SKU: PR.414411630

ISBN 9781491114551. UPC: 680160089956. 9.5 x 13 inches.

EXCURSIONS is a one-movement work exploring two “characters.” A rhapsodic, descending passage is introduced by the cello, followed by a  static, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello. Their individual developments are separated by a slow, contrasting middle section. The composer has written: “This is analogous to situations in life: we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option and forfeiting the other. But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination… or can we? It is symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place.”.
Excursions for violin, cello and piano, is a one-movement work of tripartite structure in which materials explored in the first of three large sections are brought back in the last section.  The traditional statement-contrast-restatement form, which is readily suggested by such a description, is, however, not at all in the mold in which the work is cast.  Rather, my aim was to subject the essential materials of the piece (two “characters” –the rhapsodic, descending passage played by the cello in the very opening and, later, a static, slow moving, chorale-like phrase for the violin and cello) to two entirely different developments separated by a slow, contrasting middle section.  This is analogous to an exploration of the ramifications that two divergent choices made by the same person might lead to.  In life, as we stand by a crossroad, choosing one option usually means having to forfeit the other.  But in art, the realm of the imagination, we can perhaps afford to pursue more than one route to its ultimate destination…or can we?  It is, I believe, symbolic that in this work both roads eventually lead to the same place: in composing Excursions, it seemed absolutely inescapable that at the end the slow, contrasting middle sections – both more resigned and peaceful than the battling spirits of the outer parts – should return briefly to end the work. The piano trio combination (once highly favored, but to this composer still as challenging today) is approached here as a collaborative effort of three equal soloists – partners.  Of the available pairings, the two strings find themselves occasionally approached as a team pitted against the piano.  The cello-piano combination is also not uncommon here, and there is an extended violin cadenza toward the end of the piece.  The writing for the three instruments is closely and at times interlinked, but the players are all instructed to play from scores. Excursions was first performed at Brandeis University in 1982.

SKU: BA.BA11527-90

ISBN 9790260107946. 31 x 24.5 cm inches. Preface: Sandra Bergmannova.

Bohuslav Martinu wrote his First Violin Concerto in Paris in 1932-33, this work having been commissioned by the violin virtuoso Samuel Dushkin. However, it was never performed during the composer's lifetime and was even considered lost after his death. It was not until 1961 that musicologist and collector Hans Moldenhauer bought it from Boaz Piller, contrabassoonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Moldenhauer approached Czech violinist Josef Suk, who gave the world premiere of the work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Georg Solti in October 1973.

This piano reduction is based on the musical text of the first edition. The solo part has been revised by a leading Czech violinist and performer of Martinu's music.

* Major violin concerto of the 20th century
* New Foreword by Martinu scholar Sandra Bergmannova (Cz/Eng/Ger)

SKU: KU.GM-1924

ISBN 9790206204128. 9 x 12 inches.

SKU: BR.EB-9386

ISBN 9790004188569. 0 x 0 inches.

The Violin Sonata No. 1 in E minor, op. 73, a Grand Sonata for Violin and Piano, occupies an important position in Joachim Raff's oeuvre: it reflects numerous artistic, aesthetic, biographical, and reception-historical aspects characteristic of Raff. The work was composed in Weimar in 1854, when Raff was going through a process of artistic self-discovery. He increasingly distanced himself from his mentor Franz Liszt and intensively explored Wagner as well as the ideal of absolute music - this is also reflected in the music of the sonata. While Raff described the first two movements as objectified, he perceived the last two movements as a piece of him, that is, not free of extra-musical influences.The 1st movement, with its expansive main theme, is reminiscent of Mendelssohn; the 2nd movement reveals the refinement of classical-romantic work with musical material. The 3rd movement, with its partly rhythmic, virtuoso accompanying figures and harmonically advanced passages, allows a deeply romantic, almost tormented insight into a soul life a la Sturm und Drang. The partly irascible last movement revisits already familiar themes and thus creates a musical framework.In collaboration with the Joachim-Raff-Archiv Lachen (CH)

First Urtext Edition of the Grand Sonata for Violin and Piano.