SKU: HL.49046442

ISBN 9781540094780. UPC: 842819113003.

The Cello Sonata Op. 6 was composed over an apparently frequently interrupted period of three years, an extraordinarily long time for Strauss's early creative phase. The compositional process spawned two independent versions of the work, the first of which is published for the first time on the basis of the text in the Critical Edition of the Works of Richard Strauss in the current editionas a practical musical text. The genesis of the two versions and the reasons for revision can only be reconstructed in part: only one of the surviving autographs bears a date and the second version only survives in printed form. What is more, Strauss did not communicate in greater detail on this composition in correspondence with his family and friends. There are enormous differences between the two versions of the Sonata: Strauss deleted the entire second and third movements Larghetto and Allegro vivace, replacing them with a newly composed Andante and Finale. In the first movement, Allegro con brio, Strauss retained the thematic-motivic material and compositionally complex passages such as the three-voice fugue in the developmentsection (from bar 241 in the first version and bar 275 in the second version) almost intact in the new version of the sonata, but also undertook extensive alterations, particularly in the structure of the piano part, the motivic-thematic development of the movement and its harmony which became far more ambitious.12 Particular attention should be drawn to the repetitive accompaniment of the con espressione theme beginning in bar 32 and the significantly shorter development in the first version. The current printed edition of the first version of Richard Strauss's Cello Sonata now makes it possible to follow Strauss's compositional development during this period. The significance of the differences between the versions also mean that two sonata compositions for violoncello and piano by Richard Strauss with fundamental disparities in their underlying character are now available for performance.

SKU: IS.VCP4195EM

ISBN 9790365041954.

In 1901, Flor Alpaerts finished his music studies at the Flemish School of Music of Antwerp, which later became the Royal Flemish Conservatory. He studied harmony and composition with Jan Blockx. In 1903 he became professor at this institute and from 1934 until 1941 its director. For one season (1922-1923) he was also director of the Royal Flemish Opera House of Antwerp together with the Bass Arthur Steurbaut. His fame, as a composer and a conductor, came shortly after World War I, when he succeeded in 1919 Eduard Keurvels as conductor of the concerts organized by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp and as artistic director of the Peter Benoit Fonds. He also conducted the choral group Arti Vocali. As a composer, Flor Alpaerts was the leading figure in the Flemish impressionistic movement. An impressionism that came closer to Richard Strauss and Ottorino Respighi than to Claude Debussy. A highlight in this direction was the symphonic poem Pallieter (1921-1924). With his suite James Ensor, inspired by four works of the Ostend painter, he created an expressionistic work. In his later compositions he turned to neo-classicism.