Karl Weigl’s Symphony No. 6 was composed in 1947, during the final decade of the composer’s life after his emigration to the United States. It is scored for full orchestra and reflects the mature style of a composer who remained committed to...

REPRINT SERIES  Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Romance for Harmonica, Strings and Piano in D-flat major was composed in 1951 for the celebrated harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler, who had commissioned new works for his instrument from a number of...

Leroy Anderson’s A Christmas Festival for Wind Band is the composer’s own concert band version of his popular Christmas overture, originally written for the Boston Pops Orchestra at the request of Arthur Fiedler in 1950. Anderson later...

REPRINT SERIES Grażyna Bacewicz’s Violin Concerto No. 3 was composed in 1948 and premiered on 4 March 1949 in Gdańsk, with the composer as soloist and the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Stefan Śledziński. Lasting about 20–21...

REPRINT SERIES The Eclogue is the central movement of an uncompleted piano concerto, and its title was applied posthumously. Finzi revised it twice during his lifetime, and the surviving movement stands on its own as a complete concert piece rather than...

Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, Op. 13, was composed in 1938 and revised in 1945, as presented here. Britten wrote the concerto for himself to play at a Promenade Concert in 1938. The original version included a slow movement titled...

REPRINT SERIES  Arnold Bax’s Symphony No. 4, GP 307, was begun in October 1930 and completed in February 1931. Bax dedicated it to his friend from student days, Paul Corder. In contrast to the more inward character of the symphonies around...

Benjamin Britten’s Nocturne, Op. 60, was composed in August–September 1958 for tenor voice, seven obbligato instruments, and string orchestra. It lasts about 25 minutes, and its first performance was given on 16 October 1958 at Leeds Town...

Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31, was composed in 1943 for tenor, solo horn, and string orchestra and it is one of his most distinctive early wartime works. The work was written for Peter Pears and Dennis Brain, and...

Benjamin Britten’s Scottish Ballad, Op. 26, is a concertante work for two pianos and orchestra composed in 1941. Britten wrote it for the piano-duet team Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson, and the piece belongs to his wartime output of compact,...

REPRINT SERIES  Reinhold Glière’s Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, Op. 91, is a three-movement concerto in B-flat major for solo horn and orchestra. The concerto was completed in 1951 and written for the Russian horn player Valery...

Frank Martin’s Concerto for seven wind instruments, timpani, percussion and string orchestra, IFM 6, was composed in 1949 at the request of the Bernische Musikgesellschaft.  The work is cast in three movements — Allegro, Adagietto, and...

REPRINT SERIES Richard Strauss’s Arabella, Op. 79, is a lyric comedy in three acts composed between 1930 and 1932 to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was first performed at the Dresden State Opera on 1 July 1933 under Clemens Krauss...

Frank Martin’s Petite symphonie concertante, was composed in 1944–45, on a commission from Paul Sacher, and became one of Martin’s best-known works. The original version is scored for harp, harpsichord, piano, and two string orchestras,...

REPRINT SERIES Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden, Op. 38, is a melodrama based on Alfred Tennyson’s poem, using Adolf Strodtmann’s German translation. In Strauss’s original form, it is written for narrator and piano and was...

Benjamin Britten’s Prelude and Fugue, Op. 29, was composed in 1943 for 18-part string orchestra, and it was written to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Boyd Neel Orchestra. It lasts about nine minutes and is a compact two-part work built...

Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs (Sieben frühe Lieder) is a cycle for high voice and orchestra that Berg assembled and orchestrated in 1928 from songs he had originally composed between 1905 and 1908, while studying with Arnold Schoenberg. The...

REPRINT SERIES  Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 1 is formally titled A Sea Symphony. It was composed between 1903 and 1909, first performed at the Leeds Festival on 12 October 1910, and is a large-scale choral symphony for soprano, baritone,...