Step by Step on DrumsVolume 1, by Marco Kurmann is very appealing, interesting and child-friendly thanks to the numerous comic-style illustrations. It guides pupils and teachers in a targeted manner. The teaching aid was designed as a guide for music school lessons and deliberately contains no explanations and very little text. In this way, the author allows teachers to incorporate their own ideas and input. There is also plenty of space on the pages for this.

After a brief overview of what the first step involves, we start with quarter and eighth notes on the snare. Gradually, various grooves with eighth notes are introduced and soon the toms are included. In between, there are short theory sections in which answers to the respective questions are entered and there is room for your own additions.

In the five steps of volume 1, the students get to know the individual instruments of the drum set, deal with basic musical terms and learn notes from the whole to four-sixteenth note figures. Drumset solos, snare drum duets and drumset duets conclude each step. Audio files for the pieces can be downloaded as full versions or click tracks from the author's website. The duets are even available with the first or second voice separately and in two different tempos.

Thanks to the successful mixture of sensible rhythmic progression and many beats that increase in difficulty, this teaching aid offers a clear, structured structure as well as exciting and varied learning. In 20 steps, divided into four volumes, the Step by Step on Drums the ideal basic training in the first four to six years of drum lessons.

Marco Kurmann: Step by Step on Drums, Leitfaden für den Schlagzeugunterricht, Volume 1, 98 p., € 24.00, Leu-Verlag, Neusäss, ISBN 978-3-89775-189-7

We owe this huge amount of hard work to the Romanian violin teacher Petru Munteanu. On 442 pages, he has compiled the most important statements of all published violin schools clearly and with many music examples and illustrations. He currently teaches at the Leopold Mozart Center at the University of Augsburg. So it is only natural that Leopold Mozart's Thorough violin school is the focus of the 1769 and 1789 editions. The other textbooks are compared with them. It turns out that Leopold Mozart foresaw many things in great detail that are still valid today.

Munteanu outlines the special features of each violin school presented in gray boxes, which is very helpful because of the countless, otherwise repeatedly identical views of the various pedagogues. Particularly interesting is the description of Carl Guhr's school, who factually and in detail pointed out the violinistic peculiarities of Paganini's playing and was even able to create from memory a version of Nel cor più non mi sento by Paganini.

In the sixth chapter, which is often referred to, "Violin teaching and the violin schools today", Munteanu poses three questions, which he attempts to answer with the help of quotes from experts (Seiffert, Seling, Eberhardt, Kolneder, Hausegger, Flesch, Galamian ...): Who, what and how should we teach? I found only a few stimulating thoughts, but a central one by Carl Adolf Martienssen on the third question: In learning language, every child is a "child prodigy". "The child prodigy complex is psychologically the immediate direction of the will of the auditory sphere towards the sound goal ... of the instrument to be played ..." This should inspire every teacher to use this important black box!

Petru Munteanu: Violin secrets from 500 years, Leopold Mozart's violin school in the context of violin teaching traditions, 442 p., € 49.80, Wissner, Augsburg 2023, ISBN 978-3-95786-306-5

New Klezmer Tunes is already the third volume of klezmer pieces for clarinet by Joachim Johow, born in Berlin in 1952. In this collection, consisting of 16 original compositions, he refers to the tradition of Jewish itinerant musicians who played at weddings and other festivities and combines the joy of making music with everyday life in the pieces. This can be seen in pictorial titles such as In the morning in the alley, At the fair, Worries, In the café, In the evening etc.

The pieces are of varying degrees of difficulty. Some have a relatively easy range and rhythm, others are in the medium level of difficulty with more demanding rhythms. Many pieces only use the low and middle clarinet range up to a maximum of a three-note C.

As in his earlier compositions, Johow juxtaposes soulful, slow and mostly minor-key melodies with fast, dance-like and playful pieces. The composer uses different minor-key variations and plays with the expressive possibilities of the excessive second leap. Some ornaments such as trills, bounces and suggestions are already present in the musical text, but there is additional scope for personal interpretation.

The edition published by Schott in the World Music series consists of the clarinet part and a piano accompaniment. In addition, audio files of all pieces, each with a complete recording as well as just the accompaniment, can be downloaded with a code or used free of charge on streaming portals. The recordings are well cared for and musically played, although they could also be arranged a little more freely to suit the style of music in order to provide pupils with further ideas for interpretation. The piano accompaniments for most of the pieces can also be played well by piano learners (or clarinet teachers). In addition, the harmonies are also given for all pieces.

The New Klezmer Tunes are well suited as pieces to enrich lessons as well as for student concerts or other performances.

Joachim Johow: New Klezmer Tunes, 16 Pieces for Clarinet, ED 23389, € 20.50, Schott, Mainz

Two musicians who have known each other for a long time are responsible for these new discoveries of works by Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) that are well worth hearing. Soprano Nuria Rial and conductor Nicoleta Paraschivescu naturally got to know each other in Basel, the former studying at the University of Music, the latter with Andrea Marcon at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she founded her ensemble La Floridiana in 2011. And they both enjoy exploring baroque music, where the pool of music seems inexhaustible.

A precious manuscript decorated with drawings forms the starting point for the recording of the cantatas; it belongs to the Schneider-Genewein Collection in Zurich. A stroke of luck for Paraschivescu: "These cantatas have never been recorded before. A total of around 400 solo cantatas by Marcello are documented, many in different manuscripts and in different libraries. But this particular one contains two unique pieces. This manuscript is also special because it is very elegant and elaborate, with painted initials."

The enthusiasm and attachment to Marcello's music is unmistakable in the interpretations. The music is colorful and very agile. The chosen sequence of works is exciting and successful, as the symphony and cantatas alternate, which makes the whole thing even more lively. The cantatas are also exciting. Ti sento Amor, ti sento is a piece with a typical lamento character, in which Qual turbine improvviso In contrast, wild storm and rage dominate.

The full richness of this music unfolds in the harmony of Nuria Rial's silvery-sounding, perfectly conducted soprano and the fast-paced and nuanced Ensemble La Floridiana. The spatial effect of the acoustics rounds off the recording.

Benedetto Marcello: Sinfonias & Cantatas, La Floridiana, Nuria Rial, Nicoleta Paraschivescu. German Harmonia Mundi 196587106829

Laurent Menager (1835-1902) is the best-known composer of the 19th century from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He studied with Ferdinand Hiller in Cologne, then returned to Pfaffenthal, a small district in the lower part of Luxembourg City, where he worked as an organist, music teacher and choirmaster throughout his life. He was instrumental in the founding of the General Luxembourg Music Society (now the Union Grand-Duc Adolphe), of which he became choir director in 1891.

His oeuvre mainly comprises vocal compositions (songs, operettas) and a string quartet as well as a Prière du Soir for violoncello and piano. His songs strengthen the cultural identity of "Lëtzebuergesch", Luxembourg's official national language, which is increasingly giving way to French in everyday life today.

Menagers Paraphrase pour cordes sur la mélodie "Kuck Friêmen op d'Kârt" op. 45 is available as a signed autograph and is published here in a single edition from volume 6 of the critical complete edition of his works. After a short, recitative-like, dramatic introduction in E minor, the cello introduces the song theme in G major. The remaining strings take the lead and continue to modulate the thread until the fast six-eighth note final section in E major with a groovy ending.

The level of difficulty for the performers is medium, even a chamber orchestra instrumentation is conceivable, possibly with solo passages.

This short song paraphrase is certainly an amusing addition to the repertoire! And a cultural excursion into a language area that otherwise appears to us as a blank spot on the musical map. The song text by Michel Lentz, the poet of Luxembourg's national anthem, reads: "

Kuck, Friêmen, op d'Kârt an da fens dû e Land,
'T stêt Letzebur'g driwer geschriwen;
I arrive in the world where I am a child
Méng allerschënst Joere bliwen.

And translates: "Look, stranger, on the map, you'll find a country,/It's got Luxembourg written all over it/That's where I was born and where I stayed as a child/Many beautiful years."

Laurent Menager: Paraphrase pour cordes sur la mélodie "Kuck Friêmen op d'Kârt" op. 45, for 2 violins, viola, violoncello and double bass, score with parts, EM 2632, € 24.90, Merseburger, Kassel

Far too rarely do film scores make it into print. Yet such scores are extremely helpful for studying details of the composition, which is often acoustically relegated to the background, beyond freely compiled "suites". This is particularly rewarding when the music proves to be suggestive and independent. For example, the music composed by Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) for Alfred Hitchcock's ingenious agent thriller peppered with subtle irony North by Northwest (1959).

The very first bars are formative: a fandango rhythm in the timpani (readable as 6/8 in double time), answered by a syncopated alternating note in the low strings (double time as 3/4). The overture describes the pulsation of the big city, later the wild ride on a coastal road. Rhythms, themes, harmonic twists and timbres run through the entire film as leitmotifs - and thus unify the almost uninterrupted sequence of dramatic scenes, whose trigger in the film is ostensibly dated November 24, 1958 by the insertion of an issue of The Evening Star from the following day (incidentally, albeit graphically altered, with an authentic headline). The legendary scene in the cornfield is completely without music (and for a breathtaking stretch also without language).

The printed score also includes all those numbers that were (for good reasons) omitted or shortened in the film. A descriptive analysis on twenty pages makes the musical text comprehensible even for film buffs. A continuation with further legendary Herrmann settings would be desirable, for example of Vertigo or Psycho.

Bernard Herrmann: North by Northwest (1959), score, Omni 50791, XX+211 p., € 79.00, Omni Music Publishing/Schott, Los Angeles/Mainz 2022, ISBN 978-1-73450-791-1

Music knowledge is a life's work. Who is well versed in all eras, who knows a composer's oeuvre in its entirety, who knows about genre boundaries and can provide similar information about Duke Ellington, Def Leppard or Johann Sebastian Bach? In view of the diversity, it's a good idea to start with the basics - the basics that The practical theory book for music lessons first published in 1997 by the now retired music teacher Emil Wallimann and the bandleader and music coach Peter Wespi.

Learning platform

Since 2015, both experts have been promoting an e-learning platform to accompany the book, available at www.musikwissen.ch. The target audience is - according to the book itself - "grammar school pupils, but also prospective conductors or music teachers". Anyone who studies the exercises will come up with other "customers": in addition to applicants to music academies or interested amateurs or pensioners, there are also long-time music editors or music journalists who might want to brush up on their theoretical knowledge. Well, what was that again about the enharmonic confusion? Where were the semitone steps in the Mixolydian mode again? Or: What does the bebop scale actually sound like in a minor key?

You can tell that the two long-standing educators have experience in teaching. And they make imaginative use of the diverse digital-interactive possibilities: The website and its respective pages are refreshingly clear and without fuss. There are audio examples (the ear training under the title "Eartraining" is particularly recommended), there are simple multiple-choice questions, as well as continuous texts to be completed. Once a learning unit has been completed, you move on to the next exercise. Motivating progress can be made quickly; a quick glance at the book or links to short information videos will help if you get stuck.

Insights into music history

The platform is divided into four levels of difficulty. If you have completed everything with a green tick, you have already achieved a very solid foundation in aspects of musical notation, rhythm, instrument, genre and form theory and harmony. The illustrative examples provide the learner with many an insight into music history en passant, which can of course be expanded upon. There is a brief mention of non-European music, as well as the 20th and 21st centuries, in which composers consciously abandoned traditional musical knowledge and traditional elements such as the circle of fifths, the rondo or the sonata form.

In times of blatant loss of musical education, this enthusiastically run and constantly updated learning platform remains an extremely useful initiative!

musik-wissen - easy to learn. Offers and conditions for individual users, schools, institutions and associations with printed workbook, multimedia eBook or e-learning at: musikwissen.ch/offer

Many violinists know and love Telemann's 12 fantasies The continuation, TWV 40:26-37, is only known to viola da gamba players, a minority today. The viola da gamba was already going out of fashion in Telemann's time, which is why in 1735 he added a great deal of sophistication to his 12 viol fantasias in order to attract buyers: broken chords and passagework, monophonic and polyphonic writing in both fugal and gallant styles.

Viacheslav Dinerchtein adapted the Fantasias for viola for Amadeus-Verlag back in 2019. This was followed in 2022 by an arrangement by the English composer Brian A. Schiele. Each of these lively works has two or three movements, and all the odd fantasias contain a fugato full of surprises. Some movements are reminiscent of dances such as Allemande, Gavotte, Courante, Bourrée, although they are never named as such. Others are contemplative and polyphonic or joyfully virtuosic. Every well-defined key appears once: Eight are in the circle of fifths in major from E flat to E, four in minor from C to E. Since the viol has six strings in fourth-octave tuning and a larger range in the lower register, octaves have to be accepted on the viola and chords either broken or thinned out. Schiele has done this skillfully, but recommends in the preface that the facsimile (the printed edition in Edition Güntersberg/Walhall G281 or online) be consulted.

Georg Philipp Telemann: Fantaisies pour la Basse de Violle TWV 40:26-37, 12 Fantasies arranged for viola by Brian A. Schiele, EW 1150, €18.50, Edition Walhall Magdeburg

Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter, has always fascinated and inspired many composers with its miracle of tongues and the sending of the Holy Spirit. With Music for the Spirit is the first choral book on this subject to be published by the German-English composer, conductor and church musician Stephen Harrap with Breitkopf und Härtel.

The collection for mixed choir a cappella or with organ accompaniment is a real treasure trove and contains over 500 years of choral music by important European composers. A certain focus of the repertoire is on English choral music. Attention has also been paid to the different lengths, levels of difficulty and instrumentation (from 3 to 8 voices) of the pieces. Highly recommended!

Music for the Spirit. Chorbuch zu Pfingsten & anderen Anlässen, edited by Stephen Harrap, ChB 5384, € 26.90, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden

It is generally known that Vladimir Horowitz, the legendary pianist, often interpreted the musical text in a very personal way and did not shy away from interventions. In Mussorgsky's Pictures of an exhibition The piano movement in a way that corresponded to his more orchestral conception of sound. Rachmaninov's Second Piano Sonata or Liszt's Mephisto Waltz he played in his private versions. Not to mention the numerous piano transcriptions, which also testify to his creative temperament and established part of his fame.

However, even die-hard fans might be surprised to learn that Horowitz was apparently also an ambitious composer as a teenager and wrote a whole series of original piano works. However, when the Russian Revolution reached Kiev and his family suffered greatly as a result, he had to give up this dream. He now tried to start a career as a pianist so that he could at least support his family financially. "If the revolution hadn't played so hard on his family and forced him to give concerts, the world would have known a different Horowitz later on," said his former classmate Vera Resnikov.

When Horowitz was later asked about his compositions in the West, he always replied that the manuscripts had remained in a secret place in Russia. It was not until 1986, when he was finally able to visit his homeland again, that he received the sheet music back. Schott Music has now set itself the task of publishing these previously unknown works as part of the Horowitz Edition.

Below is Fragment douloureux op. 14, probably the last composition written in Kiev. The piece comprises just 73 bars and begins "lento, lugubre, misterioso" as a kind of funeral march in 3/4 time. The following sighing motifs and sweeping arpeggios are strongly reminiscent of Rachmaninov, while the numerous trills from bar 27 onwards are more in Scriabin's handwriting. With a steady increase in tempo and dynamics, the piece reaches its culmination at bars 47/48 and from then on gradually returns to the atmosphere of the beginning "poco a poco a tempo lento". (Presumably a diminuendo should also be added here).

In its brevity, this Fragment douloureux a kind of drama in miniature. The piano writing is pianistically quite demanding and can only be mastered by big hands. The possibilities of the instrument are exploited with great flair. You can already sense the keyboard magician to come ... Horowitz dedicated the work to his piano teacher Felix Blumenfeld, who was himself a great pianist and composer.

Vladimir Horowitz: Fragment douloureux pour piano, The Horowitz Edition, ED 23085, € 12.00, Schott, Mainz

For more than ten years, the name Sarah Chaksad has been synonymous with jazz full of concise motifs, subdued sounds and complex rhythms. Until the coronavirus pandemic, the saxophonist, composer and bandleader was primarily on the road with her "Orchestra", with which she also released two albums. For her latest work, TogetherShe has not expanded her ensemble, but reduced it to 13 musicians. According to the 40-year-old, the current formation is therefore more flexible and enjoys additional space for improvisation.

Rare instruments, odd meters

In an interview with the author of these lines in 2022, Chaksad explained that her aim is to continue to develop and that music serves as a place of strength for her. Both are reflected in her ten new pieces. The majority of the compositions were triggered by the death of her father, who came from Iran. This prompted her to delve deeper into traditional Persian music. As a result, she has expanded her dynamic sound with instruments such as the eufonium, valve trombone and Persian violin, which are little known in jazz.

In addition, almost all the songs on Together are based on odd meters. While the playful Imagine Peace features a 13/8 time signature, the atmospheric title track uses a 5/8 time signature and is particularly appealing thanks to Misagh Joolaee's soulful solo on the kamanche, a spike fiddle. Numbers such as the elegiac Love Letters or the cheeky Lostwhich was inspired by parental life in Berlin, are imaginative, inspired and stick with you.

Ultimately, the album is characterized by depth of focus, diverse timbres and careful solo contributions. Sarah Chaksad would like to Together The band's music is full of curiosity and moves from genre to genre, which is easy to understand.

Sarah Chaksad Large Ensemble: Together. Clap Your Hands CYH

Line up: Yumi Ito (voc), Hildegunn Øiseth (tp, goat horn), Paco Andreo (vtb), Lukas Wyss (tb), Sophia Nidecker (tuba), Catherine Delaunay (basset horn), Christoph Bösch (fl), Fabian Willmann (ts), Julia Hülsmann (p), Fabio Gouvea (g), Dominique Girod (b), Eva Klesse (dr), Misagh Joolaee (kamancheh), Sarah Chaksad (ss, as, comp)

Switzerland has a lot to offer in the field of choral music thanks to its different national languages and the associated cultural areas. The Swiss federation Europa Cantat took this as an opportunity to publish a compact choral book with Carus-Verlag, which aims to reflect this diversity and make it better known internationally. A challenging undertaking.

The result is an interesting collection of 28 pieces of varying length and difficulty for mixed choir a cappella in all national languages as well as English and Latin. It includes folk song highlights, works by well-known and lesser-known composers from the Swiss choral music scene, short pieces by the "stars" Heinz Holliger and Beat Furrer and the latest compositions by the younger generation, including four female composers.

In addition to truly original and recommendable works, the now widespread, sales-oriented soft sound with the same old cuddly chords also finds its way into choral music. Perhaps it would have been worth taking a look at truly representative greats such as Willy Burkhard, Adolf Brunner, Arthur Honegger or Frank Martin. However, QR codes for the pronunciation of the three Rhaeto-Romanic pieces and beautiful recordings of all the works on CD with the Swiss Youth Choir are useful additions.

Swiss Choral Music, Chorbuch Schweiz (SATB), edited by Patrick Secchiari and Johannes Meister; Carus, Stuttgart.

Orders from Switzerland via Editions Henry Labatiaz: Choir book CV 2.305/10, Fr. 23.00; choir book with CD, CV 2.305.00, Fr. 37.00 (lower graduated and special prices for SFEC members)

"Make an effort to play easy pieces well and beautifully, it is better than performing difficult ones mediocrely." Robert Schumann's tip from his Musical house and life rules could be a guideline for this wonderful CD released by the Austrian label Gramola. The 28-year-old Georgian pianist Giorgi Iuldashevi, who studied in Zurich and also lives there, not only played Schumann's well-known pieces from the Album for the youth but also many other pieces that might be familiar to the piano student: Excerpts from For Children by Belá Bartók, from the collection Játékok by György Kurtág or pedagogically motivated pieces by Sergei Prokofiev or Peter Tchaikovsky. Less common, but no less attractive to the ear and fingers, are the 12 pieces by composer Nodar Gabunia, born in Tbilisi in 1933: From the diary of a pupil.

Yes, it sounds child's play - and not at all suited to a trained professional pianist who made his debut as a 12-year-old with Mozart's difficult Piano Concerto K. 466 in D minor. But, keyword Mozart: simplicity has its pitfalls. And Giorgi Iuldashevi not only masters these, but also demonstrates a rare range of musical expression in these very different pieces. Even the familiar appears fresh in his interpretations - also because he never lapses into superior distance or unnecessary romanticizing. Iuldashevi keeps the balance, and always in an exciting way. He garnishes Bartók with wit, Tchaikovsky with the necessary seriousness in places, and above all the tempi and the natural flow in Robert Schumann's pieces are inspiring.

If you are (or were) a pianist, you will immediately feel the urge to try out many a pretty miniature again. But this CD is also simply good for the listener: in its unobtrusive tone, in this expression that has nothing at all of the tense muscle play that is unfortunately common among piano virtuosos.

Simplicity. Giorgi Iuldashevi plays works by Gabunia, Bartók, Kurtág, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Schumann. Gramola 99291

Would Jean Sibelius agree to the publication of these early works? The statements that the composer made in old age about his then lost or unpublished chamber music manuscripts vary. There is talk of "burning", another time he said: "It was the time when one was developing."

Before and during his student days, Sibelius composed a piano trio for his siblings every summer and performed them during the vacations with relatives and friends. He played the violin part himself. The place names "Havträsk" and "Korpo" go back to this genesis, but do not originate from the composer. Five multi-movement trios were composed between 1883 and 1888, none of which were printed during Sibelius' lifetime. He did not compose any more works for this instrumentation later on. His heirs donated the manuscripts of the two present piano trios to the National Library of Finland in 1982.

The editors Folke Gräsbeck and Anna Pulkkis have meticulously prepared these sources in 2021. The critical report in both volumes is almost as extensive as the musical text. There are even two versions of the first movement of the "Havträsk" trio. If you listen to the interpretations on the net, you'll be leafing through the pages!

In comparison, the shorter trio Havträsk in A minor (22 minutes) is the more catchy piece and is completely dominated by the spirit of Romanticism. It poses fewer technical challenges for the performers. In the more than half-hour Corpo-In the second trio, much more is demanded of them; as a violinist, Sibelius must have practiced a lot of Paganini! This second trio points to the later Sibelius. The second movement in particular, entitled "Fantasia", experiments with timbres, playing techniques and harmonies. Occasionally, the instrumental movement comes across as somewhat wooden, for example when the piano plays alone and accompanies its melody with crotchets for long stretches. However, when the strings take over in pairs, one can hear the tonal language of the later symphonies. There, the formal blocks seem much more coherent than in these early works. The master has indeed made great progress!

Tracing the genius of this important symphonist is probably the justification for examining his early works, even if he did not release them for printing.

Jean Sibelius: Trio in A minor "Havträsk" JS 207, for violin, violoncello and piano, edited by Folke Gräsbeck and Anna Pulkkis, EB 9448, € 39.90, Breitkopf &Härtel, Wiesbaden

id.: Trio in D major "Korpo" JS 209, EB 9449, € 39.90

Lili Boulanger (1893-1918), who was gifted at an early age but suffered from chronic lung disease, was able to study composition with the help of her older sister Nadia (1887-1979) and was supported by important composers. She won the Prix de Rome at the age of 23. Her 50 surviving works include secular and sacred choral cantatas and even an unfinished opera. Nadia, who was a famous composer (Copland, Piazzolla, Glass, Bacewicz ...) and piano teacher (Lipati) until old age, took care of the dissemination of the works after Lili's death.

Four pieces for violin and piano by Lili Boulanger have come down to us: D'un matin de printemps (1917/1918), Nocturne (1911), Introduction - Cortège (1914) and Pièce (1910). The editors used the first editions as models for the new edition. Autographs and alternative versions were only used to clarify editorial questions.

Pièce of the seventeen-year-old has only survived in manuscript form and is reproduced here as faithfully as possible. This mystical, slow piece with its undulating piano accompaniment contains surprising chromatic harmonic progressions, enharmonic reinterpretations and colorful dissonances. The racy first, the tender second and the flamenco-like third pieces also enchanted us as we played them. They were premiered by Yehudi Menuhin in 1972.

Lili Boulanger: Die Violinwerke, for violin and piano, edited by Edmund Wächter and Elisabeth Weinzierl, VLB 232, € 19.50, Schott, Mainz