Korngold’s King's Row Suite for Orchestra is derived from his film score for the 1942 movie Kings Row. The suite extracts several key themes from the film, presenting them in a concert format that showcases Korngold’s talent for writing lush,...

REPRINT SERIES Bacewicz’s Symphony No. 4 (1953) is a structured and rhythmically driven work reflecting her clear orchestration and formal control. Composed during the socialist realism period in Poland, it maintains clarity and energy while...

REPRINT SERIES Grażyna Bacewicz’s Symphony No. 3 (1952) is a striking example of her neoclassical style, blending dynamic orchestration with structural clarity. Composed during a period of increasing Soviet influence in Polish music, the work...

Dmitri Shostakovich composed his Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 70 in 1945, following the Soviet victory in World War II. Unlike the grand, triumphant symphony many expected, it is a light, neoclassical work with a modest orchestration. The...

Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung), Op. 24, is a symphonic poem composed by Richard Strauss between 1888 and 1889 and premiered in 1890. It portrays the final moments of an artist on his deathbed, reflecting on his life’s struggles...

Roberto Gerhard's Symphony No. 3, composed in 1960, is a striking example of his transition from late romanticism to more modernist, experimental approaches. The symphony was written during a period of personal and professional transformation for...

Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole is a vibrant orchestral work composed in 1907–1908, showcasing his deep fascination with Spanish music and rhythms. Although Ravel was French, his Basque heritage greatly influenced his affinity for Spanish sounds, which...

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Three Portraits from The England of Elizabeth is a suite derived from his music for the 1955 documentary film The England of Elizabeth. This orchestral work, structured in three movements, captures the spirit and historical...

Stravinsky's "The Firebird" Suite (1919 version) stands as one of the most celebrated works in 20th-century classical music. This version is an orchestral suite derived from Stravinsky's original 1910 ballet score for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes...

Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82, was composed in 1915 and later revised in 1916 and 1919, reflecting the composer's continuous search for structural clarity and thematic cohesion. Commissioned for his 50th birthday celebrations, the...

Arthur Bliss's "Prologue and Five Dances" is a concert suite derived from his 1937 ballet Checkmate. The ballet itself is a dramatic allegory about a chess game where humanized chess pieces enact a tale of power, conflict, and tragic love. Bliss's music...

The Symphony in E minor is the first symphony written by the American composer Florence Price. The work was completed in 1932 and was Price's first full-scale orchestral composition and the first symphony by a Black woman to be performed by a major...

REPRINT SERIES  Stravinsky wrote the symphony from 1942–45 on commission by the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was premièred by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Stravinsky on January 24, 1946.The Symphony in...

The symphony is a short (about 20 minutes) experimental work in one movement; within this movement are four sections, the last of which includes a chorus. In a marked departure from his First Symphony, Shostakovich composed his Second in a gestural,...

In the words of the composer, The Sinfonietta was written on board the S.S. Christoforo Coloumbo en route from New York to Europe. I was going to Europe for a conducting tour which included an appearance with Radio Symphony Orchestra in Zurich,...

REPRINT SERIES The Partita dates from 1955, after Bacewicz had recovered from a serious car accident in the fall of 1954 that led to a lengthy hospital stay. The neoclassical traits apparent in her earlier work gave way to a distinctly “innovatory...

Coastal Command is a 1942 British film made by the Crown Film Unit for the Ministry of Information. The film, distributed by RKO, dramatised the work of RAF Coastal Command.Coastal Command is a documentary-style account of the Short Sunderland and...

While Shostakovich wrote this piece as his graduation exercise from Maximilian Steinberg's composition class, some of the material may have dated from considerably earlier. The immediate parallel to the 19-year-old composer presenting his first symphony...