The Fairy Queen (Full Score). Par PURCELL HENRY. Purcell Society Edition #12. The Fairy Queen In Full Score. The drama adapted from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . The work may be perfomed with a minimum of five soloists: Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto or countertenor, or Tenor, Tenor, Bass. The orchestral scoring consists of two recorders, two oboes, two trumpets, timpani, strings and continuo. Orchestral parts are available for hire from the publisher. Vocal Score available for sale. / Rép Classique / Répertoire / Conducteur

Just as Serge Rachmaninoff's piano virtuosity ranked him among the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, his compositions for piano and orchestra won him an important position among modern composers. Among the works that ensure his reputation are the first three piano concertos, reprinted here from the authoritative full-score Russian editions.
Rachmaninoff wrote the stirring Piano Concerto No. 1 in the years 1890–91, while he was still a young student at the Moscow Conservatory, and revised it nearly three decades later in 1917, when he began to devote his life mainly to his international career as a piano virtuoso. The immense and enduring success of the Piano Concerto No. 2, completed in 1901, has made this romantic work one of the most performed and recorded in the concerto literature and one of the most familiar compositions in all of music. The powerful and expressive Piano Concerto No. 3 was composed for a concert tour of America, during which Rachmaninoff appeared with great success as composer, pianist, and conductor. Like the first two concertos, it remains a repertoire favorite in concert halls around the world.
All three acclaimed works are reprinted in this finely made yet remarkably inexpensive Dover edition. Musicians and music lovers will find it a convenient single-volume source from which to study intimately three major works of the twentieth century.
Reprint of the State Music Publishers, Moscow, 1965 edition. / Partitions classique / Ensemble et orchestre / Conducteur / DOVER

Krypton refers to the exploding planet from which the infant Superman escaped. A dark, microtonal soundworld is created with glissandi in the strings, trombones and siren. Two percussionists play antiphonal fire bells throughout the movement, as it evolves from a recurring solo motive in the cellos into ominous calls from the brass section. Gradually the movement builds towards an apocalyptic conclusion. / Conducteur

A fine vocal chart of a wonderful standard treated as a moderate swing. Arranged in two keys for flexibility, the low female key is C, and the vocal range is G below middle C to third line B. The high male key is F, and the range is middle C to top space E treble clef. Lead trumpet range is to written B above the staff. Includes a written-out tenor solo. / Conducteur

King Arthur (Arr. Laurie). Par PURCELL HENRY. King Arthur was the only one of Purcell's professionally produced operas to have been designed as a semi-opera - the others were all adaptations of earlier plays. Dryden made a real attempt to integrate the music into the drama, but since he ascribed to the dramatic conventions of the period which virtually confined music to allegorical or supernatural beings and thier worshippers, or servants, shepherds and similar characters, the main action mostly occurs in the spoken sections, and even the two singing characters, Philidel and Grimbald speak more than they sing. / Niveau : Intermédiaire / Rép Classique / Répertoire / Conducteur

Edward Greenfield writes '. . .chamber music writ large often abrasive in an almost Stravinskian way. . .the emotional weight is borne by the central slow movement. . . The finale is a brisk march interrupted at one point by horn fanfares in which the second of the two trios hauntingly brings scrunching cluster-chords pianissimo.Gramophone December 1992