SKU: BT.ALHE32352
French.
SAA recorders.
SKU: HL.48188278
UPC: 888680855222. 7.0x10.5x0.075 inches.
SKU: HL.49045430
ISBN 9790001161640. UPC: 841886031647.
This collection tells little stories on the piano, written for some very young pianists. Each title sets a musical and technical challenge. Individual pieces may be put together to tell a longer story. The pieces are ordered progressively, with some requiring simple preliminary exercises. Easy to start with (using grace notes, playing legato and staccato), they become gradually more demanding as different fingerings, pedal use, phrasing and dynamics are introduced. Articulation, phrasing and tempo markings in this edition represent one possible interpretation; they may be changed or varied at will. The composer is delighted for her creative work to be developed further: titles presented in two versions give examples of this, showing that the bird can shimmer in different colours.
SKU: HL.48186482
Reynaldo Hahn: Works for cello and piano [AL 30 749] For quite some time, posterity remembered Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) for just a handful of songs and the operetta Ciboulette, overlooking the incredible diversity of a catalogue as eclectic as it is appealing. Yet his chamber music contains many little-known treasures: thus, cellist Steven Isserlis, in his preface, hastens to hail the first modern edition of these two scores, which he regularly plays in recital, so much does their beauty enchant the audience. Published in 1911, the Two Improvisations on Irish Airs for cello and piano turn out to be the transcription of his first and third Preludes for piano four hands (1894). These folk themes come from the collection Songs of Old Ireland, published 12 years earlier by Charles Villiers Stanford: gracefully and tenderly, The Little Red Lark unfurls a melancholic tune of which the regular foundation respects the breadth of phrase typical of folk songs; in The Willow-Tree, the lover begs his beloved in vain to take him in her arms one last time before he lies down, lifeless, in the shade of the tree. Beyond this sensitive exploration of the Irish soul, Hahn offers us a journey into the past: the Variations chantantes sur un air ancien develop a theme borrowed from Cavalli?s opera Xerse. In this aria (1660 version: Act IV, sc. 6), Ambassador Periarco dreams of moving away from court intrigues to be able to taste the pleasures ?to which the gods have destined him?. Reynaldo Hahn?s variations succeed in maintaining the sweet simplicity of this theme, as noble as it is refined. Let us wager that this publication will delight cellists and pianists alike: it contains some nuggets. Deux improvisations sur des airs irlandais (The Little Red Lark, The Willow-Tree) Variations chantantes sur un air ancien.
