When he received the commission to write a Mass, Beethoven feared comparison with Haydn. But his Mass in C, a new Urtext edition of which is published by Bärenreiter, established itself as a masterpiece which remains in the standard repertoire today.

There is now a new Urtext edition of Antonín Dvořák’s two Serenades op. 22 and 44, which removes many uncertainties and defective variant readings.

Handel went to great trouble in the composition of his Te Deum marking the British victory in the Battle of Dettingen. Now the work is available as part of the Complete Edition.

Zadok the Priest and The King shall rejoice were composed in 1727 on the occasion of the coronation of George II. Since then, they have gone on to become extremely popular choral concert pieces throughout the world.

Premieres of two works by Manfred Trojahn will be given in Salzburg and Paris on two consecutive days in March 2016:  in Four Women from Shakespeare for soprano and ensemble at the Salzburg Easter Festival on 22 and 26 March 2016, the composer continues with his intensive study of Shakespeare, and pays homage to a “favourite instrument”, the female voice. The interpreter of the four portraits is Juliane Banse with soloists from the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by the composer. The new ensemble work Nocturne – Minotauromachie, with its references to Picasso, will be premiered in Paris by the Ensemble intercontemporain under Matthias Pintscher on 23 March 2016.

Matthias Pintscher’s new cello concerto, Un despertar for violoncello and orchestra, develops out of a “continuous slow, soft, tender and intimate song in the lower register of the cello”. It was written for the cellist Alisa Weilerstein and is inspired by the dark, warm tone of her playing. – (Photo Alisa Weilerstein: Jamie Jung)

Ľubica Čekovská has written a large-scale symphonic work for the Essen Philharmonic, an extremely multi-faceted piece of music. The title Palingenia is the scientific name for the mayfly.