Description

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Grainger's extraordinary work, subtitled "music to an imaginary ballet", was prompted by a request from the English conductor Thomas Beecham to compose a ballet score for the Diaghilev company. The commission never materialized, but Grainger nevertheless proceeded to create a his most adventuresome work to date - employing a large orchestra with an expanded percussion section and three pianos, requiring three conductors for coordination. The world premiere for the now imaginary ballet took place in December 1919, with the composer on a piano plus the Chicago Symphony conducted by Frederick Stock. The new, digitally-enhanced study score offered here has been reproduced from the "compressed full score" issued in 1926 under the composer's name by B. Schott's Sohne, Mainz.