brexit, covid, weather... delivery
For all the worst reasons imaginable, post from the UK to the rest of the world is being disrupted. This has regrettably impacted on our business (as it has many others, of course) with parcels taking weeks to reach even nearby countries. Some customers in Europe have reported also being charged import duty and then a levy from the delivery company. Music is – and always has been – TAX FREE in the United Kingdom and it is impossible for us to calculate how much tax a foreign authority will charge. All we can reasonably do is apologise for the added inconvenience and the stupidity of anyone who voted for Brexit without realising the impact it would have. We think our prices are very reasonable, and we hope you will continue to support Primalamusica!
FASCH CANTATA CYCLE 1735/36
The first volume of this massive undertaking has just gone to the printer! After spending months doing archival research into the liturgical and historical background, I have finally been able to turn to the music itself – and what a huge PLEASURE it is to be working with Fasch again. Look out for more news very soon!
EARLY MUSIC COMPANY TITLES
Having worked as editor-typesetter for Clifford and Elaine Bartlett's King's Music and The Early Music Company since 1986! I have started working more on the business side, especially with Clifford's tragic passing and Elaine's annus horribilis of health issues... Gradually titles will be added to this website to enable customers to buy direct. As always, the business leads with Dido and Aeneas, by far the best seller in the catalogue. It has been completely reset (in Sibelius) and thoroughly proofread against original sources. Only the score is available for direct sale. Performing material is only available after the negotiation of rights, etc. The same applies to its frequent partner piece, John Blow's Venus and Adonis. Other "new" editions include the Fux sonata for three violins and Purcell's Three parts on a ground (commissioned by Maggie Faultless) and two chamber works by Cavalli for Theresa Caudle's course at Benslow. More will gradually join them.
World's worst-kept secret
Ever since I was obliged to take composition classes as part of my music degree at St Andrews University in Scotland, I have enjoyed the very occasional foray into the art of the tune smith. Nothing serious, of course – just for fun (mostly).
Recently inspired to write some music for recorders by my friend, the writer and musician, Michelene Wandor, I have foolhardily decided to publish two of them:
Waltz for Michelene is for five recorders (STrTTB)
follia (with an original cover illustration by my friend, Daniel Baker) is for four (STrTrTr) and is based on the familiar ground bass but throws a few rhythmic curve balls...
New home – new look
After more than 15 years in Arbroath, I am now back in Dundee.
With a considerable amount of help from my excellent Danish colleague, Niels Danielsen, I have come up with a new style for future editions – I hope you like it!
The first titles are Telemann's string suite "La Musette" (TEL025) and all of the sonatas for trumpet, 2 violins and continuo from the under-rated English composer William Corbett's op. 3. Feel free to suggest other pieces that we could publish.
OUR FIRST 18TH-CENTURY OPERA
This opera caused a bit of a stir in 1719 – Heinichen hadn't quite finished writing it when two of the leading singers had a tantrum about the clumsy way he'd set some of the Italian text. When the Saxon Elector heard about the argument, he dismissed the singers and the entire project was shelved. With a cast of seven principles and an orchestra of horns, flutes, recorders, oboes and strings which Heinichen deploys with considerable skill, this three-act work can now be heard to full advantage on a recording by Il Gusto Barocco.
THE LATEST volumes of the Ensemble Diderot Collection are now available: two volumes of trio sonatas from Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville's op. 2 (recorded on Audax Records).
Be sure to check out their new page for further details.
Another exciting collaboration
Christopher Palameta and his colleagues in Notturna have been passionate champions of the music of mid-18th-century Berlin, especially trios and quartets by Johann Gottlieb Janitsch. Having provided many of the editions for their recordings, we are now beginning to publish them so that anyone can enjoy them. First up are two trios by Janitsch, and a third by Christian Gottfried Krause.
NEW CATALOGUE
Four years have passed since our last catalogue – literally hundreds of titles
have been added in that time. If you prefer a leisurely browse to scrolling
through website pages, you can save it to your device by clicking HERE.
latest additions
If you have any ideas for new editions, we would be delighted to hear about them!
Bertali: Sonata Sancti Placidi EMC
Blow: Venus and Adonis EMC
Carisio: O sacramentum pietatis (3 sopranos, continuo), Sub umbra crucis (soprano, mezzo-soprano, continuo)
Cavalli: Two new editions for THE EARLY MUSIC COMPANY – the Sonata à 6 and the Canzon à 4
Corbett: Six sonatas in D for trumpet, 2 violins and continuo (op. 3) and the overture from the same set for two trumpets (or oboes) with strings
Endler: Three sinfonie in D [END003, END016, END028] and another that starts in D and ends in G [END027], an Ouverture in D and an Ouverture in E flat with tenor oboes
Fasch: Funeral music from the 1740s re-used in the 1760s, Die Gerechten müssen sich freuen (a secular birthday cantata from 1722)
Fux: Sonata for three violins EMC
Geist: two motets for Karl XI of Sweden; a birthday poem setting and Psalm 133 in Swedish from his 1680 wedding to Ulrike Eleonore of Denmark.
Graupner: Sinfonia in F GWV565, Sinfonia in G GWV610
Linicke: Trio sonata in A minor (recorder, oboe, continuo)
Merula: Credidi (a psalm setting for SATB and continuo)
Michael Pilkington: Figured Bass at the Keyboard (a step-by-step guide to accompaniment) EMC
Pohle: the two final pieces in our Complete Vocal Music edition – Paratum cor meum for solo tenor and a second setting of Benedicam Dominum for the same forces (and using much of the same music!) as the first version.
Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Three parts on a ground Z 731, Chacony Z 730 EMC
Franz Xaver Richter: Sinfonia in G minor for strings
Lambert de Sayve: Cantate Domino (SSAATTB) and Jubilate Deo omnis terra (SATB SATB SATB SATB)
Stölzel: Two cantatas – Ich haben meinen König eingesetzt (for the 1st Sunday in Advent) and Befiehl dem Herrn deine Wege (for the 1740 funeral of dowager duchess, Magdalena Augusta of Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg)
[Page last updated 1 October 2021]