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)...

Respighi composed Metamorphoseon in 1930, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and it is in fact something of a concerto for orchestra. The 30-minute long work consists of a theme and twelve variations or 'modes', an allusion to...

Bartók composed the piece in 1945 during the final months of his life, as a surprise birthday present for his second wife Ditta Pásztory-Bartók. It consists of three movements.Piano Concerto No. 3 consists of three movements:1...

While at first viewed as the eccentric idea of an aging composer, the Tuba Concerto, the first concerto written for the instrument, soon became one of Vaughan Williams' most popular works, and an essential part of the tuba repertoire for professionals...

Aubade, a choreographic concerto for piano and 18 instruments, is a work of Francis Poulenc premiered in 1929. It was conceived as a ballet, but is more often played as a chamber piano concerto. An aubade is a morning courting song, vs. a serenade in...

Uirapuru is an orchestral piece with an elaborate program about the mythical Uirapuru bird in the Amazon jungle.  It's dedicated to ballet choreographer Serge Lifar. It is characteristic of the composer in blending Brazilian national inspiration...

REPRINT SERIES The contrapuntal textures used by Hindemith throughout the symphony highlight many instruments individually. This writing takes advantage of the vast color palette that this combination of instruments offers. The Symphony is scored...