Sergei Prokofiev's Symphonic Song (Russian: Симфоническая песнь), Op. 57, was written in 1933. It's a work demonstrating Prokofiev's transition from Parisian modernism to Soviet lyricism. Prokofiev had described of it as "a serious piece of work, and I...

REPRINT SERIES The Variazioni sinfoniche evidently won the approval of Rimsky-Korsakov, to the extent that he accepted Respighi as a student. The work consists of a number of passacaglia-like variations after the manner of Brahms or Franck.

Milhaud’s Service sacré  for baritone (cantor), narrator, mixed chorus and organ or orchestra is one of the few authentic masterpieces of twentieth century liturgical music. Composed in 1947 for San Francisco’s Temple Emanu-El, it...

REPRINT SERIES The large collection of rocky islands in the Baltic off Stockholm, known as the "Skerries" in English, inspired special affection in Alfvén, who spent many fine days there in his youth. In 1903, after writing Midsummer Vigil, the...

First composed between 1897-1898, it was premiered in April 1901 and is considered one of Vaughan William's earliest orchestral works. This attractive work already shows evidence of the composer's emerging musical style and sure grasp of orchestral...

REPRINT SERIES Also known as Suite for Strings P.41, it is divided in 6 movements: 1. Ciaccona, 2. Siciliana, 3. Giga, 4. Sarabanda, 5. Burlesca, 6. Rigaudon

REPRINT SERIES  The famous Rachmaninoff Prelude in C sharp minor opens explosively and even uses organ pedals, it was first heard at the Proms at the Queen’s Hall on 20 September 1913 and Sir Henry Wood recorded it in October 1915.

On 19 December 1941, Martinů wrote a letter to Serge Koussevitzky, expressing a wish to compose a symphony for the Boston Symphony Orchestra for their next season. In reply, early in 1942 Koussevitzky commissioned a work for large orchestra in memory of...

REPRINT SERIES The best-known of all Benjamin’s light-music pieces, Jamaican Rumba was based on a tune he heard in the West Indies while examining there for the RCM. First composed for two pianos in 1937, as the second of Two Jamaican Pieces, it...

REPRINT SERIES Scherzo fantastique, op. 3, composed in 1908, is the second purely orchestral work by Igor Stravinsky (preceded by the Symphony in E-flat op.1). Despite the composer's later description of the work as "a piece of 'pure', symphonic music",...

Finzi wrote incidental music for a BBC broadcast of the Shakespeare's play in 1946, reworked it for a special stage presentation in 1952, and finally extracted a 10-number suite for small orchestra. The  most important of these, in Finzi's view, are...

REPRINT SERIES Composed in 1913, this Suite for Strings is divided in 3 movements: 1. Tímida: Poco andante2. Misteriosa: Andantino3. Inquieta (Air de ballet): Poco allegretto Its expressive content and moderate technical demands make it...

Given Ottorino Respighi’s outstanding mastery in handling the modern orchestra and his superb gifts for impressionist tone-painting (the very qualities cited by the many detractors and adversaries of this great composer), it is astonishing how...

REPRINT SERIES The Oboe Concerto might draw comparisons with the one by Vaughan Williams available here, but while it has the same depth of emotion, it also has fewer melancholic elements.

Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss) is a neoclassical ballet in one act and four scenes composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1928 and revised in 1950 for George Balanchine and the New York City Ballet. Based on Hans Christian Andersen's short story...

REPRINT SERIES The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography...