performed by Idil Biret I must admit, I didn’t care much for this piece the first many times I listened to it, but… Perhaps this isn’t necessarily the sonata’s fault. This piece is given the opus number 4, but … Continue reading Chopin Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 4
performed by Idil Biret from her Chopin box set, or equally excellently below, by Vladimir Ashkenazy Today, we begin with a new composer. Could there be a more logical choice? I suppose there’s Schubert, but he didn’t make it this … Continue reading Chopin Rondo in Cm, op. 1
performed by András Schiff (or here by Daniel Barenboim, without the talking) I had been listening to the box set of sonatas from The Complete Beethoven Edition, played by the great Wilhelm Kempff. The above presentation, with performances of the … Continue reading Beethoven Piano sonata no. 1 in Fm, op. 2, no. 1
performed by Mikhail Pletnev … there’s too much music to talk about to separate this stuff into posts. As we did in our treatment of Mozart for the past week (more), we’re going to get through a few early pieces … Continue reading Beethoven: Variations on a March by E.C.Dressler in Cm, WoO 63
performed by Mitsuko Uchida second movement third movement or also this very interesting performance of the first movement by Robert Levin on an actual fortepiano, similar to what Mozart would have played on This third of Mozart’s piano sonatas is … Continue reading Mozart Piano sonata no. 3 in Bb, K281
performed by Mitsuko Uchida second movement third movement As with many of the pieces we have discussed in rapid succession, this piece was written soon after yesterday’s sonata. Do remember the statement we made about the clump of the first four piano concertos: with such little space between them, and from such a young composer, I wouldn’t expect to see any large degree of development or advancement from one piece to another. What I do feel like I see, as mentioned with the juvenile orchestrations, is greater confidence. The young Mozart is, perhaps, getting his sea legs, as it were. … Continue reading Mozart Piano sonata no. 2 in F, KV280
This article has been marked as in need of a revisit. That’s where I feel like I didn’t do the piece justice or have more to say (usually because I didn’t know it nearly well enough or didn’t have the right perspective). I’ll keep the original article for posterity, but publish a new version that will eventually be linked here for my new take on it. performed by Maurizio Pollini That looks intimidating, those three links, but honestly, these pieces aren’t terribly overwhelming. In total, they come to about 13 or 14 minutes of music. Very delicious, important music. While … Continue reading Schoenberg: Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11
performed by Ashley Wass (per the YouTube video info) The rest of the first movement (Hexameron has apparently not uploaded the second movement…) The third movement (There was another fantastic performance of this piece in its entirety up on YouTube, … Continue reading Frank Bridge: piano sonata, H. 160
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy 2nd movement 3rd movement 4th movement This is such an impressive piece to be only an opus no. 23. For whatever reason, in my concerted efforts to come to love Scriabin, I gravitated more immediately to … Continue reading Scriabin piano sonata no. 3 in F#m, op. 23
performed by Yefim Bronfman https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/z2EDk2Zsdik&source=uds It’s funny how life is. I’d planned the writing of this piece at least a month ago as a lead-in to another set of works for piano (the actual lead in was last week’s Satie piece, but this one sets up for what is to come later), and it was for a few reasons that now seem… less important than some others that have since surfaced. This piece is perhaps not as exciting to many as his other, later, more substantial works, but in a lot of (perhaps intentional, contrived ways), may have a lot to say about … Continue reading Prokofiev piano sonata no. 1 in Fm, op. 1
performed by Daniel Varsano MYCU: Part 7 mvt 2 here mvt 3 here I’m exhausted. Well, I was when I started writing this as a break from the last few pieces of the German(ic) Symphonies series we did for the last … Continue reading Satie: Gymnopédies
performed by Christophe Sirodeau https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/zheDyAzSVM0&source=uds So Samuil Feinberg was an extremely talented pianist, known for his transcriptions of Bach, as well as a complete recording of the Well-tempered Clavier. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Alexander Goldenweiser, a composer I’ve been meaning to get around to exploring. He won the Stalin Prize in 1946, and composed in his career twelve sonatas, as well as fantasies and other works for piano, some including voice, and three piano concertos, which Wikipedia also notes are not standard in the repertoire… I haven’t even heard them yet. I seem to recall not being … Continue reading Samuil Feinberg Piano Sonata no. 2, op 2
performed by Martha Argerich Not every piece of music has to be big and daring and overwhelming and complicated to be enjoyable. This piece is of quite small stature, coming in (with Ms. Argerich’s recording) at just around 11 minutes. … Continue reading Ravel: Sonatine
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy part 2 here He’s my go to for Scriabin. This is a measly post, because I’m sick… As much as I enjoy his first sonata (I’m more familiar with it than this one, actually), it was … Continue reading Scriabin Piano sonata no. 2 in G#m, op. 19 ‘Sonata-fantasy’
performed by Alfred Brendel Back to Schubert and back to the piano. We did Schubert and Mahler symphonies a while back, and I feel like a more appropriate follow up to those two would have been like, Schubert’s string quartet no. 14, Death and the Maiden, a work which Mahler himself was interested in (and would have related to at certain times in his life, I’m sure) but I am terribly underprepared for anything that logical. Also, we are back to piano for the next few weeks or so (and wonderfully have an interview with a pianist coming up next week!), … Continue reading Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy
performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet Music You Can Understand: Part 1 Eric Satie died 89 years ago this week, and it wasn’t until I saw his name come up on the history post that I actually remembered this guy. He … Continue reading Erik Satie: Gnossiennes
performed by Idil Biret As I mentioned in last week’s music post, I started my foray into classical music with the goal of familiarizing myself with the piano repertoire. To that end, I started with Chopin. This piece was one … Continue reading Chopin Piano Sonata no. 2 in Bbm, op. 35
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy (this is the first of a few parts. Click through for the rest of the piece). Ashkenazy is my man for the Scriabin sonatas. That Decca sound might be a bit noticeable in its tinny, slightly … Continue reading Scriabin piano sonata no. 1 in Fm, op. 6
performed by Glenn Gould https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/QNk_A4ZoI30&source=uds (also, don’t watch this… just listen to it) Welcome to part two of three of our music-I-enjoy-and-appreciate-but-don’t-really-understand-so-can’t-say-anything-terribly-constructive-or-educational-or-useful-about-so-take-this-with-a-grain-of-salt series. The first in this series a few weeks ago was Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, which thankfully had a … Continue reading Alban Berg: piano sonata in Bm, op. 1
performed by Idil Biret (from her box set on Naxos of Chopin’s complete works) there are also these, more for comparison than anything else: –A 1968 performance by Vladimir Horowitz in Carnegie Hall that everyone seems to love –This performance by … Continue reading Post #50: Chopin: Ballade no. 1 in Gm, op. 23
performed by Marthanne Verbit from her album Past Futurists, or below by Janice Weber The score (PDF) as well as recordings can be downloaded here for your enjoyment. I don’t recall how I first heard about this guy. Not long … Continue reading Leo Ornstein: Piano sonata no. 4, SO 360
Fugue for Thought 