Par RENTZSCH FRIEDHELM. The Organ Concerto was premiered in the Kartäuserkirche, Köln in 1985. It received repeat performances in the Dresdner Diakonissenhauskirche and also with the Dresdner Philharmonie unter the direction of Jörg-Peter Weigle with Friedrich Kircheis as soloist. The three-movement concerto is designed so that the seven parts of the string section can also be played solistically …

The Celle court organist Wolfgang Weßnitzer was a paragon of diligence when it came to compiling keyboard pieces. His collection, put together around 1662, is sure to impress the friends of early keyboard music and musicologists alike. It contains over 200 little pieces by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Heinrich Scheidemann - to name but the most famous composers - and was practically unknown until…

Florentiner Sinfonie'. Par RHEINBERGER JOSEF GABRIEL. Rheinberger began work on his second Symphony during his visit to Italy with his wife in 1874. He was commissioned to write it by an orchestral society in Florence – an indication that his reputation had already spread throughout Europe. The autograph score contains a poem by his wife Fanny, which in four sections expressed the moods of impress…

The music of small forms was what the French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) focused on.In 1874, after many years spent in the 'provinces', the teacher of Camille Saint-Saëns took the position of organist in Paris; later he not only worked as a church musician but also as a teacher. In the summer of 1887 Fauré wrote his Pavane Op. 50, originally intended for a concert providing light entertainm…

Florentiner Sinfonie'. Par RHEINBERGER JOSEF GABRIEL. Rheinberger began work on his second Symphony during his visit to Italy with his wife in 1874. He was commissioned to write it by an orchestral society in Florence – an indication that his reputation had already spread throughout Europe. The autograph score contains a poem by his wife Fanny, which in four sections expressed the moods of impress…

When Beethoven visited the director of music at the cathedral in Linz, Franz Xaver Glöggl, in autumn 1812, the latter asked his guest to 'compose socalled Equali for 4 trombones for All Souls' Day [2 November]?. Beethoven readily complied - and it was to be his own funeral music. For in 1827 the Equali were sung in an arrangement for male choir as a 'dirge for Beethoven's funeral procession?. The …

Piccolo, Alto and Bass Flute / Piccolo, Alt- und Bassflöte. Par LEVINE CARIN / MITROPOULOS-BOTT CHRISTINA. A comprehensive and systematic presentation of all relevant techniques for playing contemporary music. Following on the great success of the first volume, this second book systematically explains the full technical and timbral potential of the piccolo, also and bass flutes. The techniques are…

for 2 Violins, Viola and Violoncello. Par SCHUMANN ROBERT. 'The next I'll do is 3 violin quartets' wrote Schumann to Clara Wieck in 1838, stating his reasons in a letter dated 17 March 1838: 'The thought of the quartets gives me pleasure. The piano is getting too narrow for me. In composing now I often hear a lot of things that I can barely suggest. For instance, it is remarkable how I invent almo…

Dramma giocoso in zwei Akten. Par MOZART WOLFGANG AMADEUS. In the space of a few months, in the autumn and winter of 1789, Mozart filled more than 650 pages of a score that shows practically no signs of mental or physical exertion. The result was one of his most profound operas, Così fan tutte, which has held listeners spellbound with its blend of bitterness and comedy to the present day. Edited b…