Händel: Joy To The World

"Joy To The World" is one of my favourite Christmas carols. It's just so, well, joyful! 

Playing duets with friends or family members is a lovely way to celebrate the holidays. 

Maybe joyful and hopeful music is particularly important in a year in which many people around the world have faced great challenges. 

Let's hope the new year will bring better times for all!

Joy To The World is one of 20 carols in my Violin and Cello Christmas Duet Book.

The Christmas Duet Book is also available for violin and viola, viola duet, 

viola and cello, and cello duet.

Wishing everyone a joyful holiday, and a happy new year with lots of music!

Waltz from Sleeping Beauty - and more duets for viola and cello!

What is it that I always say?

- There are not enough duets for viola and cello in the world! -

Well, I have done my bit to better the situation, by finishing The Viola and Cello Duet Book!

This is a collection of 21 lovely pieces for viola and cello friends (or siblings) to play together. In fact, I originally made it as a birthday gift for my viola-playing brother :)

One of those pieces is the famous waltz from Tcaikovsky's ballet Sleeping Beauty. This melody was made even more famous when Walt Disney used it in his retelling of the old fairy tale in 1959:

And then it hit the charts again in 2014, when Lana Del Rey's version Once Upon A Dream was heard in the movie Maleficent.

My version stays closer to Tcaikovsky's original:

 

Sooner or later I might get around to making Duet Books for other string instruments, too. Until then, some of the duets in this collection are already available for violin and viola, violin and cello, viola duet and cello duet. Download them here: Elin Korneliussen duets at Sheet Music Plus.

Enjoy!

The Merry Folk from "A Fantasy Suite" for string quartet

The Merry Folk is the fifth movement from A Fantasy Suite , written for young string quartets.

«A Fantasy Suite» takes you on a journey through imaginary realms both dangerous and beautiful: past enchanted rivers and forests where elves sing and dance among the trees.

Inspired by folklore and fairytales as well as fantasy books, games and movies, this piece provides a fun challenge for young string players and adult ensembles alike. All of the players are allowed to shine, although the first violin part requires more position playing than the others.

Level: Easy/early intermediate. While the movements vary a bit in difficulty, The Merry Folk is fairly easy.

Movements:

1. The Path Ahead
2. The Enchanted River
3. Lost In The Nether
4. Rain In The Forest Of The Elves
5. The Merry Folk

The whole suite, complete with all parts, is available at Sheet Music Plus.

 Hear the second movement here: The Enchanted River.

Mozart: May Song - Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge

Finally, it's coming around again (at least, it is in my part of the world): Springtime! And what better way to celebrate than playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's wonderful May Song - also known as Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge, or "Longing For Spring"?

This is a classic four-part arrangement for string quartet or orchestra, a slightly different version from the one I have previously published. May your spring be sunny and filled with joyful music making!

The parts are available for download at Sheet Music Plus.

Christmas Carol: To Drive The Cold Winter Away

Time to start practicing for those end of the year concerts? Why not try this lovely old carol: «To Drive The Cold Winter Away», also known as «All Hail To The Days» or «In Praise Of Christmas». This Elizabethan carol is a praise of all the comfort there is to be had in the darkest time of the year:

«This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other in love do greet;
Old grudges forgot, are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay,
The old and the young doth carol his song,
To drive the cold winter away.»

This pleasant theme of midwinter comforts makes this piece a good choice for winter events such as school parties and New Year festivities as well as for Christmas concerts.

In this arrangement for string orchestra with piano, all the parts have significant and interesting roles to play (although it's possible to do without the piano, if you skip the intro). The difficulty level is fairly easy, but the players must of course be able to play in the D minor/F major key.

Separate parts available at Sheet Music Plus.

Wedding March from Lødingen for String Duet

Yay, more duet music for viola and cello! 😁

This wedding march is a lovely folk tune that has been played at weddings in Norway for generations. It originates in Lødingen in Nordland, but is well known all over the country. You can listen to a sound clip here!

Download this duet together with two other traditional Norwegian wedding tunes at Sheet Music Plus. Also available for violin and viola or violin and cello!

The Banks Of Allan - Scottish Jig

Jigs and reels and other lively folk dance tunes are always popular in my youth orchestra. This one is a jig from Scotland, and a lot of fun to play! I have tried to give all of the parts some interesting challenges. The piano part is optional.

You can download the parts on Sheet Music Plus - in which case you'll get an Irish jig into the bargain :)

Copyrighted arrangement: Firework

All the music I have published on this blog are either my arrangements of music in the public domain, or my own compositions. The reason being, of course, copyright.

But I recently discovered a way to publish my arrangements of copyrighted music, too: through SMP Press, the digital publishing program at Sheet Music Plus. They deal with the copyright holders, so that arrangers may publish copyrighted songs completely legally!

The first song I have published in this way is Firework by Katy Perry. It's not free, obviously (Katy  and the other people who created the original song need to be paid, of course) but the price is not too bad!   Check it out here: Firework by Katy Perry

(Screenshot from Sheet Music Plus)

This arrangement is for string quartet, but it will work well for string orchestra, too. The difficulty level is fairly easy, and all the parts get to have their time in the spotlight. You'll be surprised at how well this pop hit sounds on string instruments! 😊

Wedding March from Seljord

This traditional fiddle tune is still very much in use as a wedding march in Norway. But it works great as a festive concert piece as well!

Separate parts are available at Sheet Music Plus.

Air by Purcell

Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) is often considered the creator of the English style of baroque music. I arranged his sweet Air in B minor for our junior orchestra.

Some of the parts are a bit technically demanding, and may work better for older students, although the Violin 2 / Viola and Cello 2 parts are quite easy to play. This would make a nice piece for an orchestra with players of varying ages and abilities.

Complete parts are available in this collection of baroque pieces at Sheet Music Plus: A Baroque Journey for String Orchestra.

"Reinlender" - traditional dance from Northern Norway

This traditional fiddle tune is from the area where I live, quite close to where the Arctic Circle crosses Norway. It's a popular dance as played by the local fiddler Mikal Rabliås, which I have arranged for a combined junior/youth orchestra with a very easy open string part. That way everyone can join in!

The Violin 1 and Cello 1 parts provide some challenges to the youth players, whereas the violin 3 (Viola) and Cello 2 parts avoid any streching, and so are suitable for less experienced players. The open string part is written in treble clef with violin in mind, but is equally playable on the viola or cello.

Hope you enjoy this festive tune! :)

 

Grieg: Kom, bukken til gutten (Early Summer Song)

Edvard Grieg wrote several songs to poems by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. "Kom, bukken til gutten" is one of the most popular ones, here in a version for youth string orchestra. The harmonies and chromatic lines give this unpretentious little tune an unmistakeably Griegian sophistication!

Note that the Viola and Cello 1 parts in this arrangement are interchangeable.

One elephant – or more!

This arrangement was made as a part of The Double Bass Project, but for a spesific concert with both junior and youth orchestra members playing together in one big orchestra.

The unusual thing about this particular orchestra was that it had 5 – five! – double bass players, which, let me tell you, is no common occurence in our small town. We had two of my cellists-turned-bassists, one junior bassist, one youth bassist, and the bass teacher. I really wanted a piece with which to show off this incredible bass section, and this Danish elephant march was the result. Well – I'm not the first to cast the double bass in the role of the elephant...

We actually had the whole bass section stand in front of the orchestra for this piece, and it seemed to me that it was very popular!

As this piece is meant to be played by musicians of varying ages and abilities, some of the parts are super easy (Violin 3, Cello 2 and Double bass 2 can all be played on open strings), some are just easy, and some – notably the Violin 1 part – require more experienced students.

I include the beginners' part, Violin 3 and Cello 2 (in Norwegian only, sorry!), which is basically rhythms on the open A string.

Saint James Infirmary Blues

Time for another youth orchestra piece! Shorter and less technically demanding than the Grieg Lyric Pieces, this melancoly melody is nice for working on a rich, warm string orchestra sound.

Grieg: Three Lyric Pieces – 3. Halling

Part three of the Three Lyric Pieces by Edvard Grieg. The Halling is a traditional Norwegian dance in which a male dancer gets to show off his athletic skills:

The viola part may be substituted for the cello 1 part.

I appreciate your views on my arrangements! :)

Grieg: Three Lyric Pieces – 2. Vals

Part two of the Three Lyric Pieces by Edvard Grieg is a charming little waltz, with a more stormy presto part in the middle:

The viola part may be substituted for the Cello 1 part.

Lyric Pieces part three is coming soon...

Grieg: Three Lyric Pieces – 1. Springdans

This is my arrangement of three of Edvard Grieg's lyric pieces, for youth string orchestra.
Edvard Grieg was one of the national romantic composers of the late 19th century, and his work is very much inspired by Norwegian folk music. This arrangement is written for a youth orchestra with two cello groups, but I also provide a viola part which may be substituted for the cello 1 part. The piano part is written with a student in mind.

I hope you enjoy these pieces with their distinctive Norwegian style!

Part two is coming soon...