is Adagio. As it opens, the five instruments converge on a single note, expand outward into a full chord, and then converge again.
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The third movement opens with a driving 6/8 theme.
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The first movement, Allegro, has an energetic, rhythmic opening. As the movement develops, at one point there is a lyrical cello solo accompanied by all the other players on various percussion instruments.
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To preview or purchase the score, click this link:
. Scarim Piano Quintet (buy score)
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The second movement is a lyrical Adagio:
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The third movement is a Scherzo, which concludes with all the players switching to their percussion instruments and fading away in a sound reminiscent of a gamelan ensemble.
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The fourth movement begins with pizzicato strings playing a motif which will serve as an accompaniment through out the movement:
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This four-movement work was written in 1996. Press play to hear the first movement:
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Here is the second movement:
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Third movement:
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and final movement:
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You can preview or purchase a copy of the score here:
. Scarim Flute Sonata (buy score)
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The Adagietto (first movement) begins with the interval of a minor third, which will be a prominent melodic interval throughout the four movements.
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To preview or purchase the score, click this link:
. Scarim Violin Sonata no.1 (buy score)
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The second movement is titled "Waltz" - in the place of what would often have been the Minuet movement in earlier times.
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The three chords which form the basis of the whole work begin the waltz.
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The third movement is titled "Blues" - but its form is much more complex than the usual repeating twelve bar progression.
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Only at 3:18 do we actually hear a twelve measure structure, which is then repeated just once (at 3:56) before we return to what I might call “a five minute rhapsody evoking the blues.”
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Here is the final (fourth) movement:
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The descending minor third in the melody and the three chords from the waltz are developed with jagged, jazzy rhythms.
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Press play to listen to the first movement of the second sonata, composed in 2004:
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These two sonatas are also available as cello transcriptions (by the composer) and can be ordered here:
(Above: Poster from the 1927 silent film starring Wallace Beery.)
"It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville Nine that day.
The score stood two to four, with but one inning left to play.
So when Cooney died at second, and Burrows did the same
A pallor wreathed the features of the patrons of the game..."
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For orchestra and narrator; it would be great if the orchestra teamed up with a local major league baseball star to be the narrator.
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To purchase (or preview) the score, click here:
. Casey at the Bat (buy score)
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and to listen to the piece, press play:
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Composed in the summer of 1990, this was the only time I began a composition based on music I had heard in a dream. We were renting a cabin in upstate New York for the summer and I woke up one morning remembering several of the themes I used in this piece: the cello theme in fourths that opens the first movement; the ascending scale used in the first and third movements; and the atmosphere of quartal harmony that pervades the entire piece.
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Here is the first movement:
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The four instrumentalists play this brief adagio with mutes.
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(Second movement:)
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The final allegro continues to explore the themes from the opening movement:
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(Third movement:)
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To preview or purchase a bound copy of the score, click this link:
. Scarim String Quartet no.1 (buy score)
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Contact the publisher at
. sheetmusic2000@gmail.com . .
PIANO TRIOS, BOOK ONE contains THIRTY trios for violin, cello and piano. The first ten are easy enough for students who have nearly finished Suzuki book one on their instrument! Get your students playing together in groups and you'll generate SO much more commitment to playing and practicing in general. Click to order PIANO TRIOS
These SEVEN JAZZY DUOS are accessible by students who have finished book one of the Suzuki curriculum on their instrument. Originally for violin and piano, this volume contains transcriptions for Bb, Eb and bass clef instruments as well. These duos are highly motivating examples of various genres of jazz, from ragtime to gospel to swing and bebop........ Click to order SEVEN JAZZ DUOS
The MADRIGALS are four pieces for a string trio of violin, viola and cello. They are playable by students who have completed Suzuki book one on their instruments. The spiral bound volume is published in - and young players read from - score format. Click to order MADRIGALS
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Teachers - don't hesitate to write for more information about these books. sheetmusic2000@gmail.com
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