Alfred's Basic Prep Course, Levels A through F, was written to answer a demand for a course of piano study designed specifically for students who are five years old and up. This course offers a careful introduction of fundamentals, music that fits comfortably under the young student's normal hand span, plus constant reinforcement--all leading to results beyond those generated by other piano method…

Par IBERT JACQUES. Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) studied at the Paris Conservatoire before embarking upon a successful composing career. The composer wrote for a variety of instrumentations and his works remain popular to this day, Deux Stèles Orientees for Voice and Flute being no exception. Composed in 1926, Deux Stèles Orientees for Voice and Flute is based on the poem of the same name by Victor Se…

Par WEISSENBORN JULIUS. German bassoonist and pedagogue Julius Weissenborn is known primarily as an author and composer of method and etude books familiar to all bassoonists. However, he also composed a number of solo works, including a collection of pieces in his Opus 9, for bassoon and piano. The first two works of this opus, Arioso and Humoreske, pair so well together that they are often perfor…

Par SZATHMARY ZSIGMOND. The powerful intensity of colour and expressiveness of the mosaic images in the apse and altar area of the late antique church of San Vitale (from the 6th century) in Ravenna made a lasting impression on Zsigmond Szathmáry. The fascination of how imposing images emerge from tiny, luminous mosaic cubes and vividly tell the biblical stories inspired the composer to write his …

Kantate Zum 3. Weihnachtsfesttag (Urfassung). Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. Bach’s cantata BWV 151, whose wonderfully heartfelt opening aria has been rightly numbered among Bach’s “most inspired ideas” [Alfred Dürr], was composed for the 3rd day of Christmas 1725. Flute and oboe d’amore lend pastoral coloring to the chamber music sound picture. The oboe d’amore was not originally included in Bach’s s…

Kantate Zum 3. Weihnachtsfesttag (Urfassung). Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. Bach’s cantata BWV 151, whose wonderfully heartfelt opening aria has been rightly numbered among Bach’s “most inspired ideas” [Alfred Dürr], was composed for the 3rd day of Christmas 1725. Flute and oboe d’amore lend pastoral coloring to the chamber music sound picture. The oboe d’amore was not originally included in Bach’s s…

Kantate Zum 3. Weihnachtsfesttag (Urfassung). Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. Bach’s cantata BWV 151, whose wonderfully heartfelt opening aria has been rightly numbered among Bach’s “most inspired ideas” [Alfred Dürr], was composed for the 3rd day of Christmas 1725. Flute and oboe d’amore lend pastoral coloring to the chamber music sound picture. The oboe d’amore was not originally included in Bach’s s…

Recognized for over 50 years as the best-paced and most-thorough guitar method available, Alfred's Basic Guitar Method has introduced over 5 million beginners to playing guitar. Now, Alfred's Basic Rock Guitar Method provides a new approach to learning guitar for beginners who want to play rock.Book 2 features new techniques like hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and teaches you barre chords, new sca…

Par JACKSON JAKE. The ability to sing in foreign languages is a much-needed skill for singers, but few vocal training resources tackle this aspect comprehensively in one book. With this in mind, ABRSM examiners and professional singers Heidi Pegler and Nicola-Jane Kemp have written The language of song, a graded series of songbooks that provide classic song repertoire, carefully selected to develo…