David Solomons

Alternative title

Suite for Chamber Orchestra - 3 Pretty How Town

Composer

David W Solomons

Arranger

Colin Bayliss

Publisher

David W Solomons

Genre

Classical / Symphonic music

Instrumentation

Flute, Flute piccolo, Clarinet, Bassoon, Oboe, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double bass

Scored for

Symphonic orchestra

Type of score

Full score, Parts

Movement(s)

3 to 3 from 5

Duration

3'10"

Difficulty

Advanced

Year of composition

2013

Description
Sweet 4 Chamber Orchestra - 3 Pretty How Town
1 of five movements arranged by Colin Bayliss
from the Suite for Recorder Orchestra by David W Solomons
(all 5 movements of this work will also be available as a package on MusicaNeo)

The five movements are:
1 Meinau Rag
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-179082_sweet_4_chamber_orchestra_-_1_meinau_rag.html
2 An Amble round Mercury
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-179167_sweet_4_chamber_orchestra_-_2_an_amble_round_mercury.html
3 Pretty How Town
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-179229_sweet_4_chamber_orchestra_-_3_pretty_how_town.html
4 Landscape before sunrise
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-179319_sweet_4_chamber_orchestra_-_4_landscape_before_sunrise.html
5 Little Laser Lady
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-179451_sweet_4_chamber_orchestra_-_5_little_laser_lady.html

All 5 movements in one package:
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-179452_sweet_4_chamber_orchestra_-_all_5_movements.html

The orchestration is: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Clarinet, Bassoon and string orchestra including double bass.
The zip file contains score and parts.

Many years ago, at a performance of Solomons' Suite for recorder Orchestra,
Colin suggested it would also work nicely with a concert band. This idea was shelved for a while
but has now blossomed into a suite for Chamber Orchestra.


The original Suite for Recorder Orchestra is also available on Musicaneo, at
http://dwsolo.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-85305_suite_for_recorder_orchestra.html


Each movement has its own story and reflects various places where the composer has lived or poems that have inspired him:

Meinau Rag was written in honour of his 8 month stay in La Meinau, a suburb of Strasbourg - it was one of several "ragtimes", a style he experimented with on the guitar at that time.
Other arrangements of this music can be heard on youtube, including this live performance for cello and guitar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH8LT0VAW24

An Amble round Mercury refers to the pond and associated statue of Mercury in the centre of Tom Quad at his college, Christ Church Oxford. The ostinato is one that he has used on many pieces and was originally written to accompany a setting from the Book of Elijah - "and in that day thou shalt say O Lord" - in his college days.

Pretty How Town, a perky and rhythmically complex piece, is based on Solomons' setting of the poem "anyone lived in a pretty how town" by e.e.cummings. The rhythms of this song, along with its original guitar accompaniment, are reflected precisely in this orchetral work and it would therefore be advantageous if performers could hear the original song before rehearsals. The composer's own performance of the original song is available on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhBZIu-6-3A

Landscape before sunrise, more laid back, is based on a setting of many ways in which the world says "Goodnight" and is inspired by the view from the composer's 18th floor flat in London overlooking
a multicultural population. The original song performed by the composer can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VY_s7sGgWQ


Little Laser Lady, an upbeat end to the suite, is based on a poem by a friend of the composer, whose girlfriend (and wife to be) would always visit him in her Laser car (a make of car in Australia)
(She is the sun in the afternoon, she is the night's familiar, she comes on a beam of yellow gold light......)

Upload date

04 Feb 2013