Finzi, who constantly revised his own work, could not bring himself to rest contentedly with the outer movements of his Violin Concerto. However, the central section became established during the composer’s lifetime as a piece in its own right. It...

REPRINT SERIES Ballade for Alto Saxophone and Piano was composed in 1938 by the French composer Henri Tomasi (1901-1971). Introduced by a poem by Suzanne Mallard, his wife, Ballade is a 15-minute work that covers and alternates between different styles...

REPRINT SERIES Finzi's Prelude for String Orchestra Op.25, was originally conceived in the 1920s as the opening movement of a (subsequently uncompleted) chamber symphony, to be entitled The Bud, the Blossom and the Berry, the Prelude nevertheless stands...

The last phase of Finzi’s output following the 2nd World War saw a series of larger scale works culminating in the completion of the Cello Concerto, the work which dominated his final year and was first broadcast on the night before his death in...

REPRINT SERIES   After he departed the Soviet Union in 1918, Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) spent a fair amount of time in the U.S. concertizing. On one such tour in 1930, the Library of Congress commissioned him to compose a string quartet; the...

REPRINT SERIES This concerto came about because of Szymanowski’s long-standing partnership with the legendary violinist Paweł Kochański, who’d previously collaborated with him on his D Minor Violin Sonata and then on his first Violin...

The Interlude for oboe and strings was composed during the mid 1930s, originally for string quartet; later Finzi created an expanded instrumentation for string orchestra as an alternative. It is a 13-minute work of considerable substance,...

REPRINT SERIES Ionisation (1929–1931) is a musical composition by Edgard Varèse written for thirteen percussionists. It was among the first concert hall compositions for percussion ensemble alone, although Alexander Tcherepnin had composed...

REPRINT SERIES Henri Tomasi was a French composer and conductor.  Tomasi was born in Marseille, where his parents had moved from Corsica.  Most of his musical training took place in the conservatories of Marseille and Paris.  His...

The Pulcinella Suite, derived from the ballet, was written in 1922 and has no vocal parts. Pulcinella marked the beginning of Stravinsky's second phase as a composer, his neoclassical period. The suite consists of eight...

REPRINT SERIES In 1940, at the suggestion of his publisher and agent, Heinsheimer, Bartók orchestrated his Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion as Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra. The parts for the four soloists were essentially...

REPRINT SERIES The Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments was written by Igor Stravinsky in Paris in 1923–24. This work was revised in 1950.  It was composed four years after the Symphonies of Wind Instruments, which he wrote upon his...

REPRINT SERIES Concerto in D ("Basle") for string orchestra was composed in Hollywood between the beginning of 1946 and 8 August of the same year in response to a 1946 commission from Paul Sacher to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Basler...

The Poema Autunnale of 1925 was written for Mario Corti and dedicated to him. Once again Respighi ventured into Lark Ascending territory, as much of the writing was modal, creating the desired archaic atmosphere, and double-stops were much used for...

REPRINT SERIES Fountains of Rome or Fontane di Roma is a symphonic poem written by Ottorino Respighi in 1916 and first published in 1918. It is the first orchestral work in his "Roman trilogy", followed by Pines of Rome (1924) and Roman Festivals (1928)...