Le Carnaval des animaux. Written in March 1886 as a humorous occasional work for the traditional carnival concert organized by his cellist friend Charles-Joseph Lebouc, the Carnival of the Animals was so successful that Saint-Saëns banned performances and publication soon afterwards. He was worried that this ?grand zoological fantasy? - consisting of 14 short individual pieces for eleven instruments - might overshadow his serious works. Yet only five months after the composer?s death, it appeared in print after all, beginning its worldwide victory march - in its original setting as well as in numerous arrangements. Thus, the Carnival did in fact arguably become the most popular work by this French composer and, owing to its musical originality, it is also a favourite in music lessons or for school orchestra performances. With this combination of a study edition and an edition in parts (for which additional parts for larger numbers of strings may be ordered), G. Henle Publishers now presents the perfect resource for such occasions.

For Chamber Ensemble.Commissioned by the Hebrides Ensemble and first performed on their Scottish tour in March 2010.In Seven Pierrot Miniatures I took the Commedia dell’arte character Pierrot as my primary sourceof inspiration. Other more tenuous links to Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire also served as a starting point in forming the general shape of the work. The piece is cast in seven short movements whereas the Schoenberg comprises threesets of seven movements. Although there is no part for voice I have taken seven poems by Albert Giraud (none of them set in Pierrot Lunaire) as points of departure:1. The Clouds2. Decor3. Absinthe4.Suicide5. The Church6. Sunset7. The HarpEach movement takes its impetus from the corresponding poem but in the piece as a whole I wanted to explore the extreme contrasts of the multi-faceted character ofPierrot in a musical setting. There is an almost mirror-like quality to the form of the piece and a sense of ending where it has begun: movements 1 3 5 and 7 are closely linked both in terms of their musical material and asense of melancholy dream-like quality and longing. Movements 2 and 6 are also strongly connected with allusions to the more mischievous violent side of Pierrot. Movement 4 serves as a sort-of pivotal point within the work juxtaposing a surreal shimmering calm with brutal outbursts. There is never any direct repetition yet there is a strong sense of material returning and mutating as the workunfolds.InstrumentationFlute doubling piccoloClarinet in Bb doubling Bass Clarinet in BbViolin doubling ViolaCelloPiano

For Cello Euphonium and Piano.Premiere given on 9th March 2012 at Morioka Civic Cultural Hall Morioka Japan by Kana Kotera (Euphonium) Takui Matsumoto (Cello) Michiyo Haneishi (Piano).Commissioned by KanaKotera.

Jetzt trink'n ma noch a Flascherl Wein. Par LORENS KARL. / Répertoire / Orchestre de Salon