Jubilees 2009
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03 Feb 2009 |
Mendelssohn 2009On 3 February 2009 the musical world will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.It is a highly anticipated event that will be accompanied by new editions of major works and special concerts. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was a “Breitkopf” composer from the very start. Breitkopf & Härtel feels that it is its duty to maintain this tradition now more than ever before. Since 1997, the “Leipzig Edition of the Works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” has published not only overtures, solo concertos, symphonies, chamber music and the incidental music to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but also the organ works, which were honored with the German Music Edition Award in 2006. Breitkopf & Härtel has been publishing practical Urtext editions drawn from the collected works. For the Mendelssohn anniversary year, Christian Martin Schmidt, the editorial head of the complete edition, is bringing out the complete songs for voice and piano. Another milestone will be the Mendelssohn Work Catalogue (MWV) which is under the editorial supervision of Ralf Wehner and is scheduled for release in 2009. The new edition of the “Italian” Symphony will be given its first performance by Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig in 2009. And Kurt Masur is planning a “world premiere” of the new edition of “Elijah” in Paris in February 2009. Please download or order our brochure "Mendelssohn 2009" under CATALOGUES. All Breitkopf works by Mendelssohn Bartholdy For further information to Mendelssohns' anniversary please click here. |
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06 Apr 2009 |
Edison Denissow – 80th anniversary of his birthIn Denisov’s mind he was reconciling the traditions of his own culture with the freshness of post-World War II western European discoveries. His aesthetic horizons, despite the often stifled atmosphere of Soviet Russia, were always very wide. As he grew older Denisov attained ever greater fluency. In his last years, dogged by ill health (caused by a car accident then cancer) he somewhat unexpectedly turned to religion, producing the oratorio „Histoire de la vie et de la mort de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ“ and completed Schubert’s unfinished „Lazarus“. (Gerard McBurney)All works by Denissow |
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14 Apr 2009 |
Händel – 250th anniversary of his deathGeorge Frideric Handel's oeuvre occupies an important place in the Breitkopf catalogue. Through the acquisition of the publishing company MUSICA RARA in 2000, the range of available Handel editions was considerably expanded. A highlight here is Ton Koopman's Urtext edition of all 16 organ concertos. The quality of this edition has been highly praised from all quarters. Source-critical responsibility goes hand in hand with a high level of performance practice when Koopman provides interpretative tips for the ad libitum passages in the organ part without restricting the creativity of the interpreter who is interested in stylistic matters and prefers to work out his own solutions. "I want to make an edition that is not a Koopman interpretation, but contains only that which Handel really wrote." (Ton Koopman) With the recent publication of the "Neun deutsche Arien" (Nine German Arias), the publisher has presented another central work group in a competently edited new edition.All works by Händel |
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31 May 2009 |
Haydn – 200th anniversary of his deathEver since the publication of the first book of the "Complete Piano Edition" Oeuvres de J. Haydn of 1800, the works of Joseph Haydn have held a very special place in Breitkopf & Härtel's catalogue. With persistence and, ultimately, success, Gottfried Christoph Härtel endeavored to obtain "The Creation," and he strove no less intensely to acquire Haydn's oratorio "The Seasons" shortly thereafter. Haydn granted the publishing rights for Germany to Breitkopf in 1801. The piano reduction of the work was published in 1802 in two simultaneous versions: one with a German and French libretto, and the other with a German and English text. The print of the score is of exceptional care and beauty. Today, Haydn is represented in the publisher's catalogue with nearly 100 works. Holding center stage are the major solo concertos and symphonies, along with the oratorios. Most recently, the C major Organ Concerto Hob XIII:1 was released in an Urtext edition prepared by Eva-Maria Hodel. Of late, the publisher has begun a collaboration with the violinist Thomas Zehetmair, who is enriching the new piano reductions of the violin concertos with stylistically accurate cadenzas.All works by Haydn |
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11 Aug 2009 |
Smolka – 50th anniversary of his birthSmolka’s music is original and in no sense plagiaristic or derivative (at the very least from the end of the 1980s). What then makes „Smolka Smolka“? – For Smolka what is characteristic ist he typically European strategy of basing musical structure on contract, i.e. de facto thinking in the „sonata“ categories of first subject – second subject, slow – fast, merry – sad, thunderingly – softly and so on. Smolka’s pieces are almost regularly built out of internally homogenous form segments, of which there may for example be only two in the whole composition or in which on the contrary many contrasting segments may follow in very quick succession, in extreme cases even in bar after bar. Development techniques are usually suppressed, seams between the form segments acknowledged, and the bsic principle is repetioion. These attributes make Smolka’s music accessible for audiences. (Petr Bakla)All works by Smolka |
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15 Dec 2009 |
Huber – 70th anniversary of his birthNicolaus A. Huber writes music between complementary poles. On the one hand, he feels obligated to the historical-critical reflection on musical material conveyed to him by his teachers Günter Bialas and Luigi Nono. With detailed constructs, he strives to obtain highly integrative contexts and finely chiseled sound formations that make the highest demands on performers and listeners. On the other hand, he endeavors – as a representative of the generation of post-serial composers – to give an audible shape to concrete materialness, sounds, rhythms, structural procedures and an undogmatically open concept of material. This includes the incorporation of heterogeneous elements from various epochs, styles and branches with different media, sounds from nature, slapstick-like inserts, ostentatious theatricality and blatantly provocative political slogans. In one and the same piece, Huber often proves himself to be a meticulous aesthete as well as a sharp and astute satirist who takes a subversively ironic look behind common musical and social practices. (Rainer Nonnenmann)All works by Huber |
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