SKU: BR.EB-9440

ISBN 9790004189177. 9 x 12 inches.

The two sonatas of Johannes Brahms's op. 120 are widely hailed as crowning points of the repertoire for clarinet and piano. Moreover, in the version for viola and piano arranged by Brahms himself, they rank among the most frequently played viola works of the 19th century. They far surpass in compositional substance the relatively few original sonatas written for these instrumentations during the same period.Of the two fellow works, the Sonata No. 2 in E flat major is the more accessible. Diverging from the classical-romantic tradition, Brahms used the key of E flat major here not to express the heroic or monumental, but to obtain lyrical, chiefly restrained characterizations. The serenade-like beauty of the principal theme, which opens the sonata, has always been particularly admired. In his review of the world premiere, the renowned Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, a friend of Brahms's, raves with the words it was as if it had fallen from the Heavens. The closing set of variations also follows with gentle gracefulness this lyrical character. However, the middle movement, with its tempestuous outer sections in E flat minor and the hymnic trio in B major provides a passionate and serious contrast, which allows the flanking idyll to unfold its beauties all the more insistently.

SKU: BR.OB-5264-23

ISBN 9790004333792. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Robert Schumann composed his D-minor Symphony in 1841, just after completing his Symphony No. 1 in B flat major op. 38. This version remained unpublished during the composers lifetime. After a thorough revision in late 1851, the work was given its first performance in Dusseldorf on 3 March 1853 under the composers direction. It was published that same year by Breitkopf & Hartel under the opus number 120 as Symphony No. 4.Joachim Draheims Urtext edition presents Schumanns Fourth Symphony in the 1851 version. The primary source is the first edition overseen by Schumann and practically free of errors.

SKU: HL.14003062

ISBN 9788759870075. 12.0x16.5x0.7 inches. Danish.

Per Norgard BACH TO THE FUTUREFor many years I have been specially fascinated by three of the preludes of Bach's Well-tempered Piano, and I wish with this concerto-version for percussion-duo and orchestra to highlight some of the structural aspects of these pieces: It is my belief that there is a tradition in the music history, that makes it possible to let certain germs in an earlier period unfold into new, but not heterogenious, dimensions of a perhaps several hundred years later phase of the tradition.This concerto is a result of several years collaboration with Uffe Savery and Morten Friis (Safri-Duo), as well in original compositions - (Resonances, Repercussion, Resume in EchoZone I-III) as in arrangements of the 3 Bach preludes, preparing for the enormous stylistic challenges of this work.A few introductory comments to each movement:I Movement: The archetypal sequence of broken chords within C-major has established itself as almost a cultural code, allowing the composer of 1996 to tell his tale-in-tones only by stressing and colouring the tones in the original piece without changing the pitches or (relative) durations as a 'palimpsest' containing as well the old as the new musical tale simultaneously. Later in the movement, this singleline is multiplied by the, till then discrete, but permanently pervading, proportion - throughout the piece - very close to the 'Golden Section'(= 3:5:8.t.i:8 before repetition, 5 before starting anew from the deepest tone, 3 as the rest etc. unchanged). The 3 tonal levels as well as the 3 relative speeds are treated according to these proportions for certain passages, but even in those the main focal point is directed at the freely invented melody (by me) incarnating itself solely by the unpermutad sequels of the original prelude.II Movement: One feature of the F sharp-prelude pervades all the six minutes-long second movement: A 4 times identical rhythmic pattern = 6:4:3:2:3:4:6 - as an hourglass-shaped timeshape - inspired me by the closeness of this pattern to a shape within the infinity-drumming of my invention, called Wide-Fan and Narrow-Fan , referring to pattern consisting of 8:4:2:1:2:4:8, the familiarity with the above - quoted one being obvious. New and old elaborations of this pattern-pair permeates the movement, especially since the Safri-Duo by their performance of my Repercussion had augmented my appetite for including this idiom in a wider context:III Movement: Without the existence of the d-minor-prelude I doubt that I would have dared to write a work like this, since it is the inexhaustible, rare quality and pecularity of this piece, which has stimulated my feeling of wonder and 'modernity' (or: eternity!) of this piece, of which I know of no equal in its special respect: the perpetual ambiguity of melodic foothold in the rhythmic ostinato of a broken descending triad, co.