First Things First-Cello

SKU: BA.BA11071

ISBN 9790006562015. 42 x 29.7 cm inches.

“Now II” is the second part of a triptych of chamber pieces entitled “Profiles of Light”. The first part is written for solo piano (Now I, BA 11073), the second for unaccompanied cello. The two instruments are then combined in the concluding third part, Uriel (BA 11013).

All three pieces were inspired by the Abstract Expressionist paintings of the American artist Barnett Newman. Newman's work has had a formative impact on Matthias Pintscher's artistic philosophy: what does it mean to reduce things to essentials while seeking maximum immediacy of expression? Several of Newman's paintings have a radiant light of uncommon intensity, yet resembling a dark illumination. The same sort of thing is found in the late works of Franz Schubert, where a comparable profundity and retrospective yearning likewise shine through the surface of even the brightest tonalities.

This is a piece about resonances, about the inward and outward givens of existence, about life itself: 'I find the cello a highly suitable instrument for depicting such existential conditions'.

SKU: BR.PB-15132

ISBN 9790004214688. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Bruch's evergreen for the first time in UrtextThanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto no. 1 zipped onto the road to success and has never left it since. Yet from the preface of the BreitkopfUrtext edition,one can infer how things looked like behind the dazzling facade. After the world premiere, the composer struggled for the definitive form. He wrote 3, 4 development sections in the finale, and sought the advice of celebrated virtuosi such as Joseph Joachim and Ferdinand David to revise the solo part. And after all this was done (see above), Bruch suffered under the work's popularity: Have I written nothing but this one concerto?The new Urtext edition is based primarily on the first edition. Next to the main source and the autograph, what is supremely interesting is a solo part with entries by Joachim and Bruch. It confirms how intensively the two men collaborated on honing the final form of the work.

SKU: BR.PB-15133-07

In Cooperation with G. Henle Verlag

ISBN 9790004214695. 6.5 x 9 inches.

Bruch's evergreen for the first time in UrtextThanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto no. 1 zipped onto the road to success and has never left it since. Yet from the preface of the BreitkopfUrtext edition,one can infer how things looked like behind the dazzling facade. After the world premiere, the composer struggled for the definitive form. He wrote 3, 4 development sections in the finale, and sought the advice of celebrated virtuosi such as Joseph Joachim and Ferdinand David to revise the solo part. And after all this was done (see above), Bruch suffered under the work's popularity: Have I written nothing but this one concerto?The new Urtext edition is based primarily on the first edition. Next to the main source and the autograph, what is supremely interesting is a solo part with entries by Joachim and Bruch. It confirms how intensively the two men collaborated on honing the final form of the work.

SKU: CA.5008900

ISBN 9790007092351.

Rhei nberger's string quartets combine rich sonority and the art of variation, following in the footsteps of Schumann and Mendelssohn, with Rheinberger's feeling for form, melodic beauty and contrapuntal mastery; his attitude to the musical movements of his time is suggested in his first String Quartet, now published in a scholarly edition, through such things as the quotation, probably to be understood ironically, from the Prelude to Wagner's Tristan in the last movement.

SKU: HL.14030950

The composer writes: In Alman, which consists of 3 movements, it is the dynamic waves that are making the form. Constantly something is created, sheltered by these waves, things are hidden or are having their own expression. In this light the first movement can be seen as a big curve, and the second movement as a mosaic. In the manic last movement, the music is whipped against climax. This movement is supported by a quotation of the young Danish poet Michael Strunge. The title of Alman, is the name of a dance (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book), even though this is hardly heard in my quartet.

SKU: HL.14030988

ISBN 9788759877319.

Alma n - String Quartet was composed by Bent Sorensen in 1984. Parts available: WH29837A Programme Note: In Alman, which consists of 3 movements, it is the dynamic waves that are making the form. Constantly something is created, sheltered by these waves, things are hidden or are having their own expression. In this light the first movement can be seen as a big curve, and the second movement as a mosaic. In the manic last movement, the music is whipped against climax. This movement is supported by a quotation of the young Danish poet Michael Strunge. The title of Alman, is the name of a dance (Fitzwilliam Virginal Book), even though this is hardly heard in my quartet. (BentSorensen).