led by the incredible Wayne Marshall Nights like tonight are a testament to the importance of an inspiring leader. It’s not terribly often one walks into a concert with a program of works all by one composer, but that is, as the … Continue reading TSO’s Gershwin, Relax!
performed by Mitsuko Uchida and the Cleveland orchestra under Pierre Boulez Finally! It’s here. I’ve been eager to write this article now for years. It was a strange experience I had with this work, as I was describing to someone the … Continue reading Schoenberg Piano Concerto, op. 42
performed by Maurizio Pollini (live performance below) I said to Webern: for my music you must have time. It does not suit people who have other things to do. But it is in any case a great pleasure to hear … Continue reading Schoenberg: Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19
performed by Maurizio Pollini and the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado I find Brahms so intimidating to talk about (if you haven’t already noticed). Like I mentioned in Tuesday’s post about the piano sonata, there’s always so much going on, … Continue reading Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 83
April has been and will continue to be a busy month for concerts, as will May. It is due in part to last-minute concerts I heard about and didn’t want to miss. Last weekend’s chamber concert of Spohr and Brahms was … Continue reading Concert Review: 張昊晨 Piano Recital
performed by Krystian Zimerman movement 1 below; the rest of the piece in the playlist here Zimerman is back because he’s amazing. Ditto for Brahms. Last time we saw Brahms (well, before his sextet on Sunday) was last summer. How … Continue reading Brahms Piano Sonata No. 2 in F#m, Op. 2
(also) performed by Krystian Zimerman Tuesday we talked about the second ballade, and as discussed, various people associate the same poem as the inspiration for either one of these works. No. 3 was completed a few years later, in 1841, … Continue reading Chopin: Ballade no. 3 in A flat, op. 47
performed by Krystian Zimerman (the above video is an excellent performance, but from at least a few decades ago, as the pianist’s coiffure will attest, but the specific performance by Zimerman is from the Chopin Complete Edition, where it is taken at a … Continue reading Chopin: Ballade no. 2 in F, op. 38
performed by Mitsuko Uchida We’ll get around to the other incomplete sonatas and stuff later, but for now, we feature the first piano work of his that really blew me away, and the earliest completed sonata. I was fascinated with his Wanderer … Continue reading Schubert Piano Sonata no. 4 in C, D. 537
performed by Wilhelm Kempff If, as Messiaen stated and many others might agree, Mozart is ‘an extraordinary rhythmician,’ one of the most talented and gifted rhythmic composers, then Schubert must be one of the most lyrical. With Mozart’s first string quartet from a … Continue reading Schubert Piano Sonata in E, D. 157
performed by Maurizio Pollini and the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, or the same pianist with the Vienna Philharmonic under Karl Böhm I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in Cm, Op. 37
performed by Jörg Demus and Norman Shetler, or below by Lucia Tiovis and Andrei Roth Piano four-hands. That’s different than two pianos, obviously, which is why it’s nice to watch the above video of two people sitting at the piano and working … Continue reading Beethoven Sonata for piano, 4 hands, in D, op. 6
performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, Anatol Ugorski, piano N0. 200 It’s been about two and a half years that I’ve been doing this, regularly but not always very professionally. I have some articles I’m not terribly … Continue reading Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, op. 60
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to the recital hall, and my friend and now semi-seasoned concertgoing friend had never been, so we took the opportunity to hear a pianist neither of us had ever heard of play music … Continue reading 黃新易 2016 Piano Recital
This is another one of those concerts I have (very proudly, I might add) managed to gather people together to attend. Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin enjoyed quite a fantastic turnout on its opening night, and I was very glad at that performance to have been … Continue reading Concert review: NSO’s Fireworks from Russia
performed by Martha Argerich The article from a few days ago about Liszt was to try to give a few of the highlights that I personally enjoyed about Liszt’s life. This virtuoso performer and composer is likely more known through … Continue reading Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178
Franz Liszt: where does one begin? Handsome chap, too Most people know him as the frighteningly virtuosic virtuoso pianist born in 1811, the year after Chopin and Schumann, he himself being one of the most influential performers/composers of the 19th … Continue reading Influential People: Franz Liszt
…unlike Wagner, Alkan did not seek to refashion the world through opera; nor, like Berlioz, to dazzle the crowds by putting orchestral music at the service of literary expression; nor even, as with Chopin or Liszt, to extend the field … Continue reading Charles-Valentin Alkan: Souvenirs: Trois Morceaux dans le genre pathétique, op. 15
Of course…. I’ve said it many times. These series that I organize in my head are by no means comprehensive. We did a pretty thorough one back in July and into August where we discussed some early piano works of … Continue reading Romantic Piano Music: An Epilogue
performed by Robert Taub. The CD is available here The first of these three pieces is above on YouTube, and if it’s even the least bit intriguing, I would highly recommend buying the album. Here we are, at a place I have … Continue reading Milton Babbitt: Three Compositions for Piano
performed by Claudio Arrau and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bernard Haitink … and here we are, at the end of a very long string of piano works taking us from the heart of the Classical era almost a hundred … Continue reading Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1 in Dm, op. 15
Fugue for Thought 