Symphonie No.1, Op.210

SKU: BR.OB-3210-16

ISBN 9790004300701. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Johannes Brahms' first Piano Concerto was the fruit of a complex, protracted, and extremely trying creative process. Its origin goes back to a sonata in D minor for two pianos conceived in spring 1854. The impulse for the creation of the main subject was however a shocking event: According to Joseqph Joachim, the theme originated after hearing about Schumanns suicide attempt. A few months earlier, Schumann had revealed Brahms to the musical world in his essay New Paths. In this article, Brahms is extolled as the musician who is called to give expression to the feeling of his times in an ideal fashion. The unusually rapid genesis of the D-minor sonata and its prevailingly dark, monumental mood can be interpreted as an impassioned compositional response to Schumann's suicide attempt. However, the year-long struggle to arrive at the final form of the work should perhaps also be seen in the context of the resounding praise of Schumann's prophetic article. Brahms undoubtly felt a growing inner pressure to live up to the expectations aroused therein.Together with Clara Schumann, Brahms played the three so far existing movements of the sonata, but he was very self-critical. He felt that he had not been able to realize the monumentality he had envisioned, and which Clara Schumann felt, by merely doubling the piano sound. He soon decided to transform the sonata into a symphony (his first orchestral project). However, this idea did not seem to fit his vision either. Only in spring 1855 did he strike upon the definitive solution: a piano concerto. With Brahms as soloist, this concerto premiered in 1859, though he initially had little success. He wrote to Joachim about one of the first performances that the concerto was a brilliant and unmistakable - failure. This hardly surprised Brahms, for he was undoubtedly aware of the newness of the work, which surpassed the expectations of the audience. The work's complex structure and symphonic dimensions, the solo part's rejection of showy, elegant brilliance, and the uniquely Brahmsian orchestral density it maintains throughout; all of these qualities inevitably exasperated audiences at first - until they raised this work to the ranks of the most celebrated concertos of all time.

SKU: TM.11210SET

SKU: TM.05210SET

Harpsichord in score. No piano line in chorus. Cello/Bass. Clothbound score.

SKU: TM.10210SC

A.k.a. Windsor Castle Overture. Ed. by Landon.

SKU: PR.11641139S

UPC: 680160682119.

Barcarolles for a Sinking City was inspired by the city of Venice, a place that has long held the fascination of artists, writers and composers, and which I have been lucky enough to visit on several occasions. Sadly it seems that future generations may not be so lucky: in addition to the city's slow sinking and recently discovered tilting, studies predict that if global warming and the resultant rise of ocean levels is unabated, the entire city (as well as many other coastal cities around the globe) will be under water by 2100.   I. Funeral Gondola The late, cryptic piano works of Franz Liszt made a profound impression on me as a young composer, among them two works he entitled La Lugubre Gondola (usually translated as The Funeral Gondola ) which were said to be a premonition of Wagner's death in Venice, his coffin transported through the canals in a black gondola. These late pieces of Liszt acquired even greater significance to me after I spent two summers in Bayreuth under the patronage of Friedelind Wagner, the granddaughter of Wagner and great-granddaughter of Liszt. This movement is a meditation on Wagner, Liszt, Venice and its own evanescence. II. Barcarolle/Quodlibet The Quodlibet (Latin for what pleases) is a musical form dating back to the 15th century where many disparate melodies are juxtaposed. Popular in the Renaissance, sacred and secular melodies were combined, often to comical effect due to the resultant incongruity of the words. The form was considered the ultimate test of a composer's mastery of counterpoint. The most famous Quodlibet is without doubt the final Variation of Bach's Goldberg Variations. As a form the Quodlibet is less common in more recent music, although examples can be found in the works of Kurt Weill and David Del Tredici.   My own Barcarolle/Quodlibet was inspired by the (perhaps apocryphal) story of the funeral where musicians were asked to play a Bach Choral, but due to miscommunication played instead the Bacarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann. Here, the Bach Choral Allen Menschen mussen sterben (All Men Must Die) is heard in the strings pizzicato, with a tempo indication In slow motion. The alto line of the Bach suggests a phrase from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Alle Menchen werden Bruder) heard in the muted trombone. Before long, the famous tune from Offenbach's opera is heard, followed by quotations from iconic Barcarolles by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Faure, as well as two Venetian popular songs and more Beethoven.   III. Barcarola/Ostinato/Carillon An ostinato is a repeated musical figure, and carillon is Italian for music box. This movement references the obsolete genre of salon pieces that imitated music boxes: such works by composers like Liadov and Gretchaninov used to be a mainstay of pianists' encore repertoire. This movement is however much darker in conception than those pleasant trifles. Utilizing the full battery of percussion, the carefully notated temporal slowing of the ostinato becomes overwhelmed by a poignant chorale melody before this box is snapped shut.   IV. Barcarolle Oubliee (Forgotten Barcarolle) Marked limpido (still) the final movement begins with the sound of rain produced by a percussion instrument called (appropriately) a rain stick. Halting phrases in the harp coalesce into the accompaniment for a plangent melody heard in the clarinet. The central Adagio of this movement leads to a shattering climax, before the opening phrases return and dissipate into nothingness.

SKU: BR.BV-210

Constantin Floros' writings about Gustav Mahler are considered a central part of a Mahler-image, that will help us understand these giant of symphonic music.

Volume 1 of his comprehensive three-part Mahler investigation is now available in a new. Romantic period. Book. 336 pages. Breitkopf and Haertel #BV 210. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.BV-210).

ISBN 9783765102103. 6.5 x 9.5 inches.

Constantin Floros hat mit seiner gross angelegten Untersuchung das Mahler-Bild unserer Tage neu gepragt: Sind Mahlers Symphonien wirklich der ,,absoluten Musik zuzuordnen? - In kaum bekannten handschriftlichen Quellen finden sich bedeutsame Hinweise: programmatische Titel und Stichworte, Mottos, literarische Anspielungen, Assoziationen, Stossseufzer, Ausrufe. Mahler verstand seine Symphonik durchaus als erlebte Musik, als Autobiographie in Tonen und als Ausdruck seiner Weltanschauung. Alle Symphonien, auch die rein instrumentalen, lassen sich auf ein Programm zuruckfuhren, das Mahler zunachst mitteilte, spater aber verschwieg. Die Kenntnis der programmatischen Ideen eroffnet den Zugang zu einer bislang nur erahnten metaphysischen Innenwelt und ist fur eine angemessene Werk-Interpretation von zentraler Bedeutung.In Band I deckt Constantin Floros die Komplexitat der Beziehungen auf, die zwischen Mahlers umfassender Bildung, seiner Asthetik und seinem symphonischen Schaffen bestehen.Band II hat die Semantik der symphonischen Musik von Beethoven bis Mahler zum Gegenstand. Es zeigt sich, dass nicht nur Beethoven, Schubert und Bruckner wesentliche Vorlaufer fur Mahler darstellen, sondern daruber hinaus auch der Musikdramatiker Wagner und die ,,Programmsymphoniker Berlioz und Liszt. Dabei ermoglicht die musiksemantische Analyse erstmals die inhaltliche Konkretisierung vieler Orchesterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts. In Band III unterzieht Floros die Symphonien Mahlers einer eingehenden Untersuchung. Der autobiographische Hintergrund, die Programmentwurfe Mahlers und ihre literarisch-philosophischen Quellen werden nun bei der Werkbetrachtung veranschaulicht. Die entschlusselte Symbolsprache macht deutlich, dass die Kategorie der Groteske, die Idee der Wiedergeburt sowie der Gedanke einer Transzendierung des Todes durch die Liebe zu einem tieferen Verstandnis der symphonischen Erlebniswelt Gustav Mahlers beitragen konnen.,,Eine der bisher grundlichsten und umfassendsten Untersuchungen zu Werk und Umfeld Gustav Mahlers ... Harmut Luck im Norddeutschen Rundfunk ,,So wie hier der literarische Hintergrund Mahler, seine asthetischen und weltanschaulichen Maximen dargestellt werden, eroffnet sich tatsachlich ein neuer Zugang. Klaus Hinrich Stahmer in ,,Die Musikforschung.

SKU: CA.2100411

ISBN 9790007197681. Language: Latin.

The Requiem was composed during Campra's tenure as the director of music at the cathedral of Notre Dame. It was commissioned for a service in memory of the deceased Archbishop of Paris. At the end of the 18th century it became a tradition in southern France to perform movements of Campra's Requiem during funerals or at memorial services: There is evidence from as late as 1805 which verifies this practice. The scoring of this work is remarkable, in that it calls for four groups of performers: a five-voice Grand Choeur, a 2-3 voice Petit Choeur, three vocal soloists as well as an instrumental group designated as a Symphonie.. Score and part available separately - see item CA.2100400.