SKU: BR.EB-9391

ISBN 9790004188651. 9 x 12 inches.

Jean Sibelius composed far less music for the cello than for the violin. Malinconia (op. 20) - published in 1911 but composed in 1900 under the title Fantasia - remained his only opus-numbered work exclusively for cello and piano. The Fantasia for cello and piano, an early stage of Malinconia , was premiered at a soiree in the Solemnity Hall of the University of Helsinki on 12 March 1900 and was given positive press reviews: The work, which mainly drew attention with its logical and clear structure, begins with a powerful and substantial cello solo, to which the piano responds with a glimmering series of arpeggiated chords. At the end where the instruments unite in a harmonious, deeply emotional song, the harmonic impression they create is very bright and lovely. The autograph manuscript of Fantasia shows that Sibelius omitted a larger passage of music between the present bars 24 and 25 and that he made further revisions to the work, either before the publishing process or in the proofs he read in April 1911 for Breitkopf.

SKU: BR.CB-215

ISBN 9790001157223. 9 x 12 inches.

The triumphal concert hall success of Tchaikovsky's most popular and musically most valuable concert pieces for solo instrument and orchestra was preceded by severe teething troubles. His Piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 23 of 1874/75 was slated by Tchaikovsky's mentor and potential performer at the premiere, the pianist, conductor and director of the Moscow Conservatory, Nikolai Rubinstein. So Hans von Bulow premiered it gratefully and enthusiastically (in Boston, USA, on 25 October 1875). Leopold Auer, violin virtuoso and professor at the Petersburg Conservatory, to whom Tchaikovsky wanted to dedicate his Violin Concerto Op. 35 of 1878, refused to premiere it - he regarded the solo part as unrewarding and unplayable. On 4 December 1881, Adolf Brodsky premiered the Violin Concerto in Vienna, with Hans Richter conducting, but Eduard Hanslick wrote a crushing and unpleasant review. The Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra Op. 33 were finally published by their dedicatee, the German cellist and professor at the Moscow Conservatory, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, after he had almost completely rewritten and then premiered it on 18 December 1877 in Moscow, while Tchaikovsky, who had asked him to publish the work, was abroad. The original version, which can be found in this edition, was not published until the 1950s.