Urtext Edition

Based on the Prélude in c sharp minor Op. 3 No. 2 written in 1892 that quickly became world-famous, Rachmaninoff composed a further two collections of Préludes in the years up to 1910. These were also...

With his Études-Tableaux Rachmaninoff continued down the path that Chopin and Liszt had already set out on with their concert etudes: the most demanding technical tasks are presented in the form of ex...

In 1735 Bach published the Italian Concerto, presented here in a revised separate edition, together with the French Overture in the second part of his “Clavier Übung”. The two works were intended to r...

Joseph Haydn's popular Piano Sonata in D major comes from a group of six sonatas which Haydn had published as a collection by the Viennese publisher Artaria in 1780. The edition was dedicated to the s...

The Concerto in Bb major K. 595 is not only Mozart's very last in the series of very important works for piano and orchestra. It is generally regarded as his most mature, perhaps even his most beautif...

The revision of the three-volume edition of Haydn's piano sonatas also appears in a version without fingerings. Whoever wishes to study the Classical sonata canon in 'pure' Urtext, free from added fin...

The seventh Hungarian Rhapsody, which was issued in 1853, is based on three themes from Hungarian folk music: an older instrumental melody and two peasant songs. We find here all the typical character...

The revision of the three-volume edition of Haydn's piano sonatas also appears in a version without fingerings. Whoever wishes to study the Classical sonata canon in 'pure' Urtext, free from added fin...

Arnold Schönberg's Piano Pieces op. 11 are a milestone in the development of piano music. Schönberg had also already composed other atonal works, but always for voice with sung text. By contrast the P...

Schönberg's Suite op. 25 of 1923 refers to pre-classical forms in its movement titles Präludium, Gavotte-Musette, Intermezzo, Menuett-Trio and Gigue, yet at the same time it was the first work to be...

Franz Schubert seems to have been particularly attracted to a-minor. Not just one but three of his piano sonatas are in this key. The earliest of them, D 537, was composed in March 1817 and was simult...

The B major Sonata numbers among Schubert's early piano sonatas. Composed in August 1817, it was not published until long after his death. The unusual key (for its time) shows the young Schubert's del...

The A-major Sonata D 664 preserves a little mystery: to the present day, it is still not entirely clear whether it came into being in 1825 or if it was already composed six years earlier. Its stylisti...

Schubert composed his piano sonata in a minor in May 1825; it is one of Schubert's few piano works that was published during his lifetime. The four movements are expressive but each in its own way: a...

Schubert occupied himself intensively with the sonata form in 1818/19. The results, to put it like this, led to the creation of this piano sonata in A major, probably in summer 1819, thus at about the...

Haydn's c-minor Sonata is shot through by a passionate, dark, at times sullen mood. It may be regarded as the Viennese classicist's own 'Appassionata' - a great triumph! It is almost inconceivable tha...

Who is not familiar with Haydn's C major Sonata, with its fanfare-like, staccato triadic opening? Lesser-known, but at least equally charming, are the cantabile central movement and playful finale. Th...

Although Mozart’s penultimate piano concerto was completed on 24 February 1788, it was not premiered until 1789 in Dresden. A further performance in autumn 1790, as part of the celebrations in honour...

The toccata genre has undergone great change since Bach’s time. Originally denoting works of recitative or improvisatory character, since the 19th century the emphasis has been on a continuous pulsati...

Only a few of Haydn's piano sonatas are in the minor mode, and they are all sombre and defiant in tone. This famous sonata in e minor opens with an impatient and insistent motif in what is surely one...

The piano does not lack for virtuoso showpieces. But this Etude in d-sharp minor from Scriabin's op. 8 definitely ranks among the highest in terms of popularity. A Horovitz concert without this explos...

Johann Sebastian Bach was not only an extremely skilled composer, but also an ingenious teacher. Even today, many piano students learn the basics of technique with his 'Inventions” und 'Sinfonias” and...

Initially only referred to as “Sérénade” in the autograph, and then more precisely as “Sérénade grotesque” in the composer’s later autobiography, the composition is Ravel’s earliest known piano work....

Johann Sebastian Bach's three great cycles of suites belong to the fundamental canon of piano literature: the Partitas and the so-called English and French Suites. It is the French Suites that have lo...

The epithet "English Suites" - as with the "French Suites" - did not originate with Bach himself. In contrast to the six intimate French Suites, Bach's English Suites adopt a grander tone, each one op...