The concerto was premiered on 26 November 1938 in Moscow by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. Alexander Melik-Pashayev was the conductor and Lev Berezovsky played the cello.The premiere of Prokofiev's Cello Concerto (Op. 58) was generally thought to...

Renard: histoire burlesque chantée et jouée, or The Fox: burlesque tale sung and played, is a chamber opera-ballet for four male voices and 16 instrumentalists written in 1916 by Igor Stravinsky. Its original Russian text, by the composer,...

REPRINT SERIES In 1950, the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla, California, commissioned a work from Martinu that turned out to be his farewell to neoclassicism. The Musical Arts Society had requested a ‘tuneful and approachable’ orchestral...

REPRINT SERIES The Variazioni sinfoniche evidently won the approval of Rimsky-Korsakov, to the extent that he accepted Respighi as a student. The work consists of a number of passacaglia-like variations after the manner of Brahms or Franck.

REPRINT SERIES The large collection of rocky islands in the Baltic off Stockholm, known as the "Skerries" in English, inspired special affection in Alfvén, who spent many fine days there in his youth. In 1903, after writing Midsummer Vigil, the...

First composed between 1897-1898, it was premiered in April 1901 and is considered one of Vaughan William's earliest orchestral works. This attractive work already shows evidence of the composer's emerging musical style and sure grasp of orchestral...

REPRINT SERIES Also known as Suite for Strings P.41, it is divided in 6 movements: 1. Ciaccona, 2. Siciliana, 3. Giga, 4. Sarabanda, 5. Burlesca, 6. Rigaudon

Finzi wrote incidental music for a BBC broadcast of the Shakespeare's play in 1946, reworked it for a special stage presentation in 1952, and finally extracted a 10-number suite for small orchestra. The  most important of these, in Finzi's view, are...

Lo, the full, final sacrifice (Op. 26) is a festival anthem for SATB choir and organ, composed by Gerald Finzi in 1946. The work was commissioned by the Revd Walter Hussey for the 53rd anniversary of the consecration of St Matthew's Church, Northampton...

REPRINT SERIESThe 'Running Set' was a folk dance of British origin that at the time of this work's composition could still be found in areas of the United States. Vaughan Williams wrote this piece for a massed performance of the dance at the Royal Albert...

Flos Campi: Suite for Solo Viola, Small Chorus, and Small Orchestra is a composition by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, completed in 1925. Its title is Latin for "flower of the field." It is neither a concerto nor a choral piece, although it...

Babel is a neoclassical religious cantata composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1944. The piece is in one movement and has a total duration of about seven minutes. The text used is taken from the Bible verbatim. It is scored for a two-part male chorus, three...

The Saudades do Brasil (1920), Op. 67b, are a suite of twelve dances for Orchestra by Darius Milhaud, but originally made for Piano Op.67. Composed after Milhaud's visit to Brazil in 1917-1918, each dance is based on a duple tango or samba rhythm and...

REPRINT SERIES La dame de Monte-Carlo, dedicated to Duval, a ‘monologue for soprano and orchestra’, is often performed with piano, and with which Poulenc significantly concludes his Journal de mes Mélodies. The poem is taken from Jean...

In La Pentola Magica (The Magic Pot) Respighi pays tribute to a group of less well known Russian composers, including Grechaninov (Prelude), Arensky (Entry of the Tsar with the Bridgegrooms), Pachulski (Scene of Tsarevich), Anton Rubinstein (Dance of the...

REPRINT SERIES Pulcinella is a 21-section ballet by Igor Stravinsky with arias for soprano, tenor and bass vocal soloists, and two sung trios. It is based on the 18th-century play Quatre Polichinelles semblables, or Four similar Pulcinellas, revolving...

Vocal Roles: Orphée, un rebouteux – Tenor Eurydice, une bohémienne – Soprano Chœurs des Métiers : Le Charron, Le Maréchal, Le Vannier Chœurs des Animaux : L’Ours, Le Loup, Le Renard, Le Sanglier...