Romanian Folk Dances (Bartok)

Scoring: Wind decet plus optional double bass

Date: 2025

These six or seven (the last two are often considered to be just one) folk dances from Romania were originally composed by Bela Bartok in 1915 for piano solo. They have been extremely popular ever since perhaps in part because, despite each being so short (about one minute), they do seem to create a wonderful linear progression, with the last few increasing gradually in tempo until the brilliant ending of the final dance. They are also extremely attractive melodies.

This arrangement which derives principally from Bartok's subsequent chamber orchestra version tries to maintain and enhance the different colour of each dance by using the different instruments of the wind decet in a variety of ways. The piccolo clearly has a starring roll in the third movement (as Bartok himself scored it), but also swapping the melody between first and second of a particular instrument (e.g. 1st and 2nd oboe) can create a new texture to a repeated musical line. I hope players and listeneners alike will enjoy its kaleidoscope of sounds.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Le Tombeau de Couperin (Ravel)

Scoring: Wind decet plus optional double bass

Date: 2025

Two movements from Ravel's sparkling suite "Le Tombeau de Couperin" arranged for wind decet: "Menuet" and "Rigaudon". 

Menuet:

The original tempo of this gorgeous minuet by Maurice Ravel, taken from his suite of pieces for piano (and subsequently arranged for orchestra), is marked Allegro moderato. However, no one performs it as an Allegro, neither pianists nor orchestras, as it is the most laid-back of melodies, reminiscent of lazy summer afternoons on a lake. I have therefore marked the arrangement Allegretto moderato, aiming to retain its lightness and motion without sounding rushed. In this wind decet version I have otherwise followed Ravel's markings and instrumentation wherever possible. The oboe takes the lead throughout most of the piece, except in the middle section, which is much more mysterious and where there are repeated waves of instrumental colours. After the recapitulation the piece concludes in a lovely downward sweep from the piccolo to the bassoons, followed by an almost jazzy double trill on the clarinets.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Rigaudon:

A rustic French dance, the Rigaudon is lively, exuberant and fast (marked Assez vif.) The second flute has his or her work cut out in a couple of sections, as in Ravel's original orchestration, but otherwise it is all quite playable and mostly "sits under the fingers" for the decet players. The middle section suddenly slows down and the oboe takes the lead in a sensuous dance accompanied by a gentle rhythmical feature, until the first theme breaks through once again. The ending is subtely different from the first section, however, leading to the different key of F major, only to be replaced - satisifyingly - in the final two bars by the original key of C major.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Blumen-Walzer

Scoring: 2 flutes + string quintet

Date: 2025

Ernesto Köhler's Blumen-Walzer/Valse des Fleurs/Flower Waltz, originally for 2 flutes and piano, with the piano part here arranged for string quintet - attractive and fun, just as you would expect for a Viennese waltz!

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Romeo and Juliet Mini-Suite

Scoring: Wind sextet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bass clarinet and bassoon)

Date: 2025

An arrangement of four movements from Prokofiev's colourful "Romeo and Juliet" ballet music, forming a "mini-suite" for wind sextet. The whole suite lasts just over 16 minutes:

1. Montagues and Capulets

2. Dance

3. Friar Laurence

4. Farewell

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

The movements are also available separately below:

Montagues and Capulets

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Dance

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Friar Laurence

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Farewell

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Tortoises and the Elephant (Saint-Saens)

Scoring: Contrabassoon and string quintet

Date: 2025

An unusual arrangement of "Tortoises" and "The Elephant" from Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals"!

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Mother Goose Suite

Scoring: Wind decet plus double bass

Date: 2024

Ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose Suite)  by Maurice Ravelis a wonderful 15-minute orchestral composition full of magic and colour, which he originally wrote for piano duet. Here I have arranged it for wind ensemble, keeping as closely as possible to Ravel's orchestration, as this remains so well-known and well-loved.

Its five movements have the following exotic titles:

1. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant (Pavane of Sleeping Beauty)

2. Petit Poucet (Little Tom Thumb)

3. Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes (Little Ugly Girl, Empress of the Pagodas)

4. Les entretiens de la belle et de la bête (Conversation of Beauty and the Beast)

5. Le jardin féerique (The Fairy Garden)

Instrumentation:

2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo)

2 oboes (1 doubling cor anglais)

2 clarinets in Bb

2 horns in F

2 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon)

1 double bass

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Repton Fugue (2 versions)

Version 1 scoring: Wind Quintet

Date: 2024

A short, attractive fugue for wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon), inspired by and based on Hubert Parry's much-loved hymn "Dear Lord and Father", whose melody is entitled "Repton". The fugue's structure results from a fascinating online Fugue Writing course run by CityLit, London, which I attended in the first half of 2024. The course presents and explains the eighteenth-century ideas of a fully developed fugue, which culminated in J.S. Bach's extraordinary achievement, the "Well Tempered Clavier", and which has been used in various forms by composers ever since.

The fugal "rules" are here treated rather as guidelines in order to create a fugue more immediately appealing to 21st century listeners, but the piece attempts to maintain the general structure found in classic fugues. The initial subject is quirky and tuneful (in fact a bit of an ear-worm), but it immediately goes on to include counter-subjects, tonal answers, codettas, episodes, middle entries, inverted subjects, strettos, a pedal and a final entry, plus a relatively long coda in which Parry's original melody is celebrated exuberantly. These different sections and techniques are all labeled in the score to add an educational dimension to the composition.

Those who know my "Repton Variations" for wind sextet will recognise the opening and ending, at least in outline, but they will soon find the rest to be more technically developed, if rather less serious, from the very beginning! The piece lasts just under three minutes.

I am most grateful to pianist and lecturer Karl Lutchmayer, who tutored the course, for his help and ideas in the writing of this fugue.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Version 2 scoring: Wind Sextet (fl, ob, cl, bass cl, horn, bsn)

Date: 2024

This version for the slightly larger ensemble adds material from my "Repton Variations" and could be used as an alternative to the final variation in that piece. However, it can also stand alone. As I have written above, it makes the fugue more developed and structured, and perhaps it is a little more satisfying like this...?

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Soave sia il vento (Mozart)

Scoring: SATB choir and strings

Date:  2022 (updated 2024)

This lovely aria from Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutte" is a blessing for a sea crossing that the weather will be kind, the waves calm and all good things will happen to us. There are massive undercurrents in the opera, however, hidden beneath this song, and although beautiful, it should be sung slightly po-faced! The original is for three soloists and orchestra, but here Roy Bell has arranged the choral parts for SATB choir and Philip Le Bas has reduced the orchestra to a string quintet.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Words:

Soave sia il vento, tranquilla sia l'onda,

ed ogni elemento benigno risponda ai nostri desir.

Yuki-Onna, an orchestral ghost story

Scoring: Full Orchestra (10 minutes)

Revised version: 2022 (edited August 2023)

This short orchestral ballad arose from incidental music scored for solo piano (also on this website) to accompany the Japanese folk tale/ghost story "Yuki-Onna" (meaning "Snow Woman"), as part of a melodrama project initiated at Morley College, London, 2019.
The orchestration is somewhat cinematic and it aims to paint a vivid picture of the drama unfolding in the story. See below for the synopsis.

The premiere of this work took place on Sunday 6th November 2022 in the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK, performed by the Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Vass.

It was also performed by the Maidstone Symphony Orchestra conducted by Brian Wright at Mote Hall, Maidstone Leisure Centre, on 18th May 2024.

For an informal audio recording of this performance listen here.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

To see a video score on YouTube see: https://youtu.be/0b85C8TDtkk

For a 60 second taster see: https://youtu.be/DQWBEyqG7Fs

Original version: 2019/2020

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

See https://plbmusic.blogspot.com/2019/02/yuki-onna.html for the earlier piano version.

Synopsis of the tale of "Yuki-Onna" ("Snow-Woman")

Two wood-cutters, Mosaku and his apprentice Minokichi, encounter a terrible snowstorm and take shelter in an empty hut by a river. The storm gets worse and worse, but they both finally fall asleep. When Minokichi wakes, he sees a woman in white bending over Mosaku breathing bright white smoke onto his face. She then approaches Minokichi. She is very beautiful, but her eyes make him afraid. Eventually she says, “I intended to do the same to you as I did to the old man, but I feel pity for you because you are a handsome young man. If you ever tell anybody what you have seen, however, I will kill you too.” And she vanishes into the snowstorm. It is then that Minokichi discovers his master dead on the floor of the hut. 

Years later Minokichi meets a beautiful girl, who calls herself O-Yuki. He falls in love with her and they live together in his house along with his mother, who fortunately takes a liking to her new “honourable daughter-in-law.” Over the years O-Yuki gives birth to ten children and the villagers all agree that she is a wonderful person. But she is somehow different from them, as she continues to look young and fresh, despite the passing years. Minokichi often thinks of telling O-Yuki about the events of years ago, and eventually, as he is gazing at her beauty one night, he can resist it no more. He begins to tell her about the snowstorm and the terrifying snow-woman. To his horror O-Yuki becomes more and more angry, and she finally screams: “It was me, it was me… and I said I would kill you if you ever told anyone! But for these children asleep here, I would do so this very moment! You had better take very good care of them; if ever they have reason to complain of you, I will treat you as you deserve!” While she screams at him her voice becomes thin, like the crying of the wind, and she melts into a bright white mist spiralling into the roof-beams. At that moment it starts to snow, but O-Yuki is never seen again.

The orchestral score developed out of a cross-cultural project initiated at Morley College, London, in early 2019, aiming to create a melodrama for piano solo and spoken voice to be performed in northern Japan later in the year. It is based on the ghost-story above, which is widely known in Japan. The tale was transcribed and published by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) in 1904 as part of his book “Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things”, a collection that has been highly influential in expressing popular Japanese culture over the past century.

In the Monastery (Borodin)

Scoring: wind sextet - flute, oboe, clarinet in A, horn in F, bass clarinet, contrabassoon

Date: 2023

An arrangement of the first number in Alexander Borodin's "Petite Suite" for piano solo, entitled "In the Monastery", for wind sextet, including a contrabassoon in place of the bassoon. This is an exquisite little piece capturing the deep solemnity and awe of a Russian Orthodox monastery. The arrangement is an experiment in unusual instrumentation of an unusual piece!

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Flower Duet (Delibes)

Scoring: 2 flutes, 2 clarinets in A, 1 bassoon, optional double bass

Date: 2023

The lovely "Flower Duet" from Delibes' "Lakmé" is here arranged for small wind ensemble (2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon) and (optional) double bass. A solo clarinet opens the original singer's introduction, but it is the two flutes who take over the well-known duet melody (particularly after decades of BA adverts) for the rest of the short piece. Careful attention to the dynamic markings (especially the ppp accompaniment at the end) should make this a special moment in any chamber concert.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Nutcracker Mini-Suite (Tchaikovsky)

Scoring: Wind decet and double bass

Date: 2023

An arrangement of five movements from Tchaikovsky's ever-popular "Nutcracker" ballet for double wind quintet (decet) and double bass with optional percussion (cymbals, tambourine, triangle - one player):

1. March

2. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

3. Russian Dance: Trepak

4. Chinese Dance

5. Waltz of the Flowers

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Weary World

Scoring: Treble recorder, baroque bassoon and harpsichord

Date: 2022

A composition for this standard baroque ensemble in a modern idiom! The inspiration for the work is a poem by G K Chesterton entitled "A Christmas Carol" (see below), contrasting the tranquility and brilliance of the Christ-child lying on his mother Mary's lap with the "weariness" of the rest of the world. The music draws on a simple setting I wrote of these words ("The Christ Child") but disrupts the flow with occasional non-harmonic notes and some surprising key changes, gradually shifting the tonality downwards to a more peaceful ending.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

A Christmas Carol poem by G.K.Chesterton

The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary were the world,
But here is all aright.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary's breast
His hair was like a star.
(O stern and cunning are the kings,
But here the true hearts are.) 

The Christ-child lay on Mary's heart,
His hair was like a fire.
(O weary, weary is the world,
But here the world's desire.)

The Christ-child stood on Mary's knee,
His hair was like a crown,
And all the flowers looked up at Him,
And all the stars looked down 

Three-Cornered Hat Mini-Suite (De Falla)

Scoring: Wind sextet (flute, oboe/cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn and bassoon)

Date: 2022

Manuel De Falla’s two suites of dances from the ballet “The Three-Cornered Hat” ("El sombrero de tres picos") contain the most quintessentially Spanish of all orchestral dances ever written, demanding a large orchestra (and singer.) I have here arranged a short “mini-suite” of four movements for wind sextet. All the major characters of the ballet are represented in the movements chosen, including the pompous, disreputable, and rather tipsy town mayor (played by the bassoon briefly in the third movement), the neighbours (who ultimately see justice done, tossing the mayor up and down on a blanket), and of course the dashing miller and his electrifying wife!

1. Neighbours' Dance (Seguidillas)

2.  Miller’s Dance (Farruca)

3.  Afternoon (La Tarde)

4.  Dance of the Miller’s Wife (Fandango)

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

La Boutique Fantasque (Rossini/Repighi)

Scoring: Wind decet, double bass and optional percussion in the last movement (13 minutes)

Date: 2022

Another wind decet arrangement, this time of "La Boutique Fantasque" ("The Fantastic Toyshop") by Rossini and orchestrated by Respighi. Actually, "fantasque" in French means fanciful, whimsical or even magical, and the original score is a wonderful set of pieces forming a ballet concerning a toyshop owner who creates cleverly dancing puppets/dolls. In this arrangement five sections are chosen to make a chamber suite:

1) Overture

2) Mazurka

3) Tarentella

4) Pastorale

5) Can-Can

The ballet is full of fun, ending with the puppets seeing off custoers who want to separate two of the Can-Can dancers who are in love with each other. Think toyshop and you will understand the marching soldiers of the Overture, the dancing dolls of the Mazurka, the hide-and-seek chases of the Tarentella (originally a dance to ward off the tarantula), the cuddly warmth of the Pastorale, and the craziness of the Can-Can!

Optional percussion (triangle, plus anything that can be bashed) has here been scored in the final movement to add to the general riotousness...

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Czardas (Monti)

Scoring: 2 clarinets and small wind ensemble

Arrangers: Sally Shaub and PLB

Date: 2021

An arrangement by Sally Shaub and me of Vittorio Monti's "Czardas". Originally for solo violin and orchestra or piano, here it is arranged for two virtuoso clarinets accompanied by a small wind ensemble and double bass.

Links: pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Eight Easy Christmas Carols for Bassoon Duet

Scoring: two bassoons

Date: 2020

Seven traditional and one original Christmas carols arranged for bassoon duet for beginning bassoonists of grades 1-3 standard. This collection contains carol arrangements of varying degrees of difficulty and in various keys. They can of course be played fast or slow. The aim is to provide material that is fun to play, recognizably familiar, yet with a high standard of musical integrity and encouraging some independence of the two parts.

1. Away in a manger
2. God rest you merry, gentlemen
3. Hark, the herald angels sing
4. Jingle bells
5. O come, all ye faithful
6. Silent night
7. Watt's cradle carol
8. While shepherds watched

Links: pdf - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6 - sib 8

Pavane pour une Infante Defunte

An arrangement for double wind quintet and double bass of Ravel's short masterpiece, originally for piano and then - brilliantly - orchestrated by him.  However, Ravel's horn part presenting the melody at the start is notoriously high and exposed, so I have taken the liberty of giving this to the oboe, instead. His oboe part, in turn, is very low and exposed in places, and I have taken the opportunity to rescore this and many other parts. Not that I claim to be improving on the master's orchestration, but simply in order to make this beautifully simple piece more accessible, without losing its almost universal appeal!

Scoring: Wind decet and double bass

Links:  pdf (score)  - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Repton Variations

For the "lockdown" version, see below***

Scoring: Wind sextet (flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, french horn in F and bassoon)
Date: 2019
An original composition of mine: "Repton" is the name of the tune by Sir Hubert Parry for the well-known and much loved hymn "Dear Lord and Father of mankind". There are ten variations on the original theme, each widely different in character, and each given a subtitle from lines of the original hymn. The finale is a rollicking fugue! See below for the titles and times of each variation.

Links:  pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Theme - "Dear Lord and Father of mankind" (0:00)
Variation 1 - "Rise up and follow thee" (0:35)
Variation 2 - "Forgive our foolish ways" (1:05)
Variation 3 - "Beside the Syrian sea" (1:34)
Variation 4 - "Reclothe us in our rightful mind" (2:42)
Variation 5 - "Till all our strivings cease" (3:30)
Variation 6 - "In simple trust" (5:03)
Variation 7 - "Breathe through the heats of our desire" (6:12)
Variation 8 - "Take from our souls the strain and stress" (7:34)
Variation 9 - "Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire" (8:51)
Variation 10 - "O still, small voice of calm" (10:33)
Finale - Fugue (12:36)


***Lockdown version:
To assist with performing a "Lockdown" version of the Repton Variations, these video scores have been created which display the individual parts (page turns made manageable) with full sextet sound plus metronome clicks to keep players synchronized:

Links: sib (score) - pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - mxl - midi - sib 6

Full score:

Flute:

Oboe:

Clarinet:

Bass Clarinet:

Horn:

Bassoon:

A Sad Song? (Happy Birthday)

(2 versions:)

Scoring: Wind sextet (flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, horn in F, bassoon)
Date: 2020
Basically a short, tongue-in-cheek introduction to "Happy Birthday" for wind sextet! 

Links:  pdf (score) - pdf (parts) - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6

Scoring: Piano
Date: 2020
A piano reduction of the accompaniment to the song

Links:  pdf - mp3 - midi - mxl - sib - sib 6