Rococo to Go

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.

SKU: BR.EOS-1900-19

ISBN 9790004789391. 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.

SKU: BR.EOS-1900-23

ISBN 9790004789407. 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.

SKU: HL.49046797

UPC: 842819115670. 9.0x12.0x0.099 inches.

The final movement of the Sonata in A major KV 331 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Rondo Alla Turca, is one of the most famous pianopieces of all time. Once only familiar to musical experts, later a universal piece for all piano pupils, its opening melody is now even omnipresent as an alienated sinus tone-like mobile phone ring tone. Fazil Say's arrangement, originally created as an effective encore, follows on from this popularity. After the first eight bars havebeen presented in original form, typical elements of jazz superimposed on the still recognisable classical foundations can be discovered, such as syncopation of the top notes and ornamentation through chromatic blue notes, embedded in the at times frenzied chains of semiquavers. In the spirit of the work's improvisatory character, Say likes to perfom his Alla Turca Jazz in different combinations, for example accompanied by jazz singers of with orchestra. It may appear strange that Fazil Say, who was born in Turkey and - when not on tour - is still resident in that country, does not bring back Mozart's interpretation of genuine Turkish music closer to its own roots, particularly as many of his compositions such as Black Earth or the Violin Sonata are characterised by a subtle amalgamation of the Classical-Romantic tradition, Turkish folk music and elements of jazz. In a further Mozart arrangement, the ballet music Patara premiered in Vienna in 2006, composed on the basis of the Rococo-like theme from the first movement of the same A-major Sonata (wich enjoys almost as great popularity as the Alla Turca theme), Say utilised the connection which was absent in Alla Turca, albeit in the opposite direction. In the ballet music, the piano symbolises Western culture and the Ney flute Oriental culture, communcated atmosperically by austere percussion instrumentation and soprano vocalisation.