Rick Sowash posted this note on December 7, 1996:
Memo to: Cellists
Once again I'm pondering that age-old question: When you cast your bread
upon the waters, does anything come back besides soggy bread?
Continuing my on-going, life-long experiment to see how many friends
composers can make by offering their scores, at no profit, to anybody who wants
them, I'm hereby offering to send you the full score and parts for various newly
available works.
I've notated the scores on computer, using Finale -- they're entirely
professional-looking and in a loose-leaf format, with page-turns worked out,
etc.
The scores are:
1) "Spring Fever Suite" for two cellos. I wrote this piece a few years ago for
Terry King who made a beautiful recording of it wi
th Charles Wendt, for eventual
release on CD, though it has not been issued yet.
The piece is in six movements, as follows:
I. Presto - in D major
II. Lento, rubato - in g minor
III. Andante - in Bb major
IV. - Allegro - in d minor
V. - Adagio - in G major
VI. Moderato-Allegro - in C major
The character of the piece is bright, optimistic, even a little humorous
sometimes, but it's still a serious piece. The fourth movement is based on the
melodic fragment that accompanies the words "buy me some peanuts and
crackerjack" in the old song "Take Me Out the Ball Game" and there is another
fragment of that song in the piece as well, at the end, "... for it's one, two,
three strikes you're out" .... There's also a quotation from the Hallelujah
Chorus in the first movement. These are not pie-in-your-face quotations, a` la
Charles Ives (whom I admire, don't get me wrong
). They go by so fast that most
listeners probably wouldn't even catch them.
If you're interested in this piece, I can send it to you with an invoice
for to cover photocopying and postage costs ... photocopying will be $3.52.
2) Harvest Hymn and Harvest Dance: Homage to Willa Cather for cello and piano.
Two movements, slow then fast, connected by a cello cadenza. Written in a very
Copland-Thomson-Barber-esque "American" style. Photocopying: $1.54.
3) Suite in six mov'ts. for Bb clarinet and cello called "Born of the Same Wild
Mother" (referring to Mother Earth -- not some tattoo'd Hell's Angel's Mama).
Photocopying: $2.09.
4) My new Quintet for A Clarinet and strings in d minor in four mov'ts was
premiered last June in Paris. Photcopying the full score and parts will come
to: $13.97.
5) Daweswood Suite for Bb Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Pia
no ...
This work was composed while I was an artist-in-residence at the
beautiful Dawes Arboretum near Newark, Ohio. Each movement reflects upon a
stage in the growth of plants. The opening movement, "The Bud," is hopeful and
perky, forward-looking, perpetually unfolding into larger versions of itself.
The second movement, "The Blossom," is languid and chastely sensuous (if that's
possible). The last movement, "The Berry," is spicy and pungent, suggesting
native Americans and all the uses they made of berries. There is a hymn-like
tune in this movement as well, a gesture of thanksgiving. Photocopying: $8.58
There is a splendid CD recording of this work also available. Gasparo
Records GSCD-285 "Chamber Music with Clarinet by Rick Sowash" played by The
Mirecourt Trio and Craig Olzenak, clarinetist. In addition to the "Daweswood
Suite" the CD also includes "Anecdotes and Re
flect
ions" (also scored for
clarinet, violin, cello and piano) and "Street Suite" (duo for violin and
clarinet). At record stores, this CD sells for $14.99. But for you? Such a
deal! You can get the CD from me for the low, low price of $10.
I'll also make bold to mention that I have a very fine one-movement
string quartet, called Fantasia on "Shenandoah," 14 minutes long, loosely based
on the Beethoven Op. 59 #1, first mov't, though also on "Shenandoah" if you can
picture that.. ... it is only available, however, in the form of photocopies of
my handwritten originals. They are quite readable, but not as good-lookin' as
Finale notation, of course. The piece has been recorded on a CD called "Music
for the Appalachian Trail." It's 14.99 in stores, $10 from me.
And I've got four piano trios, though these also are available only in
handwritten ms
. They have been beautifully recorded by the Mirecourt Trio and
that CD is available in stores for $14.99 as "Rick Sowash: The Four Piano
Trios," or you can get it from me for $10.
I've got a lot of other pieces that include cello, and if you want to
know more about those pieces, and about me and my work you can get all sorts of
information by viewing my web site at:
http://www2.primax.com/users/~ricks/default.html
Six of my compositions can be downloaded for free from my web site, if
you have Finale.
Please pass the word about all this to your cellist friends.
If you want any of the above-described scores and/or CDs, please e-mail
me a note telling me which items you want and stating your physical address. I
will then mail your order to you, and enclose an invoice for the photocopying
and postage.
Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH
ph. (513)542-4314
e-mail: 73563.3161@compuserve.com
Cello Duets and Trios by Elias
Music for Violoncello and Piano
Norwegian Cello Music-An Extensive List
Tim Finholt's Survey of the Bach Suite Editions
Works for Cello Alone
-- From the American Music Center Database of Scores Online--email Jeff Harrington at amc@amanda.dorsai.org for ordering information. If you join the database at $20 per year, you can borrow any piece of music for thirty days.
Works for Cello and Piano
-- From the American Music Center Database of Scores Online--email Jeff Harrington at amc@amanda.dorsai.org for ordering information. If you join the database at $20 per year, you can borrow any piece of music for thirty days.
Violoncello Repertoire, Selected Syllabus (compiled by John Michel)
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