Par BERG ALBAN. Composed by a young Berg, while studying with Schoenberg, these Seven Early Songs would be revisited and reworked ten years later, and then again ten years after that. Perhaps influenced by Mahler, Berg created orchestral settings of these songs, in addition to the voice and piano versions./ Répertoire / Voix Haute et Orchestre

The Violin Concerto was commissioned by Stiftung Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. It was first performed by Gidon Kremer (violin) and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchester conducted by DennisRussell Davies at the Musikhalle Hamburg Germany on 29 August 2003. Interpolated within this one-minute-one-movement layout is a recurrent refrain where the soloist articulates one of the basic harmonic foundations of anumber of the one minute sections (six dominant 7ths - on E F sharp C A B D) in an undisguised Bachian fashion. The slow arpeggios in the later variants of the refrain not unexpectedly find themselves sharing a bed with theopening of Berg's Violin Concerto. Nyman has effectively adopted Berg's orchestral template with two exceptions - the omission of the alto Saxophone and replaced Berg's Percussion section with Marimba and Vibraphone mallet instruments which intertwine with the soloist in the Concerto. Alban Berg's Violin Concerto was dedicated to 'the memory of an angel' Manon Gropius. Nyman's Concerto was dedicated to the memory of DanielToscan du Plantier a friend and neighbour - in Nyman's words 'certainly no angel but a major figure in the recording and film industries'. Arranged for solo Violin and Piano accompaniment the duration of thiswork is approximately: 25 minutes.

Par BERG ALBAN. Universal Edition continues its new study score standard. These completely redesigned scores offer an unparalleled insight into the music of the last hundred years. Great care has been taken to select the best available content for this journey through music history, and every score has been edited according to the latest quality standards./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes