Clara Wieck’s sincerest wish was that her future husband, Robert Schumann, turn his extraordinary genius toward the larger and more challenging task of composing orchestral music. Confiding in her diary in 1839, just one year before her marriage, she explained that “it would be best if he composed for Orchestra: his imagination cannot find sufficient scope in the Piano…” In the years that followed their marriage Robert Schumann continued to devote much of his attention to Piano music, but he also found the time to comply with his beloved Clara’s wish by creating a number of musical pieces composed specifically for Piano and Orchestra. Although Schumann’s genius is most in evidence in his masterful solo Piano compositions and superb lieder, his lively and provocative imagination manifests itself with equal aplomb in the works composed for Piano and Orchestra. The same compelling romantic and lyrical qualities that captivate lovers of Schumann’s Piano music are evident in these compositions. Three of his finest are presented here in full score, including the A Minor Piano Concerto, one of the most popular and frequently performed concertos ever written. All demonstrate his remarkably innovative approach to music, diverting substantially from the classic models of the day, and display his immense creativity as well as his warmth and sensitivity. Included in this collection of Schumann’s compositions for Piano and Orchestra are: Piano Concerto In A minor, Op. 54 (published 1846) Concertstück, Op.92 (Introduction and Allegro appassionato; published 1852) Introduction and Allegro, Op. 134 (published 1855) These three works by one of the greatest masters of romanticism will delight musicians, music lovers and students, as well as devotees of Schumann. Pianists will be especially pleased to have these appealing Schumann works in one convenient edition available at an affordable price.

Since the 1980s scholarly research into Reger has built up a picture of the diversity, complexity and variety of Reger's work and shown that the composer was the first to depart from the supposed logical evolution of music history. In the musical scene, on the other hand, ideas prevail that are clichéd and based on a small canon of works. This is now about to change.Since the beginning of the twenty-first century a thematic catalogue of the works of Max Reger and their sources has been put together in the Max-Reger-Institut Karlsruhe funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. This will be a fitting addition to our series of thematic catalogues of the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Schumann. It contains in-depth information in a readable form on the complete original works and arrangements, both published and unpublished, completed or fragmentary. Information concerning the genesis, place and state of the handwritten and printed sources are presented comprehensively and reflect the current state of research. Thus not only scholars but also performers, music lovers and concert organizers will be able to get to know Reger's neglected but in many ways surprising works.Numerous indexes will make the Reger Thematic Catalogue easy and clear to use and it has all of the prerequisites to soon become the definitive reference work for Max Reger. / Orchestre

Facsimile of the autograph score in the British Library, London. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. The first performance of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” on 13 April 1742 in Dublin aroused unqualified rapture. A newspaper report a few days later declared that it combined “the Sublime, the Grand, and the Tender”. Its success has remained undiminished ever since, and the “Messiah” has taken its place in musical life. In 2009, to mark the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, the British Library and Bärenreiter joined forces and made the autograph score of the “Messiah” available to the public in a meticulously reproduced, lavishly published facsimile. The renowned Handel scholar Donald Burrows introduces the characteristics of Handel’smanuscript, describes the history of the work’s composition, and explains the differences between later versions of the “Messiah”, as reflected in the conducting scores. A two-page sketch from the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge completes the publication. Facsimile of the autograph in the British Library. 282 + 2 pages of facsimile and 55 pages of introduction (English/German/Japanese) half-linen, hardback / Oratorio / Répertoire / Divers