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Top 10 MP3 downloads during June
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Lots more free Classical MP3 files from mfiles.
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Scott Joplin: Bethena - A Concert Waltz
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We add a new ragtime piece to our catalogue of Scott Joplin's piano rags. "Bethena" is a ragtime waltz and so it is quite unusual, since a waltz has 3 beats in a bar whereas most ragtime pieces have 2 or 4 beats in a bar. This work is also a neat tie-in with last week's review of the soundtrack to "Benjamin Button" since it is the final track on the second album. Here is an MP3 file of Bethena: A Concert Waltz by Scott Joplin.
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Brahms' Intermezzo in A Op.118 No.2
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We have to admit that we weren't familiar with this gem for piano by Brahms until it appeared on the audition playlist for the Youtube Symphony. Now that we've discovered it, we've completely fallen in love with the piece, and here is an MP3 file of the Brahms' Intermezzo in A (Op.118 No.2) for our visitors.
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Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from the 9th (Choral) Symphony
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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. It played an important role in the book and film "A Clockwork Orange" and is now the Anthem for the European Union. Here are MP3 files of this theme arrangedfor piano solo and also for bassoon and piano.
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MP3 files of Christmas Carols:
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As Winter rapidly approaches, Carols seem to be everywhere: on television, on the radio, in shops and more. Here are a selection of MP3 files of Christmas Carols, arranged for keyboard (piano or organ) or for guitar:
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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 MP3 files of this movement in its original orchestral format and also as a 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 mp3 files to download:
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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. Here is an MP3 file of Chopin's Etude Op.10 No.4 in C-sharp minor:
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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 is our mp3 file of this delightful piece:
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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:
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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:
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Ragtime works by Scott Joplin :
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Scott Joplin is the undisputed King of Ragtime, and we have added another of his famous Rags to our catalogue called "Elite Syncopations". Our complete catalogue of mp3 music by Scott Joplin now consists of the following works:
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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 in MP3 format the Mazurka in D, Op.32 No.3.
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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 in MP3 format.
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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. Although there are many arrangements of this work available, here is an mp3 file of the original version for String Quintet.
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MP3 downloads of Electronic Classical Music
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As part of our Electronic Music article, we have made available the following electronic versions of pieces from our classical catalogue:
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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 an mp3 file of the first movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in its original form for string orchestra.
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Music to welcome the New Year
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Help us celebrate the New Year with some traditional music associated with the mfiles home of Scotland.
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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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Beethoven's Symphonies
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 Regular visitors will be aware of our own music by Beethoven in Sheet Music, Midi and Mp3 formats and that our catalogue includes two movements from Beethoven's Symphonies. If you like these examples by Beethoven, please take note of BBC Radio 3's Beethoven Experience which offers the opportunity to download all of his Symphonies. The first 5 symphonies are no longer available but numbers 6 to 9 will be available from 28th June to 1st July.
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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.
Here is our mp3 file version of the slow movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony.
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Joseph Haydn and his piano sonatas:
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Joseph Haydn is considered to be a key founder of the Classical Style of music. Although he built on the work of others, his wide range of output was to influence many later composers especially Mozart and Beethoven. He composed many Symphonies, String Quartets and Keyboard Sonatas, all of which rely on the principles of "Sonata Form". Here is the first movement of one of his Piano Sonatas which illustrates the basic structure of Sonata Form:
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Robert Schumann and his piano music for children:
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The composer Robert Schumann composed a range of music from symphonies to songs. He is often remembered however for his piano works, and among these are several collections for or associated with children. His ealier "Scenes from Childhood" displayed his affinity for children and has later "Album for the Young" was composed spifically for his own children. The mfiles catalogue now has sheet music and sound files of 2 pieces from each of these collections:
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Music for Recorder:
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The recorder is an instrument with a long history. Traditionally made from wood, modern practice recorders are made of plastic and very cheap compared with other musical instruments. The recorder is frequently taught in schools, not just for cost reasons but because it is relatively easy to play a range of notes reliably. Since recorders come in a range of sizes, it is also possible to form recorder ensembles. The Soprano (or Descant) recorder is the most common, but the full range goes from the small Sopranino to the large Contra-Bass. We have arranged a number of pieces from the mfiles catalogue for recorder groupings. Here are the mp3 files:
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Mozart's music in the film "Elvira Madigan":
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Among Mozart's great legacy of classical music are a total of 27 Piano Concertos. The slow movement of his Piano Concerto No. 21 in C may be familiar from its use on television and its regular inclusion in albums of classical favourites. This movement is often called "Elvira Madigan" because it was used on a Swedish film of that name. This film and its music captured the public imagination and made the music even more famous. As a reminder of how this music goes, here is a realisation of it in MP3 file format. For other formats (e.g. midi) and the sheet music for all the instruments including the conductor's score, please refer to the online sheet music page.
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Franz Schubert - Moments Musicals
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 Among the many piano works by Franz Schubert are several collections of shorter pieces, such as the Impromptus and the Moments Musicals or "Musical Moments". There are six Moments Musicals altogether and we present here Number 5 from the set. Typical of Schubert No. 5 has some sharp contrasts between alternating loud and soft sections and, as the fastest of these pieces, present some challenges to a player of moderate ability. If you can play the piano then check out the sheet music version of this piece: the online Scorch page and the PDF page which you can download to print. Here is the MP3 file if all you want to do is listen to it.
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Sugar Plum Fairy - from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
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Just in time for Christmas, we introduce the composer Peter Tchaikovsky and his wealth of melodic music in the form of Symphonies and Overtures. More than any other classical composer though, Tchaikovsky is particularly known for his ballet music, including "Swan Lake", "The Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutcracker". The Nutcracker is a story set at Christmas Time and uses loads of tunes which are familiar to everyone across the world from Television and Adverts as well as the ballets themselves. The perennial favourite among all these tunes must be that of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Tchaikovsky is well know for his inventive orchestration and in this piece he uses the Celesta, an instrument that was relatively new at the time. Its tinkly little bell-like sound is ideal for fairy music, fairy tales and Christmas songs. A celesta just looks like a small upright piano, but the part can also be played on a piano.
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Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet
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 Although Franz Schubert is now widely recognised as one the great composers, this wasn't always the case. In fact during his short lifetime only a small proportion of his music was published, and there were only a few public performances featuring his music. Over the years, the importance of his skill and innovations became acknowledged, and he is now famous for his songs, symphonies, piano works and chamber music. This last category includes 15 string quartets and one of these is called "Death and the Maiden" because it shares a theme with a song he had previously written. We present the Scherzo from this work, and remind you of our existing piano music by Schubert:
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