November / Month of the Sonata – 23
.jpg!Large.jpg "The treachery of images (This is not a pipe), 1928 - 1929 - Rene Magritte")
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Tag: tonality
November 20, 2023
November / Month of the Sonata – 20
“Double Self-Portrait“
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
________
Ravel’s Violin Sonata no 2, of 1927, is a
long way from the Romantics, though I
usually settle Ravel among the
Impressionists, this piece seems rather
to reflect the later Expressionists in art,
see above, for its virulence and eccentric
tonalities and performance techniques
in both the violin and the piano, the age
had given us the First World War, and
would soon lead to the Second
the three Classical imperatives of tonality,
tempo, and repetition are maintained still,
but their descendants are unruly, willful,
bold and impervious, there are no holds
barred here, they take no prisoners
listen
R ! chard
March 4, 2023
how to listen to music if you don’t know your Beethoven from your Bach, X
“Joseph Haydn” (1791)
Thomas Hardy
_______
though I’ve focused especially, during
this introduction to Classical music,
on Mozart, a second great pillar of
that era is Haydn, 1732 – 1809
here is one of his 62 piano sonatas,
which expresses more than anything
you’ve heard here yet the definition
of what music was at the time, or
should be, tonality, as I’ve earlier
said, tempo and repetition were
tantamount
listen for or the rigidity of the tempo,
the consistent melliflousness of
the melody, and therefore tonality,
and the repetition of all the
component tunes
I remember going to a drum recital
once, here in Vancouver, a guy was
expressing his artistry in a formal
venue, I was sitting in a forward
row, saw him set up his music on
his music stand, and I thought,
he’s going to have to turn the
pages, which he did, a drummer
that’s all I remember of the
presentation, but that was enough,
an entire revelation
in this Haydn sonata, the pianist
turns the pages of his score, back
and forth, an interesting visual
expression of the imperative of
repetition in that era’s music,
having to return to what had
been written on the previous
page
also note that trills abound
note too in the second movement,
the adagio cantabile, the sudden
introduction of arpeggios,
transcendent, as though angels
had just appeared
which prefigures the metaphysical
aspirations of the Romantic Period
which ensued, see, for instance,
Chopin
note also that we’re on fortepiano
here, a period instrument, a cross
between the harpsichord and the
modern instrument
thoroughly enjoy
R ! chard
March 19, 2015
Paganini’s First Violin Concerto – Akiko Suwanai
“Niccolo Paganini“ (c.1819)
_____________
for Apollo, who alerted me to my error
having egregiously misspelled “Akiko”
in my recent commentaries about Ms
Suwanai, since, however, corrected, I
can only heap upon her greater praise
now for again an immaculate
performance of, this time, Paganini’s
First Violin Concerto, itself an event,
as atonement
not only does she play this thrilling
masterpiece with precision and
consummate artistry, this is the
performance with which she wins
the Tchaikovsky Competition, the
one Van Cliburn had secured so
illustriously back in the late Fifties,
at the height of Soviet Communism,
she in 1990, moments only after its
fall, a full, now, 25 years ago
it astounds me that such a talent
would’ve taken so long to reach my
ears, which have been attuned to
Classical music and its
peregrinations for as long as I can
remember
then again there was no ticker tape
parade for Ms Suwanai when she
triumphed, the world has changed,
it seems such excellence is no longer
so universally paraded, not even
much advertised
the Paganini Violin Concerto was
composed around 1818, late
Beethoven, early Chopin, Paganini
defines for the violin the Romantic
Period, what Chopin did for the piano,
Beethoven had given them the push
if you can get past your astonishment
you’ll note that the foundation of the
piece is Classical, tight tempi, tonality,
no discordant notes, and repetition
always of the themes, still the triple
pillars of our understanding of music,
its Trinity, despite some strong forays
into their deconstructions, see, for
instance, the haunting George Crumb
what Paganini adds to Classicism is
personality, Romanticism, same as
Beethoven did, and at about the
same time
aristocratic formality was giving way
to the voices of the crowd, some highly
articulate, representative, formidable,
as the shackles of servitude fell with
the French Revolution and human
rights became central, and
indomitable
Richard
January 7, 2013
Beethoven – “Pastorale” Sonata, no 15, opus 28
from the very beginning of this musical series I’ve
been wanting, looking forward to, highlighting
somewhere, somehow, this incandescent piece
by Beethoven, but hadn’t yet found either a
complete nor, more significantly, a worthy
interpretation, though one briefly came and
went in a blazing virtual, as it were, transit, that
would’ve been perfect, and may now be never
seen again, o, vast, too vast, eternity
here Konstantin Semilakovs, not even a finalist at
the third Helsinki International Maj Lind Piano
Competition last September, 2012, the competition
must’ve been severely tough, plays an enchanted
rendition
Beethoven is at the height of his euphoria here,
after his 7th sonata, his opus 10, no 3, he’d
followed through with his still resounding 8th,
his“Pathétique“, opus 13, through several
significant others to just before this one his
opus 27, no 2, the “Moonlight”
incidentally, usually retains the German spelling,
for the feminine word in German “Sonate”, and
it is generally pronounced, with an enunciated
“e”, that way – is in all of music the piece I find
the most enchanting, I call it my “Johnny
Appleseed” sonata for its youth, freshness,
exhilaration, sense of adventure, infinite and
effervescent possibility, there isn’t a single
adagio here, note, just, at the very slowest,
an andante, a normal walk, there’s too much
wonder and fascination in the music to slow
anything here down
you’ll note that Beethoven doesn’t too much
sway from the rigours of Classical structure,
the beat doesn’t significantly, nor even
infinitesimally much alter, though there are
some idiosyncratic Romantic liberties taken,
not an uncommon occurrence, by the interpreter,
fully redeemed however by his magical, meticulous
rendition
nor does Beethoven touch tonality, we remain
always in the same key, each according to its
own movement
repetition is also there in spades, but you get
there only after he’s taken you through a veritable
rabbit hole, like Alice, and you don’t even know
where you are, where you started, but there you
are again suddenly, to your enchanted wonder,
but already he’s starting you up again for another
apparently iteration, o joy, o even ecstasy
note intimations of Prokofiev already a century
earlier in the third movement, the sprightly
“scherzo (allegro assai)”, note the eccentricity
of the syncopation, already the future is here,
spreading its nascent but fully burgeoning
wings into even our very own 21st Century,
decisively, we will not hang Beethoven out
to dry, that’d be like losing Shakespeare
the elements of Classicism, to summarize,
remain strong with Beethoven, even essential
to his conception of music, the profound
difference is with the impact of the piano,
soft, loud, the hold petal, his use of volume,
his use of, from solemn to effervescent, pace
with these opportune tools he changed the
face of music, channeling through them his
profound, his supremely inspired, genius,
becoming along the way and incontestibly
the Homer, the highest priest and most
revered elder, of Western music, to this very
day unchallenged, still not outshone, nor
even ever yet matched, just listen
psst: you might want to compare this Beethoven
with Schubert’s “Wanderer” Fantasy, for
their itinerary spirit
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