A dazzling percussion concerto that requires advanced technique and musicality, from timpani to xylophone to small percussion instruments. This work is often taken up as a challenge for competitions.

Although Milhaud eventually lumped them together as if they constituted a single work, the four concertos that make up The Seasons are not really related to each other; they are individual pieces and should be listened to that way. The Concertino de...

André Jolivet wrote his first Flute Concerto in 1949. It is scored for solo flute and strings and was premièred on 24 January 1950 by soloist Jean-Pierre Rampal. This concerto now part of the standard flute repertoire and several prominent...

Composed in 1934, the Cello Concerto No.1 is not only the frist composition for cello by Milhaud, but also the most popular. It was dedicaated to Maurice Maréchal, who premiered it in Paris on June 28th 1935. This concerto was one of Grégor...

This pretty work for String Orchestra has 3 movements: 1.Animé et Vigoureux - 2.Vif et Léger - 3.Décidé et Joyeux, and lasts approximately 11 minutes.

Among Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s important, large-scale Judaically incited concert works is his second violin concerto (Op. 66), which he subtitled I profeti (The Prophets). Its three movements are further subtitled with reference to two biblical...

Hans Kindler was one of the most brilliant and dedicated musicians of his generation. Born in Rotterdam in 1892 and trained at the city’s conservatory, Kindler emigrated to the United States in 1914 to become Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia...

The tone poem/ballet Amazonas, composed originally for orchestra and published in 1917, was transcribed for piano by Villa-Lobos himself and published in a new version in 1932. Like Uirapuru, Amazonas subtitled “Brazilian Indian ballet” first...

Certainly Prokofiev’s own ‘stories’ for children end happily – and there are quite a number, not merely those recorded here. The first was The Ugly Duckling, a setting of an adaptation (by Nina Meshchersky, Prokofiev’s first...

CIRCUS OVERTURETOCH was a very versatile student of medicine and philosophy who taught himself music by studying the great masterpieces. He won many prizes for his works and came to the United States from his native Germany in 1940. He has written many...

La Création du monde, Op. 81a, is a 15-minute-long ballet composed by Darius Milhaud in 1922–23 to a libretto by Blaise Cendrars, which outlines the creation of the world based on African folk mythology. The premiere took place on 25 October...

Mississippi; Tone Journey is a 1926 orchestral suite in four movements by Ferde Grofé, depicting scenes along a journey down the Mississippi River from its headwaters of Minnesota to New Orleans.     I. Father of the Waters –...

One of Milhaud's most well known pieces is 'Scaramouche'. Original written as a Suite for two pianos but later transcribed by the composer for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. The original conception for the Scaramouche suite was for piano duo, and Milhaud...

Le Bœuf sur le toit (literally "the ox on the roof"), Op. 58 is a short piece for small orchestra by the composer Darius Milhaud, written in 1919–20. Milhaud conceived the piece as incidental music for any one of the comic silent films of...

The Little (Chamber) Symphony No. 2, Op. 49, by Darius Milhaud (not to be confused with Symphony No. 2) is a three movement piece written for chamber orchestra, consisting of flute, English horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass. Milhaud...

"Symphonie de Chambre No.1" also known as Chamber Symphony No. 1 “Le Printemps” Op. 43, is the first of a collection of six “Little Symphonies,” by Darius Milhaud. This piece should not be confused with Milhaud's Symphony No. 1...