Portfolio & Rates

PROJECTS

CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND LARGE ORCHESTRA – MANUEL PONCÉ
The American Symphony Orchestra programmed the Poncé Violin Concerto with Ann Akiko Meyers to be performed in November of 2006.  Peer Music, publisher of the concerto, determined that none of their available materials were complete, and worked with the ASO to jointly contract me to produce a new edition based on a copy of Poncé’s manuscript score that had been in the possession of the work’s dedicatee Henryk Szering who’d both conducted the work and played the solo part on numerous occasions.  The score was covered in alterations, corrections, and later conductor’s markings, many of which had found their way into later “published” parts.  Consulting with this score, with the remaining parts from Szering’s original set, and with a few recordings, a new edition was made adhering as closely as possible to the composer’s original intentions.  This score and set has now been performed from both by the American Symphony Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. 

 

LE ROI MALGRÉ LUI – EMMANUEL CHABRIER
A work which failed at its premiere due far more to a cohesive but not easily stageable (by 19th century standards) libretto than to the fire that ravaged the opera house after only three performances, this opera, full of infectious and effervescent music, languished untouched until in the 1930’s Albert Carré, director of the Paris Opera Comique, rewrote the libretto.  He then took the copies of the score in the archives of the publisher Enoch e Cie and permanently inked in his new libretto, crossed out the old lyrics, and physically carved up the score to rearrange the movements to suit his new version.  The set of parts was treated to similar surgery, obliterating many sections of music with pasted-in handwritten inserts to suit the new sequences.  This was the only score and set in existence for the succeeding 70 years, and with some performance history resulting from the alteration, the original pages, all dating to the 1870’s, were in rather derelict condition.  The new score was based on the happy discovery of a rare piano-vocal score of the original version in the music collection of Harvard University’s library.  I’d first attempted to reconstruct the edition from Carre’s altered orchestral materials, but determined that there were simply too many omissions and deletions, and that new materials would have to be made.   This new edition reflects the movement order and libretti of both versions.  To my knowledge mine is the only complete performance edition of Chabrier’s opera in the original edition, and has been performed thus far only once, by the American Symphony Orchestra in April of 2005.

 

DIE ZERSTÖRUNG JERUSALEMS – FERDINAND HILLER
An exceedingly popular oratorio in 19th century Germany written by a student of Beethoven and an esteemed friend of Mendelssohn (who prepared the piano-vocal score), Ferdinand Hiller’s oratorio The Destruction of Jerusalem fell from favor as musical styles swung to towards Wagnerism at the end of the 19th century.  With the political rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, Jewish composers like Hiller were purged from German musical history, to the point that even the publisher Furstner’s plates and materials for this work were destroyed.  I believe one set of parts survives in the collection of the Netherlands Royal Library, which refused to copy them or allow me to examine them.  For performance I found a useable piano/vocal score in an antiquarian bookshop in the Netherlands, and the Library of Congress possesses a tattered copy of the full score.  From these sources I produced a complete set of parts, used in performance by the American Symphony Orchestra in April of 2008.  Based on the success and beauty of this work, its noteworthy history, and the fact that the oratorio is quite within the wherewithal of any capable amateur choral society to mount, one of my next personal projects will be to complete the edition, finishing a new full score and piano-vocal, and then see if I can find a publisher interested in this work.

 

LES DEUX AVEUGLES – JACQUES OFFENBACH
The Summerscape Festival at Bard College considered this work at one point for performance during the summer of 2007. At that time all that we could acquire was a complete (if rather antique) piano-vocal score, a partial full score, and an incomplete set of parts. In preparation for the performance a completed score of the work was needed, so starting from the partial materials and keeping in the style and lightness of the work, I completed the work.

In the time since OeK has produced a critical edition full score and set, which to my great pleasure is nearly identical to the score as I have here reconstructed it.

 

Concerti for Violin and Orchestra, Concerto for Viola and Strings – Jorge López Marín – Eric Grossman

 

VISION OF THE APOCALYPSE – VIRGINIA GENE RITTENHOUSE
A project of immense scope undertaken for a former teacher, this went from assembling and editing a pile of Dr. Rittenhouse’s manuscripts spanning a genesis and evolution of some 40 years, in some cases the layered alterations making a white-out blot on the page a quarter of an inch thick.  Working closely with the composer, we assembled the material in the order intended, and created a complete piano-vocal score.  This was paired with her sketches for orchestration, realized by Robert Wilson, and the final full score, piano-vocal score, and orchestral set were used in premiere in Carnegie Hall in April of 2004, and have been used in several performances internationally since.

JAMAICAN SUITE - VIRGINIA GENE RITTENHOUSE
 One of Virginia Gene's most charming sets, typset in preparation for a premiere performance in Carnegie Hall in 2007.

RETROSPECTIVE VARIATIONS - VIRGINIA GENE RITTENHOUSE
 One of Virginia Gene's most charming sets, typset in preparation for a premiere performance in Carnegie Hall in 2007. 

 

CAROLS OF THE MOON – SARAH MASSEY
Composed throughout already, and already typeset in Sibelius, this 90-minute work needed a piano-vocal score made from Dr. Massey’s full score.  A very complex and highly dissonant, atonal work for five solo voices, orchestra, and computer-generated sound, this score required close collaboration with the composer to understand what sounds from the orchestra were meant to be prominent, and what would be useful in the reduction to support the singers.

 

ARRANGEMENTS

SONATA á 7 - GIOVANNI BATTISTA BUONAMENTE
Originally for seven parts, and known to brass groups through Robert King's arrangement generally requiring at least six performers, this arrangement brings this work into the repertoire of the standard brass quintet.

 

LOBET DEN HERRN - JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
A four-part motet, one of Bach's "Cothen" motets, arranged for brass quintet.

 

OTHER SAMPLE PAGES

 

Please take a look at my COMPOSITIONS page as well; all the samples there (including the handwritten ones) are my own work.

RATES

Because of the breadth of varieties and complexities of music, and because of the often close deadlines music production observes, there is no cut-and-dried per-unit fee; estimates of the cost of a project can only be made in consultation with the client, and generally will necessitate an examination of the musical materials.  Please CONTACT ME if you have questions, or have a project you’d like to discuss.

For most projects a 50% deposit will be required and a contract signed before work will commence.  The remaining 50% will be due upon delivery of the completed project.