Music for Unusual Instruments

Small instrumental groups with or without piano
caostotale
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by caostotale »

Here's something far from the realm of 'usual', at least for the West...

The ghijak is a fiddle-like instrument that is played throughout Central Asia. This volume was published during the 1960s in the Uzbek SSR and contains several works arranged for this instrument. I'm not exactly sure if this music could be easily translated back to violin or other solo instruments:

Instrument description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghichak
Sound example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1GbRKs5frU

The composers featured are all from Uzbekistan, with the obvious exception of Gliere, who, in the 1930s, played a role in developing Uzbekistan's musical culture:

From the inside cover:

'Approved by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Education of the Uzbek SSR as a textbook for secondary music schools'

Pieces, for ghidzkak and piano (Uzbek pub., 1965)

Reinhold Moritzyevich GLIERE & Talib SADYKOV - Segokh, from the opera 'Leyli and Medzhnum' (Gliere's Op.94) (1940) (Sadykov's bio at http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... xYi6Nxym0g )
A. KHALMUKHAMEDOV - Dance (no bio available)
R. L. FELITSIANT - Piece, on the Khorezm folk song 'Bularmu' (some quotes at http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 6bih%3D989 )
Tulkun TASHMATOV (TOSHMATOV) - Dance (bio at http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... tYeibNCvTw )
Suleiman Alexandrovich YUDAKOV - Romance (bio at http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 6bih%3D989 )
Sovet (Sergei) Afanasyevich VARELAS - Waltz (bio/family homepage at http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... /index.htm )
Sovet (Sergei) Afanasyevich VARELAS - Prelude
Felix Markovich YANOVSKY (elsewhere as YANOV-YANOVSKY?) - Concert Suite (some biographical details at http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 6bih%3D989 )

http://www.mediafire.com/?667s6cz1tikk66s (greyscale, very large!)
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fredbucket
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by fredbucket »

This instrument does have a keyboard, of sorts, but I thought this contribution from Sibley is best put here.

Publication Name: The complete carillon works of Matthias van den Gheyn / edited by Ronald Barnes.
URL: https://urresearch.rochester.edu/instit ... onNumber=1
Composer:Gheyn, Matthias, van den (1721 - 1785) Editor:Barnes, Ronald (1927 - 1997)

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Fred
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by Jim Faston »

fredbucket wrote:This instrument does have a keyboard, of sorts, but I thought this contribution from Sibley is best put here.

Publication Name: The complete carillon works of Matthias van den Gheyn / edited by Ronald Barnes.
URL: https://urresearch.rochester.edu/instit ... onNumber=1
Composer:Gheyn, Matthias, van den (1721 - 1785) Editor:Barnes, Ronald (1927 - 1997)

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Fred
"The publication will be available to view starting on date : 2037-12-31"
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fredbucket
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by fredbucket »

Jim Faston wrote:"The publication will be available to view starting on date : 2037-12-31"
!@#$%^& !!!!
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by Jim Faston »

fredbucket wrote:
Jim Faston wrote:"The publication will be available to view starting on date : 2037-12-31"
!@#$%^& !!!!
I'll be dead by then!
Duirton

Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by Duirton »

Hi everyone,

I'm looking recordings of works for percussion of avantgarde composers, specifically and exclusively for Taiko (japanese drum). Somebody know if any composer have wrote something about this instrument (solo or ensemble)? (I mean composers of modern music like Hosokawa, Ichiyanagi or also european composers etc.).

Any suggestions?


Thank for the help.
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MrTchaikovsky
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by MrTchaikovsky »

Grainger-Shepherd's Hey Concertina.pdf
Let's revive this dormant subsection with a piece by Percy Grainger (whom else?),
simply because I have no idea where else to post it:
It's one of the many versions of "Shepherd's Hey", this particular incarnation being scored for:
Flute, clarinet, horn, 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 1 double bass and a baritone English concertina (!),
but the concertina only plays for the last third of the piece (pity!).

Being his considerate self, Grainger notes on the score that "this setting is not suitable to dance Morris dances to".
This is not my own scan, but I think I got it from the website of some university.
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Last edited by MrTchaikovsky on Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Und sollte ich vergessen haben, jemanden zu beschimpfen, dann bitte ich um Verzeihung! - Brahms
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MrTchaikovsky
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by MrTchaikovsky »

I forgot to mention this yesterday, so I'll do it now:
A recording of this particular version may be found on the "Chandos Grainger Edition";
I actually have the recording, but I don't think it's legal to post it here.
Und sollte ich vergessen haben, jemanden zu beschimpfen, dann bitte ich um Verzeihung! - Brahms
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by 4candles »

They're not as unusual as some other instruments granted, but certainly obsolete as far as modern orchestras go, Léon Kreutzer's Symphony in F minor includes parts for various saxhorns.

You can view the full score on IMSLP here and a basic midi realisation of the work is on Musescore here.

4c
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Re: Music for Unusual Instruments

Post by MrTchaikovsky »

It is well worth mentioning that the esteemed gentleman whose fair countenance adorns my profile asks for four (!) accordions in the "Scherzo humoristique" of the second orchestral suite, although I'm sure most of you were aware of this fact.
It is most unusual even by modern standards, and much more so in 1883.
Und sollte ich vergessen haben, jemanden zu beschimpfen, dann bitte ich um Verzeihung! - Brahms
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