Product Description
2017 Holiday Contest Entry:
Piano Solo - Advanced
This "Christmas Fantasietta" interweaves
the famous motive from Carol of the Bells with three other carols
while parodying various pianistic styles (e.g., Ginastera, Chopin, Balakirev, Brahms, and Liszt).
Conceived in a loose ABA form, the introductory four-note motive and "ding,
dong" countermelody of Carol of the Bells become a double ostinato above a surprise appearance of What Child Is This in the left hand,
which then seamlessly takes over the 3/4 ostinato while the right hand
announces Noël nouvelet (Sing We Now of Christmas) in 6/8 above it. The
initial chiming octaves soon give way to widely shifting broken octaves that further
emphasize the polymeter.
The transition to I Heard the Bells on
Christmas Day depicts multiple church bells, ringing the four-note
motive in both hands polyrhythmically and striking the hour in the bass.
Eventually the right hand quietly absorbs the motive into a canonic imitation,
while the left hand plays the new carol in thick chords and continues to strike
the hour.
At the return of the A section Sing We Now of
Christmas reappears, supported by a cut-time version of the double ostinato. Stylistically it combines influences of the reel dance (associated with Scottish-Irish fiddle music) with quasi-Lisztian keyboard treatment. The piece concludes with
a coda di bravura based on the climactic repeated-note motive from
Carol of the Bells.
For pianists in search of a short but showy
Christmas arrangement, Carol of the Bells...and Friends would
be a perfect closer or encore for a November or December piano recital, or to
play for friends and family at holiday festivities at home.
Other titles by Paul Pisano on sheetmusicplus.com:
--O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: arr. SATB
divisi a cappella. Advanced Intermediate.
--Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: SSAATTBB a cappella jazz arr. a la Manhattan Transfer. Advanced.
--Sweet Little Jesus Boy: SSAATTBB a cappella gospel jazz arr. Advanced.
--Seven Limerick Songs: cycle for voice and
piano, English and Italian lyrics by the composer. Available in soprano and mezzo soprano/tenor keys. Advanced.
--Nearer, My God, to Thee/I Need Thee Every Hour: arr. SSAATTBB a cappella. Advanced.
--Come, Thou Glorious Day of Promise: arr. SATB divisi a cappella. Advanced.
--Come Unto Me: SATB divisi a cappella, original setting of Matt. 11:28-29. Advanced.
--Joseph Smith Said WHAT?! Two
songs for tenor and piano: 1) "You don't have to bray like a jackass," aka "In Solemn Brayer"; 2) "Josiah Butterfield." Advanced.
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