Cadenzas for the Flute Concert No. 2 D major KV 314 (285d)

SKU: HL.49046132

ISBN 9783795716639. UPC: 888680955762. 9x12 inches. German - English - French.

Even though Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), admittedly, was no fan of the flute, he wrote unforgettable music for this instrument 'that I can't stand': two concertos, a double concerto with harp, the original version of the Wind Concertante and the four flute quartets. Commissioned by the Dutch physician and amateur musician Ferdinand Dejean, Mozart wrote his two solo concertos in 1777/78 during a stay in Mannheim. As the middle movement of the Concerto in G major KV 313 supposedly was too difficult for the client -with regard to the playing technique and/or music - the composer wrote an alternative version, 'Andante' KV 315 (285e). This nice individual movement is now presented in a carefully edited new edition, with a cadenza of the editor - a serenade-like setting that offers the soloist many possibilities for cantabile playing.

SKU: BR.MR-2195B

A variable solo concerto in A minor

ISBN 9790004488423. 9 x 12 inches.

The concertos in A minor, B flat major and A major constitute a small but amazingly flexible group in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's work catalogue. They were written as violoncello concertos between 1750 and 1753, and have all been transmitted in alternative versions as flute and harpsichord concertos as well. C. P. E. Bach wrote the Cello Concerto in A minor Wq 170 at the Berlin court of King Frederick the Great. The flute version Wq 166 was probably written shortly thereafter, even if the only surviving source dates from after the composer's death. We can see how interchangeable the solo instruments were through the amazing circumstance that editor Ulrich Leisinger was able to draw upon the version for harpsichord solo Wq 26 for this new edition. The cadenzas to the first and second movements proved to be easily adaptable to the flute, which should inspire soloists to create their own versions.

A variable solo concerto in A minor.

SKU: CN.R10004

A slow introduction gives way to the chirpy theme which is developed, inverted, and accents displaced across the bar line to give a 3/2 feel against the written meter. Restlessness leads to a tranquillo presented by the flute and clarinet, weaving a flowing counterpoint around the melody until the original slow introduction returns. A triumphant recapitulation of the main theme brings this wonderful piece to an end.

Originally composed for Brass Band in 1934 Comedy Overture is, despite its name, a serious piece of writing. The term Overture does not imply that there is anything else to follow; it is used in the 19th century sense of Concert Overture (like Mendelssohn's Fingal's Cave - in other words, a miniature Tone Poem). The 1930's was a period of Ireland's mature writing - yielding the Piano Concerto (1930), the Legend for piano and orchestra (1933), and the choral work These Things Shall Be (1936-1937). We are fortunate therefore to have both Comedy Overture and A Downland Suite (1932) written for band medium at this time. As with Maritime Overture (written in 1944 for military band) Ireland approaches his material symphonically. The opening three notes state immediately the two seminal intervals of a semitone and a third. These are brooding and dark in Bb minor. It is these intervals which make up much of the thematic content of Comedy, sometimes appearing in inverted form, and sometimes in major forms as well. The concept that some musical intervals are consonant , some dissonant, and some perfect is perhaps useful in understanding the nature of the tension and resolution of this work. The third is inherently unstable, and by bar 4, the interval is expanded to a fourth - with an ascending sem-quaver triplet - and then expanded to a fifth. The instability of the third pushes it towards a perfect resolution in the fourth or the fifth. The slow introduction is built entirely around these intervals in Bb minor and leads through an oboe cadenza, to an Allegro moderato brillante in Bb major. Once again, the semi-tone (inverted) and a third (major) comprise the main, chirpy, theme-inspired by a London bus-conductor's cry of Piccadilly. (Much of the material in Comedy was re-conceived by Ireland for orchestra and published two years later under the title A London Overture.) The expansion of the interval of a third through a fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh now takes place quickly before our very ears at the outset of this quicker section. Immediately the theme is developed, inverted, and accents displaced across the bar line to give a 3/2 feel against the written meter. But this restlessness leads to a tranquillo built around an arpeggio figure and presented by flute and clarinet. Ireland weaves his flowing counterpoint around this melody until the original slow introduction returns leading to a stretto effect as the rising bass motifs become more urgent, requesting a resolution of the tension of that original semitone and minor third. Yet resolution is withheld at this point as the music becomes almost becalmed in a further, unrelated tranquillo section marked pianissimo. It is almost as if another side of Ireland's nature is briefly allowed to shine through the stern counterpoint and disciplined structure. This leads to virtually a full recapitulation of the chirpy brilliante, with small additional touches of counterpoint, followed by the first tranquillo section-this time in the tonic of Bb major. But the instability of the third re-asserts itself, this time demanding a resolution. And a triumphant resolution it receives, for it finally becomes fully fledged and reiterates the octave in a closing vivace. The opening tension has at last resolved itself into the most perfect interval of all.