REPRINT SERIES  Die Liebe der Danae, Op. 83, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Joseph Gregor (after sketches by Hugo von Hofmannsthal). Strauss worked on the score in the late 1930s and completed it on 28 June...

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 (subtitle Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell) was written by Benjamin Britten in 1945 for a British Ministry of Education film, Instruments of the Orchestra; the film version (with narration...

REPRINT SERIES  Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo, Op. 52, was written by Gustav Holst in 1930 as a substantial two-part work for military/wind band (Prelude and Scherzo). The wind-band premiere took place at the American Bandmasters Association...

Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Op. 66 (composed 1961–62), is a large-scale choral-orchestral work written for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral and intended as a musical act of remembrance and reconciliation. Britten interweaves...

REPRINT SERIES Irving G. Fine’s Diversions for orchestra (1959–60) is an orchestration of four short piano pieces that Fine scored for full orchestra (with optional saxophones). The set comprises Little Toccata, Flamingo Polka, Koko’s...

“The Typewriter” is a novelty orchestral showpiece completed on 9 October 1950; Anderson scored it for full orchestra with a real typewriter used as a solo percussion instrument (three principal sounds: typing, the carriage return bell, and...

REPRINT SERIES  Capriccio is Strauss’s final stage work (composed 1940–41), described by the composer as “a conversation piece for music.” The libretto was prepared with Clemens Krauss (and with input from Strauss) and the...

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103, subtitled The Year 1905, was composed in 1957 and premiered in Moscow on 30 October 1957 by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under Natan Rakhlin (the Leningrad premiere followed on 3...

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, was composed in 1937 (April–July) as a public response to the cultural condemnation he had suffered that year; it premiered on 21 November 1937 in Leningrad with Yevgeny Mravinsky and...

Grażyna Bacewicz’s Violin Concerto No. 2 (1945) is a three-movement work—I. Allegro ma non troppo (with substantial cadenza), II. Andante, III. Vivo—combining neoclassical clarity with propulsive rhythmic drive. The concerto was written...

Benjamin Britten’s Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68, was composed in 1963 and dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere with Britten conducting the Moscow Philharmonic on 12 March 1964. The work’s title reflects...

Benjamin Britten’s Simple Symphony, Op. 4, was written in 1933–34 and is wholly derived from themes he composed as a child; it is scored for string orchestra (also playable as a string quartet) and typically lasts about 16–18 minutes in...

Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto Op.15, was composed in 1938–39 and premiered in New York in March 1940 with Antonio Brosa as soloist and Sir John Barbirolli conducting. the concerto balances incisive, often percussive orchestral...

REPRINT SERIES  Manuel de Falla’s “Interlude and Dance”  is the principal purely orchestral episode extracted from the second act of La vida breve. It is presented as a single orchestral scena that moves from a secco,...

Manuel de Falla’s Suite No. 2, Three Dances from El sombrero de tres picos, is an orchestral extraction of the principal dances from Part II of the 1919 ballet. he suite is scored for a medium-to-large orchestra with an emphasis on percussion...

REPRINT SERIES  Manuel de Falla’s Spanish Dance No. 1 (Danza Española No. 1) from the opera La vida breve was arranged for full orchestra by Stéphane Chapelier in 1928. In Chapelier’s orchestration the dance functions as a...

Respighi’s La bella dormente nel bosco is a “musical fairy tale” in three acts, originally composed in 1921 for Vittorio Podrecca’s Teatro dei Piccoli puppet theatre and later substantially revised in 1933 for full theatrical...

REPRINT SERIES Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Suite for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 30 (1913), is an early orchestral showpiece that transforms a set of piano character pieces into a three-movement suite for piano solo with orchestral accompaniment. The three...