Keyboard fireworksAs early as 1743, while Handel was still alive, Francesco Geminiani produced an arrangement of the 'Water Music? for keyboard instruments, thereby making it possible to perform this popular work in domestic surroundings. Then, presumably in 1749, an unknown musician arranged the 'Music for the Royal Fireworks? for transverse flute or violin and harpsichord.In addition to these tw…

Carl Maria von Weber's fame rests mainly on ?Der Freischütz'. The unprecedented success of this opera overshadowed all his other works and contributed to their increasing fall into oblivion. Certain works such as ?Preciosa', ?Oberon', and ?Euryanthe', the overtures, solo concertos and piano sonatas, the lieder and chamber works enjoyed great popularity and were widely known in Germany and abroad a…

Par SWERTS PIET. Diese Overtüre für Blasorchester wurde im Januar 2002, zum 150. Jahrestag der Pferdemesse von Vilvoorde, komponiert. Willam Tyndale war ein englischer Theologe und Bibelübersetzer, den man als Ketzer im 16. Jahrhundert in Filfurdo lebendig begrub. Während einer Passage in diesem Stück (Takte 78-94) werden Fragmente einer Motette von William Byrd, eines Zeitgenossen von Tyndale, zi…

Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. The variation genre occupied Beethoven his whole artistic life. Collected in the second volume of G. Henle Publishers’ complete edition of Piano variations are compositions from his middle and later Vienna years written between 1799 and 1823. Among them are groundbreaking works such as the two sets of variations on original themes opp. 34 and 35, the Variations in C minor…

on a Given Theme Most Excellent Composers and Virtuosos Diabelli Variations. Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations”, written between 1819 and 1823, mark the pinnacle of his oeuvre for variations and next to Bach's 'Goldberg Variations” form one of the most important contributions to this genre. In addition to Beethoven, 50 other composers from Austria, mainly Vienna, followed …

for alto voice and string trio. Par BRYARS GAVIN. Incipit Vita Nova (A new life is beginning) was written for male alto and string trio and sets those short phrases that appear in Latin rather than Italian in Dante's La Vita Nuova (New Life). It was composed in February 1989 to celebrate the birth of Vita, the first child of my friends Erica and Robert Hewison. I had decided to write the piece lon…

for medium voice and organ. Par HUMMEL BERTOLD. The rushing of the Holy Spirit to which the hymn 'Veni creator' refers is symbolized by fast semiquaver runs of the organ which return again and again during the whole piece. Alternately, the text is interpreted musically in seven verses according to the respective content. Traditional melodies appear in a contemporary harmonic makeup. From this cont…

Par GRIEG EDVARD. The piano concerto in a minor stands out in Edvard Grieg’s oeuvre. Besides this famous concerto, he composed only a few other large orchestral works. Because of its popularity even in Grieg’s lifetime, it was often performed, not least by the composer himself. So it is not surprising that Grieg made many changes to the score up to 1907. But at the same time, the concerto’s size, …

The series For Children (together with Mikrokosmos) belongs undoubtedly to the basic works of piano instruction. It is learned from almost all over the world. The present edition was prepared by the composer's son Péter Bartók living in the United States who used all available manuscripts and other documents which helped clarify the uncertainties concerning the music text. In order to meet this ob…

Par ZELENSKI WLADYSLAW. Wladyslaw Zelenski had the Six Character Pieces for piano, op. 17 ready around 1871, although it is quite possible that he composed them earlier, even in 1864. Such is indicated by the opus number. At that time he was giving opus numbers to works in chronological order of composition. This set is dedicated to Auguste Auspitz-Kolár, a pianist whom Zelenski could have met on …

Kantate Zum Epiphaniasfest. Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. This six-movement cantata uses the hymn of the same name by Ahasverus Fritsch, first recorded in 1698 in the Darmstädter Liederbuch. This places it amongst those chorale cantatas which use a hymn from the repertoire associated with Pietism. As was customary, the hymn text is retained in the outer movements, whereas the text for the inner movem…

Kantate Zum Epiphaniasfest. Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN. This six-movement cantata uses the hymn of the same name by Ahasverus Fritsch, first recorded in 1698 in the Darmstädter Liederbuch. This places it amongst those chorale cantatas which use a hymn from the repertoire associated with Pietism. As was customary, the hymn text is retained in the outer movements, whereas the text for the inner movem…

Par BACH JOHANN-SEBASTIAN. It was 1995 when I had the fortune to listen to the freshly published recording of the suites performed by Mstislav Rostropovich. I would have given anything to be able to play them, and this was what inspired me to study the bass clarinet. The series of diverse emotions which I subsequently experienced made me see Music in a completely new way. I began learning them slo…

The Boosey Voice Coach is an entirely new concept in vocal training. Not a self-teaching manual, and not filled with off-putting diagrams, this series is a wholly practical guide to singing - learning about technique and interpretation through the repertoire itself. Each volume is devoted to singing in one particular language or to singing in a specific context. In each volume of the series, works…