TWO WORKS FOR NARRATOR AND WIND BAND BY MY COMPOSER OF THE MONTH WITH HIS PUBLISHER, SILLY BLACK DOG
WHO IS HE, AND WHAT IS HIS OUTSTANDING WORK FOR 2014?
….read more
For your family concert in 2014-2015, why not try New York Composer Laurence Bitensky’s
….inspired by Lumberjack Stories, commissioned by the Band of the US Marines, The President’s Own.
His publisher, Chloe, barks:
Hi! I'm Chloe, Larry Bitensky's black labrador retriever. Larry's a great composer and musician, but let's face it he's no organizational wizard.
That's where I come in! Dogs love having a job to do, and Larry gave me the job of running his publishing company, named for yours truly. Great idea--right?
Problem is, I can't do math, setup Paypal accounts, or any of that stuff. So, if you want a score for any of Larry's great tunes, just click on the piece you want and you can download a score for free!
If you'd like a set of parts for anything or if the score is unavailable, just click on the tennis ball to send Larry an email with your request. IT'S ALL FREE!
Enjoy the music!
wind ensemble work with narrator
KATANYA (2013) For Narrator and Concert Band
FEARSOME CRITTERS (2012) For Narrator and Concert Band
Contact Laurence Bitensky by clicking on the ball or bitensky@centre.edu
Larry writes: In 2011, I was greatly honored to be selected as the commissioned composer for
the Helen and Sam Kaplan Foundation commissioning project at St. Mary’s University. The commission is for a piece for symphonic band by a Jewish composer based on a Jewish theme. I knew early on that I wanted to try my hand at a dramatic piece for band and narrator, and after culling through many different materials, I was delighted to find the story of Katanya, a Jewish folk tale from Turkey contained in Howard Schwartz’s collection of Jewish oral tales, Leaves from the Garden of Eden.
Like other Jewish tales such as Jewish versions of Cinderella, this tale mixes Jewish elements with universal elements, and as Schwartz points out, Katanya is clearly a variant of the Tom Thumb/Thumbelina tale type. The story is a quintessentially Jewish tale however, in that it features the Prophet Elijah, who appears in countless Jewish tales as a supernatural figure appearing in disguise to help a worthy person in need.
I tried to reflect this mixed quality in the music as well. The story spoke to me in its directness and simplicity, and it immediately suggested a magical, dreamlike, and Ravelian sound world. Many of the musical motives however, are based on Katanya’s final song, which is an imitation of the many Jewish folks songs that I grew up with.
A special thanks to Janet Heukeshoven, director of the St. Mary’s University Concert Band and to Patrick Kagan-Moore, my colleague at Centre College, for his assistance in creating the narrator part.