Chamber music includes some of the world's greatest music. It is widely played in homes, without an audience, by players who are mostly amateurs, and much of the repertoire is playable even by those of quite moderate ability. Player's Guide to Chamber Music gives advice on what music is available and helps the player to identify what is suitable. It covers chamber music from the seventeenth to the later twentieth century and all instrumental combinations including strings, piano, wind instruments, duet sonatas and baroque ensembles. All the significant composers and musical aspects of playing are covered along with works suitable for inexperienced players.

Title: Symphony No. 9 Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Original Publisher: Breitkopf & Hartel The complete orchestral score to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Choral," as originally published by Breitkopf & Hartel in 1863. Performer's Reprints are produced in conjunction with the International Music Score Library Project. These are out of print or historical editions, which we clean, straighten, touch up, and digitally reprint. Due to the age of original documents, you may find occasional blemishes, damage, or skewing of print. While we do extensive cleaning and editing to improve the image quality, some items are not able to be repaired. A portion of each book sold is donated to small performing arts organizations to create jobs for performers and to encourage audience growth.

In Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Repertoire, Dirk Meyer provides conductors, musicians, and librarians with all the information needed to plan their performances of modern chamber music. Meyer lists almost 4,000 works written during the 20th and 21st centuries, representing more than 1,100 composers. Entries are divided into three categories: Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, and Ensemble. Presented alphabetically by composer, each entry fully describes the composition, including its duration, year of composition, availability and publisher, and complete instrumentation. The comprehensive appendix allows users to search for repertoire based on a variety of criteria, including instrumentation, duration, solo instruments, and solo voices. As a catalog of modern music, the appendix also provides categories for 21st-century repertoire as well as compositions that require the use of electronics. Finally, an additional appendix offers arrangements for chamber orchestra or ensemble that were made by the "Verein fur musikalische Privatauffuhrungen" (Society for Private Musical Performances), a group of composers active in the early 20th century under the guidance of Arnold Schonberg. This valuable resource is complete with a list of publishers and bibliography.

The clarinetist Rebecca Rischin has written a captivating book.... Her research dispels several long-cherished myths about the 1941 premiere.... Rischin lovingly brings to life the other musicians-Etienne Pasquier, cellist; Henri Akoka, clarinetist; and Jean Le Boulaire, violinist-who played with Messiaen, the pianist at the premiere."-Alex Ross, The New Yorker "This book offers a wealth of new information about the circumstances under which the Quartet was created. Based on original interviews with the performers, witnesses to the premiere, and documents from the prison camp, this first comprehensive history of the Quartet's composition and premiere held my interest from beginning to end.... For the End of Time touches on many things: faith, friendship, creativity, grace in a time of despair, and the uncommon human alliances that wartime engenders."-Arnold Steinhardt, Chamber Music"The clarification of the order of composition of the movements is just one of the minor but cumulatively significant ways in which Rischin modifies the widely accepted account of the events at Stalag VIII A.... For the End of Time is a thorough and readable piece of investigative journalism that clarifies some important points about the Quartet's genesis."-Michael Downes, Times Literary Supplement The premiere of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time on January 15, 1941, has been called one of the great stories of twentieth-century music. Composed while Messiaen (1908-1992) was imprisoned by the Nazis in Stalag VIII A, the work was performed under the most trying of circumstances: the temperature, inferior instruments, and the general conditions of life in a POW camp.Based on testimonies by the musicians and their families, witnesses to the premiere, former prisoners, and on documents from Stalag VIII A, For the End of Time examines the events that led to the Quartet's composition, the composer's interpretive preferences, and the musicians' problems in execution and how they affected the premiere and subsequent performances. Rebecca Rischin explores the musicians' life in the prison camp, their relationships with each other and with the German camp officials, and their intriguing fortunes before and after the momentous premiere. This paperback edition features supplementary texts and information previously unavailable to the author about the Quartet's premiere, Vichy and the composer, the Paris premiere, a recording featuring Messiaen as performer, and an updated bibliography and discography.

"This book is a substantial and timely contribution to Brahms studies. Its strategy is to focus on a single critical work, the C-Minor Piano Quartet, analyzing and interpreting it in great detail, but also using it as a stepping-stone to connect it to other central Brahms works in order to reach a new understanding of the composer s technical language and expressive intent. It is an original and worthy contribution on the music of a major composer." Patrick McCreless

Expressive Forms in Brahms s Instrumental Music integrates a wide variety of analytical methods into a broader study of theoretical approaches, using a single work by Brahms as a case study. On the basis of his findings, Smith considers how Brahms s approach in this piano quartet informs analyses of similar works by Brahms as well as by Beethoven and Mozart.

Musical Meaning and Interpretation Robert S. Hatten, editor"

Johann Sebastian Bach was a Lutheran and much of his music was for Lutheran liturgical worship. As these insightful essays in the twelfth volume of Bach Perspectives demonstrate, he was also influenced by--and in turn influenced--different expressions of religious belief. The vocal music, especially the Christmas Oratorio, owes much to medieval Catholic mysticism, and the evolution of the B minor Mass has strong Catholic connections. In Leipzig, Catholic and Lutheran congregations sang many of the same vernacular hymns. Internal squabbles were rarely missing within Lutheranism, for example Pietists' dislike of concerted church music, especially if it employed specific dance forms. Also investigated here are broader issues such as the close affinity between Bach's cantata libretti and the hymns of Charles Wesley; and Bach's music in the context of the Jewish Enlightenment as shaped by Protestant Rationalism in Berlin. Contributors: Rebecca Cypess, Joyce L. Irwin, Robin A. Leaver, Mark Noll, Markus Rathey, Derek Stauff, and Janice B. Stockigt.

Libby Larsen has composed award-winning music performed around the world. Her works range from chamber pieces and song cycles to operas to large-scale works for orchestra and chorus. At the same time, she has advocated for living composers and new music since cofounding the American Composers Forum in 1973. Denise Von Glahn's in-depth examination of Larsen merges traditional biography with a daring scholarly foray: an ethnography of one active artist. Drawing on musical analysis, the composer's personal archive, and seven years of interviews with Larsen and those in her orbit, Von Glahn illuminates the polyphony of achievements that make up Larsen's public and private lives. In considering Larsen's musical impact, Von Glahn delves into how elements of the personal-a 1950s childhood, spiritual seeking, love of nature, and status as an "important woman artist"-inform her work. The result is a portrait of a musical pathfinder who continues to defy expectations and reject labels.

All music originally written for the natural trumpet (a trumpet with no valves) has a true "sameness" about it because of the limited notes the instrument could play. Franceschini has used many of the less commonly used notes available to the trumpet's harmonic series and, as a result, has created a more interesting harmonic palette for the instruments involved. This arrangement could feature the trumpet players on natural trumpets or piccolos.

Written in a baroque style, this three movement work combines imitative counterpoint between the 2 trumpets that is characteristic of Vivaldi. Written for Black and White Brass, this piece displays lightness of articulation from all members of the ensemble. All parts are interesting, especially the tuba part which is similar to a Vivaldi or Bach continuo line.

This fun light piece is a great showpiece for the cornet. It is named after the sight-seeing boats for tourists in Niagara Falls. Set as a polka, there is much opportunity for the soloist to display quick fingers and light triple tonguing. The flugel horn and cornet 1 take turns playing melody in the break strains in this arrangement for 6 trumpets.

To teach brass instruments effectively, you begin by developing the skills and learning the teaching methods presented in this book. Here is the process: You receive specific instruction for playing trumpet, horn, trombone, baritone horn, and tuba. You discuss the techniques and performance concepts common to all brass instruments. You participate in playing the variety of scores that make up approximately one-third of the book. Throughout the text you learn by doing. A continuing focus on brass ensemble playing provides opportunities to explore musical balance, phrasing, timbre, intonation, styles, and other performance concepts. Progressing from the simple to the complex, the scores include compositions by Bach, Palestrina, Beethoven, Purcell, Glazounov, and others. In the future, these scores can form the basis of recital material for your students. In addition, the book offers suggestions for solving typical brass performance problems as well as valuable advice and practical procedures for recruiting, scheduling, and motivating beginning students.

"Russo has undertaken an ambitious project, attempting to discuss together the elements of music that are commonly treated separately in books on harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. As such, his new book contains enough musical instruction to be of interest even to students not particularly interested in 'jazz' or Russo's own musical idiom. For the student who wants to compose or arrange for 'jazz' ensembles from dance bands to full orchestras, Russo has shown himself to be a generous source of good advice."--Jon Newsom, Notes