Willy Hautvast

An adagio is a slow piece of music, somewhat quicker as a largo, but a little bit slower than an Andante. A lot of composers have written adagios, but, no doubt, the most famous is the Adagio in G min...

We can assume that Bach wrote this work, full of lively rythms and moving melodies, in a lighthearted and jubilant mood. Though originally composed for the organ, this composition has been arranged fo...

The Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg is still popular because of his theatre music for Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' and his Piano Concerto opus 16. The suite 'Fra Holbergs Tid' (Holberg Suite) opus 40 was origi...

The German composer Max Bruch was born in 1838 and died in 1920. Shortly after his arrival in Britain in 1880, where he had been appointed musical director of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, he co...

This excerpt from 'Six Piano Pieces' opus 32, is the only work of the Norwegian composer and pianist Christian Sinding (1856-1941) that remained popular, as well as a piano piece as in several arrange...

The Italian composer Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) was highly estimated by his contemporaries, even Liszt and Rossini praised him much. He wrote over 60 operas and was one of the 19th century operaco...

'1492 Conquest of Paradise' is a historical movie picture made by Ridley Scott in 1992, exactly 500 years after the discovery of the American continent. This film music composed by Vangelis became wor...

Josef Strauß, the second son of Johann Strauß Senior, worked for some time as an architect and engineer before he started conducting to replace his elder brother Johann Junior who had become seriously...

Casta Diva is possibly the most famous aria by Bellini. This is Norma's prayer to the moon goddess, and shows Bellini's high craftsmanship with melodies. The most famous version of this aria, was sung...

The complete title of this Irish tune is : 'Believe me if all those endearing young charms'. The character of this song is rather nostalgic, but yet it is popular all over the world as it has been sun...

As the tune is so well known and played and sung regularly all over the world, the piece needs no extra comment. Yet this wind band arrangement is, no doubt, a fine acquisition for the repertoire.