Moving Parts is the music for Benjamin Millepied’s ballet of the same name. Scored for Violin Clarinet and Pipe Organ the piece is a series of rhythmic etudes. The slow movement is a very slow passacaglia with I hope unexpected lyrical melodies in the violin. After an extended Organ toccata built over a drone a brief slow movement creates a natural midpoint. The violin aggressively plucking builds up to form a canon with a clarinet and after a loud outburst from the organ the piece ends quietly. Moving Parts written in 2012 is dedicated to Benjamin and the Los Angeles Dance Project. 

Le Carnaval des animaux. Written in March 1886 as a humorous occasional work for the traditional carnival concert organized by his cellist friend Charles-Joseph Lebouc, the Carnival of the Animals was so successful that Saint-Saëns banned performances and publication soon afterwards. He was worried that this ?grand zoological fantasy? - consisting of 14 short individual pieces for eleven instruments - might overshadow his serious works. Yet only five months after the composer?s death, it appeared in print after all, beginning its worldwide victory march - in its original setting as well as in numerous arrangements. Thus, the Carnival did in fact arguably become the most popular work by this French composer and, owing to its musical originality, it is also a favourite in music lessons or for school orchestra performances. With this combination of a study edition and an edition in parts (for which additional parts for larger numbers of strings may be ordered), G. Henle Publishers now presents the perfect resource for such occasions.

'...The present collection has been conceived right from the outset so as to form an organic component of and a supplement to the teaching of solfeggio. The original text and their relevant translations have been omitted with the intention that the pedagogical aim namely that which is achieved through solmization could be proprely emphasized. There is hardly any need to recommend these pieces for cultivation. Luckily enough solfeggio has become so wide-spread and in particular singing canons has gained such popularity that its praise would suggest an irony of the same kind as Erasmus' eulogy of foolishness. Nevertheless it cannot be left unsaid how immensely this domaincontributes to raising the musical standards of the greatest number of people possibile.' (Antal Molnár)