Fand IncWessex Press

For its first set of announcements of 2023, Fand is delighted to have a bumper collection of eight new publications, ranging from several new sets of songs composed by John Mitchell to instrumental works by Philip Mead and Peter Thompson, not to mention a little novelty by Sir Arnold Bax…

Sir Arnold Bax

Happy Birthday To You (SATB)

In Spring 1951, Sir Arnold Bax wrote a simple SATB arrangement of Happy Birthday To You on commission from Samuel Barber for Mary Zimbalist’s birthday. Fand now issues the arrangement as an affordable single-sheet publication.

John Mitchell

Soft Smiling Time (Voice and Piano)

A. E. Coppard is best known for his short stories, but he was also a poet, and the three poems set to music in Soft Smiling Time are taken from his Collected Verse, published in 1928. Each song has a link to one of the four seasons, though Summer is not icumen into this particular collection. Richard Hallas, Fand’s designer, webmaster and long-term music editor/setter, is extremely proud and privileged to be the dedicatee of this delightful triptych.

Pale Shadows (Voice and Piano)

Clifford Bax was Sir Arnold Bax’s younger brother, and a playwright, poet and author of many books. One of his earlier publications, Twenty Chinese Poems, forms the basis of Pale Shadows, which sets two songs from Bax’s original 1910 collection and one from a 1916 update that added a further five poems to the collection. The first and last songs are descriptive pictures of scenes at evening and night respectively, whereas the longer middle song also has a narrative quality.

Beauty’s Hour (Voice and Piano)

John Drinkwater was a dramatist and poet whose verse frequently dealt with rural subject matter, and two of the songs in Beauty’s Hour fall into this category, one being concerned with the Cotswolds and the other specifically with the Worcestershire village of Mamble. The collection features four songs of a generally light-hearted nature, though one song has a more serious theme.

Philip Mead

Elegiac Melody (Piano)

Philip Mead’s Elegiac Melody was inspired by Grieg’s similarly titled piano pieces, and inhabits a similar sound-world. Written for his wife in the summer of 2022 as a wedding anniversary gift, the piece is suitable for pianists of Grade 7 or higher standard.

Peter Thompson

In Rutland (solo ’Cello)

In Rutland, for solo ’cello, was written in Ketton, Rutland, in the winter of 1999. First published the following year, this new 2023 edition has been significantly enhanced with minor notational errors corrected. It is a five-movement suite ranging from a meditavely free, Andante amabile first movement to a virtuosic and joyful Presto finale. The work is a welcome addition to the unaccompanied ’cello repertoire and is of a similar level of difficulty to the variable demands made by the J. S. Bach unaccompanied suites.

Flower Piece (String Orchestra)

Flower Piece for string orchestra was written in 1979 and first performed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1981. It is in three movements, the third of which becomes a kind of envoi containing music from all three movements.

Two Interludes (Piano Quartet)

The Two Interludes were written in 2022 for the Rotherhurst Piano Quartet. The first interlude, Flower of the Morning, opens with a sustained violin solo and gradually the morning ‘awakens’ with the arrival of the other instruments and a quickening of tempo. The ending is reflective and is not unassociated with the opening mood. Toccata Rotherhurst gives an ensemble the opportunity to exhibit lightness and deftness of touch and mood, and creates an ebullient encore.