The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi was commissioned by the Santa Monica Museum of Arts as an original score for the installation The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi by MaryKelly. The words are used/reproduced by permission of Mary Kelly. The first performance was given by Sarah Leonard (soprano), with Gaby Lester and Cathy Thompson (violins), Kate Musker (viola) and Tony Hinnigan (cello) on 11 December 2001 at the Santa Monica Museum of Arts. / Quatuor A Cordes

Facsimile of the autograph score in the British Library, London. Par HAENDEL GEORG FRIEDRICH. The first performance of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” on 13 April 1742 in Dublin aroused unqualified rapture. A newspaper report a few days later declared that it combined “the Sublime, the Grand, and the Tender”. Its success has remained undiminished ever since, and the “Messiah” has taken its place in musical life. In 2009, to mark the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, the British Library and Bärenreiter joined forces and made the autograph score of the “Messiah” available to the public in a meticulously reproduced, lavishly published facsimile. The renowned Handel scholar Donald Burrows introduces the characteristics of Handel’smanuscript, describes the history of the work’s composition, and explains the differences between later versions of the “Messiah”, as reflected in the conducting scores. A two-page sketch from the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge completes the publication. Facsimile of the autograph in the British Library. 282 + 2 pages of facsimile and 55 pages of introduction (English/German/Japanese) half-linen, hardback / Oratorio / Répertoire / Divers

Dvorak's Serenade in E major for string orchestra is one of his most popular and frequently played works. It was written in the spring of 1875, when he had just experienced his first successes at the conductor's podium and had received a state arts scholarship. The score and parts were published by Bote and Bock, Berlin, in 1879. This Urtext edition is based on the composer's autograph score. It corrects mistakes found in the first edition and so, for the first time, the editor incorporates omitted passages from the autograph, marking them with Vi-de. This reconstruction makes it possible to clarify the piece's structure. The author of the Foreword, Katerina Nova, is head of the Dvorak Museum in Prague. / Orchestre A Cordes