Irving Fine's Notturno for String Orchestra and Harp, composed in 1951, is a masterful work that blends elements of neoclassicism with a distinctly lyrical and emotional quality. The piece is characterized by its delicate textures and sophisticated...

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...

While Sibelius’ composed music for many plays to great effect, with the brief melodramas Ett ensamt skidspår (A Lonely Ski Trail) and Grevinnans konterfej (The Countess’ Portrait) he also demonstrated his skill in writing for drama on a...

Highly passionate in character and rich in its melodic invention, Finzi’s writing here is characteristically open-hearted and approachable. From the stillness of the opening, the music unfolds, reaching a peak of intensity before returning to its...

REPRINT SERIES   After he departed the Soviet Union in 1918, Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) spent a fair amount of time in the U.S. concertizing. On one such tour in 1930, the Library of Congress commissioned him to compose a string quartet; the...

The Interlude for oboe and strings was composed during the mid 1930s, originally for string quartet; later Finzi created an expanded instrumentation for string orchestra as an alternative. It is a 13-minute work of considerable substance,...

Score and Set of Parts (5.5.4.4.3) Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 is the only one that does not have double titles (one title based on classical music forms and the other relating to Brazil in some manner). This 10 minute work is in quintessentially Bachian...