Tag Archives: trio

Adding Audio and Video Examples

October 2022: Our goal is to add new audio and/or video examples to all our titles in the sheet music catalog. Over the next year or so, we hope to provide good quality examples of performances of our publications. That way you can sample the music a bit, before adding the sheet music to your library. The most recent additions are Bottesini two pieces for double bass and piano; Il Lamento … and La Cloche… We have also added performances of Neher’s The Frog Prince Continued… and Mucumber McGee and the Half Eaten Hot Dog – both are fun and kind-of silly children’s opera, for two singers, double bass and violin or piano. Based on popular children’s books, these two operetta’s have been performed extensively.

New Release – Mucumber’s Waltz

Mucumber’s Waltz for Three Contrabasses is an arrangement of the “…hot dogs are already cooked” aria and scene from Patrick Neher’s children’s opera; Mucumber McGee and the Half-Eaten Hot Dog (2008, based on the children’s book of the same name by Patrick Loehr). This new composition for three basses explores most of the bass range for all three parts, and is considered a pedagogical as well as a performance work. At just under 4:00 minutes, the work is playful, bright, and optimistic. And you can dance to it!

This work is ideally suited for a bass trio performance or for ensemble practice in bass studios at the grade-school and college level. See the page for bass in ensembles and the Premiere Pedagogy page to learn more and to purchase.

NEW RELEASE: Richard Heller-String Trio

Richard Heller – Statement for String Trio

Richard Heller’s work, Statement for String Trio, is the fifth work in our new series of publications, Continually Advancing Music.

This older composition (1977) is for the first time published in the United States, and explores the entire range of each instrument. The short work (under 5 minutes) is virtuosic and has an extended solo for the viola. Though tradition in its form, it is an energetic and intimate “conversation” among the instruments.

Richard Heller (Austrian born living in Germany), born in 1954, has received numerous accolades for his compositions, and has been performed around the world. It is Richard Heller’s aim to balance emotion and construction in his works. He describes the; “starting point for composing is mostly the imagination of instrumental colors (therefore the sense for rare combinations) leading to motif materials which in their turn lead to the architecture of the pieces.” See more at richard-heller.eu

Purchase Richard Heller’s Statement for String Trio on our Violin, Viola, or Cello page.

ISG Publications Announces New Series of Compositions for Professionals: CAM

CONTINUALLY ADVANCING MUSIC (CAM)

ISG Publications / ISG Music Promotions’ new series of sheet music and productions for professional performers, Continually Advancing Music (CAM) will, for the next decade, support composers by publishing works that advance the cause of new music for cellists and double bass players. During this premiere set of publications, we are promoting new music from five living composers. After an international call to composers, where we received more than 50 submissions from around the world, we have chosen five compositions that fit our criteria of: must have one cello or one double bass that plays a prominent role in the composition, must be interesting and challenging to all the performers, must hold the interest and be accessible for today’s new music concert audiences, must be lyrical, and must be marketable (in our opinion).

The five composers chosen for this premiere set are:
Donald Wheelock (USA) – String Trio (2003/2019)
Jean Ahn (USA) – Froggy, Froggy for Piano Trio (2009/2013)
Michele Bernabei (ITALY) – Affinita Ferrose for Piano Trio (2019)
Randall Snyder (USA) – Forest Paths for String Trio (2018)
Richard Heller (GERMANY) – Statement for String Trio (2003)

ISG Publications / ISG Music Promotions wishes to thank all the composers that submitted to our call. Though we are unable to publish more than five compositions at this time, we hope to advance the series for another decade with up to 20 compositions. This exclusive series will expand to include greater instrumentation and media, but will always keep focused on presenting the finest (in our opinion, of course) of new music compositions; providing challenge for our performers and accessibility and interest for our listeners.

Trio ‘Mimi’ for clarinet, violin, & double bass

mimi1Trio ‘Mimi’ for clarinet, violin, and double bass, by Patrick Neher is playfully described as a “mini-operetta.”  It combines three character roles (where each player must speak and/or sing a bit – along with skillfully playing their instrument) in a short drama about Mimi, the cat. Trio ‘Mimi’ is in one movement divided into four short acts.  The total playing time is about 20 minutes. The piece was composed originally for L.P. How, violin, and Pamela Epple, oboe. It was transcribed for clarinet in 2015 and was premiered at Washington Allegro Vivace Ensemble concerts in Bellingham, WA in 2016, Sarah Brown, clarinet, Yvette Holswarth, violin, and Patrick Neher, double bass. This playful work is a big hit with audiences, as it combines humor and virtuosity is a truly distinctive form. Order it from the double bass in ensemble pages at ISG Publications: isgpublications.com