Favourite Melodies

Between 1920 and 1940 Grainger published a loose series of piano transcriptions under the title of ‘Free Settings of Favourite Melodies’ in order to make a wide audience acquainted with the music of great composers. Five of these pieces that prove his feel of tone colours and his highly developed understanding of the piano and its possibilities have been included in this volume: ‘Hornpipe’ from George Frideric Handel’s Water Music, ‘Cradle Song’ (Wiegenlied) Op. 49/4 by Johannes Brahms, a song by John Dowland: ‘Now, O now I need must part’, and two songs by Gabriel Fauré who was one of Grainger’s examples in music: ‘Nell’ Op. 18/1, and ‘Après un Rêve’ Op. 7/1.