String Trios op. 3 8 and 9 and String Duo WoO 32-Comme on peut le déduire de leurs numéros d?opus les cinq trios à cordes sont des ?uvres relativement précoces. Beethoven fit imprimer l?opus 3 au début de l?année 1796 et commença à écrire la sérénade op. 8 au cours de la même année bientôt suivie par les trois trios op. 9. Par la suite Beethoven abandonna ce genre et n?y revint plus. Ces cinq pièces sont pourtant du pur Beethoven et continuent à être volontiers régulièrement jouées. Dans le même volume figure le morceau désigné dans le manuscrit autographe comme un «duo avec deux lunettes obligées» que Beethoven destinait manifestement à deux amis atteints de myopie.

The long awaited Sassmannshaus method “Early Start on the Double Bass” is now here. At last students of the largest instrument in the string family can make use of this tried and tested method for beginners, developed by Egon Sassmannshaus for the other string instruments and applied here to the double bass by Holger Sassmannshaus and J. Peter Close. This method will meet the needs of the growing number of young bass students. “Early Start on the Double Bass” encompasses everything that one would expect from a Sassmannshaus method: an easy start, progression at a suitable rate, many cross-references to the other string instruments, songs and scales in different positions from early on, as well as many duets. Lively and colourful illustrations by Charlotte Panowsky complete the edition. For more than three decades “The Sassmannshaus Tradition” has been the household name for excellence in beginner string methods in German-speaking countries. The English editions for violin, viola and violoncello, which were introduced to the international market in 2008, have proven to be very successful, particularly in the United States. Kids to the Bass! While children learning other string instruments can start as early as the age of four, the appropriate age to begin the double bass is approximately eight (possibly even six); this allows for a faster progression than on the other string instruments, and the method consists of only three volumes. The first volume will be published separately in an English and a German edition; the following two volumes will have German and English text in each book. Original compositions by Boguslaw Furtok enrich the volumes. - Based on the tried-and-tested Sassmannshaus methods for violin, viola and cello - Volume 1: Separate editions in German and English - Volumes 2 and 3: Bilingual, German/English editions - Moderate increase in difficulty - Position playing, duets - Includes new original compositions to B. Furtok - Volume 3 with piano accompaniments to 7 pieces The authors Holger Sassmannshaus is a double bass player with the Niederrheinische Sinfoniker in Mönchengladbach/Krefeld. He also teaches the double bass and performs with several other ensembles. J. Peter Close is a teacher for violoncello and double bass in Munich.

Composed for the dancer/choreographer Nacho Duato and his National Dance Company in Spain Cautiva has been performed worldwide. For String Trio.

Max Reger's two String Trios stand alongside Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat major (K. 563) and Beethoven's Op. 9 trios at the pinnacle of the genre. In their style and technical demands Regerhas clearly taken these admired classical forebears as his guide. Both trios are classicist in nature and delight the listener with their relaxed and occasionally even joyful character. No wonder that they proved highly successfulat their premières in 1904 and 1915! For his edition the Reger specialist Michael Kube has examined the autograph scores and the first editions of both works. This edition in parts also comes in a miniature score withexactly the same text published in Henle's Study Score Series (HN 9722).

Judith Weir: My Piano Quartet (2000) is part of an extended series of works for piano and strings which I have written over the last twenty years - although I didn¹t know it was going to be a series when I wrote the first of these works Music for 247 Strings in 1980. During this period it has been far more usual for composers to write for mixed wind and string ensembles. But I continued (and still continue) to be fascinated by the potential of strings and piano; particularly the chance to write for the instruments as soloists or as a group and often to use both these options simultaneously.String Parts.Premiered July 2000 at the Cheltenham Festival by the SchubertEnsemble.Piano Score available: CH61794