Claude Debussy
Gardens in the Rain from Estampes L100
Víkingur Ólafsson (piano)

Manuel de Falla
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Movt 3: In the gardens of the Sierra de la Cordoba 
Alicia di Laroccha (piano)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (conductor) 

Traditional: Down By The Sally Gardens
The Cambridge Singers
City of London Sinfonia
John Rutter (conductor) 

Percy Grainger
Country Gardens
Eastman Rochester Pops Orchestra 
Frederick Fennell (conductor)

Musical Gardens

Percy Grainger - The Immovable Do for Clarinet Choir (arr. Matt Johnston)

The music of Percy Grainger is beloved by band musicians worldwide, and “Two Grainger Episodes” presents a pair of Grainger works that showcases his unique style and innovative flair for the concert band. Excerpted from his famous “British Folk-Music Settings” we hear "The Merry King” and “There was a Pig Went Out to Dig,” masterfully scored by Christopher Greco, in the inimitable Grainger style. An excellent concert or festival choice for advanced bands!

Recorded by The Washington Winds, Edward S. Petersen, conductor

Click here to purchase: https://barnhouse.com/product/012-5098-00/

Two Grainger Episodes

Please visit www.themusicofalexthode.com for more information.

Repertoire:
"Symphony No. 2" — Gustav Mahler
"Children’s March" — Percy Grainger
"Pan’s Labyrinth Lullaby" — Javier Navarrete
"Winds of Change" — Oliver Davis
"Tree of Life" — Audiomachine

Commissioned by the Terry High School Marching Band (Rosenberg, TX)

Irish Tune From County Derry (Danny Boy) - For Woodwind Choir (Percy Grainger)

playing with the metaphor of musical collaborations being analogous to sexual collaborations.
basically a "mr squiggle" type listening test to see if there was a way to compose music around those intimate moans that would otherwise be too explicit and attention-seeking to be interesting, trying to choose delicate sounds, avoiding using any masculine sounds in the mix which often accompany similar samples in industrial / breakcore. 

Idea stemmed from thinking about composing music for languages that are pitch dependent...so originally was thinking of exploring microtonality in order to achieve that if required, but here the very basic consonant sounds harmonized well enough for some reason...perhaps precision is a good thing in science but a bad thing in art? Or do people instinctively moan in tune? (only Adam Neely could answer this with an hour long academic video essay!) 

Also there is the liberation of allowing the rhythm of the moaning to set the track tempo...while also resisting the urge to cut it up and lock it to the grid. It produced unexpected outcomes. 

Programming the VOPM synth was much harder than i expected (the graphic envelope display is so small it is only of homeopathic effect). So some of the patches would sound better if duplicated and panned with slight adjustments but FLstudio was crashing too often and I took that as a sign to come back better prepared next time. (also patches that would be easy with 8 stage envelopes require more thought with only ADDR) It was problematic to use my usual hard limiting settings to "master" the Casio MT-18 drums without them clipping, so i had to attempt using an actual compressor which I then mixed in parallel with the original to restore the transients while making sure the bass was as phat and creamy as possible. 

The samples of the voice in the middle section are a reminder not to dehumanize people...people are multifaceted, playing many different roles in life and can't be merely reduced to their sexual preferences, kinks or fetishes. It is important to have a message or express something...even if that thing is perhaps embarrassing, not merely be making gear demos to shill equipment which just enables the capitalist mindset that everything is about consumption and individual gratification. The mind and the body are...unfortunately...interconnected...they are not always in alignment...but the idea here is to allow those contradictions to co-exist and be public rather than suppress one or the other leading to shame, toxicity, false dichotomies and violent projections.

The obvious critique of this work is that I did not achieve my original intention of completely REPLACING the moan with an instrument. This is because A) My hardware is all broken / offline / in storage so I can't process the vocal with a Casio VA-10, Roland Gi-10 or some such pitch to midi converter. and B) I think there is a plug in that does this in the DAW but I have forgotten which one it is, where it is on my hard drive and how to use it. and C) I have some appointments to get to and other ideas to incubate so I wanted to upload it before the computer dies.  A fully realized version of this track would be playable in any environment, to people of any age as the "adult" elements would be fully obfuscated and sublimated into the music.

Wilma Bessel - Rythmes Harmoniques

Please visit www.themusicofalexthode.com for more information.

Repertoire:
"Married Life" — Michael Giacchino
"Overture from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure" — Danny Elfman
"Children’s March" — Percy Grainger
"When She Loved Me" — Randy Newman
"Hunting Wabbits 2 (A Bad Hare Day)" — Gordon Goodwin

Percussion and sound design by Riley Warren

Commissioned by the Aubrey High School Marching Band (Aubrey, TX)

The Playground

Azami Records
#ShowaDigital #KashioKei #AzamiOngaku
Defiant and diverse melodic/VGM/BGM music.
incl. Sakitto Menda related side-projects. 
Likes late Showa era digital keyboards.

Alex Thode (he/him) would first like you to know that not only is the “e” at the end of his last name not silent, but that he is also a composer and arranger most known for his work in the pageantry arts. He resides in Waukesha, Wisconsin with his cat, Buzz. An alumnus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Alex composes and arranges for marching bands across the continental United States.

Alex's clientele have been Bands of America (BOA) Regional Champions and Finalists, UIL State Finalists and Area Champions, and WGI Winds World Champions, with Finalists in every classification. He has also had the privilege of having his arrangements performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Tournament of Roses Bandfest.

In addition to his compositions and arrangements for the pageantry arts, Alex also composes symphonic band and chamber percussion works.

In his free time, Alex enjoys watching movies and believing he’s a professional film critic, hiking and pretending that he’s athletic, traveling to National Parks — of which he’d eventually like to visit all — and acting like he’s Marco Polo, playing piano, guitar and a variety of kalimbas, and being with good company.

Paul studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London. His first appointment was co-principal trumpet of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden eventually moving from this position to join Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the UK’s premier contemporary ensemble, London Sinfonietta. During this period Paul was a prize-winner at the Toulon Prix de Concours alongside Hakan Hardenburger and Eric Aubier. His success in this competition allowed him to develop his solo career. 
On the retirement of Philip Jones, Paul was a founder-member of English Brass Ensemble and toured extensively with this group for many years, focussing on the contemporary brass ensemble repertoire. Paul has worked with many of the world’s leading composers including Witold Lutoslawski, Elliott Carter, Gunther Schuller, Peter Maxwell Davies, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez , Toru Takemitsu, George Benjamin and Harrison Birtwistle.
Paul has also been principal trumpet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and is still currently a member of one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras, Britten Sinfonia: resident ensemble at the Barbican, London.
His career as a trumpeter has covered many genres: classical, contemporary, commercial, film, pop and folk music, and he has worked with many popular artists including Barbara Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Sir Paul McCartney, Bloc Party and Oasis. He was also invited to perform with trumpeter Maurice Murphy at the wedding of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
His film work includes Batman (1989), Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Shrek, Madagascar, The Chronicles of Narnia, Rambo, Sweeney Todd, Moulin Rouge and Pirates of the Caribbean. In the studio he has worked with many of the great film composers such as Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, John Williams, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith. His interest in folk music stems from his work with the iconic folk group, Brass Monkey and the folk-rock band, Home Service. 
Paul’s work as a chamber musician includes long-established relationships with three London-based chamber orchestras, Britten Sinfonia, London Mozart Players and Orchestra of St John’s. As principal trumpet of these orchestras he regularly performs the solo trumpet repertoire and contributes to their creative educational and community-based projects. 
In 2003 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, London, limited to 300 former Academy students, and awarded to those musicians who have distinguished themselves within the music profession. 

In 2010 Paul founded English Brass Academy and has since developed collaborations with many UK and international schools in countries such as Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, Poland and Ukraine. 
Paul is also an active composer and arranger and many of his works are published by Brass Wind Publications. He is the editor of two series of brass music: English Brass Collection and the Paul Archibald Collection. 
His discography includes solo works for trumpet and piano (Joie de Vivre and Divertissment) and a range of concerti with the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Gerhardt. Paul also brought together the International Celebrity Trumpet Ensemble for an iconic recording of original works for trumpet ensemble, featuring Ryan Anthony, Maurice Murphy, Gabor Tarkovi, Hans Gansch and other world class musicians. His recording of the Shostakovich Concerto No 1 op 35 for trumpet, piano and strings with Alain Lefèvre (piano), Mathias Bamert (conductor) and the London Mozart Players was awarded Canada's prestigious JUNO award for best Classical Album in 2010
In 2019 Paul founded a new charity - Harmony: Action Through the Arts - bringing benefit to young people who are socially and economically disadvantaged through activity in a range of musical projects. Paul is currently Head of Woodwind and Brass at Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, Thailand

New tracks tagged #Percy Grainger