American Carillon Music Editions
The 2015 American Carillon Music Editions new collection is now ready for purchase. This collection comprises 23 pieces of music (152 pages), and provides a balanced offering of original compositions, arrangements, and duets, which we believe reflect the diversity of our customer’s carillon music preferences. We think you will find the music not only fun to play, but very useful when planning concerts for the upcoming year. Click here to purchase the 2015 collection and obtain an additional 10% discount on all orders purchased in 2015. Original Compositions We are pleased to offer a new composition by Geert D’hollander entitled Variations on a Theme of John Knox, based on a theme from John Knox’s very popular “Valse Caprice”. In addition to the theme, the piece includes variations “Arabesque”, “Vocalise, a homage to Sergei Rachmaninoff”, and “Bolero-Cancion” a very spicy variation with a Cuban beat. Geert premiered this piece last summer during the 2014 GCNA Congress in Denver. Geert has provided a version for 4-octave instruments, and a separate version for 4.5-octave instruments. Daylily Lullaby is a fresh composition written by a new composer for carillon, Shane Atkinson. Shane has been a live and studio musician in Nashville and currently produces music and audio for commercials and film. His piece for carillon was inspired by memories of his in-laws growing prize-winning daylilies and selling them at Washington Park in Springfield, IL, home of the Rees Carillon. Arrangements / Collections When creating a concert program with the “audience in mind”, include at least one piece that is either familiar or that can easily capture the attention of the listener. Wesley Arai’s arrangements of two Scott Joplin pieces, Bethena (A Concert Waltz) and The Cascades, and Pete Olejar’s arrangement of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (“In the Style of a Flash Mob”) are sure to be “crowd pleasers”. If you’re not sure what a flash mob is, check out this YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg . Who doesn’t need more pieces for the many patriotic concerts needed each year? Carlo van Ulft’s U.S. Armed Forces Medley (The Caissons Go Rolling, The Marine’s Hymn, and Anchors Away) and Wesley Arai’s arrangements of Sousa’s Semper Fidelis and George M. Cohan’s You’re a Grand Old Flag, will surely have many listeners out of their seats and marching with the beat. We are pleased to offer several pieces originally composed for guitar. Austin Ferguson has provided a very beautiful arrangement of Francisco Tarrega’s Recuerdos de la alhambra, Ed Nassor has arranged Les Folies D’Espagne, a set of variations by Fernando Sor, and Jürgen Buchner has arranged Variations in C by Georg Joseph Küffner. We are excited to include in our collection, Carillon Music for Beginners, a cooperative project between ACME and the North American Carillon School. The majority of the included pieces in this first publication are from a guitar method by Anton Diabelli, arranged by Carlo van Ulft. In addition, John Gouwens has included five of his compositions: easy 1-page works intended for the beginning carillon student. Some additional arrangements sure to be known within most audiences, include Franz Schubert’s Valses Nobles, a collection of 12 waltzes, arranged by Ronald Barnes, Schubert’s Scherzo in B Flat Major, arranged by Carlo van Ulft, and Beethoven’s final movement from his Pastoral Symphony No. 6, arranged by Barnes Scholar, Frances Newell. Karel Keldermans has provided several arrangements, Partita di Signore Steltzeln by prolific German baroque composer Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, La Dandrieux by Joost Boutmy a Belgian composer, organist, and harpsichordist, and Three Pieces for the Small Carillon, three pieces that fall within the range of 2.5, 3, and 3.5 octave carillons. No carillon library should be without something fun. Carlo van Ulft has provided two tangos by Isaac Albeniz Tangos Volume II, to add to your collection of tangos. Duets To round out our new collection of music, we are pleased to offer several new duets. Frances Newell has arranged Schubert’s Ave Maria for two players. This beautiful piece, beloved by many, will have many audience members humming along. Frescobaldi’s Bergamasca, arranged by David Maker, is considered one of the highlights from his Fiori musicali, a collection of liturgical organ music. The composer includes this comment “Whoever attempts this Bergamasca will learn not a little”, so proceed with caution. Bill De Turk’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s Prelude Op. 12 No. 7 will provide an exciting ending to a well-rounded concert. ___________________ Sue Bergren - Music EditorMark Bergren - Publications Editor