Muzika aizlidoju'ajiem putniem / Music for Fleeting Birds. Par VASKS PETERIS. This is the first of two works by the successful Latvian composer for this instrumentation. It was written in 1977 and shows his early compositional style: while freely notated in the beginning, improvisational sections then change over to chordal passages with sharply accentuated rhythm. It is particularly in the freely…

The Sonata is one of Erkin's works which the casual listener may fail to attribute to a particular geography at a first hearing. He will however become absorbed by a unique sense of identity, surprising harmonies and rhythms which integrate with such sincerity and authenticity in the flow of the music. At a more attentive hearing, one can discover features of ancient Anatolian music which Erkin al…

Par BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN / GREBER JAKOB / VIVALDI ANT. In the opera and cantata orchestra of the baroque the sound and gentle timbre of the recorder had a special significance. It served pre-eminently to represent the emotional states of love, pain and sorrow. Many arias with obbligato recorder which have survived are still unknown today, despite the diligent efforts of “early music” enthusiasts …

Par SCHUBERT FRANZ. Presented for alto recorder and piano, the two most famous Ave Marias in music. Gounod’s, based on Bach’s first prelude and Schubert’s equally well known composition. They offer an undemanding blow for treble recorder in these arrangements by Sylvia Corinna Rosin or, perhaps a little more challenging, the Schubert will fit the tenor recorder, whose mellower tone will suit the m…

Par ANDERSON LEROY. Like most of Leroy Anderson\'s efforts, Belle of the Ball is light, effervescent, and devoid of conflict or disharmony. Anderson looked upon the piece as a modern-day American revival -- or revitalization -- of the Viennese waltz tradition. Having said that, the main theme sounds rather unlike a Strauss waltz, but the voice of Tchaikovsky is evident in its playful, fantasy-like…

Description Available for the first time for solo piano, here are four fabulous arrangements from the motion-picture soundtrack of The Piano plus the two favourite themes from the award-winning film by Jane Campion. This is another wonderfully presented edition with stills from the film, an original manuscript sketch and note from Nyman to lead actress Holly Hunter, who performs the pieces he…

Par CAMPBELL LAURA. Sketches for Improvisation provides material for improvisation using the same basic processes as Sketching at the Keyboard. Classroom use of the two companion volumes as part of the National Curriculum will enable teachers of children or adults to keep a mixed ability group working together on the same basic material, through the additional challenge of free improvisation and c…

Par SIBELIUS JEAN. This collection of Six Part-Songs for Female Voices contains six relatively different pieces that vary both in the language of their texts (Finnish and Swedish) and in length and number of voices. Nevertheless, they form a coherent and interesting set of moderate difficulty throughout, making Sibelius as a composer accessible to smaller female choirs and ensembles. The pieces w…

In the summer of 1913 Satie once more poked fun at himself and the world of music with a set of parodic piano pieces on various marine animals, giving it the grotesque title 'Embryons desséchés? (Dessicated Embryos)(BA 10811). The atmospheric cycle 'Avant-dernières Pensées? (Next-to-last Thoughts) (BA 10849) of 1915, with its underlaid words, likewise belongs to Satie's 'story pieces'. The notatio…

First-ever urtext edition of Bartók's Mikrokosmos - Volume 3 (comprises books 5 and 6 of the original edition) Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos is one of the key works of 20th-century piano music. The repertoire comprises educational pieces 'from the very first beginning' as well as concert literature, thus making this work an indispensable companion to piano lessons. The work is now available for the f…