Kurfürstensonaten. Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. Ludwig van Beethoven left us 35 piano sonatas actually. The three sonatas from his days in Bonn, published in 1783, do not have an opus number and therefore do not appear in the canon of 32 sonatas. However, these demanding early works are not to be underestimated. Their piano technique is challenging, particularly because of their differentiated articu…

This authoritative, new edition of the world's most loved songs and arias draws on original manuscripts, historical first editions and recent research by prominent musicologists to meet a high standard of accuracy and authenticity. Includes fascinating background information about the arias and their composers as well as a singable rhymed translation, a readable prose translation and a literal tra…

The Grade By Grade series draws on the rich and varied Boosey and Hawkes catalogue of classical, contemporary and educational repertoire, highlighting composers including Serge Prokofieff, Dmitri Shostakovich, Karl Jenkins, Carol Barratt and Christopher Norton, alongside arrangements of traditional music from around the world by Peter Wastall, Vera Gray and others. Carefully selected by Janet Way,…

'La Mer?, which is an impressionistic work through and through, was composed between 1903-1905. Debussy however refined this work up until at least 1913. These corrections are found in a score which Debussy gave to his wife as a present for her private library in 1913.The new scholarly-critical edition draws on several important sources previously unavailable to musicologists, resulting in an arra…

Kantate Zum Reformationsfest (In Der Bearbeitung Von Wilhelm Friedemann Bach). Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. The present cantata draws on two of Bach’s earlier works. The original form was the cantata 'Alles, was von Gott geboren' [Weimar 1715, BWV 80a]. A second version [BWV 80b] was written between 1727 and 1731 in Leipzig. The instrumentation of movements 1 and 5 come from a later adaptation by Wi…

Erwin Schulhoff was a German-speaking composer who was born in Prague in 1894 and died in the Nazi concentration camp in Wülzburg (Bavaria) in 1942. In the 1920s he returned to his native Prague to teach at the local conservatory. His compositions, with their blend of traditional genres, jazz syncopations, dance rhythms and moderately expanded tonality, were fully attuned to the tenor of the times…

Par MACMILLAN JAMES. A setting of passages from the Book of Revelation, with particular reference to the angels who appear with seven trumpet blasts, heralding a series of apocalyptic scenes. Commissioned by Jeffrey Skidmore, director of Ex Cathedra, and first performed by them at Birmingham Town Hall in 2015. The composer states, ?There is a vividness and strangeness in these dramatic texts, whic…

Par BURTON KEN. British composer Ken Burton uses the writing of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), the black American son of emancipated slaves, in his 3-minute work A Prayer. The text of the three verses is bitter-sweet, filled with hope and sadness, and the music combines with this to make a rhythmically simple reflective evening hymn. Burton draws on Spiritual, Gospel and Blues to write a piece …

Par FORBES JOANNA / L'ESTRANGE A.. An Irish Blessing is a choral setting for upper voices and piano or organ of the traditional Gaelic prayer which begins 'May the road rise to meet you'. Its gentle melody unfolds slowly, beginning in unison and building to a fuller choral texture with a descant in the third verse. The optional flute part adds a folk-like quality and, in addition to the wide dynam…

The Grade By Grade series draws on the rich and varied Boosey and Hawkes catalogue of classical, contemporary and educational repertoire, highlighting composers including Serge Prokofieff, Dmitri Shostakovich, Karl Jenkins, Carol Barratt and Christopher Norton, alongside arrangements of traditional music from around the world by Peter Wastall, Vera Gray and others. Carefully selected by Janet Way,…