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...

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...

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  Francesca da Rimini, Op. 25, is a “symphonic opera” in a prologue, two tableaux and an epilogue by Sergei Rachmaninoff to a Russian libretto by Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, based on the episode in Dante’s Inferno...

REPRINT SERIES Maurice Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole, M. 52, is a one-act “comédie musicale” with a French libretto by Franc-Nohain, based on his own 1904 play. Ravel began work on the music in 1907, and the opera received its...

REPRINT SERIES  George Antheil’s Symphony No. 4 (“1942”) was written between 1942 and 1943 and first performed in 1944 by Leopold Stokowski and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Subtitled simply with its year of completion, the work...

Max Steiner composed one of the most beloved Hollywood scores for Casablanca (1942), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture". That same year this Suite was extracted from the main work, creating...

The Vertigo Suite was arranged by Bernard Herrmann himself. Drawing directly from his 1958 film score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Herrmann crafted the concert suite in the same year, selecting and shaping the principal themes into a unified...

Waxman’s masterful composition for A Place in the Sun earned his 2nd consecutive Oscar for Best Scoring, marking a significant milestone in his career and cementing the work’s legacy as one of the most influential film scores of its era. His...

REPRINT SERIES Grażyna Bacewicz's "Concerto for Large Symphony Orchestra," catalogued as IGB 16, was composed in 1962 and premiered on September 17 of that year at the Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music. The performance featured...

Shostakovich’s Festive Overture in A Major, Op. 96 was composed in 1954 to celebrate the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. Written in a remarkably short time, the piece opens with a bold brass fanfare before launching into a fast-paced,...

George Gershwin’s An American in Paris is a symphonic poem that vividly captures the energy and charm of Paris through the perspective of an American traveler. Premiered in 1928, the piece blends jazz elements with classical orchestration,...

Arthur Bliss's Piano Concerto in B-flat major was composed in 1938–1939 and premiered at the 1939 New York World’s Fair by pianist Solomon with the New York Philharmonic under Sir Adrian Boult. Commissioned by the British Council, the...

Jean Sibelius composed the incidental music for Shakespeare's "The Tempest," Op. 109, between 1925 and 1926, marking one of his final major works before his retreat from public composition. Commissioned for a production at Copenhagen's Royal Theatre, the...

Bruno Maderna's "Composizione in tre tempi," composed in 1954, exemplifies his innovative approach to orchestral composition in the mid-20th century. Structured in three movements—"Allegro scorrevole," "Adagio," and "Allegro"—the piece...

REPRINT SERIES Poulenc’s "Stabat Mater" (FP 148), composed in 1950, is a powerful and emotional choral work set to the traditional Latin hymn, "Stabat Mater Dolorosa." The piece was written in the aftermath of World War II, and its deeply...

REPRINT SERIES Bloch's Concerto Symphonique for Piano and Orchestra, composed in 1932, is a dramatic and ambitious work that blends elements of symphonic grandeur with the virtuosic demands of the piano. The concerto reflects Bloch’s deep...