Cat No. JM40268
Price £99.95
Composer: Franz Liszt
Arranger: Bram Gay
Category: TEST PIECES (Major Works)

Symphonic Poem No.3 (1848)
Les Preludes


Les Preludes, the third of Liszt’s thirteen symphonic poems, is alone among his thirteen to have retained a firm place in the repertoire.

The composer has offered the following preface:

Is not this life a series of preludes to that mysterious song of which death sounds the first solemn note? Love forms the beautiful dawn of every life; but where is the early life in which dreams of bliss are not interrupted by some storm which mars their lovely illusion and with lightning flash shatters their foundation? Where is the wounded soul who would not seek forgefidness in contemplation of the beauties of nature? But man does not languish long in sweet idleness. When the trumpet sounds the alarm he hurries to the place of danger and endeavours to recover his frill self-consciousmess and possession of his powers.

This transcription, which is dedicated to Fodens Band on its hundreth birthday, was made at the request of Elgar Howarth who gave the first performance with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band at The University of York in February 2000. The present score accords with the errata issued at the time of the British Open Championship of 2001 and some further corrections have been made.

Duration: sixteen minutes.