Lovely anthem for peace, great work Brian (and all the kids in the choir!)

How very enjoyable to listen to, absolutely lovely!!

not too simple, Brian; the melody has some tricky elements. The children manage it very good. Nice and freshing composition.

Hello, I present to you my new composition, I am a big fan of the Star Wars world, and discovered the series The Mandalorian, I really liked the musical theme of the series and I wanted to remake it in my own way, in hoping you like it and that Ludwig Göransson won't mind ;)
Good listening

Alexndre

The Mandalorian Theme | Powerful & Motivational epic Music | A Ludwig Göransson Cover

Beneath a Canopy of Wings for flute and clarinet was inspired by Norman Finkelstein’s poem Exile.  He writes: “A song hovers above the trees, settles in the branches, turns into a bird.”  At times the music is contemplative, almost whispering, full of secret longing.  Or, it is shrill and wild, brimming with restless energy.  It was written for Duo Cylindre’s Lizzy Darling and Andrea Vos-Rochefort.  Every note they play, whether delicate or forceful, is expressive and moving.  They sing together like birds in flight.

I.	The Nightbird’s Song 
II.	The Piper at the Gate of Dawn 
III.	A Thousand Farewells

In the first movement, the silvery flute dances and flutters around the darker, somewhat mournful clarinet as it sings its plaintive, mysterious song.  In the second movement, the musical voices, or birds if you will, converse with each other and display greater contrast of character than previously.  They are quite independent until they unite about two-thirds of the way through and then share fragments of their earlier songs as their conversation resumes.  The third movement is an elegy for an elderly friend.  The repeated tones prevalent throughout its musical ideas flatten their melodic contour and add a somber weight to its expression of grief.  

Beneath a Canopy of Wings was the winner of the 2021 Flute New Music Consortium Competition for Flute Plus One.

Beneath A Canopy Of Wings

The Lost Ship

In this invention, I used only major thirds/minor sixths and minor seconds/major sevenths, both melodically and harmonically.

II. Adagio

Into The Ashlight

Mieczyslaw Weinberg (Polish: Wajnberg) wrote his first string quartet in May 1937.
(...)In the summer of 1941, Weinberg was forced to flee for a second time. On this occasion, he made his way to Tashkent, to where members of the Leningrad Conservatory were also evacuated in the autumn. In December, he had an opportunity to hear his String Quartet No. 2, Op. 3 performed by these exiled musicians. Afterwards, the work probably ended up in a drawer and was shown only to composer-friends, which would explain the similarity between this piece and certain episodes from Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 6, written at a later period when both composers maintained close contact. Forty-five years later, Weinberg returned to the material of his youth. Using the experience he had gained over the past decades, he made certain alterations. He changed very little in the first two movements: he made a few abbreviations, developed certain themes in a slightly different way, and added variety to others by complementing existing parts with new ones; sometimes he also changed the articulation or register. He then added a new movement in the form of a short delicate intermezzo (largely through playing con sordino and the abundance of rests between the short motifs). Relatively speaking, he made the most changes to the existing finale. And it is this new version of String Quartet No. 2, this time assigned opus number 145, that the Silesian Quartet performs on this disc.
(...)
At the end of September 1943, the fugitive from Warsaw settled in Moscow. It was not his first stay in Moscow, as he had been there earlier, in 1940, as a delegate from Minsk for an event called the Decade of Belarusian Art. It was there that he met Nikolai Myaskovsky, regarded as a leading figure in the Moscow composer community, and on his return to Moscow he naturally immediately renewed that acquaintance. Soon, he also found himself in frequent contact with Shostakovich, who had moved permanently to Moscow a few months earlier (Leningrad was still under siege). Weinberg was admitted to the Composers’ Union, which was a very important step, as it opened up opportunities for performing and publishing his new works. In February 1944, he began work on his first “Moscow” piece, String Quartet No. 3, Op. 14. At the time, this was a popular genre among Soviet composers – string quartets were being penned both by older composers, including Myaskovsky, and members of the younger generation, such as Yuri Levitin, a friend of Weinberg. These new scores quickly found willing performers among the many excellent musicians based in Moscow at the time.
(...)
The Bolshoi Theatre Quartet performed String Quartet No. 4, which was dedicated to the ensemble, on 19 January 1946. In 1959, the work appeared in print as Weinberg’s first published quartet, and four years later it was discussed by Lev Raaben in a monograph on Soviet chamber music. In keeping with the trend of the time, what he primarily heard in the piece were the echoes of war. The two opening movements were intended to reflect the enemy invasion and a heroic mood. The funeral march in the third movement seemed obvious given the programme of the work, and the finale was interpreted by Raabe as a reminiscence of a carefree childhood, although most listeners tend to associate it with the beginning of Mendelssohn’s Octet; we do not know whether this was deliberate or accidental. Twelve years later, Ludmila Nikitina interpreted the Quartet differently. Above all else, she was struck by the echoes of Jewish music recognisable in the second movement. Her sensitive ear proved to be closer to the composer’s own intentions, as years later Weinberg used this very movement in his Symphony No. 21, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto, entitled Kaddish, which means a prayer for the dead.
Danuta Gwizdalanka

ACD 291 Track10 Wajnberg String Quartet No  4 Op  20 - III  Largo Marciale

For April 4th, some techno from the 404mkII. 

The arp line was sampled direct from a DB-01, but with the filters wide open to give me the freedom to get in with the mkII’s FX and mess it up (and everything else, for that matter).

I'm getting more comfortable with the 404’s (lack of) workflow. The hardest right now is not being able to go back and tweak all the levels I've baked in via resampling. This definitely forces me to make decisions, and less fussing and more music is good… But to make a habit of this, I'm going to have to really get down and just practice with the 404’s mastering FX. I feel like my mix is all over the place with this one.

Weekly Beats

English Lit

A suite of songs based on the music from the move "Far and Away" and the music of Oscar-award-winning composer John Williams. This arrangement by Kurt Bestor is found on Jenny Oaks Baker's CD "Silver Screen Serenade" and features wildly technical violin packages (ala Paganini) and richly emotional melody lines. 

Far And Away Suite

When I Hear Music
Music and Lyrics by Brian Katona
Lyrics inspired by the Maurice Hawk Elementary School Chorus (2016)
2-Part Treble Chorus and Piano
Score available at:
http://stores.imaginemusicpublishing.com/when-i-hear-music/

A choral piece inspired by and inspiring to children both young and old, When I Hear Music is a beautiful yet simple composition for two-part voices with a flowing melody and heartfelt words. Brian Katona’s lyrics and music were inspired by the 2015–2016 third grade class at Maurice Hawk Elementary School, and the result is a touching tribute to the school and the children’s expression of the importance of music in their lives.

Maurice Hawk Elementary School Chorus
Irene Allesee, conductor
Janice Anderson-Chapin, piano
Double V Digital Recordings
http://doublevdigital.com/

Whimsical and cheerful, with a super text for expressing the joy of music, this delightful unison or two-part treble piece will make a great concert opener for your elementary chorus.

When I Hear Music

Buy on JW Pepper

When I Hear Music (Winner of the Songs for Peace Competition)

Composer:  Ludmila Santini
Piano:           Ludmila Santini
Saxophone: Berndt Sjögren 

Christmas Snow

What Would I Have to Do? (Piano)

Brian Katona is a regional Emmy® Award-Winning composer and Telly® Award-Winning producer. Recent film/television credits: The Red River Flood (Emmy® Nominated Producer, Yucca Valley Film Festival Winner, Garden State Film Festival Winner, Paris Art & Movie Awards Nominee, South Dakota Film Festival Nominee), The Long Hair (Telly Award Winner, Tracks Music Award Winner, Munich Film Awards Winner, Venice Shorts Winner, Global Music Awards Winner), The Builder (Emmy® Award Winner for best musical composition), A Hope For Hartly (Best Melodic Theme, Garden State Film Festival), PEI Kids: Generation Change (Film: Broader Vision Award, Garden State Film Festival), The Town That Disappeared Overnight (Film: Two time Emmy Winner, Garden State Film Festival Winner), Biserici De Lemn Din Romania (SEEFest Official Selection), I Throw Rocks (Film: Maumee Film Festival Winner), My Spirited Sister (Sitcom). Theater credits: Jesse James: Dead or Alive. Commercial recordings: The Voice of Christmas: “The Night Before Christmas,” A Christmas Journey: “I Wonder What I'll Get for Christmas.” Published concert music (Imagine Music): Anthem for the Patriots, Space Battle, Space Fantasy, When I Hear Music, An Irish Blessing.

When I Hear Music (Winner of the Songs for Peace Competition)

Brian Katona–Composer

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