European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

New Classics in the Holiday Canon from Faber and Alfred Music

Jul. 08, 2010

Gary Fry-Christmas Arrangements: Emmy Award-winning Chicago based composer, arranger, producer and music educator, Gary Fry has crafted 16 inspired arrangements of Christmas carols and holiday favorites premiered by the Chicago and Dallas Symphony Orchestras and others over the last decade. His arrangements include O Holy Night, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, My Dancing Day, On Christmas Night and A Child’s Christmas in Wales, which uses a text by Dylan Thomas.

Alan Silvestri-The Polar Express: Renowned film music composer Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, The Abyss, The A-Team) penned the score to the recent children’s holiday blockbuster The Polar Express and orchestral arrangements from the score are now available for performance from Schott/EAM. Selections include Suite fromThe Polar Express and the theme song The Polar Express.

Sasha Johnson Manning and Carol Ann Duffy-The Manchester Carols: Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy collaborated with composer Sasha Johnson Manning to create a new take on the Christmas nativity story. The Manchester Carols, a cycle of 16 new carols for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra that premiered in December of 2007 at Manchester’s Royal College of Music and was released on Naxos last year, is available for US premiere this season. Duffy aims not for a literal retelling of the nativity story but instead uses it as a metaphor for the human experience, expressed in simple words and making explicit how many of the themes of the narrative remain relevant to the 21st century. The title stems from the fact that the entire creative team involved in bringing the work to life (composer, librettist, conductor, musicians, singers) all live and work in the city of Manchester. As for the music, Paul Vallely wrote in The Independent (UK) of the premiere:

What makes The Manchester Carols so stunning is the music of Johnson Manning, who has a real gift for melody. Her carols stand proudly in the tradition of Warlock, Howells, Darke, Hadley and Rutter. Using just a small woodwind group with two recorders, a double string quartet, harp, bells and piano she coaxes a wide range of colour across the 16 songs, which are, by turns, tender and plangent, touching and joyful, happy and vigorous, and gloriously unsentimental.

Visit www.eamdllc.com for more information on the works by Gary Fry and Alan Silvestri.

To learn more on the Manchester Carols, visit www.fabermusic.com.

Gary Fry
O Holy Night (1997)
for choir, optional children's choir and orchestra
3(3.pic).2.ca.2.bcl.2-4.3.2.btbn.1-timp.3perc-cel.hp-str
ca. 6'

My Dancing Day, On Christmas Night (2000)
for choir, organ, optional children's choir and orchestra
3(3.pic).2.ca.2.bcl.2-4.3.2.btbn.1-timp.perc-cel.hp-str
6'

We Wish You a Merry Christmas (2000)
for choir and orchestra
3(3.pic).2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbsn-4.3.2.btbn.1-timp.4perc-pno(cel).hp-str
ca. 2'

Alan Silvestri
Suite from The Polar Express (2004)
for SATB choir, boys choir and orchestra
orchestrated by Conrad Pope
3(3.pic).2.ca(altorec).3(3.Eb.bcl).3(3.cbsn)–8.3.3.btbn.1–timp.perc(vibs.cel).drmst–2hrp–pno.pno(cel.synth)–str
6'

Spirit of the Season (2004)
for choir (SATB), boys choir and orchestra
orchestrated by Conrad Pope
3(3.pic).3(3.ca).3(3.Eb.bcl).3(3.cbsn)–8.3(1.pictrpt).3.btbn.1–timp.perc–2hrp–pno.pno(cel)–str
4'

Sasha Johnson Manning
The Manchester Carols (2007)
text by Carol Ann Duffy
for mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists, narrator, SATB chorus and orchestra
2.2treble recorders.1.1.bcl-2perc-hp(pno)-str
ca. 55'

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