Original works from the Renaissance to the Romantic era. This collection features a wide selection of original works from the Renaissance, Baroque and Modern eras arranged for two violins. Focusing on easy repertoire Duets for Fun will provide hours of enjoyment for aspiring musicians wishing to discover new material as well as develop their playing. This collection is ideal for use as teaching material, or for playing at home or in a concert with a friend. This title was previously published as 'Duo-Schatzkiste' (A Treasure Chest of Duos). DUETS FOR FUN - press reviews: 'End each lesson with a duo as a treat!' - STRINGENDO/ Recueil / 2 Violons

Conçus pour l'enseignement ou les tous premiers concerts, les albums 'Easy Concert Pieces' pour violon et piano contiennent des pièces faciles et connues, allant de la Renaissance à l'époque moderne, soigneusement choisies en accord avec leurs exigences techniques et musicales : volume 1 facile, volume 2 intermédiaire. Toutes les pièces sont jouables dans la première position. À côté de pièces originales de Milán, Purcell, Corelli, Duval ou Telemann, figurent des arrangements faciles de classiques célèbres, comme 'Les Quatre saisons' de Vivaldi, 'Fireworks Music' (Musique pour les feux d'artifice royaux) de Haendel ou encore 'La Flûte enchantée' de Mozart, ainsi que des compositions modernes de pop, jazz, spiritual, bossa nova et tango. Toutes les pièces sur le CD existent en version complète et en play-back./ Recueil / Violon et Piano

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's  String Quartet No. 10 'New Ground' (2011). Set of parts: WH31462A Programme note: New Ground – No Ground – Green In 1986 I wrote Ground for the Kronos Quartet. I used the principle of the baroque ground and created a series of chords – going up and going down symmetrically. The material formed the basis for the quartet. In my next collaboration with Kronos I wrote the darker Last Ground – at the time supposed to be my last composition of the kind. After some years this seemed a bit pathetic and Idecided to write a new – lighter ground – New Ground. To disappoint my listeners as much as possible I based this piece on a very old and very well-known ground: Pachelbel’s Canon.  The piece is tonal and that suggested another –atonal – composition – No Ground (based on another string quartet – no. 7 Parted from 1984 first performed by Kronos). I am very fond of the elaborated constructivism of the medieval or early renaissance music so in my view the two new quartets needed to be connected and combined. The two quartets can be performed in combination with the four-part vocal piece Green. The text is from medieval England. The pieces are written for the Kronos Quartet and Theatre of Voices.

Par SCHWEITZER BENJAMIN. The chiaroscuro-technique developed by painters of the Italian renaissance served to intensify contrasts and effects of optical depth. In Klar/Obskur, I tried to transfer the general idea of this technique on the rather unusual instrumentation of two double-reed woodwinds and piano. On the one hand, a clear, well articulated playing is characteristic for these instruments, on the other hand, they have an often underestimated potential of „twilight“: air-sounds and fragile, shady colours have a especially attractive when being produced by double-reed instruments (which are often, and superficially regarded as being less capable of differentiated sounds than flute or clarinet). The piano, too, has a broad bandwidth of possibilities between percussive and delicate playing to complement the woodwinds which, in return, can absorb and continue the fading piano sounds. The beginning introduces the two contrasting elements that form the basic material for the piece: a clear, sharp chord, followed by fragile, dim sounds. The changes between these elements as well as their combination and amalgamation produce an enormous spectrum of colours and gesture. After this „motto-like“ opening follow four quite clearly separated short sections, each of them being characterised by a well-defined texture: a partly almost imperceptible air-sound passage, a short sequence of microintervallic notes, a burst of virtuosity and a recourse to the fragile sounds of the beginning. The second, longer main part consists of three sections merging subtly into each other: a short unisono-passage, marked elastic [federnd], is being dissolved into its basic elements; from these remainders, a confrontation of low, ‚arcane‘ bassoon and piano sounds and a strongly ornamented melodic line of the oboe emerges, leading to a short but powerful climax. The piece is concluded by an extended, relaxed epilogue, containing a short piano solo and a duet of oboe and bassoon and, finally, a quotation of the „elastic“ character of the middle section. Benjamin Schweitzer / Date parution : 2007-11-20/ Répertoire / Hautbois, Basson et Piano