Ailbhe McDonagh?s Dance Suite for Solo Viola is a vibrant and imaginative new work that celebrates the full expressive range of the viola. Across six contrasting movements, McDonagh draws inspiration from dance traditions around the world, creating a sequence that is as richly characterful as it is musically rewarding.
The suite opens with the smoky intensity of a Tango before flowing into the raceful lyricism of a Waltz, A spirited Gopak brings brilliant rhythmic drive, while the reflective Ballet movement offers poise and expressive depth. McDonagh?s own heritage comes to the fore in the lively Irish Reels, and the work closes with a swaggering, jazz-inflected Charleston.
Written with McDonagh?s signature blend of rhythmic energy, lyrical line and perfomer-centred insight, the Dance Suite offers violists a rich palette of musical challenges and interpretative possibilities. Equally effective in recital, competition, or study, this is a dynamic and engaging addition to the modern solo viola repertoire from one of Ireland?s leading composers and performers.
Ailbhe McDonagh is a composer and cellist from Dublin, Ireland, and teaches at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Her recital works for cello include Concerto No 1 for cello and chamber orchestra, Skellig, Valentia and Storm for cello and piano, and Dance Suite for solo cello. As a cellist, she performs both as a soloist and chamber musician. Her recordings include It?s a Cello Thing (2012), Skellig (2020), the complete Beethoven cello and piano sonatas with John O?Conor on the Steinway label (2021), and Bach: Complete Solo Cello Suites (2024).
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List: 22.99
The first performance of The Dream Net took place on May 23, 1975, at Lutken Hall, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Performing were Frederick Hemke, saxophone, and the Eckstein Quartet with Samuel Magad, violin; Edgar Muenzer, violin; Robert Swan, viola; Dudley Powers, violoncello. The Dream Net was later recorded by Frederick Hemke and the Kronos Quartet for Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI SD 433).
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List: 29.99
Program Note by Warren Benson: “Contrast defines the Concertino. From a simple beginning, each of the solo flute sections builds to a free virtuosic statement against the rather stark, dramatic background of insistent, distant percussion pulsing. The alternating full ensemble sections are bound together by a set of four variations which treat the dancy or lyrical aspects of the material. They recur two times in various additional disguises, making twelve in all - divided unevenly into three groups. The contemplative closing variation is characterized by a slowly rocking viola motive over which the solo flute weaves the final echoes of the lyric voice before moving to its final soliloquy. Commissioned by Flute virtuosa Bonita Boyd, the work was completed in 1983 and had its premiere in Los Angeles in December of that year.”
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List: 34.99
Manuel de Falla's Serenata andaluza was composed around 1900 and already displays the young composer's distinctive style: melodies inspired by Spanish folklore and rousing Andalusian rhythms mix with impressionistic timbres.
Henle Horizons Series
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List: 8.95
¡El método de bandas líder en el mundo acaba de actualizarse! Essential Elements para Banda ofrece a los estudiantes principiantes una pedagogía sólida y música atractiva, todo ello cuidadosamente programado para iniciar con éxito a los jóvenes instrumentistas en su viaje musical. EE incluye canciones conocidas y ejercicios especialmente diseñados, creados, y adaptados para el aula en un entorno de aprendizaje al unísono, así como ejercicios específicos de cada instrumento para centrar a cada estudiante en las características únicas de su propio instrumento. EE proporciona tanto a profesores como a alumnos una gran cantidad de materiales para desarrollar la musicalidad total, incluso en las etapas iniciales.
Essential Elements incluye acceso gratuito a Essential Elements Interactive (EEi), el recurso definitivo de educación musical en línea. EEi presenta el primer conjunto sencillo de herramientas tecnológicas para la enseñanza, el aprendizaje, la evaluación, y la comunicación en línea, ideal para enseñar a los estudiantes principiantes de banda y cuerdas de hoy en día, tanto en el aula como en casa.
Estas nuevas ediciones incluyen más de 250 videos grabados profesionalmente en línea con los educadores de Essential Elements, 50 nuevas canciones pop con derechos de autor disponibles en línea para todos los niveles, tres nuevas sustituciones de canciones, nuevas fotografías en color, y mucho más. Lo mejor de todo es que las nuevas ediciones siguen siendo compatibles con las copias anteriores de Essential Elements.
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List: 69.99
From the composer: “Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp has long been a favorite piece of mine, both the wonderful notes themselves and the very characteristic color of the instruments and their supple interaction. As with several other pieces of mine in recent years, I've taken bits of musical DNA from the Sonata as a basis for the five movements, embedding the sinuous flute melody from the opening of the piece, the wandering seventh chords from a bit later in the movement, and the in-you-face viola pizzicato and harp ostinato from the finale. The piece doesn't sound like the Debussy beyond the basic color world, nor are there clear extended quotes, but at the close of several of the movements, the pianist offers a little quiet reflection on a kernel of the Sonata. It's almost as if the pianist might be, you know, Debussy.” This Chamber Concerto for a mixed soli trio and nine players was commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and School, Robert Spano, Music Director, and it premiered on July 11, 2026, composer Donald Crockett conducting. Instrumentation: Soli Flute (doubles Alto Flute), Viola, and Harp with nine players consisting of Clarinet 1 in B-flat, Bass Clarinet (doubles Clarinet 2 in B-flat), Pecussion (1 player - 4 1/3 octave Marimba and Vibraphone), Piano, and Strings (1.1.1.1.1).
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List: 170.00
Volusia County, Florida lies along the state's scenic and lush Atlantic Coast. The skies above paint a breathtaking portrait of sunlight, clouds, colors, storms and stars. This melodic and lyrical work explores the wide dynamic range and vibrant color palette of the concert band to create an auditory picture of these stunning images. Excellent for teaching tone, ensemble playing and phrasing.
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List: 65.00
Written in 1893 during his time at the Royal College of Music, 18-year-old Samuel Coleridge-Taylor?s Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 1 stands as an astonishingly mature early showcase of his compositional style. Scored for piano and string quartet, this four-movement work ranges from energetic, driving allegros to expressive, song-like slow movements.
Presented in a new edition edited by Tom Poster.
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List: 67.00
Joseph Joachim is considered one of the most important violinists of the second half of the nineteenth century. By contrast, his indeed small but at the time highly regarded compositional work is hardly known today. Unjustly so, as shown by the Variations on an Original Theme op. 10, which was admired by Brahms. The work was composed in 1854 in connection with Joachim?s unrequited love for the authoress Gisela von Arnim, to whom he erected a monument employing musical symbolism in the opening theme gis1-e1-a1 (g-sharp-e-a; a = Italian la). The theme, performed by the piano alone, is followed by ten variations that demonstrate an immense diversity of derivations - in terms of melody, harmony and, above all, rhythm - from the simple basic idea.
At the suggestion of world-renowned violist Tabea Zimmermann - who also contributed fingerings and bowings - this delightful work appears for the first time in an Urtext edition, edited by Joachim specialist Christoph Arta on the basis of all available sources. A real insider tip for the viola, which is not so abundantly blessed with original compositions!
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List: 26.95
Hans Winterberg's Quintet was composed in 1981/82 at his last residence in Steppberg, Bavaria, on the occasion of a composition competition organised by the East German Cultural Council. Until the release of this first editon, it had been recorded for a CD production but had not yet been performed live in concert. With this work, which Winterberg entitled “Cyclame” on one of the two manuscripts, the composer concludes his chamber music oeuvre, which was rich in the most diverse instrumentations and had begun brilliantly in 1935, during his time in Prague, with the Quintet for violin, 2 clarinets, horn and piano. The first two, predominantly lyrical movements, which are characterised by great delicacy on a rhythmic-metric level, are marked by a certain mildness of age. With its musical verve, the last movement takes us back to Winterberg's origins in Bohemian-Moorish folklore, which was one of the most important impulses in his work, alongside the school of Schumann, which was conveyed by Zemlinsky. Winterberg was the only important Czech composer of Jewish descent to survive the Shoah. In his post-war oeuvre, he was able to continue the fascinating German-Czech cultural symbiosis that was brutally destroyed by Nazi Germany - unnoticed by the international music world. It is time to bring this wonderful musical treasure, long hidden from us, back to life.
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List: 31.00
Two movements, two worlds of expression: Confessions by A Bu is inspired by chamber music by Beethoven, Brahms and Kapustin. The first movement is a lament, the second a fantasia on the spiritual “Nobody Knows the Trouble Ive Seen”.
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List: 44.00
