Richibi’s Weblog

    “Andante (Sonata of the Pyramids)“ (1909) 

           Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis

                         _______________

much like adagios, andantes, the 

next step up with respect to pace

in musical compositions from 

adagios, are rarely intended to be 

alone, are part, most often, of a 

larger creative intention, though 

they must appear singly here and

there somewhere in the literature, 

though where, I don’t yet know

and I’ve looked

but here’s an andante you’ll surely 

remember, a Mozart, not surprisingly, 

he was young and exuberant, adagios

would’ve been not immediately given

to so youthful an artist, consequently 

less prevalent in their music, nor his,

Beethoven would be more ripe for 

adagios, indeed crushing adagios,

eventually, in a more conflicted time, 

but that’s another story 

it’s the middle movement of his

inspired 21st Piano Concerto, no

less, itself, a monument to Western 

culture than its iconic central piece, 

a work that for my generation most 

defined the essential Mozart

listen

note that the anguish, at even this

accelerated tempo, from the 

foundational adagio, is crushing

still and, still, utterly unforgettable

R ! chard