The Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65, by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in the summer of 1943, and first performed on 4 November of that year by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Yevgeny Mravinsky, to whom the work is dedicated. It briefly was...

The scenario of Martinu’s 1930 “Echec du Roi” (Checkmate) anticipates that of Stravinsky’s “Jeu de Cartes” (1937), with dancing chessmen taking the place of dancing poker chips. The score mixes Stravinskyan...

Villa-Lobos composed his Ninth Symphony in Rio de Janeiro in 1952. It was first performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. The score is dedicated to Mindinha (Arminda Neves d'Almeida), the composer's companion for the last 23...

REPRINT SERIES Seven, They Are Seven (Russian: Семеро их) (op. 30) is a cantata by Sergei Prokofiev composed in 1917 for large orchestra, chorus, and dramatic tenor soloist. It was composed in Yessentuki and Kislovodsk, and the words are taken from the...

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...