“The Lark” is one of the most popular Russian songs of the Romantic era, composed by the founder of the Russian nationalist school, Mikhail Glinka. His fellow countryman, Mili Balakirev, took this simple, melancholy air as the basis for a highly virtuosic piano transcription à la Liszt. It is an impressive bravura piece of moderate length that is ideally suited as an encore or in recitals.
While researching this new Urtext edition, G. Henle Publishers succeeded in unearthing two sensational sources; Balakirev’s autograph manuscript, believed to have been lost, was rediscovered, as was a print copy with revisions in the composer’s own hand that documents the definitive version. Not only the edition, but the fingerings, too, are of the very highest quality; they were prepared by Russian star pianist Evgeny Kissin.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimized for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
