Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39 - full score

SKU: BR.PB-5558

Tchaikovsky's Hamburg Symphony in the Urtext

ISBN 9790004213681. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Like Hamlet Overture, originating at about the same time, Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony, composed in 1888, focuses on the human existential question: To be or not to be - triumph over fate or triumph of fate? The per aspera ad astra dramaturgy underlying the symphony culminates in triumphant certainty. If Tchaikovsky was initially euphoric, then severe self-doubts befell him after he conducted the premiere in St. Petersburg. These doubts demonstrably led him to make interpretative changes for the Hamburg performance in 1889, including a cut in the finale. Only with the extremely positive response to this performance did his doubts dispel. Nevertheless, Tchaikovsky himself never again conducted the 5th symphony. It was only posthumously established in the repertoire through Arthur Nikisch's commitment. The new edition's textual criticism takes into account besides the autograph and first edition also the first edition's orchestral parts, together with the piano arrangement produced from the autograph by Sergei Taneyev. In addition to thoroughly clarifying dynamics and articulation, the source comparison also corrected many errors and solved problematical passages, such as, for instance, the trombone entry in m. 372 of the finale. Considered, moreover, for the first time has been the composer's doubts about his work and its ambiguities, frequently successfully suppressed in the history of its performance and reception. Tchaikovsky's conductor's copy is unfortunately lost, hence his alterations made for the Hamburg performance are not precisely known. They have survived only indirectly through remarks that Willem Mengelberg left to posterity, for which he could draw on Tchaikovsky's conductor's score and oral references by the composer's brother Modest. So, anyone wishing to deal seriously with the work's certainties will not be able to do so in the future without having also to deal with its uncertainties.

Tchaikovsky's Hamburg Symphony in the Urtext.

SKU: AP.6-80531X

ISBN 9780486805306. UPC: 800759805310. English.

Commissioned in 1786 by the Paris-based orchestra Le Concert de la Loge Olympique, these six symphonies were created for an extraordinarily large ensemble of both professional and amateur players, including reinforced woodwind parts and a large string section. The symphonies are:
Symphony No. 82 in C major, L'Ours (The Bear), 1786
Symphony No. 83 in G minor, La Poule (The Hen), 1785
Symphony No. 84 in E flat major, In Nomine Domini, 1786
Symphony No. 85 in B flat major, La Reine (The Queen), 1785
Symphony No. 86 in D major, 1786
Symphony No. 87 in A major, 1785
Composer Giuseppe Maria Cambini, a member of the orchestra, noted that the enthusiastically received premieres featured some of the city's finest musicians. A contemporary critic remarked that Each hearing increases our appreciation and admiration of the works of the great genius, who, in all his pieces, understands so well how to draw the richest and most varied developments from every theme. Reproduced from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel editions, this volume offers musicians and music lovers an inexpensive and authoritative compilation of Haydn's ever-popular works.

SKU: BR.PB-32030

ISBN 9790004215159. 0 x 0 inches.

Promising Discovery When a recording of this Symphony No. 17 by Friedrich Schneider appeared in 2002, it attracted some attention. Now, Breitkopf & Hartel presents the work that, like all Schneider's symphonies, had remained unpublished, for the first time in a modern edition. The composer does not use a pathetic-heroic tone as suggested by the key, but follows the urgent, roving, and cantabile character that the key has possessed, especially in early Romanticism since the Sturm und Drang. It is reminiscent of Franz Schubert who ventured a very similar reinterpretation of the classical symphony. With this work Schneider succeeds in designing a remarkably coherent and carefully developed composition. A gain for the repertoire, since the symphony, composed in 1822 and premiered that year in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, shows so much merit.

SKU: BR.PB-5581

ISBN 9790004213919. 10 x 12.5 inches.

A Programmatic Declaration of BeliefFelix Mendelssohn Bartholdy composed his Reformation Symphony for the celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the Confessio Augustana, the Protestant declaration of faith. Owing to various and only partially explained reasons, there was no performance in 1830, the year in question; it was only two years later that the composer conducted the premiere of his work, now heavily revised, in Berlin. There was only one more performance in Mendelssohn's lifetime, this one conducted by Julius Rietz in Dusseldorf; the composer had since distanced himself from his opus.Conceived for the concert hall, the symphony formulates its theological references through the integration of various motives. This occurs in the finale, for example, in which Mendelssohn quotes the Luther chorale Ein feste Burg in the flute, from where it builds up to a triumphant principal theme. The strong extra-musical aspect must have been one of the reasons for the composer's later avoidance of this score, especially since Mendelssohn was becoming increasingly skeptical about explicitly programmatic music in the instrumental domain. Next to the Dusseldorf performance material of 1837, two scribal copies have been examined for the first time; they transmit the main stages of the version of 1830.

SKU: BR.PB-14615

The study score (,,Studien-Edition) is available at G. Henle Verlag.

ISBN 9790004214909. 10 x 12.5 inches.

The Famous One in the Leading EditionBeethoven spent a relatively long time on his 5th Symphony. Thus, first sketches can already be found from as early as 1804, four years before the work was premiered in Vienna in December 1808. Not only impressive is its striking opening theme, letting everyone know immediately that this is Beethoven being played, but also its nickname symphony of fate. Nothing in the sources prefigures the much-cited fate, musically knocking here at the door. The autograph of the score and the set of parts prepared from it, including Beethoven's revisions, serve as the main sources of this Urtext edition, together with the missing copy of the score, now extant only incomplete in photographs, and the original edition of the parts authorized by Beethoven. The new performance material is based on the recently published volume of the New Beethoven Complete Edition.

SKU: BR.PB-4400

ISBN 9790004203149. 10 x 12.5 inches.

SKU: BR.PB-14619

ISBN 9790004214947. 10 x 12.5 inches.

Since 2001 the Ninth has been included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. Beethoven was preoccupied with his unique work for many years, since at least 1815, and still shortly before his death, according to the highly complex source situation. The work will now finally be available as an edition produced from the new Beethoven Complete Edition in time for the 2020 anniversary year commemorating the composer's 250th birthday. Not all doubtful cases can be clarified, not all gaps closed, but numerous aspects have been further illuminated in this edition. New findings and source evaluations taken into account here, appear, for instance, pertaining to the work's title, the tradition of the metronome indications, the contrabassoon part, and the underlying vocal text in the finale, as well as in the original rendering of the sforzato and forte markings. The edition is to be considered, according to its editor Beate Angelika Kraus, as a contribution to the understanding of a work in which there is a discrepancy between its significance in musical life and the critical appreciation of its musical text..

SKU: HL.14022950

ISBN 9788759869635. 10.75x14.5x0.692 inches.