EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIES George Antheil musical masterpiece Ballet Mécanique (1924) was originally written for the film. In concert performance, the Ballet Mécanique is not a show of human dancers but of mechanical instruments. Among...

The concerto was dedicated to Alma Mahler, the widow of Korngold's childhood mentor Gustav Mahler. It was premiered on 15 February 1947 by Jascha Heifetz and the St. Louis Symphony under conductor Vladimir Golschmann. Three Movements:   1...

EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIES The piece is a set of 24 variations on the twenty-fourth and last of Niccolò Paganini's Caprices for solo violin, which has inspired works by several composers. The whole composition would take about 22–24...

"L'Amour des trois oranges" is a satirical opera by Prokofiev. The orchestral suite was compiled from the opera for concert use. The suite lasts for 15 to 20 minutes and is in 6 movements. 1. The Ridicules2. The Magician Tchelio and Fata Morgana Play...

Dating from 1927, the work is based on music from 18th-century and represents an attempt to transcribe birdsong into musical notation. The work is in five movements:    "Prelude" (based on music of Bernardo Pasquini)    "La...

EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIES Tintagel is a symphonic poem composed by Arnold Bax in 1919; it is perhaps his best-known orchestral work. Bax had visited Tintagel Castle during the summer of 1917, accompanied by pianist Harriet Cohen, with whom he was...

It is a little-known fact that Prokofiev's Op.115 Sonata was not originally intended as a work for solo violin, but rather for a group of twenty or so violinists playing in unison, a prevalent practice in the pedagogy of student violinists in Russia, of...

The orchestral version was written in 1920, dedicated to and premiered by Marie Hall. It is one of the most popular pieces in the Classical repertoire among British listeners. "The Lark Ascending" is inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the...

In reality a ten-minute neo-classical piano concerto in two movements, Honegger's Concertino sports severe "wrong note" harmonies and complex counterpoint within what is actually a rigid framework. Two movements further subdivide into four, and the...

The Concerto No.2 for Horn and Orchestra is infused with Strauss' singular lyricism, reflecting the clarity of the composer's Romantic vision amid the strengthening winds of twentieth century modernism.

This concerto was commissioned by the prominent Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm due to a wound sustained in World War I. The concerto negotiates several sections in various tempi and keys without pause. Towards the end of...

Based on the piece Double Trio (1938), the composer decided its music would be better-suited to a larger instrumentation.  He fashioned the piece for two string orchestras of disproportionate size, neither featuring second violins. The Partita ...

"The number of places in which I wrote the Concerto shows the kind of nomadic concert-tour life I led then. The main theme of the 1st movement was written in Paris, the first theme of the 2nd movement at Voronezh, the orchestration was finished in Baku...

Rhapsody No.2 SZ.90 is the second of two folk dances (often called "Hungarian Rhapsodies") for Violin and Orchestra that Bartók wrote in 1928. The 2nd Rhapsody is dedicated to the violinist Zoltán Székely, the founder of the...

Cuban Overture is a symphonic overture or tone poem for orchestra composed by American composer George Gershwin. Originally titled Rumba (named for the Cuban rumba musical genre), it was a result of a two-week holiday which Gershwin took in Havana, Cuba...

Commissioned in 1937 by Paul Sacher, it was only completed in 1941. The work is for string orchestra, except for the addition of a trumpet in the concluding chorale: "like pulling out an organ stop", according to the composer. The work is in three...

Prokofiev extracted three orchestral suites and a set of ten piano transcriptions from his ballet masterpiece "Romeo and Juliet" (one of the most enduringly popular ballets). Suite No. 1 from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64bis: 1.Folk Dance2.Scene (the Street...

Written in 1933, this hauntingly beautiful "Lyric Movement" is one of Gustav Holst's last works.