As is the usual case with Bachianas Brasileiras, Villa-Lobos stressed the conjunction of Bach and Brazil by giving dual titles in Portuguese to each movement, one reflecting a Bach form, the other suggesting the Brazilian nature of the music. Originally...

Composed in the aftermath of World War II, it is one of Honegger's best-known works. It is in three movements, each of which (following the symphony's subtitle) is named after part of the Requiem Mass. The first movement, Dies irae, is marked allegro...

Score and Set of Parts (String count 4.4.3.3.2) This work is clearly an homage to Bach, specifically to his Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, a composition Vaughan Williams deeply loved and admired. The concerto is cast in three movements, with the...

Ibert's Concerto was dedicated to Moyse,a student of the great French flutist and teacher Paul Taffanel, for whom many of the greatest French flute works were written. But Moyse didn't play it often, in fact, the work lay neglected for many years due to...

It remains one of the most technically formidable piano concertos in the standard repertoire.  The first and last movements are each around twelve minutes long and constitute some of the most dramatic music in all of Prokofiev's piano concertos...

Honegger's Fourth Symphony, which contains musical quotations from two Basel folk songs, expresses the composer's happiness during a pleasant stay in the Swiss countryside after the end of World War II.Despite the pastoral and often joyous mood...

EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIES. An instant critical and popular success when first performed by the Rosé Quartet in January 1924, Korngold's string quartet No.1 is an inspired work. He had a knack of orchestrating music for small ensembles to make...

Of the three concertante works that Honegger composed, this is the only one without a diminutive in the title. Ironically, it is one of Honegger's most light-hearted, even amusing scores. It is tuneful and rhythmically vital.The soloist is given...

Prokofiev's last piano concerto dates from 1932 and is in five short movements.The longest, a Larghetto, is around seven minutes in length. The remaining four movements are all in a fast tempo and feature virtuoso keyboard writing; the third movement,...

Score and Set of Parts (5.5.4.4.3) Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 is the only one that does not have double titles (one title based on classical music forms and the other relating to Brazil in some manner). This 10 minute work is in quintessentially Bachian...

EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIES It is unusual among Bax's tone poems in that it is written for a much more normally sized orchestra than he was prone to demand. In this case the heavier brass -- usually the orchestral section most tasked and taxed in a Bax...

A visit to Brazil resulted in the composition Impressioni brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions). He had intended to write a sequence of five pieces, but by 1928 he had completed only three, and decided to present what he had. The first piece is a nocturne,...

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 4 in B-flat major for the left hand, Op. 53, was commissioned by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein and completed in 1931. The concerto has four movements, lasting around 24 minutes. Wittgenstein did not understand...

This concerto, written in 1948 for the French virtuoso Marcel Mule, stands as the cornerstone of the rather limited repertoire for soprano saxophone. It is without a doubt the most popular piece for this member of the saxophone family.

Bartók divides the strings into two groups which he directs should be placed antiphonally on opposite sides of the stage, and he makes use of antiphonal effects particularly in the second and fourth movements.The piece is in four movements, the...

EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIESThe Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116 is a five-movement musical work for orchestra and one of Bartok's best-known, most popular and most accessible works. I. Introduzione. Andante non troppo - Allegro vivaceThe first movement,...

Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen, Study for 23 Solo Strings, subtitled "In memoriam" is scored for ten violins, five violas, five cellos, and three contrabasses. The work unfolds in a single, long movement. Strauss sustains and develops a series of...

Trittico Botticelliano ("Three Botticelli Pictures") is a three-movement suite based on famous paintings by the Renaissance master Botticelli.It demonstrates not only Respighi's ear for fresh and beautiful sonorities, but also his interest in the history...