At the pinnacle of virtuosity

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Andreas Pernpeintner

Charles -Valentin Alkan, ca. 1865 (photo of unknown origin, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris)

“Alkan? Lots of notes!” – That’s what you hear when mentioning that you’ve edited the Symphonie for piano by French composer Charles Valentin Alkan (1813–1888) for Henle: HN 1657. And “lots of notes”, coupled with the expert French pronunciation of “Alkan”, is all that many music professionals know about this composer, myself included until recently. This is not surprising, considering how much Alkan shunned publicity, though in no way does it reflect the increasing importance (documented in a growing number of recordings) that his music is accorded by those studying 19th-century piano virtuosity or even capable of playing the works. Beyond question, this requires pianistically masterful hands. Three are ideal. The great pianist Marc-André Hamelin is, for example, one of those terrific Alkan interpreters who have three hands. Continue reading →

Posted in Alkan, Charles Valentin, Fingering, Marc-André Hamelin, Monday Postings, piano solo, Vincenzo Maltempo | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Summer Break

Posted on August 11, 2025 by publisher

As summer has begun, our blog is taking a short break until September. But what is Maurice Ravel, this year’s big anniversary celebrant, up to? Continue reading →

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Between distance and admiration – Satie and Ravel

Posted on July 14, 2025 by Peter Jost

Whilst this year the classical music world is undoubtedly focussed on Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday, another French composer’s anniversary should not be completely forgotten: Erik Satie’s 100th anniversary of death on 1 July 2025. And what could be more natural than to take a closer look at the relationship between the two? For although Satie was a complete musical outsider in his day, he had many contacts with important musicians and composers in fin-de-siècle and Belle Époque Paris, including, amongst others, not only Ravel, but also Claude Debussy, Albert Roussel, Igor Stravinsky and Ricardo Viñes.

left: Erik Satie (1866–1925), right: Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

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Posted in dedication, Gymnopédie (Satie), Monday Postings, Pavane (Ravel), piano solo, Ravel, Maurice, Satie, Erik | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Rostropovich and Atovmyan – the two midwives of Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata op. 119

Posted on June 10, 2025 by Annette Oppermann

Mstislav Rostropovich is considered one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century. His art has inspired numerous composers around the world to write works for the cello – including Prokofiev for his Cello Sonata op. 119. When preparing our new Urtext edition of this sonata, I was therefore all the more surprised to discover that, alongside Rostropovich, another musician played a very important role in the genesis and dissemination of this work – albeit in a completely different way: Levon Atovmyan, who is also the sonata’s dedicatee. Reason enough to take a closer look at this man in the background!

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Posted in autograph, dedication, first edition, genesis, Monday Postings, Mstislav Rostropowitsch, piano + violoncello, Prokofiev, Sergei, Sviatoslav Richter, versions | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A minor sensation: Chopin’s recently discovered a-minor waltz. Interview with Jeffrey Kallberg

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Norbert Müllemann

In spring 2024, a new work by Frédéric Chopin was discovered in the Morgan Library & Museum, though shared with the world only in the fall – quite a little sensation for the music world! In a unique collaboration with the Morgan Library and its curator Robinson McClellan, the Chopin specialist Jeffrey Kallberg and the world-renowned pianist Lang Lang (who acoustically brought the piece to life), this a-minor waltz has now been published for the first time by the G. Henle Verlag in Urtext, including a facsimile of the autograph. Jeffrey Kallberg was involved from the start in the exciting discovery story, and so I conducted the following interview with him. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Chopin, Frédéric, Lang Lang, Monday Postings, new source, piano solo, Urtext | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Debussy and Ravel – Aspects of a difficult relationship

Posted on April 14, 2025 by Peter Jost

As Henle’s Ravel year is being organised under the heading “Ravel and Friends”, Claude Debussy is no doubt one of the most important composers with whom Maurice Ravel maintained personal contact, though their relationship was not unclouded.  So, we’ve asked the French musicologist Denis Herlin, one of the world’s top Debussy specialists, about some aspects of this interesting, yet also complex association.

left: Claude Debussy, right: Maurice Ravel

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Schubert’s “Serenade” on its way through Europe

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Annette Oppermann

Anniversaries of great composers cast long shadows. This applies not only to the recording industry, when some ensembles labour for decades to perfectly capture recordings of the complete symphonies or cantatas for a Haydn or Bach anniversary, but also to music publishers. So, it’s no coincidence that for the Ravel Year 2025 we recently celebrated in this blog, we largely completed our catalogue of the French composer’s works, or that all Beethoven’s symphonies were available in the Henle Urtext in time for his 250th birthday in 2020. But that doesn’t happen overnight. And thus, the Schubert year 2028, only slowly appearing now on the horizon, has been on our minds for quite some time. Continue reading →

Posted in arrangement, first edition, Liszt, Franz, Monday Postings, piano solo, reprint, revision, Schubert, Franz, variant reading | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“It ended up being quite substantial” – on Sergei Prokofiev’s 2nd violin sonata op. 94a

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Dominik Rahmer

Last year the Henle catalogue very much welcomed the addition of Sergei Prokofiev, with the number of our editions of his works growing steadily ever since (see here). The latest new release is sure to make all violinists’ hearts beat faster: The 2nd Violin Sonata in D major op. 94a, an integral part of the violin repertoire, is now available for the first time in a reliable Urtext edition (HN 1624). Continue reading →

Posted in Augustin Hadelich, autograph, Charles Owen, David Oistrakh, first edition, Monday Postings, piano + flute, piano + violin, Prokofiev, Sergei, versions | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Naturally artificing” – Maurice Ravel on his 150th birthday

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Peter Jost

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Like last year, 2025 will also see a wealth of composer commemorations, ranging from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (500th birthday) to Georges Bizet (150th anniversary of his death) or from Erik Satie (100th anniversary of his death) to Pierre Boulez (100th birthday), to name just a few of the anniversaries. The spotlight will undoubtedly be, however, on the milestone birthday of Maurice Ravel, born on 7 March 1875 in the French-Basque commune Ciboure to a Spanish-Basque mother and a Swiss-engineer father with French roots. The family moved to Paris just three months later, though Ravel never lost his connection to the Basque region where he often spent the summer months in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a neighbouring commune to Ciboure. Continue reading →

Posted in Monday Postings, piano solo, Ravel, Maurice | Tagged | 2 Comments

Christmas Blog Post

Posted on December 23, 2024 by publisher

Exactly one year ago, when Christmas 2023 was just at the door, I (Andreas Pernpeintner) was also faced with the decision of whether or not to enter the Henle publishing house as an editor. Both came to pass, Henle and Christmas. People around me at the time asked whether AI would soon make the profession of music editor redundant. There’s no way of knowing, but the feeling of soon being virtually replaceable has yet to materialise. Of course, it would make no sense to refuse AI. Online translators are a blessing. Setting digital music notation without intelligent scan recognition software would be a time-consuming business. ChatGPT can help with research questions (but then, subsequently, be sure to fact-check) – or when preparing for the Henle Christmas party, where the ‘Henliden Chorus’ is traditionally heard. This is not a vocal sister work to the ‘Hebrides Overture’, but the entire singing publishing-house staff. One of the most amusing ways of using ChatGPT is to produce literary works according to certain content and stylistic guidelines. This is how, quickly, to succeed with a possible Henle Christmas party hit 2024: Continue reading →

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