SKU: HL.233151

ISBN 9788759886427. 10.0x14.5 inches. English.

Piano solo part for Paganini Variations - Piano Concerto No.3 by Poul Ruders (2014). Score available: WH32201 Programme note: In 1999 my friend, American guitar virtuoso David Starobin, wanted me to write a concerto for guitar and orchestra. It quickly dawned on me, that this commission presented a golden opportunity to contribute to the time-honoured tradition of composing a series of variations on Nicolo Paganini's famous 24th Caprice for violin solo, a work which itself is a set of variations. The 16 bar (with the first 4 bars repeated) theme is not particularly sophisticated or intricate, but its inherent simplicity and logic just grow on you, almost to the point ofdistraction - and the secret behind it being hauled through the wringer by composers as disparate as Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski is perhaps found in its - what I'll call, with a quick nervous look over my shoulder: brilliant banality. You can do anything with that tune, it'll always be recognizable and just there, however much you maul it. The piece (subtitled Guitar Concerto no 2) was written pretty quickly, premiered and subsequently recorded for Bridge Records with David and the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Wagner, and everybody was happy. But the story didn't end there, and it must be the ultimate proof of the durability of the theme, not to mention the flexibility and far-sightedness of David Starobin , when he 14 years later suggested why not transcribe the solo part for piano?. The idea appealed to me immediately. One thing was clear from the beginning: the new version could in no way sound like a transcription. My aim was to end up with a solo-part sounding like were it the one-and-only, the real thing, if you like. The orchestral score remains exactly the same in both cases. Both versions, the two Paganini Variations, are comparable to a set of twins, not quite identical, but almost. And both each others's equal. Poul Ruders.

SKU: AP.36-A700701

UPC: 746241222916. English.

Written by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) in 1934, this set of variations for piano solo and orchestra on Niccolò Paganini's Caprice No. 24 for solo violin is much like a concerto, though it consists of a single movement with an introduction of the theme and twenty-four variations. The most well-known of the variations is the lyrical 18th, and it has been used in numerous movies over the years. In addition to Paganini's theme as the thematic foundation, the Dies irae theme found in the requiem mass and which features so prominently in Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique is also featured at times. The work premiered with immediate success on November 7th, 1934 by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, with Rachmaninoff himself as soloist. 2+Picc.2+EH.2.2: 4.2.3.1: Timp.Perc(3): Hp: Solo Pno: Str. A full score and study score are available from the publisher, but the set of parts is not.

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