November / Month of the Sonata – 21
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Tag: concertos
November 1, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 1
“Still Life with Seven Apples“ (1878)
Paul Cézanne
_____
a sonata is to the concerto what an apple
is to an apple pie, its essential component,
after which the rest is decoration, however
inspired
sonatas existed before Mozart, but he’s
the one, along with Haydn, as well as
early Beethoven, who put them on the
musical map, 1750 to 1800, more or
less
it seems to me appropriate, therefore,
to start my Sonata Month then
here’s something by Mozart, 1789, his
last piano sonata, No. 18, in D major,
K. 576
three movements, fast, slow, fast – allegro,
adagio, allegretto – a perfect example of
the sonata as it was establishing itself
then, a piece of music consisting of
several distinct sections, movements,
meant to highlight contrasts, musical
agility in the artist, compositional
imagination
listen, enjoy
R ! chard
September 23, 2019
Piano Concerto no 2, opus 19 – Beethoven
“Allegro con brio, Bourke St. West“ (1890)
Tom Roberts
________
a concerto is a movie, but for the ears,
one listens, rather than looks, for one’s
information
quite specifically, Beethoven introduces
drama into his inventions, where earlier
there’d been merely an invitation to the
dance, minuets, for instance, gigues, or
disparate, disorganized, appeals,
otherwise, to our more interior, whether
secular or mystical, emotions, see in
this context, for instance, early adagios,
heart-wrenching, melting often, odes
these, or the even slower largos, fit
neatly, however, into Beethoven’s
compositional scheme of things,
between the introductory allegros,
often con brio, and the closing,
and equally spirited rondos, by
becoming the pivotal element in
his intended musical evening, the
core of his narrative presentation,
the plangent centre of his three
part play, film
here’s his Second
listen
R ! chard
November 4, 2011
Beethoven’s Symphony no 6, in F major, opus 68, “Pastoral”
symphonies are not my preferred musical form, they are
generally too broad, grand, impersonal, they are nevertheless
the other most impactful order of presentation among musical
instruments, along with the concerto
a symphony is a concerto without a soloist, or it might be more
appropriate to say that a concerto is a symphony accommodating
a soloist, or soloists, in either case the musical elements remain
the same, you don’t have a symphony without movements
a symphony is also of course another name for that very orchestra,
just to confuse you
despite my indifference to that particular form of entertainment
some symphonies are nevertheless still for me impressive, some
even meaningful, poignant, several of Beethoven’s, most of the
works of the transcendental Bruckner, Brahms’ magnificent Fourth,
most others you can keep, as far as I’m concerned, I need a firm
anchoring principle, not the amorphous peregrinations of an
unbridled, often cacophonous crowd
those that I love however have touched me deeply, Beethoven’s
Sixth for instance, wherein through its second movement a loved
one spoke to me unmistakably from heaven, there and then made
me believe in an afterlife and angels, I remember the day clearly
and cherish still that powerful metaphysical moment
in the “Pastoral” Beethoven apotheosizes nature, the movements
themselves, of which there are an unconventional five, are named
after rural settings, like paintings
I imagine Beethoven channeling the idyllic Classical Fragonard, or
straddles triumphally both epochs
you will hear the birds sing, the rippling of the brook, it is as fresh
as ever springtime, as profound and expansive as itself time
Beethoven here speaks as clearly as actual language, and thereby
suggests that music is indeed itself an expressive tongue, earlier
it had been, though moving and undeniably evocative, essentially
an entertainment, a courtly device, though often enough sublime,
see Haydn, Mozart
Beethoven is not courtly, he is bold, assured, and mighty, of a new
breed of colonizers of the new and exhilarating democracy, the
French Revolution had just happened and their aristocracy was
dead and gone, indeed guillotined, a new day had dawned for
the common people, the idea of human rights
Beethoven spoke to these as a prophet, Moses at a secular Mount,
declaring the ideals of the Age of Reason, of which we still carry
the torch, to the multitudes and to their ensuing spawn
Klemperer at first seemed slow to me, nearly tired, but little by
little established a mesmerizing solemnity
by the end of the piece I’d again been touched by heaven
Richard
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