SKU: PR.114419890
ISBN 9781491134115. UPC: 680160684212. 9 x 12 inches.
Ravel’s TZIGANE is among the only concerto-like violin solos from the coloristically rich Impressionist repertoire. This exuberant showpiece is thoroughly infused with melodies and accompaniments in the style of Hungarian folk music, and Ravel composed the work with accompaniments for piano and for orchestra. Jeffrey Heisler’s brilliant transcription for soprano sax captures all the sparkle of Ravel’s violin writing and is fully compatible with both authentic versions, to allow optimum performance for saxophonists with either accompaniment. Heisler takes advantage of slap tongue and altissimo to create a dazzling showpiece, expanding the repertoire for the advanced saxophonist.
SKU: BR.EB-4063
ISBN 9790004162224. 7.5 x 10.5 inches.
The Publication in facsimile of the auto graphic copy of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in A major BWV 234 at the occasion of the Bach Anniversary Year 1985 has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the publishing house which so carefully preserved this precious manuscript in its archives for almost 200 years. The manuscript was acquired long ago by Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, the brilliant and dynamic forefather of the publishing house Breitkopf & Hartel, who conducted a prosperous business selling music transcriptions in Leipzig. It is still unclear as to how he obtained the manuscript. Perhaps it had belonged to the estate of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, from whom Breitkopf apparently acquired a part of his Bach collection. The earliest reference to the manuscript's change of ownership is found in Breitkopfs Verzeichniss Musicalischer Werke of 1761, which includes Bach's Missa, a 2 Flauti, 2 Violini, Viola 4 Voci, Organo under the listing of copies of unpublished compositions. The copy was available at the price of 2 thl. (thalers) 12gl. (groschen). A few years later, in 1769, the same offer appeared again together with other works by Bach or ascribed to him in the Verzeichniss lateinischer und italianischer Kirchen-Musiken of Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf & Sohn. In more recent times, the work has been mentioned in Wilhelm Hitzig's Katalog des Archivs von Breitkopf & Hartel, revised in 1925, together with the continuo part, which was included with the copy and which was also originally written in Bach's own hand. The economic reorganization of the publishing house Breitkopf & Hartel after the Second World War made it necessary to sell the manuscript together with other works from the publisher's archives. This manuscript was to have been put up at auction by the auction house J. A. Stargardt. The catalogue, containing an informative commentary by Wolfgang Schmieder, was already printed, but before the auction could take place, the land of Hesse decided to purchase all the manuscripts, thus preventing the dispersion of this valuable collection. The manuscript was officially handed over to the Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek in Darmstadt on 29 October 1953. The A major Mass is still preserved there today, together with its fellow piece, the Mass in G major BWV 236.
SKU: BR.OB-5329-16
ISBN 9790004333549. 10 x 12.5 inches.
According to the date inscribed in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's autograph score, the present mass was composed in March 1780. The instrumental setting (oboes, trumpets and timpani add color and festive splendor to the work) rightly suggests that the work was in all likelihood performed with the Church Sonata K. 336 at the Easter high mass in the Salzburg cathedral. Since Archbishop Hieronymus Count Colloredo wanted the mass text to be treated as succinctly as possible, Mozart offered him a richly orchestrated Missa solemnis in the terse form of a Missa brevis.The brilliant, festive character of the Mass K. 337 is abruptly interrupted by a powerful Benedictus in a harsh A minor, the most striking and revolutionary movement in all of Mozart's Masses, in the strictest contrapuntal style ... (Alfred Einstein). What could have inspired Mozart to such unexpected rigor? But there is another surprise yet: while the dark drama of the Holy Week seems to radiate from this Benedictus, the following Agnus Dei in the distant key of E flat major sounds, with its soprano solo and concertante oboe, bassoon and organ, like a song of thanksgiving filled with the warmth and light of Easter.Other features worth noting are the three unisons between the alto and bass heard at the Deus pater omnipotens in the Gloria (bars 22-32), the a cappella illumination of the words Jesu Christe found a little later (bar 62) and the descending chromaticism evocative of death at the Crucifixus in the Credo. (Incidentally, Mozart had initially planned a different movement for the Credo of this mass, superscribed Tempo di Chiaconna; he wrote out 136 bars but, for some unknown reason, never completed it.)While the Coronation Mass K. 317 of 1779 is one of Mozart's most well-known mass settings, its later composed frllow piece K. 337 - Mozart's last completed mass before the great C minor fragment K. 427 (417a) - has been paid less attention, even though it is an outstanding example of the Mozartian mass type and contains parallels to the Coronation Mass in its disposition and in the structure of its various movements. The score and piano reduction of this new edition were prepared on the basis of the autograph (Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek/Vienna, dass. no. Mus. Hs. 18 97512) and the Salzburg performance material (Staats- und Stadtbibliothek/Augsburg, dass. no. Hl. Kreuz 9). We wish to thank both libraries for putting the source material at our disposal.Franz Beyer, Munich, Spring 1998.
SKU: BR.OB-5329-15
ISBN 9790004333532. 10 x 12.5 inches.