Bach's Prelude No.7 from Book 2

Johann Sebastian Bach picture (head) Bach's keyboard works continue to fascinate people, particularly the 48 preludes and fugues known as The Well-Tempered Clavier. The 7th Prelude from Book 2 appeared on the soundtrack to "Milk" so here is this piece in the following formats:

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How Music Works

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Giles Swayne (composer-in-residence, Clare College, Cambridge) is to present a series of sessions to tell us "How Music Works". These will take place in London, with the first event on November 9th. Each session consists of a 60-minute talk with musical illustrations, followed by an uplifting drink and 45 minutes of open discussion. This PDF contains More Information.

Grieg Piano Concerto - making history

Edvard Grieg This album is a modern recording using the latest techniques, though the performances were laid down a century ago! The Grieg Piano Concerto was recorded by Percy Grainger in 1921 on piano rolls which have been used to play a steinway concert grand and recreate the historic performance. Also included on the album are similar recordings of a number of solo piano works made by Edvard Grieg himself in 1906, and his Violin Sonata No.3 in Cm. It is remarkable to hear historic recordings with such clarity and definition More...

Mozart's Symphony No.40 in G minor

Mozart portrait Mozart's last 3 Symphonies are among the finest in the repertoire and, through their influence on later composers, helped to bring about a revolution in the art form. His Symphony No.40 is one of very few he composed in a minor key, and the stark single-minded mood of its opening movement with its relentless momentum was a particular influence on Beethoven and music scholars over the past 200 years. We present this movement in its original orchestral format including downloadable PDFs of the full score and all instrumental parts, and also as a (fairly difficult) piano transcription:

Classical Downloads
Driven insane by teenage music? Classical downloads are available online.

Bach Toccata
The famous Toccata in D minor may not have been composed by Bach.

Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"

Beethoven Portrait Let's celebrate the Christmas and New Year holiday period with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Though it was written almost 2 centuries ago, the theme is one of the most recognisable pieces of Classical Music. It comes from his 9th Symphony - the first from a major composer to feature voices. The orchestra is augmented by a choir plus Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass soloists, who in the final movement sing verses from a poem by Schiller called the "Ode to Joy". Beethoven's music is a set of variations on this theme, which is now the Anthem for the European Union.

Grieg's "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen"

Edvard Grieg portrait photograph The composer Edvard Grieg had a house built for him near Bergen in Norway. Though this is now a museum dedicated to Grieg, he and his family lived there for many years and they called the house "Troldhaugen" which means "Troll's Hill". Among his "Lyric Pieces" for piano there is a popular piece called "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" whose happy mood seems to suggest the Grieg family enjoyed life to the full in this house. At mfiles we now have 3 Lyric Pieces and one arrangement available as sheet music and audio files:

Camille Saint-Saens - The Elephant

Camille Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals CD cover Regular visitors to mfiles will know that we cover both Classical and Film Music. The French Composer Camille Saint-Saens is the first well-known composer to compose music in both these camps. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the film "L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise" which is considered to be the first film for which music was specially commissioned. Among the composer's most famous concert pieces is "The Carnival of the Animals" which is a fun suite which depicts (and sometimes caricatures) various members of the animal kingdom. One of its movements is called "The Elephant" where a double-bass plays a ponderous but witty waltz. More...

Claude Debussy - Clair de Lune

Debussy - Suite Bergamasque sheet music cover "Clair de Lune" is on the play list of most piano students reaching a certain standard. It is also very familiar from its use as evovative mood music on advertising or programmes for film, television and radio. It comes the "Suite Bergamasque" by French composer Claude Debussy. Here are the sheet music and audio files for this delightful piece:

Piano music - as heard by Brahms!

Brahms' Streicher Piano Brahms was an excellent pianist, and a number of the pianos he used are preserved in museums. This double album consists of a number of Brahms' piano pieces played on the same instruments which he used. So we can hear his music as Brahms himself would have heard it. Jeffrey Dane's review of these recordings highlights the historical context of the pianos featured and, with a number of photographs, brings to life the history and the personality of the composer More...

Frederic Chopin - Preludes Op.28

Frederic Chopin sketch Chopin's 24 Preludes make great study pieces for pianists of all abilities. But why should piano players have all the fun? Here is an arrangement of Chopin's Prelude No.6 for Woodwind Quartet, where the Bassoon plays the main theme (with a little help from the Clarinet) while the Flute and the Oboe have supporting roles:

"Minuet in G" by Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven Portrait Much easier than a lot of his piano music, the "Minuet in G" by Beethoven is another favourite piece played by most piano students as part of their studies. Although the original piece is for Piano Solo, we have also created an arrangement for Flute and Piano - all the parts for printing are contained within the "Sheet Music" pages below:

More from Bach's Preludes & Fugues

Bach portrait Centuries after its composition, Bach's music continues to be an endless source of fascination, providing inspiration to music lovers, piano students and both serious and popular composers. Of all his works it is the collection known as the "Well-Tempered Clavier" that exemplifies this the most. Otherwise known as the "48 preludes and fugues", this collection of works is split over two books of 24 where each book has a prelude and a fugue in each major and minor key. Here is the final Prelude and Fugue from Book 1 (in the key of B minor) including a special arrangement of the Fugue for String Quartet complete with parts:

Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1

Erik Satie older photo The Gymnopédie No. 1 by French composer Erik Satie is a familiar piece of music in its original format for Piano solo. We have now added a number of arrangements of this piece to the mfiles catlogue:

Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006)

Malcolm Arnold photograph Malcolm Arnold is one of a relatively small number of composers who have won recognition for both their Classical and their Film music. In the Classical music realm, Arnold composed the fateful number of 9 symphonies and around 30 concertos for a variety of instruments, as well as a large number of shorter and lighter works. For film music, Arnold is best remembered for his music to "Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" and the "St Trinian's" films. More...

Johannes Brahms - Cello Sonata in Em

Johannes Brahms photo Among his well-crafted chamber music pieces, Johannes Brahms composed two sonatas for Cello and Piano and this is the first movement of his first such Cello Sonata Op.38 which is available in the following formats:

Luigi Boccherini and his famous Minuet :

Luigi Boccherini portrait Luigi Boccherini was an Italian-born composer who toured Europe before settling in Spain. He wrote many works for String Quartet and String Quintet, his most famous piece being the Minuet from his String Quintet Op.13 No.5. Here we have the original version and arrangements with all parts included.

Dvorak's New World Symphony

Antonin Dvorak (older photograph) Czech composer Antonin Dvorak was well known for his use of music derived from the folk traditions of his home country and surrounding regions, such as his "Slavonic Dances". For a few years, until homesickness overcame him, he held a post in the National Conservatory of Music at New Work and there he discovered some new music traditions and composed some of his greatest works, among them his New World Symphony. This contains a theme which is derived from the song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", but is best known for the theme from the 2nd movement played on the Cor Anglais which seems to speak of his longing to be home in his native land.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

Ian Wallace (1919-2009) was an Opera singer who transitioned into popular entertainment. He helped to popularise Classical Music, and (with Dennis Norden and Frank Muir) was one of the resident paritipants in BBC Radio's "My Music". However he is best known for singing the humorous songs of Flanders and Swann particularly "The Hippopotamus Song" which had the chorus "Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud". Here is a musical Tribute to Ian Wallace on YouTube.

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