Transcription: Massenet's Méditation from Thaïs for viola and piano

I think that the best known musical meditation is the one from Jules Massenet's 1894 Opera Thaïs. The action that accompanies this piece happens offstage, when Thäis leaves her life as a pleasure-seeking courtesan, and enters religious life. After the Méditation, the monk Athanaël, who had persuaded Thäis to convert, realizes that he is in love with her.

The Méditation is set for solo violin, two harps, winds, and a chorus of closed-mouth singers. For my transcription for viola and piano I transposed the piece into G major (a fifth lower), and rewrote the piano part to better reflect the colors, pitches, and motion of the original score.

Martin Pierre Marsik's piano reduction of the Méditation was published by Heugel in 1894, and I imagine it was approved by Massenet. But Marsik's piano reduction doesn't sound very good transposed a fifth lower, and a need for a setting of the piece for viola and piano wasn't on anybody's radar during Massenet's lifetime.

Just for a lark, after making my viola and piano edition, I made a personal copy transposed back into the original key, and when I played it on the violin with a pianist friend, it felt better to play with than the Marsik piano reduction. But I guess I am a bit biased.

My edition is now available from the International Music Company (and will be among the new issues on this page soon), and I am very grateful that they respected my choice to rewrite the piano part.

Transcription: Mozart Piano Sonata K545 for String Quintet or String Orchestra

[Transposed into D major]

You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP (via the transcription tab).

The Year, a New Year's Greeting for 2023

You can find the music for medium voice here (there's also a version for high voice). You can listen to the medium voice version here, and you can find the music for both on this page of the IMSLP.

Film Noir for Piano Trio

[December 3, 2022]
You can find the score and parts on this page of the IMSLP. You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.

Three Crane Songs

The music is available on this page of the IMSLP.

Aphantasia and Fugue State for Viola Alone

You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP.

Arrangement: Sinfonia after the Bach Flute Sonata BWV 1033

You can find the score and parts for this arrangement on this page of the IMSLP.

You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.

Arrangement: Ika Peyron Gavotte et Chansonette, Opus 1

The Swedish composer Ika (Fredrika) Peyron (1845-1922) began her musical life as a pianist. In 1865 she married a merchant who became a Member of Parliament, and lived in Stockholm with him and their three sons. She studied piano, harmony, and counterpoint, and wanted to compose, but found little encouragement because she was a woman. During the 1870s attitudes towards music written by women had changed (as evidenced by the carer of Amanda Maier), and Ika Peyron devoted her time to writing and performing her music in the Stockholm salons.

She wrote songs, music for violin, and mostly music for piano. Altogether we know of forty pieces.

This charming Gavotte et Chansonette, her Opus 1, works very nicely for strings. A PDF of this arrangement (as well as the piano original) is available on this page of the IMSLP. You can also find the music here.

You can listen to a computer-generated recording here.

Arrangement: Irving Berlin's "All by Myself"

You can find the score and parts on this page of the IMSLP, and you can listen to a recording (from a Summer Strings outdoor concert) here.

Arrangement: Dvorak Humoresque for 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, and strings

This is an arragement I made for a friend in Columbia earlier this year. You can find it on this page of the IMSLP under the transcription tab, and you can hear a performance at the 43:00 mark of this video.

Hope and I

June 25, 2022

You can find the music on this page of the IMSLP, and you can listen to a computer-generated recording here.

This is Susan Coolidge's complete poem. You can find out more about her here. It had been sitting on my computer for a year or so, and had been sitting on my desk for several months. It helped me a great deal to make my way emotionally through yesterday and today to work on it. And it helps to be able to share it right away.

Arrangement: Elgar Pomp and Circumstance for String Quartet (otherwise known as "Land of Hope and Glory")

[May 16, 2022]

You can find the score and parts on this page of the IMSLP. This is useful for all circumstances, though it is mostly played at graduations.

Two Passages from Moby Dick for Two Trumpets

You can find the score and parts here, and listen to a computer-generated recording here. The music will soon be available on this page of the IMSLP.

Three Short Pieces for Trumpet and Piano

January 18, 2022

These are intended as teaching pieces for "entry level" trumpet players, but they can be played by advanced players too.

I also made a transposed version that can be played by "entry level" violinists and violists. You can find the music for both the original and the transcriptions on this page of the IMSLP.