Sonatina from Piano Music I (arranged for woodwind quintet) Woodwind Quintet - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1415776

Davison was a mid-20th-century American composer, educated at Harvard and the Eastman School, who spent his career teaching at Haverford College. Although not widely known, his music is tonal and quite appealing--in a similar vein to Copland, Hindemith, David Diamond, and the like--displaying Davison's unmistakable flair and wit. The Sonatina woodwind-quintet arrangement (for Flute with optional piccolo, English Horn, Clarinet in B-flat, Horn, and Bassoon) is intended for intermediate or advanced-intermediate players. The horn part (as tends to be the case with arrangements of piano music) lies fairly low, with a range mostly extending from (concert) F2 to A4, with one E2 that can be played an octave higher if desired.

Kaplan writes, "I have fond memories of studying composition with John Davison at Haverford College, where music majors received a copy of his (otherwise unpublished) book, Piano Music I. It has been a beloved companion through the years, always in a prominent place on my piano." In hopes of reviving Davison's place in the repertoire, and giving woodwind players some excellent, interesting, lesser-known works to play, Kaplan has arranged all of Piano Music I for woodwind quintet, for which it is quite well suited, and selected pieces for brass quintet as well; all are available on these online sheet-music platforms.

The three-movement Sonatina is by turns expressive, dynamic, and playful, and works well in a woodwind-quintet arrangement (though here and there some notes are omitted--after all, a pianist has more than five fingers!--or raised or lowered by an octave). Note that the usual wind-quintet oboe part is here replaced by an English Horn, which is a better match to the registers chosen by the composer. Note also the optional use of the piccolo towards end of the piece; this passage can also be played effectively on the flute (with the highest phrase taken down an octave).

This is part of Kaplan's project to broaden the repertoire of music available to woodwind-quintet players by arranging both great classics and little-known gems. Several more of these arrangements have been (or will soon be) posted to YouTube and are available for purchase through SheetMusicPlus or SheetMusicDirect.