New Publications from Schott New York

We are pleased to announce the arrival of two new publications available for purchase: a new edition of Joseph Schwantner's Velocities (ED 30002) for solo marimba and Lee Hoiby's choral octavo Last Letter Home (30013) for TBB chorus a cappella. Schwantner composed Velocities (Moto perpetuo) in 1990 on a commission from the Percussive Arts Society with a National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Commissioning Grant. It was written for marimbist Leigh Howard Stevens and the other members of the consortium, marimbists William Moersch and Gordon Stout. Mr. Stevens presented the world premiere on October 27, 1990, in Gothenburg, Sweden followed by the American premiere on November 9, 1990 at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention held in Philadelphia. As the title suggests, the music is characterized by a continuously unfolding texture of rapid gestures within a framework of continually shifting meters. The new edition of Velocities is a brand new engraving with revisions.

Lee Hoiby's Last Letter Home is the setting to music of a letter by US Army tank crewman, Jesse Givens, who had been in Iraq for just a month when, on May 1, 2003, his tank crashed and fell into a canal off the Euphrates River. The rest of the crew escaped through a hatch, but Givens perished trapped inside the tank. Hoiby's intention was to set Givens' words as clearly as possible, writing it in three-part form for one tenor and two baritone parts. Last Letter Home is also available in versions for solo baritone and piano as well as string quartet and orchestra.

For more information on the life and music of Joseph Schwantner, please visit www.schott-music.com or www.schwantner.net.