The frosts may have returned to Manchester but so has the smell of mulled wine: the Christmas Markets are back with 300 cabins offering food, drink and crafts from all over Europe. And only a few steps away, a whole world of music is on offer at our historic five-storey premises – now dripping with lights – on Deansgate.

Here you will find gifts for every type of musician and music-lover. This week we would like to share with you our ready-to-go ukulele packs and a first piano, all at special prices, some glorious Russian symphonies that deserve to be better known, and the new memoirs of one of Manchester’s – and the UK’s – most important musicians, Sir John Manduell.

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Guitar and Musical Instrument Department

UKULELE PACKS

– Lani Ukulele with Korg PC-1 headstock tuner and Stagg padded gig bag

Available for the following Ukulele models:

• Soprano LS-55 – £64
• Soprano Mango LS-55MO – £74
• Concert LC-55 – £84
• Concert Mango LC-55MO – £94 (pictured)

If you’re planning to do a bit of busking over Christmas or know someone who is keen to start the ukulele, our packs will give you everything you need to get started straight away:

• your choice of Lani’s brilliant Soprano and Concert ukuleles, available in standard spruce and mahogany or upgraded in mango;
• a durable, padded Stagg gig bag to ensure the safety of the instrument while travelling;
• and a Korg PC-1 tuner, which handily sits on the headstock and is small enough to fit inside the case.

These packs are proving extremely popular: all of them are individually made up and recommended by our specialists in the Musical Instrument Department, and the ukuleles themselves have been carefully checked and tuned so you can be sure they will reach you in perfect playing order – a huge reassurance if you are buying one as a gift!

Read more & buy online

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Sheet Music Department

SIR JOHN MANDUELL

– No Bartók Before Breakfast

Hardback £19.99 · Paperback £13.99

Essential reading for anyone interested in the development of musical life in the UK in the 20th century, Sir John Manduell’s memoirs will particularly appeal to readers here in Manchester: as well as creating the BBC’s Music Programme, Manduell was Founder Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music, where the book was launched only last week.

The manager of Forsyth’s Sheet Music Department, Mike Pearson, who both studied and worked with Manduell, has blogged an appreciation of the man and reviewed his book on our website. The volume is a Who’s Who of the great and the good of the musical world illustrated by amusing anecdotes from the author’s professional life, including an episode on Stravinsky rehearsing Histoire du Soldat in bed. But it also serves as a family chronicle, with stories of his father and grandfather going back almost 200 years to the time of Beethoven and Schubert.

Manduell modestly evades writing about his own compositions, some of which are published by Forsyth, preferring to leave the discussion of his works to an appendix by Tony Gilbert – and to devote more of his own text to cricket. No explanation is offered, either, for the book’s title, leaving us to guess that ‘No Bartók Before Breakfast’ was a rule-of-thumb in planning the playlists for BBC radio…

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Piano Department

YAMAHA – B1 Upright Piano

IN-STORE PRICE £2,800

Online price £2,892

(was £2,950)

As the largest independent piano shop in the UK – staffed by pianists, technicians, tuners and appreciators – we offer not only one of the widest ranges of pianos in the country but also the time and expertise to help you find the perfect instrument to support you throughout your music-making.

If you are looking for your first piano, a great first step would be to come in and try the B1 upright piano, the junior model in Yamaha’s entry-level ‘B’ series. Combining a modern and compact cabinet in black polyester with a bright and contemporary sound, this model is ideally suited to beginners of all ages. During your visit you could also compare it with the alternative model from Kawai, the K15E.

We always recommend you try an instrument before deciding whether to purchase it, but another valuable reason for visiting us in person is that we can offer the B1 model (and many others) at better prices in store than online (while stocks last). And when you buy a piano from us, we can also offer you a third off any CGM piano stool – factory-assembled in Italy and therefore sturdier than a flat-packed model – as well as free delivery to most mainland UK addresses.

Feel free to pop in when you are next in town, or call us on 0161 834 3281, extension 604, for a chat with one of our friendly specialists.

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Recorded Music Department

BORODIN & KALINNIKOV

– 1st Symphonies

USSR Symphony Orchestra

Evgeni Svetlanov (conductor)

£5.30

For many of us, the soundtrack to Christmas is Russian ballet: The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake. If you’re interested in supplementing these great Tchaikovsky scores by digging deeper into the riches of Russian repertoire, an equally melodious and beautifully orchestrated place to start is this coupling of the first symphonies by Borodin and Kalinnikov, freshly reissued this year.

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), best known for the Polovtsian Dances from his opera Prince Igor, was a successful surgeon before his teacher Balakirev convinced him that composition was his ‘real work’. He joined Balakirev in The Mighty Handful, which aimed to create a distinctly Russian sound by combining traditional folk styles with modernism and orientalism. Fellow member Rimski-Korsakov was ‘amazed’ by Borodin’s first symphony, and it was this work which introduced him to European audiences when Liszt organised a performance in Germany towards the end of Borodin's life.

Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) is little known outside Russia but testament to his accomplishments is the fact that Tchaikovsky recommended him for prestigious directorships in Moscow, while Rachmaninov brokered a deal for Tchaikovsky’s publisher Jurgenson to issue his works, including his wonderfully tuneful first symphony. A transcription of the Finale has been a popular standard of the wind band repertory since the 50s, and Gramophone magazine imagines “a Prom audience… would surely take to it with delight”. We love playing this in the shop so come and hear it here first!

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Musical Gifts Department

… and finally, a musical addition to your Christmas tree:

Trumpet Decoration

£1.60

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