In E-flat major Op.102. Par SAINT-SAENS CAMILLE. The second half of the 19th century represented something of a ?Golden Age? of the violin sonata in France: influential violin sonatas such as those by Franck, Fauré and Saint-Saëns were among the successful works of this genre, inspiring many further compositions. Saint-Saëns? Violin Sonata No.2 was written in 1896 during a stay of several months b…

Bärenreiter continues its Urtext edition of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas with three major works at once.They begin with the frequently played op. 2 Sonatas (nos. 1-3) (BA 10859) which stem from his early yet mature oeuvre when he was developing an independent style from the legacy of Mozart and Haydn.They then proceed to the lyrical D major Sonata op. 28 from his middle period (nicknamed '…

Composed at about the same time as the 'Grande Sonate pathétique? op. 13 (BA 10851), the two op. 14 sonatas are among the easiest Beethoven ever wrote and an indispensable part of piano lessons. Their lyrical, almost chamber-like textures and moderate difficulty make them an ideal introduction to the rich legacy of Beethoven's sonatas. Jonathan Del Mar, a scholar second to none in his knowledge of…

The Works for one Instrument and PianoJohannes Brahms' compositions for one instrument and piano have been standards in chamber music literature ever since their inception. These works were written with specific performers in mind and Brahms worked closely with them when refining the final texts. Nevertheless, we rarely approach the music taking into consideration the possibilities of the instrume…

Since the 1980s scholarly research into Reger has built up a picture of the diversity, complexity and variety of Reger's work and shown that the composer was the first to depart from the supposed logical evolution of music history. In the musical scene, on the other hand, ideas prevail that are clichéd and based on a small canon of works. This is now about to change.Since the beginning of the twen…

Ed. Critica A. Borin. Par VIVALDI ANTONIO. Casa Ricordi Milano in partnership with Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia (Istituto Antonio Vivaldi). Critical edition by Alessandro Borin. The six Concerts op. VI for violin, strings and continuo by Antonio Vivaldi were published in Amsterdam by Roger in 1719. Although the contribution of Vivaldi was probably modest – even to assume that the collection wa…

Par MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY FELIX. Mendelssohn's contemporaries frequently mentioned his 'Hymn of Praise” in the same breath as Beethoven's Ninth - and often enough viewed it as an imitation. Mendelssohn authority John Michael Cooper, in his extensive Introduction to this new Urtext edition, shows that the comparison is completely unfounded: with this work Mendelssohn created a new genre to which he…

A Gaelic Blessing is a simple and catchy piece by Craig McLeish. This piece will be particularly useful for school, junior and community choirs, and a tuneful introduction to singing simple contrapuntal lines. The second soprano part repeats the tune at bar 33 and should dominate here - the first sopranos and altos should support appropriately. Ease and beauty of tone should be of paramount import…

Béla Bartók Complete Critical Edition Volume 38. Par BARTOK BELA. The third volume in the Complete Edition contains Bartók's works for piano solo composed between 1914 and 1920. Bartók's pianistic oeuvre from the years of World War I span a broadly varied spectrum; in addition to simple arrangements of folk music (15 Hungarian Peasant Songs, Sonatina) and original pieces for the concert podium (Su…

Ed. Critica A. Borin. Par VIVALDI ANTONIO. Casa Ricordi Milano in partnership with Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venezia (Istituto Antonio Vivaldi). Critical edition by Alessandro Borin. The six Concerts op. VI for violin, strings and continuo by Antonio Vivaldi were published in Amsterdam by Roger in 1719. Although the contribution of Vivaldi was probably modest – even to assume that the collection wa…