SKU: HH.HH531-SOL

ISBN 9781914137280.

Mozartâ??s final three symphonies were composed, according to Mozartâ??s autograph VerzeichnüÃ?, in the space of a few weeks, from late June to early August 1788. During that year the 11-year-old Hummel was a resident pupil of Mozart and would have been a daily witness to the creation of these foundational works of the Western musical canon. There is an almost total lack of documentary evidence concerning the circumstances of these works, however, which has led to considerable speculation as to their origins, early performances and reception. There are three plausible scenarios for the genesis of these symphonies: that they were written for a series of subscription concerts scheduled for autumn 1788; that Mozart wrote them with the (unfulfilled) intention of publication as an opus; that they may have been prepared in advance of Mozartâ??s projected visit to London with his British friends the Storace family, Thomas Attwood and Michael Kelly (again unfulfilled). A contemporaray review in The Harmonicum (1823) of Hummelâ??s piano arrangements of these works notes, approvingly, that they show his perfect knowledge of the instrument and his nice [= fastidious] discrimination in selecting the most effective parts from the score in those places where the whole could not be taken.

SKU: HH.HH490-SOL

ISBN 9781910359815.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 85, ‘La Reine de France’, belongs to the set of six ‘Paris’ Symphonies, Nos. 82–7, composed in 1785–6 to a commission by the directors of the Concert de la Loge Olympique at the instigation of the Comte d’Ogny and were first performed by that society during the 1787 season. The soubriquet ‘La Reine’ was attached to the work soon after its first performance (and was included in the first edition of printed parts) reflecting its status as a favourite work of Marie Antoinette.

SKU: HH.HH515-SOL

ISBN 9790708185253.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 was first performed on 3 March 1794 at the Hanover Square Rooms under the direction of Salomon as concertmaster with the composer himself at the fortepiano. The work was an instant success and soon became, and remains to this day, one of Haydn’s most popular symphonies.

SKU: HH.HH508-SOL

ISBN 9790708185185.

Symphony No. 44 is one of a number of Haydn’s middle period works often regarded as representing the so-called Sturm und Drang (‘Storm and Stress’) style of melodramatic realism taken over from contemporary German literary and dramatic models. The symphony is monotonal – each movement being in the same key, with contrast provided by excursions into the tonic major. Contrapuntal writing pervades the whole work; the second movement, unusually, is a minuet and is a strict double canon at one bar’s interval (‘Canone in Diapason’ is Haydn’s term) which itself is contrasted by the lyrical Trio section in the tonic major. The third movement, an Adagio in the tonic major, prompted the symphony’s long-adopted soubriquet, ‘Trauer’ (‘Mourning’) as it was said to have been requested by the composer himself to be played at his own funeral.2 The monothematic contrapuntal Finale reverts to the tense emotional level of the opening Allegro.

SKU: HH.HH517-SOL

ISBN 9790708185277.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 – ‘The 12th that I have composed in England’ as proudly inscribed by Haydn himself on his autograph score – was first performed on 13 April 1795 at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, under the direction of the composer himself at the fortepiano, at the sixth concert of G.B.Viotti’s Opera Concert Series.

SKU: HH.HH560-SOL

ISBN 9790708185758.

The Haffner symphony was composed at the request of Leopold Mozart for the celebrations at the ennoblement of Wolfgang’s childhood friend, Sigmund Haffner, in Salzburg on 29 July 1782. Mozart was under considerable pressure at this time with, amongst other professional commitments, preparations for the opening performance of Die Entfühtung aus dem Serail on 16 July, and the necessary arrangements for his forthcoming marriage to Constanze on 4 August. It is unclear from the surviving evidence (the relevant correspondence between Wolfgang and Leopold at this period is incomplete) whether the symphony arrived at Salzburg in time for the Haffner celebrations. The symphony was first performed in Vienna, under Mozart’s direction, at the Hofburgtheater on 23 March 1783 in the presence of the Emperor.

SKU: HH.HH512-SOL

ISBN 9790708185222.

Symphony No.63 La Roxelane the first movement of which re-employs (with reduced instrumentation and some structural adjustment to conform to its new symphonic setting) the overture to Haydn’s opera Il mondo della luna which was originally composed for the 1777 season at Esterháza. The second movement, headed Roxelane Allegretto, is a set of variations on the French melody La Roxelane which reveals itself as an early example of the composer’s favoured double-variation form of contrasting major and minor key sections. Roxelane herself is the leading female character in Les trois sultanes, a stage play by Charles Simon Favart performed by Karl Wahr and his theatrical troupe in a German translation at Esterháza in that same year with (we assume) incidental music by Haydn. The Menuetto and concluding Finale Presto of the symphony were newly-composed and do not (as far as we know) make use of re-cycled theatrical music.

SKU: KV.3612525

ISBN 9781848676992. 210mm x 297mm inches.

Hot Keys Piano Tutor Book 2 is a colourful and contemporary new piano tutor that combines good technique with fun and imagination.

Improvisation and creativity are encouraged from the start, with duets throughout the book to introduce ensemble playing. Although aimed at students from seven years upwards, the up-beat pieces and approach make it just as suitable for the older beginner.

Teacher and pupil parts are both available on the CD and MP3 backing tracks, which also include a rhythm section.

SKU: HL.14015277

ISBN 9781846097959. 9.0x12.0x0.082 inches.

This work was commissioned by KlaraFestival, Flanders, Belgium. It was first first performed by Sarah Nicolls at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels on 22nd September 2005, as part of KlaraFestival.

SKU: NR.108753