As if looking back on his youth toward the end of his life Richard Strauss wrote a second concerto for horn and orchestra again in Eb major around sixty years after his first concerto for horn. This sublimely beautiful late work which gives no indication of the oppressive circumstances of Strauss? poor health and the Second World War was premiered in 1943 by Gottfried von Freiberg under the direction of Karl Böhm. It was not until after Strauss? death that the concerto appeared in print in London making a critical new edition on the basis of the autograph sources and performance material more than overdue. The editor Hans Pizka former principal horn of the BavarianState Opera in Munich learned first-hand about the performance tradition and genesis of the concerto as a pupil of Gottfried von Freiberg. For use in lessons and for performances the especially playable piano reduction by Johannes Umbreit is a great help. As if looking back on his youth toward the end of his life Richard Strauss wrote a second concerto for horn and orchestra again in Eb major around sixty years after his first concerto for horn. This sublimely beautiful late work which gives no indication of the oppressive circumstances of Strauss? poor health and the Second World War was premiered in 1943 by Gottfried von Freiberg under the direction of Karl Böhm. It was not until after Strauss? death that the concerto appeared in print in London making a critical new edition on the basis of the autograph sources and performance material more than overdue. The editor Hans Pizka former principal horn of the BavarianState Opera in Munich learned first-hand about the performance tradition and genesis of the concerto as a pupil of Gottfried von Freiberg. For use in lessons and for performances the especially playable piano reduction by Johannes Umbreit is a great help.

Timeless Cornish Melodies-As I sit myself down to write this brief foreword I ask myself can there be music more stirring than these old Cornish folk melodies? Though not Cornish myself (I confess to being born a little further up the road in Bristol) I feel I have spent sufficient time in these 'ere parts to resonate with the sturdy brass band tradition that continues to permeate this incomparably beautiful rugged county. One can almost detect a French 'accent' when listening to the piano music of Debussy and likewise speaking as a lapsed brass player there is undoubtedly something of the Cornish twang about Trelawny when played on a cornet or euphonium. Then again one gets a different yetentirely convincing effect upon hearing these melodies rendered on woodwind instruments; hence with a little gamesmanship on my part I am pleased to see my collection of these fifteen delectable ditties come to fruition in the form of arrangements for treble clef brass instruments (in B flat and E flat) trombone and tuba (bass clef) horn in F flute clarinet and bassoon.While many will find themselves humming the likes of Going up Camborne Hill Lamorna or The Helston Furry Dance even before they have turned to the first page - for these are indelibly intertwined with Cornish culture I wonder if I might draw your attention to The Cornish Squire The Pool of Pilate and Cold Blows the Wind Today Sweetheart which are quite simply sublime melodies perhaps needing that extra bit of help in bringing them to mind nowadays. In the best tradition of musical hand-me-downs Cornish folk music works equally ideally sung and played and only by doing so on a regular basis can such traditions hope to continue forward with vigour and authority. A legitimate way of achieving this is to revitalise the harmonic scheme of these ancient tunes and bring them up to date for a modern audience; after all it was such an approach that fuelled the imagination of Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams in decades past while skilfully paying homage to the

This exciting edition includes irreverent arrangements of Charpentiers' Prelude to Te Deum the 2nd movement from Haydn's Trumpet Concerto and Chanson Napolitaine from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty. Arranged here for Horn in F or E-Flat with Piano accompaniment by Edward Maxwell. Score and parts.Includes CD of performances and recorded accompaniments.