for the Left Hand for Piano and Orchestra-In 1929 Paul Wittgenstein a pianist and war veteran who lost his right arm in the Great War commissioned Maurice Ravel to write a concerto for him to perform. The result was one of Ravel’s most thrilling compositions and for Wittgenstein the most important of the many works he commissioned over the course of his career. This scholarly-critical edition of Ravel’s Piano Concerto For The Left Hand is based on previously inaccessible and unknown sources. The editor Douglas Woodfull-Harris was able to consult manuscripts in the private library of the Paul Wittgenstein Estate which allowed him to retrace thework’s evolution from Ravel’s autograph working copy to the first printed edition. A source of key importance to our new edition is a handwritten French copy of Ravel’s own Piano reduction (the autograph is inaccessible) that he gave to Wittgenstein to facilitate rehearsing the work. This copy is the sole source reflecting Wittgenstein’s own interpretation and containing his changes to the final cadenza. It also helps us to understand omissions in the first edition of the score as well as the Piano reduction and enabled the editor amongst other things to correct a great many notes which could be found in previous editions including the solo Piano part. The Piano reduction in our edition contains both Ravel’s and Wittgenstein’s fingering. Also included is a solo part without fingering thereby giving pianists the opportunity to enter their own fingering after having studied those of Ravel and Wittgenstein. Score and orchestral parts in large format (25.5 x 32.5 cm) Includes source descriptions and a Critical Commentary with alternative readings (Eng) Informative Introduction on the work’s history and genesis (Ger/Eng/Fr) With facsimile pages Piano reduction with separate Urtext solo part enclosed Full score & parts (BA7881) and two-Piano reduction (BA7881-90) available for sale.

Left Alone for Piano (left hand) and Orchestra was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 2014-15. Commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and co-commissioned by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Premiered by the WDR Sinfonieorchester and Alexandre Tharaud (piano) concducted by Ilan Volkov on January 29 2016 Cologne. Programme Note: I was born with a right hand that is not fully functional and though it never prevented me from loving playing the piano as well as I could with this physical limitation it hasobviously given me an alternative focus on the whole piano literature and has given me a close relationship with the works written for the left hand by Ravel and others. This repertoire has been with me since my youth. My very first public performance of one of my own works was in autumn 1969. The piece was called October and I played the piano with my left hand and the horn my principal instrument (the only instrument that can be played with only the left hand). Part of the piece requires the performer to play natural harmonics of the horn directly into the open strings of the grand piano to create resonance. The pedal was kept down by an assistant lying on the floor. Through decades the idea of writing a larger work for piano left hand has been in my mind. This new work is not written for a pianist with only one hand but rather by a composer who can only play with the left hand. The title Left alone contains all kinds of references not only to the obvious fact that the left hand is playing alone. Left alone is divided into two large parts each consisting of three smaller movements – in effect six in total. The work was commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk and co-commissioned by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic and written for Alexandre Tharaud. Hans