String Quintets, Op. 18 and 87

Revisiting The Don is a piece of music composed by Michael Nyman for the album 'Mozart 252' a celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Revisiting The Don is one of the twonewly-composed works on this album and is arranged here as a full score for String Quintet. Nyman himself states that 'as the title suggests I revisit the same harmonicmaterial that makes 'In Re Don Giovanni' so powerful and come up with more lyrical 'solutions'.' The result is a wonderful piece beginning with a smooth staccato that lays the foundations for wonderful lilting melodies. Thepiece gradually progresses to widen out the warm strings making this piece a real joy to play.

A must for all ambitious String ensembles: this classic of the Henle catalogue has received a great many improvements based on the latest findings of scholarship. After years of research Beethoven‘s completeString Quintets are now available in a thoroughly revised set of parts and an improved appearance on the page. Needless to say the parts are accompanied by a study score (HN 9267).

String Quintets op. 18 and 87-The genesis of Mendelssohn?s String quintets is closely connected to his friend Eduard Rietz and the latter?s brother Julius. Deeply affected by Eduard?s death in 1832 Mendelssohn exchanged the ?Minuetto?movement in his A major Quintet Op. 18 written six years previously for a newly composed adagio. It was in this form that the work was finally sent to the publisher. The Quintet in B flat major was onlypublished after Mendelssohn?s death; numerous unauthorized entries by Julius Rietz thus found their way into performance practice. An examination of the autograph allowed us to return the work to its original form thecommentary contains detailed information on this.

This String Quintet (with two Violas or three Violins) was composed in 1799. It is tuneful and straightforward and suitable for players who are not yet at the standard required to play the Mozart Dvorak or Brahms quintets with two Violas. This edition has the advantage of having a third Violin part included if two Viola players are not available. Johann Michael Haydn was the younger brother of his much more famous older brother Franz Joseph commonly regarded as the 'father' of the classical String Quartet format.

With the publication of the masterpieces K. 593 and 614 all of Mozart’s string quintets are now available in Henle Urtext. Our edition corrects several widespread misreadings of the musical text and also draws on the firstprintings as important sources. The first printing of the Finale from the Quintet in D major K. 593 diverges greatly from the autograph. The editors consider it probable that the print version was authorized which is the reasonwhy we have published both versions of the movement (to enable a better comparison it is given as an ossia version above the musical text). In the Preface and Comments the editors shed light on the source situation to these twoimmortal works written in the last two years of Mozart’s life.

This edition of Onslow's fifteenth String Quintet has the advantage of being either a two Viola or a two Cello quintet as it is published with parts for two cellists or two violists. It is a major work with good parts for all players with the 1st Violin part having a particularly large numbers of fast semi quavers (sixteenths) in the outer movements.It is known as 'The Bullet' due to the circumstances of its composition: Onslow was boar hunting in the Auvergne when a theme occurred to him. He dismounted and sat on a nearby fallen tree trunk and wrote it down. A boar then burst from the bushes and his companions fired missing the boar and hitting Onslow.The quintet was completed on his recovery and graphically illustrates his sufferings. George Onslow an Anglo-French composer was born in Clermont-Ferrand in July 1784 and died there in October 1853.