Par LERDAHL FRED. Waltzes, a cycle of twelve virtuoso waltzes for violin, viola, cello, and double bass, was commissioned by the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, where the first nine waltzes were premiered in 1981. Soon thereafter I composed the final three waltzes. The violinist Rolf Schulte led the first performance of the complete work in New York City in 1983. Waltzes lasts about 22 minutes…

Classical guitarists, both students and professional performers, require the same high-quality editions that their pianist colleagues have come to expect from Alfred Music. Our Classical Guitar Masterwork Editions continue the Alfred tradition of providing carefully edited, beautifully presented music for practice and performance.This edition of Carcassi's Melodic and Progressive Etudes, Op. 60 in…

For Alto Saxophone and Piano. Par SAY FAZIL. Suite, consisting of six short pieces for alto saxophone and piano, is a virtuoso work for this duo. I composed my Suite in 2014 in commission of the legendary saxophone virtuoso Mr. Sugawa with whom I played the world premiere in Tokyo in 2014. The pieces are very much inspired by Turkish music, rhythms, dances, folklore... and composed in modal and so…

In 1922 Maurice Ravel heard the young Hungarian violin virtuoso and niece of Joseph Joachim, Jelly D'Aranyi, in concert in London. Following the performance, Ravel spent the remainder of the evening requesting D'Aranyi to play numerous gypsy tunes on her violin, probing her on the technical limits of the instrument. The result of this encounter is Ravel's virtuoso classic 'Tzigane?. Written origin…

Par RAVEL MAURICE. In 1922 Maurice Ravel heard the young Hungarian violin virtuoso and niece of Joseph Joachim, Jelly D'Aranyi, in concert in London. Following the performance, Ravel spent the remainder of the evening requesting D'Aranyi to play numerous gypsy tunes on her violin, probing her on the technical limits of the instrument. The result of this encounter is Ravel's virtuoso classic 'Tziga…

In 1922 Maurice Ravel heard the young Hungarian violin virtuoso and niece of Joseph Joachim, Jelly D'Aranyi, in concert in London. Following the performance, Ravel spent the remainder of the evening requesting D'Aranyi to play numerous gypsy tunes on her violin, probing her on the technical limits of the instrument. The result of this encounter is Ravel's virtuoso classic 'Tzigane?. Written origin…

Par SAURET EMILE. Émile Sauret, violin virtuoso, teacher and composer, was admired by some of the greatest composers of his time, including Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Bruch, Wagner, Grieg and Mahler. He gave numerous concerts with Liszt, Rubinstein, and Moszkowski, and often played duets with Sarasate. He is predominantly remembered for the fiendishly difficult cadenza he composed to Paganini?s first vi…

Par KILLMAYER WILHELM. Unlike the highly virtuoso Études d’exécution transcendante by Franz Liszt, these études by Wilhelm Killmayer are written ‘in a deliberately anti-virtuoso manner, without chroma, i.e. with seven tones and largely in two parts’. (Wilhelm Killmayer) Each of the twelve pieces focusses on a single compositional or technical aspect. Diatonic scales, parallel thirds and major cho…

Symphonic Etudes. Par SHCHEDRIN RODION. Many of Rodion Shchedrin’s compositions are distinguished by deeply Slavonic feeling and thrilling virtuoso displays. Even though Shchedrin has won recognition all over the world for his work, he remains an essentially Russian composer who has not broken off his ties to Russian musical folk traditions and poetry. It is thus not surprising to learn of his pro…

Sir Edward Elgar was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for Violin and Cello, and two symphonies. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924.Composed in 1892, Etudes Caracteristi…