SKU: IS.G6765EM

ISBN 9790365067657.

This sonata (WeissSW No. 4, Dresden) is one of a new series of eight sonatas by Silvius Leopold Weiss arranged for the first time for guitar and published by Metropolis Music. Sonata XXIV comes from a set of tablature manuscript volumes in the Sächsisches Landesbibliothek in Dresden (Ms. Mus. 2841-â?V-â?1). There are five volumes with a total of 34 sonatas of Weiss for solo lute. The sonatas are ordered by key and further sorted by size or complexity. Sonata XXIV comes from Weissâ??s late â??productiveâ?? period, after 1730. The Sonata has six movements: Prelude, Ouverture (including allegro and largo), Courante, Bourée, Menuet and Gavotte. There is another copy of this Sonata, known as Parte (or Partita) no. 11, in a London Manuscript (British Library Ms. Add. 30387). The London Manuscript seems to be incomplete. It does not include a Menuet and a Gavotte. The Sonata in this Edition is based on the Dresden Manuscript. However, both the Prelude and the Bourée are coming from the London copy. The Dresden Prelude is regarded as spurious, and the London Bourée is more lively and in balance with the other movements. In a few passages of the Ouverture and the Courante I have made some adaptions on the basis of the London manuscript, to create the best of the two versions. In the Ouverture I have omitted the repeat indications. There are two Menuets in the Dresden Sonata. One has been crossed in the original manuscript with the accompanying note: ist nicht von Mr Weis. The other one has been added later, probably by the compiler of the volumes. The original London Prelude of this particular Sonata is composed in a â??simplifiedâ?? style; a common practice for adding preludes to lute sonatas in the 18th century. I have added the original example to my transcribed version. Perhaps it invites others to make their own arrangement. Originally, the Sonata is written in B flat major, a key often used by Weiss as it is appropriate for playing the lute. With the guitar, however, the key is rather awkward. For ease and effectiveness of playing, I have transposed the Sonata a minor third lower to G major. To create more concordance with the baroque tuning of the lute, the G string is lowered by a semitone to F sharp. I suggest using a capodastro to achieve the original pitch. Based on the present standard of A at 440 Hertz, the capo should be placed at the 3rd fret. However, during Weissâ??s lifetime, it was more common in many parts of Germany to use a standard of A at 415 Hertz -â? a semitone lower. So, to hear the pitch heard by Weiss and his contemporaries, the capo should then be positioned at the 2nd fret.

SKU: UT.GCE-20

ISBN 9790215328259. 9 x 12 inches.

Given that appendices have since been included in other volumes, it now seems appropriate to compile an appendix for Volume 1A in the form of a separate publication, Volume 1C of the series. Even with a whole volume available, however, it is impossible to include all known arrangements. Such a publication would be of disproportionate size: it would require about 600 pages, due largely to the two complete or near-complete sets of concerto arrangements. The present volume thus includes only selections from these sets of concerto arrangements and also only a selection from Edward Finch’s complete set of arrangements in the form of transverse-flute sonatas. The smaller sets of arrangements—either as solo sonatas or as trio sonatas—are included in their entirety.
The available arrangements fall into three distinct categories: solo sonatas, trio sonatas, and concertos. There are fourteen arrangements by Edward Finch for transverse flute with figured bass; they are found in the so-called Armstrong-Finch manuscript and comprise a full set of twelve plus two duplicate versions. Four of these arrangements are included in the present volume. Three more arrangements for transverse flute or recorder with figured bass are found in anthologies of sonatas for these instruments published in the 1720s; they are all of them edited here. Geminiani’s Sonatas VII-XII were transformed into trio sonatas by Francesco Barsanti and published in this format in 1727. These arrangements are included here in complete form as well. A near-complete set of concerto arrangements—Sonata XI is missing—was composed by Charles Avison and a complete set by Gerhard Christoph Raupach, both sets composed probably in the 1730s. From each of these two sets, two examples were selected for inclusion in the present volume. They are supplemented by single concerto arrangements by William Hayes (after Sonata IV) and Johan Helmich Roman (after Sonata VI), composed at all probability in the 1730s as well. None of these concerto arrangements was published in the eighteenth century.

SKU: PA.H07988

ISBN 9790260104471. 31 x 23.5 cm inches.

Piano Sonata No. 4 from the years 1962-1964 is dedicated to the memory of Fiser's friend, the pianist Antonin Jemelik, who died tragically. As a tribute to their friendship the composer incorporated into the introduction a quotation from their favourite work, Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 70, by Alexander Scriabin. The tragedy of the death of the composer's friend pervades the emotionally intense passage of unison octaves which follows the three-bar quotation. From a compositional point of view this work is a masterpiece of the mid-Sixties. Written as one movement, the piece is divided into numerous mutually contrasting segments which themselves are clearly grouped into two sections, exposition and development. The individual themes are introduced in the first section and thematically expanded in the second section. The motif treatment lies almost exclusively in the fragmenting or curtailing of the theme, or in the use of a combination of several themes, for the most part brief and eloquent. This compositional method, together with a clear-cut manner of execution, mainly semitonal melody and sharply contrastive dynamics, lends force and transparency to the piece. Piano Sonata No. 4 was completed in 1964 together with Symphonic Fresco, Concerto da camera for piano and orchestra and Fifteen Prints after Durer's Apocalypse and has earned its rightful place alongside them as masterpieces of Fiser's oeuvre.

The work was first performed by Pavel Stepan in Prague's Rudolfinum in 1965. The new setting for this piece is based on the single edition to date (Panton, 1969); only with regard to a few inconsistencies in the score was it necessary to consult the composer's manuscript (kept at the National Museum - Czech Museum of Music).