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Mozart's Symphony No.40 in G minor
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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:
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Edvard Grieg's "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen"
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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:
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Camille Saint-Saens - The Elephant and Film Music
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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...
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Frederic Chopin - Etude Op.10 No.4
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It is fair to say that Frederic Chopin revolutionised the art of piano composition and playing in many ways. As the name suggests, the Etudes were "Studies" intended to stretch and develop the piano student, each study having a focus on particular techniques or technical challenges. However more than any other composer, Chopin's studies were also very musical, melodic and structurally sound so that they are also pleasant to listen to. Because of the often dazzling virtuosity required to play them, they can be played as encores at piano recitals, so you can readily assume that they are very difficult pieces to master. However, even if you can't master them completely, their practice can help to develop your piano playing. So for advanced players only here is Chopin's Etude Op.10 No.4 in C-sharp minor:
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Zirkus by Cary Chow - playing works by Robert Schumann
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The publicity photos of Cary Chow with his dark t-shirt and tatoos may deviate from the traditional image of a concert pianist's bow tie and tails, but there is no mistaking the technical and interpretative skills evident in his latest album called Zirkus. This is the German word for Circus and the album consists of two major works ("Carnaval" and "Kreisleriana") from the significant piano solo output of composer Robert Schumann, who poured intensely personal messages into his creative output. Chow effortlessly flits between the many sides of the composer's nature, from the playfulness of "Carnaval" to the more intense virtuoso facets of "Kreisleriana". If you want to delve into Schumann's fascinating world, this album is an excellent place to start. More...
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Classical Composers Poster - latest updates
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The Classical Composer Poster has been newly updated by Carissimi. If you've not come across this item before, the poster is highly informative and a beautiful work of art in itself, illustrating more than 1500 years of musical development. The full size version of this poster is 40 x 27 inches, printed on high-quality art stock and now featuring 959 different composers, their country of origin, major compositions and dates. 45 new composers have been added including Rutter and Turnage, and film composers Morricone, Theodorakis and Tan Dun. Some recently deceased composers such as Ligeti have also required updates and there have also been amendments to the lists of major works. This poster is an ideal gift for anyone interested in classical music. Please check our more detailed images to get a feel for what this poster has to offer.
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Claude Debussy - Clair de Lune
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"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:
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Silence, Night & Dreams - Zbigniew Preisner
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A unique concert called Silence, Night & Dreams will be held in London's Barbican Centre on December 2nd. This features the UK Premiere of the latest composition by Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner. This is a large scale work for orchestra, chorus and soloists, and the composer will conduct the London Symphony Orchestra with the Crouch End Festival Chorus and soloists led by special guest Teresa Salgueiro. The programme also includes music from "The Double Life of Veronique" and the "Three Colours" trilogy, films which the composer scored for the late Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski. More...
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Browns in Blue - The 5 Browns
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Browns in Blue is the 3rd album from The 5 Browns. If you haven't come across them before, the 5 Browns are a group of 5 brothers and sisters who are all exceptionally talented pianists. Their previous albums have concentrated on Classical Music but "Browns in Blue" also includes a number of Jazz tracks. While some tracks feature the full 5 piano treatment, the album as a whole has a range of textures and combinations with each member of the family having at least 1 solo track. There are guest slots for Gil Shaham on violin, Chris Botti on trumpet, and even the instantly recogniseable voice of Dean Martin on the final Bonus Track. More...
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"Minuet in G" by Ludwig van Beethoven
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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:
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More from Bach's Preludes & Fugues - the "Well-Tempered Clavier"
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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:
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Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1 arrangements
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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:
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Malcolm Arnold (1921 - 2006)
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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. However, his film compositions and the use of some of his concert works for television themes tarnished his reputation with music critics who associated his work with "Light Music". His life was beset by tragedy too, in that two marriages ended in divorce and he suffered at times from depression and alcoholism. Nevertheless he fought through and continued to compose into his 80s, until his death on 23rd September 2006. More...
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György Ligeti (1923 - 2006)
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György Ligeti was one of the leading composers of the 20th Century. Though his style varied over time, it was always distinctive and unique. He was born in Romania where his family suffered tragedy at the hands of the Nazis, only for Ligeti to leave his homeland when it came under Communist rule. He settled in Vienna and met many Western composers and influences. He had a brief association with both electronic and experimental music, before his work settled into two main stylistic periods. During the first period he explored musical structures which focussed on evolving textures, and works from this period were used on various movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey. His second major period explored rhythmic textures with influences from World Music. He has suffered ill-health for a few years before he died on June 12th 2006. More...
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Koyaanisqatsi - Philip Glass
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Among modern composers Philip Glass holds an unusual position. Most serious modern music is considered to be unfathomable and sometimes bizarre. However Glass's music is neither of these things and has built bridges across musical genres. Some of his music can seem a little strange at first, but it is not long before this initial barrier is overcome and the listener will soon "get it". His music has found a particular niche accompanying images and it found a perfect match with the film Koyaanisqatsi which, without dialogue or story, requires wall to wall music to sustain a progression of thought-provoking images and ideas. The film and its music has gone down in history as a trend-setting combination which now seems so familiar by vitue of the fact that it has frequently been copied across many examples of film and television. More...
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Fernando Sor - Mazurka Op.32 No.3
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Like Beethoven, Fernando Sor lived during the time of Napoleon and the French Emperor was to have an influence on his life and music. Sor was born in Spain and moved as a young adult to live and work in Paris. Although he composed for a variety of instruments he is best known for his guitar music, and he toured the major cities of Europe demonstrating the capabilities of this instrument and spreading the word through his concerts and teaching. In addition to his numerous "Etudes" or Studies some of which are already featured on mfiles, we present the following Mazurka which is more challenging to play.
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Johannes Brahms - Cello Sonata in Em (1st movement)
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Johannes Brahms was a master at crafting works at many different scales. His craftmanship is readily apparent in his chamber music for a small number of instruments, where he generally strove to ensure that the first movement of these works conformed to the accepted "Sonata Form" yet laying the foundation for a degree of novelty and experimentation in later movements which was true to the spirit of the Romantic Period. Among his chamber music, Brahms wrote 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:
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Beethoven's 7th Symphony:
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We have re-vamped our sheet music for the slow movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, and are now able to include the instrumental parts for the first time. Here is the Scorch version to play online and here are PDF versions of the Conductor's Score and all the instrument parts:
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Luigi Boccherini and his famous Minuet :
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Luigi Boccherini was an Italian-born composer who toured Europe before settling in Spain. He was a contemporary of Haydn and wrote lots of works for String Quartet and String Quintet. His most famous piece of music is the Minuet from his String Quintet Op.13 No.5. Here we have the original version and a number of alternative arrangements with all parts included.
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Electronic Classical Music
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Whichever way you look at it, the creation and processing of music by electronic methods is a huge industry which grew from small seeds sown more than 100 years ago. Many engineers, musicians and composers have been caught up in the Electronic Music revolution which now permeates many aspects of different media and music genres. With his range of instruments from the Moog Modular to the MiniMoog, Robert Moog (who died in 2005) was one of the key players in that fascinating and complex history. In this article we pay tribute to Robert Moog and those other pioneers who have helped to shape electronic music into what it is today. We have also included mp3 downloads of some of our own electronic classical music. More...
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Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
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One of Mozart's most popular pieces of music is his "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (or "A Little Night Music"), the more memorable title of his Seranade No.13 for Strings. Even if you don't normally listen to classical music, you have almost certainly heard this before on films or television. Here is the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in its original form for string orchestra from which the score and individual parts can be printed. In additional here are arrangements of this first movement for various instruments:
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Tchaikovsky: Piano Music
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 The Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky is best known for his ballet music and large scale orchestral works including six Symphonies and several Concertos. He also composed quite a large number of smaller works for the piano and many of these are good practice pieces for piano students. The "Album for the Young" is a set of 24 short pieces and, since Tchaikovsky is well-known for some of his Waltzes in his Ballet music and other works, we've chosen to provide No. 8 Waltz as a sample. Although much of Tchaikovsky's ballet music is very happy in mood, the composer suffered from bouts of depression and some of his shorter piano works seem to reflect that. Here is his "Sad Song" or Chanson Triste.
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Dvorak's New World Symphony
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 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.
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