Would you like toplay the viola well, with a solid technique and impeccable intonation? We allknow that to do this you have to start from the beginning. That is, withscales. In this volume you can find them all, in three octaves and presented inan innovative, interesting and fun way. For the first time you can study themgrouped into parallel (or ?homophone?) keys, which is what scales that begin inthe same tone are called (e.g. C major-C minor, B Major-B minor etc.). In thesame way, you will practice the corresponding arpeggios, also in three octaves,followed by scales on double stops (thirds, sixths and eighths). All of this,with specific fingering for the viola, and with a focus on original technicalsolutions, that make the study considerably easier. The benefits gained fromstudying the scales grouped in this way are enormous, and they ensure that youwill achieve an excellent intonation.Both ways (major and minor), share the same physical space on the Viola?sfingerboard; they also share four of the seven sounds of the scale, which makesvery easy to recognise the different ones. Another innovative technique is the intonationcontrol semibreve, located eitherbelow or above various sounds of the scale. Each semibreve highlights theneed to check the tuning of the sound that accompanies, with the open string thatit indicates, since this is practically the only possible way of verifying thetuning. To sum up, this book proposes an innovative method of studying scales,as a result of the author?s many years of orchestra and teachingexperience.

Hans Werner Henze's output is primarily dominated by large-scale, representative musical genres with a richly differentiated instrumental tonal palette: opera and other forms of musical theatre works, ballet, solo concertos and cantatas and also music for large-scale orchestra or chamber ensemble. In contrast, the chamber music works which Henze has composed throughout his entire compositional career right up to the present day have always remained somewhat on the sidelines. Many of these chamber music works had been composed for specific occasions, chiefly to honour figures who had accompanied him on longer or shorter stretches of his journey through life.

Henze composed An Brenton in July 1993 for an event commemorating the Australian violinist Brenton Langbein who had just died. The violinist had been a long-standing leader of the Collegium Musicum Zurich, the orchestra established and conducted by Paul Sacher, and was subsequently also the leader of the Basel Chamber Orchestra [Basler Kammerorchester].He additionally held a violin class at the Music Academy in Basel for a substantial period of his career. Interestingly enough, this piece is not composed for the violinist's instrument, but instead for solo viola. The work was given its first performance on 15 July 1993 by Jurg Dahler, one of the two viola players of the Chamber Musicians of Zurich [KammermusikerZurich]. This ensemble had been formed by Langbein in 1962: it frequently included compositions by Henze in its programmes and had given the premiere of Henze's music for Volker Schlondorffs Film Der junge Torless in its transformation as the Fantasia of the same name for string sextet (1967) in 1968. Langbein was the soloist in the first performance of Henze's Violin Concerto No. 2 in 1972 which had been commissioned by Paul Sacher. Henze had already made acquaintance with Langbein during the 1960s.