SKU: HL.233151

ISBN 9788759886427. 10.0x14.5 inches. English.

Piano solo part for Paganini Variations - Piano Concerto No.3 by Poul Ruders (2014). Score available: WH32201 Programme note: In 1999 my friend, American guitar virtuoso David Starobin, wanted me to write a concerto for guitar and orchestra. It quickly dawned on me, that this commission presented a golden opportunity to contribute to the time-honoured tradition of composing a series of variations on Nicolo Paganini's famous 24th Caprice for violin solo, a work which itself is a set of variations. The 16 bar (with the first 4 bars repeated) theme is not particularly sophisticated or intricate, but its inherent simplicity and logic just grow on you, almost to the point ofdistraction - and the secret behind it being hauled through the wringer by composers as disparate as Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski is perhaps found in its - what I'll call, with a quick nervous look over my shoulder: brilliant banality. You can do anything with that tune, it'll always be recognizable and just there, however much you maul it. The piece (subtitled Guitar Concerto no 2) was written pretty quickly, premiered and subsequently recorded for Bridge Records with David and the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Wagner, and everybody was happy. But the story didn't end there, and it must be the ultimate proof of the durability of the theme, not to mention the flexibility and far-sightedness of David Starobin , when he 14 years later suggested why not transcribe the solo part for piano?. The idea appealed to me immediately. One thing was clear from the beginning: the new version could in no way sound like a transcription. My aim was to end up with a solo-part sounding like were it the one-and-only, the real thing, if you like. The orchestral score remains exactly the same in both cases. Both versions, the two Paganini Variations, are comparable to a set of twins, not quite identical, but almost. And both each others's equal. Poul Ruders.

SKU: HL.234744

9.0x12.0x0.035 inches.

Composer's Note: The Lullaby from The Unicorns arose from an opera libretto I commissioned from John Heath-Stubbs (1918-2006) in the late 1960s. In his story two unicorns are discovered in a remote part of Africa. Both the East and West want to obtain them for research so they send out rival expeditions. The Western technique is to lure the unicorn with a young girl singing a lullaby. Both East and West capture unicorns but the mythical animals escape in the end. I never completed the opera but I made a six-movement suite from it called The Unicorns. There are three songs and three instrumental numbers and the first performance was given with Elisabeth Soderstrom and Solna Brass under Lars-Gunnar Bjorklund at Ekensbergskyrkan, Solna, Sweden on 31 October 1982. This version was recorded and my arrangement of the three songs for voice and piano was recorded by Marilyn Hill Smith. The career of the Lullaby continued with a version for clarinet and piano, which I premiered with Jack Brymer aboard the Sea Princess in the Mediterranean on 29 September 1986. The oboe version was for Sarah Francis, and Duke Dobing and I have recorded it for flute an piano. Lullaby can be played with a variety of solo instruments and is also available for piano left hand and piano solo.

SKU: HL.14041880

ISBN 9781847723659. 9.0x12.0x0.246 inches.

Step back in time and play these superb solo piano arrangements of forty memorable themes from 20 classic costume dramas. With evocative moods and romantic themes from popular films such as Dangerous Liaisons, Pride and Prejudice,Elizabeth and The Age of Innocence.

SKU: HL.14036824

8.25x11.75x0.062 inches.

This work was written in America in 1925. It shows a masterly understanding of the piano's resources, particularly in the pedalled notes and sonorities of the first Interlude.