Based on the Critical Edition- Orchestra material on hire. Par MAHLER GUSTAV. The large-scale form of 'Symphony No. 9' is unusual in a number of ways. It reminds in no way of the ninth symphonies of famous predecessors. Two slow movements, an Andante comodo at the beginning and an Adagio at the end, form the frame for two of the most parodistic and embittered inner movements that Mahler ever wrote - a ländler-waltz combination, and the 'Rondo-Burleske', a bitter, ironic movement that is derisively dedicated 'to my brothers in Apollo'. The most extraordinary part of Mahler's last completed symphony must certainly be the slow finale - a 20-minute long intensively singing movement laden with conflict that includes references to earlier works by Mahler, in slow motion as it were ('Urlicht',' Ablösung im Sommer', the 'Scherzo of Symphony No. 3', 'Der Abschied' from 'Das Lied von der Erde', and 'Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen' from the 'Kindertotenlieder'); it indeed seems that a circle is being closed. (Reinhold Kubik) Universal Edition continues its new study score standard. These completely redesigned scores offer an unparalleled insight into the music of the last hundred years. Great care has been taken to select the best available content for this journey through music history, and every score has been edited according to the latest quality standards./ Répertoire / Orchestre

Music Of Our Time. Par HENZE HANS WERNER. ‘My Sinfonia No. 8 is not at all tragic or moody like the Seventh. It is a summer piece and is based on three moments from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream‘, writes Hans Werner Henze. This, however, is all we get to know from the composer regarding the work’s reference to Shakespeare’s comedy. On closer examination of the three-movement symphony it turns out that the first movement is a fantasia on Oberon’s order to Puck to search for the magic flower. In the second movement, Henze apparently set the love scenes between Titania and Bottom to music. Ultimately, the final movement shines gracefully and peacefully as if everything that had happened before had only been a dream. - Hans Werner Henze/ Répertoire / Orchestre

Par BRUCH MAX. Thanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto #1 zipped onto the road to success and has never left it since. Yet from the preface of the 'BreitkopfUrtext' edition,one can infer how things looked like behind the dazzling facade. After the world premiere, the composer struggled for the definitive form. He wrote '3, 4 development sections in the finale,' and sought the advice of celebrated virtuosi such as Joseph Joachim and Ferdinand David to revise the solo part. And after all this was done (see above), Bruch suffered under the work's popularity: 'Have I written nothing but this one concerto?' The new Urtext edition is based primarily on the first edition. Next to the main source and the autograph, what is supremely interesting is a solo part with entries by Joachim and Bruch. It confirms how intensively the two men collaborated on honing the final form of the work./ Répertoire / Orchestre