Philip Freihofner's Homepage

Welcome to the homepage for Philip Freihofner, oboist, composer, and music publisher. Included on this site are samples of works in print, as well as a list of vendors from whom these works can be purchased. To contact me, click here for contact info.

NEWS:

Next San Francisco Composers' Chamber Orchestra concert will be performed twice! WHERE: Old First Church, Van Ness Ave. near Sacramento, San Francisco on October 15, 2011, and Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland on October 16. I will post more details as things develop. I will be presenting a new composition, an expansion of the "Carmilla" song performed a couple years ago, to a multi-song cycle.
Now available: "Music from 'The Golem'" arranged for two oboes, English horn and bassoon. This closely matches (with a bit of extra material) the version played by WiZARDS! on their CD "Finale" (Crystal Records).(See below).
The composition "Three Ways to Cook a Fish" is now in print. The work can be purchased at Forrests Music, TrevCo Music, and Gail Warnaar's Double Reed Shop. More info below. Important note: if you bought a copy of this piece prior to September 2010, you may need to get a corrected accompanying CD. Please contact me for more info.
I've been working on a computer puzzle game, called Hexara. The design includes some of the synthesized sounds from "The Bell Field". If you'd like to check it out, you can visit the work-in-progress blog for it at www.hexara.com.

Samples (and Reviews) of Published Scores

Following are links to sample pages of the full scores for published works. These samples may be printed and tried out, but please understand that the resolution of the web graphics is very low (72 d.p.i.). The published scores and parts are printed at 600 d.p.i. via laserjet directly from software files onto a durable 60# cream-colored paper. Careful thought has been put into layout and page turns, and considerable effort has been made to make the notation on a par with the highest quality engraving.

ARRANGEMENTS

Johann Sebastian Bach - The Italian Concerto - Arranged for Two Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon. Click here for an IDRS review

Frederic Chopin - Four Mazurkas, Opus 6 - Arranged for Two Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon. Click here for an IDRS review

Peter Illych Tchaikovsky - Dance of the Little Swans - Arranged for Two Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon.

Bela Bartok - Sonatina - Arranged for Two Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon.

Madame d'Amours - Anonymous, Court of King Henry VIII - Arranged for Oboe, Oboe d'amore (or 2nd Oboe), English Horn and Bassoon. Total length: 1:30.

ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS:

Quartet #1, for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon ("The Hat Box Quartet")

STATUS: Completed, available for purchase.
DESCRIPTION: This work was inspired by the Russian silent film comedy "The Girl with the Hat Box" (Devushka s Korobkoi, directed by Boris Barnet, 1926). The music is strongly influenced by Russian ballet composers Khachiturian, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky as well as Russian folk music. Total length = approx. 12 minutes.
MOVEMENTS: (These excerpts are from a live concert by members of UC Santa Cruz music faculty, Fall 2007. Oboe: Patricia Mitchell, Clarinet: Mark Brandenburg, French Horn: Susan Vollmer, Bassoon: Jane Orzel.)

I. Galop - full movement
II. Waltz - excerpt
III. March - excerpt
IV. Fugue - excerpt
III. Coda - full movement

I've made a three-handed piano arrangement of this suite. Yes, that's for three pianists sitting at one piano. Somehow three seemed just right, compared to either two or four hands. I thank Anne Ku for suggesting and promoting this format. Below are links to sound cues as played by the scoring program Finale with a little help from NativeInstruments Kontakt.

The Golem Suite, for Two Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon

STATUS: Completed, available for purchase.
BACKGROUND: I've been working, on and off, on various suites containing excerpts from the full-length silent film score written to accompany "The Golem" (Der Golem: Wie Er Kam ins das Welt, dir. Boris Barnet, 1920). The current concept has three suites, one for each third of the film. This first suite covers music extracted entirely from the middle third of the film. The piece has been recorded by WiZARDS! and is available on their CD "Finale" published by Crystal Records.

The Golem (Full length silent film score), for Two Oboes, English Horn and Bassoon

STATUS: Available as a rental

BACKGROUND: This is the full-length silent film score written to accompany "The Golem" (Der Golem: Wie Er Kam ins das Welt, dir. , 1920). The work is 68 minutes in duration, and requires a conductor for performance. The score is synchronized to a playback speed of 24 fps of a copy of the MOMA print, but also matches a DVD released by Elite Entertainment (please contact me for more info on this edition). Current knowledge is that the film was originally shot at about 19-20 fps (for a total length of 86 minutes), and most DVDs available today are of this playback speed, and DO NOT match the score I wrote. Please email me (address listed below) for more info and price schedule.

Three Ways to Cook a Fish, for Oboe and Piano or Oboe and prerecorded electronics (CD included)

STATUS: completed, and available for purchase.
BACKGROUND: This work contains three dances and two interludes from a full length dance theater work: "The Fish and the Fire," a collaboration with choreographer Cheryl Koehler, artistic director of Zig Zag Theater. It can be performed either with piano accompaniment, or with a prerecorded CD. On the prerecorded CD, the accompaniment is performed by a synthesized "electronic gamelan" as occurred in the original production from 1993/1994. The oboe part is modal, somewhat flashy, and requires a small but playful bit of "extended technique" (completely notated). Three Ways to Cook a Fish can be heard at an SFCCO Performance of mine from 2005 (hope you will forgive my shaky start) with pianist Alexis Alrich. There were a few minor revisions made to the score after this performance.

In My Craft or Sullen Art , for Baritone and Piano

STATUS: composed, I need to work out the financial agreements with the Estate of Dylan Thomas before publishing, as well as getting a vendor (no oboe in this one).
BACKGROUND: This work is a setting of the poem by Dylan Thomas of the same name. It was performed by John Kendall Bailey and Alexis Alrich at the October, 2006 San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra concert.

The Bell Field , for Oboe and prerecorded electronics

STATUS: composed, still in process of figuring out how to notate. As there has been positive response, I do plan to try and publish it at some point. Elements of the sound design are being used in a computer puzzle game currently under development, called Hexara.
BACKGROUND: This recording was a performance at SFCCO's March 2008 concert. It's not the greatest performance, but I think it represents the piece pretty well. The scoring is "ad libitum" with cues to help stay in synch with the prerecorded material. It's on a short list of works I'm hoping to eventually rerecord and include on an album of electro-acoustic oboe works.

It's Only The Wind, for Oboe and prerecorded electronics

STATUS: composed, still in process of figuring out how to notate. I do plan to try and publish it at some point, probably right after "The Bell Field". The November 2009 performance with SFCCO can now be seen & heard on YouTube. Link is here. This recording uses the video camera's sound, so the bass is a little washed out, but I think it represents the piece pretty well. Like "The Bell Field", the scoring is "ad libitum" with cues to help stay in synch with the prerecorded material. It's also on the short list of works I'm hoping to eventually rerecord and include on an album of electro-acoustic oboe works.

Vendors

To purchase copies, please contact any of the following vendors:

Forrests Music
1849 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94703 USA
Info: 1-510-845-7178/Ordering: 1-800-322-6263
TrevCo Music
P.O. Box 4
Tallevast, FL 34270 USA
(TEL/TAD/FAX: 1-941-758-7277)
Gail Warnaar Double Reed Shop
P.O. Box 150
Barnet, VT 05821
Phone: (802) 633-4014
email:order@DoubleReedShop.com

I do not sell retail, only wholesale. However, vendor inquiries are welcome.

Contact info

Comments and questions are much appreciated! I can be reached at the e-mail address:
First half: phil@
Second half: adonax.com
(Email was split in half to try and reduce spam!)

Last update: 7/23/2011.