This site is home to Alea Publishing & Recording, specializing in music for the bass clarinet.
We offer a growing catalog of creative, artistic transcriptions and new works for bass clarinet solo & ensemble.
About the Work
Program note courtesy of the composer:
Patchwork Vespers for bass clarinet and vibraphone is a contemplative yet rhythmically active work that uses tiny, fragmented pulses and hocket that weave together like a patchwork quilt. The work balances asymmetrical elements of rhythm and intervallic cells to create various levels of structural cadence.
Extended-range instrument NOT required. Score: 15 pages, spiral bound; Two copies provided, one for each performer.
About the Composer
Philip Schuessler's music explores the intricacy of subtle timbres and delicate dynamics through extended acoustic and electro-acoustic resources. His diverse output spans a number of different approaches including techniques of spectralism, indeterminacy and graphic notation, new forms of notation, ephemeral sound fabrics, microtonality, popular and rock music, and electro-acoustic music.
Schuessler received his Bachelors Degree in composition at Birmingham-Southern College, his Masters Degree from the University of Miami, and his PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His teachers have included Charles Mason, Dorothy Hindman, Dennis Kam, Keith Kothman, Dan Weymouth, Sheila Silver, Perry Goldstein, and Daria Semegen.
He has had works performed by notable ensembles such as Yarn/Wire, Dither Guitar Quartet, Mantra Percussion Ensemble, IKTUS Percussion, Hypercube, Pesedjet, and the Gemini Duo; and his works have also been championed by such soloists as percussionist Daniel Kennedy, pianist Mabel Kwan, soprano Tony Arnold, violinist Graeme Jennings, and cellist Craig Hultgren. His music has has been performed at notable venues such as June in Buffalo, Birmingham City Stages Festival, Festival Miami, the Czech-American Summer Music Workshop, CCMIX in Paris, SEAMUS Conferences, ArtSounds in Kansas City, Artomatic in Arlington, Virginia, Electronic Music Midwest, New Music Forum in San Francisco, the School for Designing a Society in Urbana, Illinois, Electro-acoustic Juke Joint Festival, the Electro-acoustic Barn Dance Festival, the Spark Festival in Minneapolis, and most recently the New Music on the Bayou Festival in Monroe, Louisiana. He has also been a participant at the MusicX Festival, the Ernst Bloch Music Festival, the Elliott Carter/Oliver Knussen Chamber Music Intensive Workshop at Carnegie Hall, and the Oregon Bach Festival.
His music has been recognized internationally by Elektrophonie's NuitBleue Music Festival, the Futura Festival, and by the Bourges Residence. Recently, Schuessler was chosen by Eric Moore's Cello Loft Project for a new commissioned work for cello and percussion. Other awards include being a winner in the Duo Fujin Weekend Composition Competition, being a semi-finalist for the American Prize in Chamber Music, and being a recipient of a New Music USA Composer Assistant Grant.
Most recently, Schuessler was an artist in residence for the July 2015 session at Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts in Wyoming where he composed Lux Aeterna for mixed chorus and piano. Since 2010, Schuessler has taught music theory and composition at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana where he resides with his wife and composer Kari Besharse.
Kim Davenport
President
Duo Alea, the father-daughter duo of Michael and Kimberly Davenport, began performing music for bass clarinet and piano in 1996. As performers searching for new repertoire and teachers working with students eager to develop as performers, it quickly became clear that there was a need for more repertoire featuring the bass clarinet. Filling this need became the mission of Alea Publishing & Recording.
Since our first publication in 1997, the Alea catalog has now grown to include over 300 titles. We pride ourselves on the accuracy and quality of our sheet music, as well as our ability to ship directly to customers around the world.
We are proud of the diversity of our catalog in terms of the inclusion of works by composers and arrangers from around the world. We are interested in continuing to expand this diversity, representing musical ideas from around the world.
Following Michael's passing in 2019, Kim has taken over solo management of Alea Publishing. In 2020, Alea established the Dolphy Prize, an annual composition award for new works for bass clarinet by black composers.
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