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Click the quotation text to discover what it refers to!
Fand Music Press is a publisher of high quality sheet music, CDs and books, all focussing on accessible 20th Century and contemporary composers and concentrating mainly on first editions. Please use the tabs at the top of the page to explore the catalogue. Further details, such as information about ordering, can be found on the Contact/Info page.
Fand announces a varied selection of pieces by Peter Thompson and Carey Blyton this Easter:
Labyrinth was completed in February 2021 and is a single movement work for full orchestra. Its ‘labyrinthine way’ might be suggested by the weaving, developing and return, often slightly alarmingly, of different musical material. This creates a gradual building of tension, but there is release in the final bars, perhaps into spacious skies and seas…
Carey Blyton had a rare talent for melodic invention. Girl Friday was originally commissioned by Boosey & Hawkes, and was originally scored for piano and string orchestra in 1974. The original version can be heard on the Carey Blyton – Film & Television Music (1/4) CD, available from Fand.
However, the chic melodic charm and captivating immediacy of Girl Friday – with her slightly South American flavour – seemed to call out for a solo piano arrangement, particularly one playable by the Grade 4–5 pianist. Hence this special Fand edition of the work, arranged by John Mitchell and Peter Thompson.
With words from a roundel by A. C. Swinburne written in 1883, after he had retired to The Pines, Putney, the poem explores a ‘living memory’ of over 20 years before, when Swinburne had visited Italy and Ventimiglia:
This new setting is dedicated to Lorna Windsor (Web site), who in 1981 premiered Peter Thompson’s Four Swinburne Pictures.
Having been awarded Sheet Music Publisher of the Year two years running by the SME News Southern Enterprise Awards, Fand Music Press’ reputation for quality and enterprise in music publishing has now been recognised internationally by its being granted a Corporate LiveWire Global Award for:
In such a competitive market, Fand is delighted to learn of this recognition for its service to contemporary classical music publishing.
The award text (also available to download as a PDF) notes in particular “the quality of the publisher’s platform” and how it is “easy to explore the sheet music, recordings, and books that Fand Music Press offers in its impressive catalogue” of more than 40 composers, authors and recording artists.
Fand is excitied to announce a trio of orchestral character pieces by Carey Blyton, plus another new song cycle by John Mitchell and a didactic suite of piano pieces by Adrian Williams:
Mary Webb (1881–1927) had a great love of her native Shropshire, where she spent most of her short life. Her most significant writing dates from her mid-thirties, and her collected poems were not published until shortly after her death. Much of her verse focuses on a detailed observation of the rural Shropshire landscape, with some notable descriptions of nature. The five poems selected for Secret Joys are in this category, and the songs to which they give rise have all been given titles referencing a colour. The name of the collection itself alludes to the original title of the fourth set poem: The Secret Joy.
Continuing with our Adrian Williams series, we are delighted to present these Three Piano Pieces, a charming, rather English Sicilienne sandwiched between two very vivacious, fast moving numbers, Little Toccata and Scherzetto.
The set is very pianistically laid out and would suit aspiring Grade 6+ players; indeed they were originally written for Adrian’s son, Eugene, when he was about 10 years old. We are happy to report that he enjoyed them very much!
These three orchestral works were written for different forces and are excellent repertoire, encores or ‘fillers’ for any orchestral concert programme. They are wonderfully tuneful and are thus memorable from a first hearing, and are sure to be loved by most audiences.
Peter Thompson’s ’Cello Concertino was written between 2000 and 2001, and is in three linked movements which run continuously. The second movement references music Thompson wrote at Cambridge Arts College in the early 1970s, specifically the Two Sonnets for Small Orchestra, which were prefaced by words of James Joyce: “Welladay! Welladay! For the winds of May! Love is unhappy when love is away.” The Concertino is now available as both a full orchestral score and as a large-format Conductor Score. A piano reduction is also available for purchase. The solo ’cello part is included, and orchestral parts are available on request.
Several pieces of music published by Fand are to be performed in a fascinating concert near Cambridge towards the end of April. A Choral Concert with Church Bells is being held to celebrate the installation of two new bells in All Saints’ Church, Landbeach, augmenting the bell tower from four to six bells. A BBC News story has further details about the bells and their installation.
The concert is being performed by the St Augustine’s Singers, conducted by Philip Mead, and the programme will include two of Philip’s own compositions: Christmas Bells and The Nightingale – both with suitably adapted words – together with Richard Hallas’s arrangement of Suo Gân.
| Title: | A Choral Concert with Church Bells |
| Venue: | All Saints’ Church
Green End Landbeach Cambridge CB25 9FD (See on a map…) |
| Date: | Saturday, 27th April |
| Time: | 6 pm (finishes around 7:30) |
| Price: | FREE Donations welcome Refreshments and bar available |
The concert is due to be featured on local radio.
For further details, visit the concert’s Facebook event page.
Previous announcements may be found in the Fand News Archive.
