Michael L. Carroll -- composer/arranger/performerLast Update: Feb 21, 2010 Bach is my favorite composer. There
are some excellent recordings of his lute suites for guitar.
Click on the arrow below to hear some samples of guitarists John
Williams and Andres Segovia (which you can also purchase as MP3
downloads by clicking on the "Buy" link.)
Instrumental
Music
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Recent Postings
02/14/10: Happy Valentine's Day. I made this arrangement of Richard Rodgers “My Funny Valentine” for my wife Leandra. MP3 12/31/09: Happy New Year! Here is a
little simple two-part arrangement of "God Rest You Merry
Gentlemen". The main melody is in the lower register while
the flute plays a descant line. 11/29/09: A jazz piece for violin
and guitar in AABABA form called "Two Minutes to Five".
MP3 11/28/09: Some variations on the famous Folias de Espana theme. For string quartet in D minor. These are "loose" variations in that I allowed myself to modulate to other keys and to insert a parallel major version of the Folias chord progression. I was inspired to write this after seeing the marvelous website at www.folia.tk dedicated to the folias theme. 11/08/09: Here's an arrangement of
a Chopin Mazurka for two guitars and mandolin. I did this for a
Dutch trio with mandolinist Sebastiaan de Grebber, guitarist Tom
Edskes and guitarist Saskia Spinder. Here's a link
to Sebastian playing solo mandolin. For the Chopin Mazurka
here are the PDF files: 09/19/09: I'd like to call attention to the release of a CD of a friend of mine: Jennifer Lindsay, a fantastically talented violinist, singer, composer. She played violin with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Her CD debut can be found at Sinfonia Records. Jen and I are working on a duo of traditional jazz tunes to play at Michael's Ristorante in Long Beach. Stay tuned for announcements. 08/03/09: Study
in D for Guitar. This is the second of a series of studies
for the guitar. 07/28/09: Study
in C for Guitar. This is the first of a series of studies for
the guitar that I'm working on. As typical for me, I am leaving
the fingering and the dynamics up to the performer. I leave the
dynamics up to the performer because I believe that dynamics
should be up to the performer and should be pulled out of the
inner energy of a piece. As far as the fingering is concerned, I
am simply too lazy to go look up in the Finale manual how you do
fingering for guitar music. I'd rather spend the time composing
than fingering. Sorry! 05/14/09: Wind
Quintet in A for my oldest son, who is 28 today. Happy
Birthday, Chris! 05/12/09: Song
for Denis, dedicated to the memory of Denis Bonin, the
brother of a friend of mine. This is a song without words for
clarinet and piano. 03/12/09: Didactic Variations on a Song by Cole Porter: "What Is This Thing Called Love?". A set of variations written primarily for my budding saxophonist son Peter Carroll. They are only meant as exercises to teach the art of improviation. Included are versions for alto sax, soprano sax (or clarinet) and violin (or mandolin). This is still a work in progress. I have yet to convert the .wav files to .mp3 files and upload to the site. But that should happen real soon now! 02/22/09: Introduction to Counterpoint This is the beginning of a small book I am writing to teach my son Peter Carroll the art of counterpoint. This is just the very beginning, there are no examples of melodies or counterpoint phrases in this book as yet. But I'll keep updating the website as the book grows in content. 02/03/09: Symphony Nr. 1 in B Flat -- All Four Movments. 02/02/09: Symphony
in B Flat: First Movement. The symphony in B flat is now
complete with the addition of this first movement. This movement
is dedicated to Dennis Prager, a man whose intellect and values I
admire very much. 12/27/08: Symphony
in B Flat: Allegro. This will be the fourth and last movement
of the symphony I've been working on this year (see other links
below). As of now I have three movements more or less completed.
12/27/08: Holy God, We Praise Your Name. The lyrics of this hymn are familiar to most Catholics (except that I changed the 'Thee' and 'Thy' to 'You' and 'Your'). The music is new. It is sort of a morning meditation for me. As St. Augustine says, "He who sings well, prays twice." The score setting is SATB plus piano. 11/05/08: Over
the Rainbow, an arrangement for wind quartet of the famous
Harold Arlen tune. 10/27/2008: Blues
in the Day. This is a little experiment in a minor blues for
guitar and sax. The following MP3 file features the sax playing
only against a single guitar playing block chords. This may give
you a clearer picture of the harmony: 07/26/2008: Symphony
in B flat -- Minuet. This is the third movement of the
Symphony in B flat and is dedicated to my wife on our wedding
anniversary, which is today! The main theme of this minuet is
taken from the familiar Gaelic song "Morning Has Broken"
of which a version was recorded by Cat Stevens in the 60s. It is
also sung as a hymn in many Catholic churches in the English
speaking world. Also included is a second theme built as a trio
performed mainly by flute, oboe and basoon and used as a
modulation device; a trumpet variation of the main theme; an oboe
version of the theme in a minor key (which I think works quite
well); a cello and contrabass statement of the theme with temolo
string accompaniment; a trumpet call for the ending using the
intervals of a fourth reminiscent somewhat of the Andante
movement (see below); and then a restatement of the "Morning
Has Broken" theme before fading out. 07/05/2008: Symphony
in B flat -- Andante. This was written as a wedding present
for Josi Carroll and Yoshi Stone who were married on July 3,
2008. Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Stone! 07/05/2008: Wer
Nur Den Lieben Gott Laesst Walten. This is J.S. Bach's
harmonization of a chorale melody. Here I have arranged this for
flute, violin, bassoon and cello in G minor. 02/19/2008: Santa
Ana Conditions, updated with Alto Sax part and an intro +
coda suggested by my friend, guitarist Ruth Parry. This is a wave
file, since my mp3 converter was turning out inferior quality
files. 02/18/2008: Russian
Sailor's Dance. This is an arrangement of a popular Russian
tune. The arrangement here is for flute, clarinet, violin, alto
saxophone, guitar and string bass. The band Bridge
plays this with an accordion as well and the mandolin in place of
the violin. BTW, Bridge is playing next Sunday evening (2/24/08)
as the "featured band" on open mic night at the
Claremont Folk Music
Center. We will be playing the Russian Sailor Dance. 02/10/2008: Santa
Ana Conditions, a guitar piece in AABA form, using jazz chord
progressions, but otherwise fairly classical. In Southern
California we often get warm, dry windy weather we call Santa Ana
conditions. We had such conditions this weekend, so I named this
piece accordingly. 02/08/2008: A
Fugue for Piano in C Major 01/12/2008: Fugue
in D major for solo guitar. Has a Bach-like feel to it. For
Dr. Andy Podolsky. 12/29/07: Prelude
in D Minor for solo guitar. For Dr. Andy Podolsky. This is
the prelude to the fugue above in D major. 12/24/07: Mi
Hijo y Yo -- A Guitar Duet (MP3) 12/16/07: The
Guadalupe Quintet MP3 This is a quintet for three strings (violin, viola, cello) and two woodwinds (oboe and bassoon). I call it the Guadalupe Quintet because I began writing it last week on December 12, 2007, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. |