Par SHCHEDRIN RODION. The combination of cantabile elements and tight staccato rhythm, typical of Shchedrin's piano music, makes this 'little' sonata an effective, yet quite easily playable piece. It is unmistakable that this music has been written by a pianist who knows how to use the instrument. A virtuoso pianist himself, Shchedrin has often performed his piano works, including concertos, sonat…

Par BRYARS GAVIN. “Apart from the ten 5-minute string quartets that I wrote in 1992 as the original version of A Man in a Room, Gambling, there are 8 years between my second and third quartets. Another element which finds its way into the quartet comes from my work with groups from the world of early music, particularly from the experience of writing for a consort of viols …. In several places I a…

Part I-VI. Par EGGERT MORITZ. Hämmerklavier' is a full-length cyclical work. The composer tries casting off the straight-jacket of hide-bound musical traditions, sending the listener on a voyage of discovery and liberation. The 'Hämmer' of the title refers not to the action of the pianoforte nor to Beethoven’s 'Hammerklaviersonate' but to the mental approach required of the performer who needs to …

Music Of Our Time. Par BRYARS GAVIN. String Quartet No. 2 was written in 1990 commissioned by the Huddersfield Festival and the Balanescu Quartet. 'This second quartet is a more relaxed, easy-going piece than the first./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Music from the last movement of the Ninth Symphony. Par BEETHOVEN LUDWIG VAN. The European Hymn is the hymn not only of the European Union but of Europe in a broader sense. The melody has been taken from the Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1823. In the last movement of this symphony Beethoven set music to the 'Ode to Joy' by Friedrich von Schiller from 1785. This poem sprang from Schil…

Versuch eines Requiems. Par HARTMANN KARL AMADEUS. Karl Amadeus Hartmann wrote his first symphony in 1935/36. At that time he was still an unknown musician whose works stood no chance of being performed and who could not hope to find encouragement in his native Germany. He had to wait more than ten years for its first performance, which finally took place in Frankfurt in the spring of 1948 under t…