Classical Music Ensembles

On this site we employ a range of different ensembles to replace the original classical music ensembles for which they were composed. More details about the range of classical music ensembles can be found at Wikipedia. The backbone of our New World ensembles is a synthesized steel band which gives a consistant quality to the sound of our recordings.

Here are some of the ensemble arrangements currently available:

For piano or harpsichord pieces we generally use other percussion instruments such as the marimba, vibraphone or a harp. The steel drums handle the strings surprisingly effectively in Orchestral and chamber pieces and the Ocarina simplifies the arrangements by taking on all the wind parts. Special percussion such as bells and timpani are reproduced by specific synthesizers when they are required.

Ragtime Music Ensembles

Ragtime music was originally composed and published for piano. Subsequently there have been many arrangements for Jazz ensembles of various sizes and shapes and also for guitar solo or in a few cases guitar duet. It was some of those guitar arrangements that first sparked my interest in rags and rag time. Over the last several years we have developed percussion ensembles involving steel drums and marimbas and now including Balinese Gamelan Gongs and other drums and here are some examples: