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First Solo Album for Horn and First Solo Album for Trumpet include several tuneful, easy (grades 1 and 2), pieces in
keys appropriate to the instrument.
Contents: Schubert,
Little Rose of the Heath Purcell, Minuet and Rigadoon Mozart, Bird Catcher's Song Mendelssohn,
Andantino (O Rest in the Lord)
Intermediate
Solo Album for Horn and Intermediate Solo Album for Trumpet include more challenging (grades 3 and 4) works.
Contents: Mozart, Menuetto Rameau, Tambourin Faure,
Apres Un Reve Grieg, Intermezzo
Hilfiger, John Jay (Arranger). First Solo Album for Trumpet. Trumpet and Piano. Kendor Music, 2008.
Hilfiger, John Jay (Arranger). Intermediate Solo Album for Trumpet. Trumpet and Piano. Kendor Music, 2008.
Interesting music undoubtedly inspires students at any level; a wide variety of appealing music keeps instructors engaged
and active in their mentorship. Indeed, over the past few decades there have been great improvements in the development of
excellent repertoire from beginner through advanced. John Jay Hallinger (sic) offers four fine arrangements to the wide variety
of music already available in each of these two publications: Franz Schubert's Little Rose of the Heath, Henry Purcell's Minuet
and Rigadoon, W.A. Mozart's Bird Catcher's Song, and Felix Mendelssohn's Andantino (O Rest in the Lord) in the first album.
A Menuetto from W.A. Mozart's Symphony #6, Jean-Phillipe Rameau's Pieces de Clavicin, Gabriel Faure's Apres Un Reve, and Edvard
Grieg's Intermezzo, all solos listed as Grade III-IV, follow in the intermediate solo album. These are not the original titles
of the works; however, the fine arrangements serve as excellent music for the second or third year player.
Several concert keys including B-flat major, E-flat major, D minor, F minor, and G minor are utilized. Beginning through
intermediate students will enjoy performing these interesting adaptations. Kendor Music deserves commendation for their continued
efforts to offer beginning and intermediate instrumentalists quality music with appropriate technical considerations. (Luis
Engelke, Music Reviews Editor)
ITG (International Trumpet Guild) Journal, October 2009
Recent releases from Kendor Music, Inc. 21 Grove Street, PO Box 278, Delevan NY 14042-0278 (kendormusic.com).
First Solo Album for Horn (with piano) arranged by John Jay Hilfiger.
12101, 2008, $9.95.
Intermediate Solo Album for Horn (with piano) arranged by John Jay Hilfiger. 12109, 2009, $8.95.
I am always interested to see what compilers and arrangers see as “beginning” and “intermediate,”
so when these new publications arrived from Kendor, I was curious. John Jay Hilfiger is a prolific composer and arranger
whose works have been reviewed frequently in The Horn Call. One of his specialties is music for young players, so I felt a
bit of trust when I opened the First Solo Album. Hilfiger has chosen four well-known pieces by Schubert, Purcell, Mozart,
and Mendelssohn that lie well for the beginner - all within an octave with stepwise motion as well as some reasonable leaps.
My pet peeve with arrangements has always been wanting to know where the originals come from, and this volume is a bit disappointing
in that regard. There are no clues that Schubert’s “Little Rose of the Heath” is actually Heidenröslein
or that Mozart’s “Bird Catcher’s Song” is an aria from The Magic Flute. Shouldn’t beginners
know this, too? Still, these are nice tunes that fit the spirit of the volume - good tunes for first solos.
The pieces Hilfiger includes in the Intermediate Solo Album are a pretty decent jump in technique, especially range and endurance.
The four tunes, by Mozart, Rameau, Faure´, and Grieg cover a range of about an octave and a fifth, and are substantially
longer. All are just as appealing as the First Solos and certainly more challenging. Our favorite was Faure´’s Apres
un Rêve, a gorgeous song, but all work in their stated role as “intermediate” solo works.
(Jeffrey Snedeker, editor)
The Horn Call, XL,2, p. 78, February 2010.
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