Par BARTOK BELA. Bartók composed his first pedagogical collection For Children between 1908 and 1911. The first edition was issued between 1909 and 1911 in four volumes, comprising two of Hungarian and two of Slovak folk song arrangements. After moving to America, Bartók considered it important to produce new editions of his earlier works. Thus in autumn 1943, together with his new publisher Boose…

Cesar Franck's Sonata for Piano and Violin is one of the most treasured works in the violin repertoire, a masterpiece of cyclic form with a gracefulness and expressive force almost paradigmatic for the age of musical Romanticism. This work was composed in 1886 and was dedicated to the Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.Franck's correspondence proves that he was directly involved in the pr…

For Tenor, Alto, Three Female Voices et Piano. Par JANACEK LEOS. Janacek's intimate chamber-music drama about the passionate love of a simple farm boy for a beautiful gypsy girl is one of his great vocal masterpieces. This cycle of 22 songs for tenor (an alto and three female voices/female choir SSA are added in three numbers) was composed on a setting of poems that were published anonymously. It …

Par SUK JOSEF. First scholarly-critical edition The single-movement String Quartet #2 by Josef Suk (1874-1935) was written at the height of his compositional powers. Completed in Krecovice in May 1911, this demanding work, with its complex harmonies and motivic structure, seemed avant-garde for its day: the Berlin premiere of November 1912 was accompanied by protests from the audience. Now Zdene…

Sonate #8. Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. 'This sonata is easier to study than any of the earlier ones, and has therefore always been extremely popular.' (Carl Czerny). Indeed, the Grande Sonate pathétique is the one with the most moderate demands in terms of playing technique among Beethoven's famous piano sonatas. But it is also popular for its pathetic expression, which captivates the listener from …

Opera with a Prologue and four Acts (First version) / Opera in five Acts (Second version) Dialogue versions. Par GOUNOD CHARLES. Charles Gounod’s “Faust” secured its international recognition in the version as an entirely sung opera, which from thenceforth has largely obscured the fact that the work was originally composed with spoken dialogues. The early versions staged prior to the 1869 performa…

Cesar Franck's Sonata for Piano and Violin is one of the most treasured works in the violin repertoire, a masterpiece of cyclic form with a gracefulness and expressive force almost paradigmatic for the age of musical Romanticism. This work was composed in 1886 and was dedicated to the Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.Franck's friend, the cellist Jules Desart, was so impressed when he he…

Composed in January-February 1875, ?árka is the third symphonic poem in Smetana's six-part cycle Má vlast (My Fatherland). He first published it in a version for piano-duet issued by publisher Urbánek in 1880. The score of the first edition did not appear in print until 1888, four years after Smetana's death.Owing to the many errors in the first edition, Hugh Macdonald has based this new edition o…