Completed in 1888, this sonata was the culmination of several years of work and Brahms' final contribution to the genre. It is his only one in a minor key and stands in stark contrast to its two

Brahms early on engaged with the violin sonata form. As early as 1853 he wrote a sonata in A minor, which - like so many other youthful works of this self-critical composer - no longer survives. Thus the

Violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, a friend of Mendelssohn, was one of the great virtuosi of his age, standing alongside Paganini, Vieuxtemps, and Wieniawski. Like them, he left behind a series of

Debussy wrote these two short dances on a commission from the instrument-making firm Pleyel, which was keen to use famous names in the marketing of its newly developed chromatic harp. The dances are also

Brahms composed a whole series of chamber music works, including his Second Violin Sonata in A Major, during a summer visit to Thun in Switzerland in 1886. This wonderfully lyrical work is one of his most

It is almost impossible to tell from listening to them that Bach's extremely popular concerti for harpsichord were probably his own transcriptions of solo concerti which had originally been composed for

Only a few of Haydn's piano sonatas are in the minor mode, and they are all somber and defiant in tone. This famous sonata in E minor opens with an impatient, throbbing motif in what is surely one of the

Among the many works that Richard Strauss wrote for his wife Pauline de Ahna, these four songs occupy a special position, for the composer gave these "to my beloved Pauline" as a wedding present on

Like Elgar's Salut d'Amour, these two chansons are among his most popular melodies. The dreamy Chanson de nuit and its cheerful counterpart Chanson de

Liszt's piano rhapsodies are in the same tradition as his transcriptions of opera or song themes, but in this case the point of departure is folk dances and songs. Liszt described no. 2 of his Hungarian

The three volumes of the “Années de pèlerinage” (Years of Pilgrimage) are a core part of Liszt's pianistic output. While the first two collections comprise travel impressions from

Grieg's first Violin Sonata breathes youthful freshness and captivates with its Norwegian folk style. In terms of technique, it makes far fewer demands than Grieg's later violin sonatas and is thus also

Suite No. 2 in C minor, BWV 813, is extracted from the complete volume, and as a handy and reasonably priced single edition is perfectly suited for teaching. This aspect is supplemented both by Michael