Par RAE JAMES. James Rae is the man who put fun into woodwind and brass teaching. His many compositions, especially in the jazz and blues idioms, have often featured on examination syllabuses. Recent years have seen his publications of easy flexible ensembles for younger players and now he turns his attention to the wind band. In his new series “The Concert Band Collection”, he has written excit…

Par ADAMS SALLY. The Best of Flute is a major collection of the best loved pieces and studies selected by the major examination boards, from current favourites to forgotten gems. These books include the pieces which have captured the imaginations of teachers and students over the years. Technically tried and tested, all the pieces have been rigorously researched by Flute expertSally Adams. A CD of…

In 1887 Antonin Dvorak revised several of the works he had composed in the 1860s and 1870s, most of which he then published for the first time. In this context he asked the music critic Ludevit Prochazka to return a manuscript copy of the Piano Quintet in A major op. 5 (B 28), composed 15 years earlier. But after thoroughly revising the work he declined to publish it - instead, he wrote a new pian…

Erinnerungen, Briefe und Kompositionen zum 80 geburtstag. Clytus Gottwald's importance for contemporary choral music can be measured by his outstanding achievements, including his founding of the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart, which he conducted for its entire existence of 30 years and with whom he gave numerous first performances of contemporary music. Contemporaries and musical companions relate sto…

Par PINKHAM DANIEL. American composer, organist and harpsichordist, Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006) studied the Organ and music theory at Phillips Academy in Andover before studying at Harvard. His Christmas Cantata is an exciting addition to the choral repertoire. Pinkham was famously moved by a concert in Andover given by the Trapp family singers in 1939, soon after they had escaped Austria. He quote…

A classic from the golden age of the show tune, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is a soulful and sophisticated number originally written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the musical Roberta. Over the years the song has been covered by Bryan Ferry, Jerry Garcia, and was a 1958 chart topping hit on both sides of the Atlantic for doo wop group, The Platters . With a deep dynamic range and rich, floating h…

Par MARTINU BOHUSLAV. Unusual instrumentations were by no means the exception in the chamber music works of Bohuslav Martinu, most notably the works he wrote in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s being characterised by his experimentation with sound and form. It is from this period that four short serenades also originate (1932), each with a different instrumentation. The serenades were issued by the Pr…

Par ADAMS SALLY. The Best of Flute is a major collection of the best loved pieces and studies selected by the major examination boards, from current favourites to forgotten gems. These books include the pieces which have captured the imaginations of teachers and students over the years. Technically tried and tested, all the pieces have been rigorously researched by Flute expertSally Adams. A CD of…

Shortly after a rather unsuccessful performance of his Piano Concerto #1, Johannes Brahms wrote to Joseph Joachim in 1859: '... a second one will sound different?. Nevertheless, a good 20 years elapsed before that second concerto finally took form, and only in 1881 was he able to announce: 'I wanted to tell you that I have written a very small piano concerto with a tiny little delicate Scherzo?. O…

Par HIROSE HAYATO. Hayato Hirose spent his childhood and college days in the United States and it was his impressions and experiences from these years that acted as the inspiration for this exciting ‘American style’ overture. American Overture will make an ideal opening piece to any concert. / Niveau : 4 / Pièce de concert / Répertoire / Brass Band

Par WEBER CARL MARIA VON. Carl Maria Von Weber's opera Der Freischutz was written in the years 1817-1821 and reached its celebrated world premiere on 18 June 1821 in Berlin. This romantic opera in three acts dates back to a narrative from the 'Gespensterbuch' by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun. Arranged for Piano solo. / Opéra-opérette / Répertoire / Opéra

Par TCHAIKOVSKI PIOTR ILITCH. Throughout the years, composers have found inspiration for their works in simple folk melodies. Tchaikovsky loved Russian folk music all his life. Whilst composing his 2nd symphony, he was inspired by farmers’ songs that fascinated him during a stay in Kamenka (near Kiev). He composed this symphony in 1872/73 and used the melody from the song The Stork as the main the…

Par GARCIA JOSE MAURICIO NUNES. Garcia, born in 1767 in Rio de Janeiro, and priest and music director at the cathedral there, is still hardly known. Among his spiritual works are four settings of the Mass for the Dead. The present „Missa dos Defunktos“ was commissioned by the Portuguese King Dom Joao VI in the memory of Queen Maria I, who died in 1816. The composition, in the key of D minor, shows…

Rachmaninoff composed his collection of 13 songs op. 34 in 1912, but it was only three years later that he added a little closing piece without any text: the Vocalise, which soon outshone the other songs in terms of popularity and renown. Since its first performance in 1916 this expressive, melancholy piece has circulated in countless arrangements by others. Rachmaninoff himself made an arrangemen…