Brass

Thank you for reporting performances (performer, date, location) of my works to me at mryantaylor@gmail.com. This information is essential as I apply for my yearly grant applications.

Contents:

1. The Word for Brass Quintet and Baritone Vocalist
2. Cerulean Rag for Tuba and Piano
3. Opera Suite for Tuba and Piano
4. Bass Solos from Handel’s Messiah transcribed for Tuba or Trombone and Piano
5. The March of the Three Kings for Brass Band
6. O Come Let Us Adore Him! for Brass Choir, Organ and Congregation
7. Carnival Processional for Brass Choir
8. Fanfare for the Eage for Brass Trio

The Word for Brass Quintet and Baritone Vocalist

PDF Score and Parts:

• Score: The Word for Brass Quintet and Baritone Vocalist
• Parts: The Word for Brass Quintet and Baritone Vocalist

This is a work I wrote with the intent of it being included near the beginning of a Christmas program. It was premiered at the Salty Cricket Composer Collective’s Big Brass Show in late 2010.

The text is a slightly altered form of a sonnet I wrote called The Word, from the set of 12 sonnets, Meditations on the Birth of the Christ Child. Here is the original version:

THE WORD
by M Ryan Taylor

In that first bright beginning the Word was,
earnestly speaking in truth the secret of life,
severing the shadows, the gleaming knife
that cut creations corner stone. So does
the Word shine forth, but like a marshal fife
upon deaf, dark ears gains no attention,
so in gloom there is no comprehension.
Though He descending took to flesh our strife,
and suffered each and every tension
ten-thousand fold or more than we can know,
so we to life’s end blindly racing go,
never knowing the true rate redemption
cost as He a mortal did roam this earth,
never to know the true pain of our birth.

Cerulean Rag for Tuba and Piano

PDF Score and Tuba Part:

• Cerulean Rag Tuba Part (Free)
• Cerulean Rag Score ($7.77 via Tradebit.com)

Cerulean is a shade of blue used in artist colors. This short work for Tuba and piano, with its syncopated blue shadings, was premiered at The Salty Cricket Composer Collective’s Big Brass Show in late 2010.

Opera Suite for Tuba and Piano

PDF Score:

• Opera Suite for Tuba and Piano ($7.77 via Tradebit.com)

Suite includes:

1. Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja (The Magic Flute – Mozart)
2. O du mein holder Abendstern (Tannhäuser – Wagner)
3. Ah! Pescator (La Gioconda – Ponchielli)
4. Cortigiani, vil razza (Rigoletto – Verdi)
5. I am a pirate king (The Pirates of Penzance – Gilbert and Sullivan)

This suite features five famous opera arias from the bass repertoire. It begins with a light-hearted aria from Papageno the Birdcatcher, one of the principle characters in Mozart’s famous Magic flute. Next is a rapturous song to the evening star (O du mein holder Abendstern) with it’s lush Wagnerian melodic and harmonic structures. “Ah! Pescator” is light hearted, but only on the surface; Ponchielli weaves treachery into a joyful  fisherman’s song. Next comes the impassioned cries of Rigelleto as he attempts to rescue his Daughter from the masterwork by Verdi. As a finale, the suite ends with the rollicking song of the king of the jolly ‘Pirates of Penzance.” This suite will delight your listeners and makes for an excellent recital or showpiece.

Bass Solos from Handel’s Messiah transcribed for Tuba or Trombone and Piano

Scores:

• Messiah Bass Solos for Tuba ($7.77 via Tradebit.com)
• Messiah Bass Solos for Trombone ($7.77 via Tradebit.com)

Contents:

1. But who may abide the day of his coming
2. The people that walked in darkness
3. Why do the nations so furiously rage together
4. The trumpet shall sound

I have transcribed these solos with the original baroque tempo and phrasing marks; they are very minimal and leave the performers a wide berth for interpretation. Baroque style allows for certain amount of improvisation from the soloist and I suggest you experiment with appoggiaturas, trills, suspensions, etc. Several places have been marked as suggested cadenzas. The third selection in this edition uses a version from one of Handel’s performance scores. The fourth selection omits the minor b-section of the solo and replaces it with a closing cadenza instead of repeating the a-section.

The March of the Three Kings
for Brass Band (optional Vocal Soloist and Chorus)

Based on the traditional Christmas tune with a new English translation (if using vocalists) of the French text. Scored for traditional Brass Band instrumentation (Soprano Cornet, Solo Cornet, Repiano Cornet, 2nd Cornet, 3rd Cornet, Flugle, Solo Horn, 1st Horn, 2nd Horn, 1st Baritone, 2nd Baritone, 1st Trombone, 2nd Trombone, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Eb Bass Tuba, BBb Bass Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Optional Vocalists).

• Score : MarchoftheThreeKingsScore-MRyanTaylor.pdf
• Parts : MarchoftheThreeKingsParts-MRyanTaylor.pdf
• TheMarchoftheThreeKings.mp3 : Live 2005 recording of the Utah Premiere Brass and the Timpanogos Chorale in with M Ryan Taylor as the baritone soloist.