arranged for Piano and Viola-Cesar Franck’s Sonata for Piano and Violin is one of the most treasured works in the Violin repertoire a masterpiece of cyclic form with a gracefulness and expressive force almost paradigmatic for the age of musical Romanticism. This work was composed in 1886 and was dedicated to the Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.After Franck’s death in 1890 the original publisher of the Sonata the Parisian house Julien Hamelle announced an arrangement of the work for Viola but it has not been possible to locate any copy of this publication. The present arrangement for Viola is largely based on Jules Delsart’s arrangement for Piano and Cello the onlyversion of the Sonata which the composer authorized. However the Viola part here also adopts extensive passages in their original register or remains in the middle octave especially in those passages where the Cello lies two octaves beneath the Violin.Being set in the alto register the part thus lies between the other two string versions lending the Sonata a delightful hybrid hue beyond the brilliance of the Violin and the sonorousness of the Cello. The Piano part has been left intact and is thus identical to that of the original version.The edition is rounded off by an informative text on the genesis and reception history of the Sonata (Ger/Fr/Eng).

The music scene took notice of Erik Satie (1866-1925) all of a sudden: The world premiere of his ballet Parade on 18 May 1917 caused quite a scandal. The production which involved Sergey Diaghilev with his 'Ballets Russes' Pablo Picasso (scenery and costumes) Jean Cocteau (story) as well as Léonide Massine (choreography) divided the music scene of Paris yet made the composer widely known. Satie who hardly had had any solid musical training and lived in Paris for almost all his life developed a new musical style in deliberate rejection of the 'Wagnérisme' of his time. Classical form models new harmonies stylistic ease meditative and clownish elements amalgamated in an original way the perfect example being his 3 Gymnopédies of 1888 the first of which was here arranged for a solo instrument with Piano accompaniment: Thus it is now possible even for non-pianists to play this famous miniature by Satie. Thanks to its easy playability it can also be used for educational purposes.