The music is light, even at times satirical, and overflowing with popular turns and dance rhythms. (Ravel is said to have admitted to Poulenc that he envied his ability to “write his own folksongs.”)  It is in four movements:...

REPRINT SERIES Ottorino Respighi’s hour-long Sinfonia drammatica, which he completed just before the First World War broke out, appears to anticipate the impending tragedy. The brilliantly orchestrated composition (with six horns, four percussion,...

REPRINT SERIES The Stone Flower was the last of Prokofiev’s Soviet ballets, dating from 1948, and is based on a folk tale from the Urals. The Suite contains music of great beauty, with soaring tunes that are as memorable as anything in the two...

REPRINT SERIES Symphony: Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter) is among the most famous orchestral works of German composer Paul Hindemith. Music from the symphony was incorporated into, or reworked for, Hindemith's opera Mathis der Maler, which...

Written for strings only and somewhat melancholy in overall mood. It is based on lute songs by Besard, a piece for baroque guitar by Ludovico Roncalli, and lute pieces by Santino Garsi da Parma and additional anonymous composers. 1. Italiana (Anonymous:...

The Seventh Symphony was Prokofiev's last completed major work. It was written for the Soviet Children's Radio Division, but the simplicity of the composer's approach in the work often conceals deeper expressive currents. Though the Symphony adheres to...

REPRINT SERIES Notable for being a one-movement symphony, in contrast to the standard symphonic formula of four movements. The concept of a continuous, single-movement symphony was one Sibelius only reached after a long process of experimentation. It has...

Poulenc: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C-Sharp minor FP 146I. AllegrettoII. Andante con motoIII. Rondeau à la française   Although cast in three movements, it is a world away from the classical concerto. This is largely on...

This spiky neo-Classical Concerto for Harpsichord defies everyone's expectations. Most listeners anticipate the Impressionism of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain or the Romantic Spanish color of The Three-Cornered Hat. Harpsichordist Wanda...

Divertissement is the French equivalent of “diversion,” in the sense of amusement or entertainment; this title Ibert gave to the concert suite he drew from his incidental music to a 1929 production of one of the greatest French farces, The...

REPRINT SERIES A one-movement concerto, it is the shortest of his five complete piano concertos, lasting only around a quarter of an hour. The first and last sections have a clear thematic relationship, as the concerto begins and ends with the same...

REPRINT SERIES The concerto radiates a crisp vitality that testifies to Prokofiev's inventive prowess in punctuating lyrical passages with witty dissonances, while maintaining a balanced partnership between the soloist and orchestra. Of the five piano...

Concertino da Camera pour Saxophone Alto et Onze Instruments ("Short concerto for alto saxophone and eleven instruments") was written by Jacques Ibert during the year 1935. The work is in two movements, the first, Allegro con moto, is lively and...

Also known as Symphony-Concerto in E minor, Op. 125,  it is a reworking of the Cello Concerto Op.58.  This "Sinfonia Concertante" is a large-scale work for cello and orchestra, dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich. The three movements are all...

REPRINT SERIES The Violin Concerto No.1 is a pivotal work, one which displays a maturation of the composer. If one compares this Concerto to Prokofiev's earlier piano concertos, it is easy to see that the former is decidedly more natural in its thematic...