performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet Photo by Giggle Jutsu on Unsplash The last actual music article I wrote was exactly 7 years ago to the day, and it was the first of this opus 14 set. What have I been up … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 10 in G, op. 14 no. 2
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Alfred Brendel (cover image by Lex Sirikiat) We have now moved on to the two piano sonatas of Beethoven’s op. 14. This first of the two sonatas that make up this opus number … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 9 in E, op. 14 no. 1
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Krystian Zimerman (cover image by Eleni Afiontzi) And back to Beethoven! The Pathetique sonata is one of Beethoven’s most famous compositions, and with good reason. While it’s still an early piece in the composer’s output, … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 8 in Cm, op. 13, ‘Pathetique’
performed by Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements (cover image by Lex Sirikiat) You like forensics, don’t you, dear reader? After shows like CSI and others, as well as what seems (at least to me) to be the growing fad of … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 13 in B flat, K. 333
performed by Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Vincent Giersch) This is a piece that has captivated me, and although it may not be, like the finale of the previous sonata, one of those immediately recognizable, iconic passages, it exudes such … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 12 in F, K. 332
performed by Mitsuko Uchida, or below by Krystian Zimerman (cover image by Tim Mossholder) As if we didn’t have enough Mozart last year, with week after week of his music, we’re going to see his name yet a few more … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 10 in C, K. 330
performed by Rhondda Gillespie and the Helsinki Philharmonic under the late Jiří Bělohlávek, available on Spotify (cover image by David Clode) This is not an easy one to write about, but I’d say that it’s easier to listen to, probably, upon … Continue reading Meriläinen Piano Concerto no. 2
(I recently wrote about this piece over on my Substack as part of a concert program with this as the central work. Please go read the article there.) performed by Matti Raekallio and the Tampere Philharmonic under Eri Klas, or … Continue reading Englund Piano Concerto no. 1
performed by Lev Vinocour and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Wien under Johannes Wildner Find out the secret of Henselt’s hands. Franz Liszt, to his pupils (cover image by Will van Wingerden) What pianist in history excelled at the piano works of … Continue reading Adolf von Henselt: Piano Concerto, op. 16
performed by Rudolf Serkin and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy (cover image by Irene Ortiz) It’s been some time since we’ve seen Mendelssohn around these parts, already more than a year, actually. That won’t do. We shan’t be giving … Continue reading Mendelssohn Piano Concerto no. 1 in Gm, op. 25
performed by Rudolf Serkin and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, or below with Serkin and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Choir under Rafael Kubelik You may wish to print another text, as the text … Continue reading Beethoven Choral Fantasy, op. 80
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate (cover image by John McCann) This work is the farthest along we’ve gotten in any of Mozart’s works in any form (with the exception of the … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 11 in F, K. 413
performed by Jenő Jandó, Dénes Várjon, pianos, and the Concentus Hungaricus under Mátyás Antal, or as below, with Alfred Brendel, Imogen Cooper and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under Sir Neville Marriner (cover image by Nicolas Gras) I’ve always thought that so many … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 10 in E-flat, K. 365
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Aaron Burden) We jump ahead a few years, around where we were last week, in 1777, although this work wasn’t published until 1782. The ninth sonata was composed in Augsburg and Mannheim … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 9 in D, K. 311
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements One gets the feeling, listening to the Sonata in A minor, that Mozart had been stocking up on minor mode drama for some time when he wrote it. Its stormy music is a … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 8 in Am, K. 310
performed by Fazıl Say, or below by Dame Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Chris Barbalis) Mozart’s seventh piano sonata dates from 1777, a full two and a half years after the sixth. It was composed during a trip to Mannheim and … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 7 in C, K. 309
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate (cover image by Leonard Cotte) Mozart’s ninth piano concerto is actually his fifth original concerto for the piano (after the first four, which were more or … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 9 in E-flat, K. 271, ‘Jenamy’
performed by Rudolf Buchbinder, or below by Alfred Brendel (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Each performer has the freedom here to create something different… Sir Andras Schiff (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) As discussed in the article from earlier this … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 20 in G, op. 49 no. 2
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Alfred Brendel (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) If you were to listen to the piano sonatas of Beethoven based on the order of their opus numbers, after a dozen and a half increasingly … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 19 in Gm, op. 49 no. 1
performed by Rafał Blechacz It’s about darn time to get Chopin’s music back on the blog, and so we’ll revisit him by discussing a work that so simply, so powerfully expresses the entire gamut of human emotion in an irresistible, … Continue reading Chopin: Preludes, op. 28
performed by Dennis Russell Davies and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra Philip Glass’s first piano concerto isn’t (usually) referred to as piano concerto no. 1. Instead, it’s given the above name, the Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. It was completed … Continue reading Glass: Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra