Schubert Four Impromptus, D 899, Op 90 (Set 1)

Classical Music / Schubert Music

Franz Schubert's Impromptus are a series of  eight pieces for solo piano composed in 1827, published in two sets of four impromptus each:

The first two pieces in this Set 1 in D 899, Op. 90 - were published in Schubert's lifetime as Op. 90.  The third and fourth pieces were published in 1857 (although the third piece was printed by the publisher in G major, instead of G-flat as Schubert had written it, and remained available only in this key for many years).

I'm sharing two interpretations from two brilliant interpreters of Schubert's music, pianists  Maria João Pires and Alfred Brendel.







Note:  The second set, D. 935, Op. 142,  was published posthumously, as Op. 142 in 1839 (with a dedication to Franz Liszt added by the publisher. Three other unnamed piano compositions (D. 946), written a few months before the composer's death, in May 1828, are also known as both "Impromptus" and Klavierstücke ("piano pieces").


Video Credit:

Alfred Brendel - Franz Schubert - Four Impromptus, D 899.  YouTube, uploaded by Classical Vault 1. Accessed March 23, 2014

Schubert - 4 Impromptus, D. 899 / Op. 90 (Maria João Pires). YouTube, uploaded by MrPalika123. Accessed March 23, 2018. 


(c)  March 23, 2014. Updated March 23, 2018. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Schubert's Last Piano Sonata, D. 960

Classical Music / Piano Sonatas

This post is to celebrate the 220th birthday anniversary of Austrian cocmposer Franz Schubert. In particular, I have embedded the video of an all-time favourite, his last piano sonata D. 969, magnificently interpreted by Sviatoslav Richter.    

Franz Schubert's last three piano sonatas, D 958, 959 and 960, are his last major piano compositions. They were written during the last months of his life, between the spring and autumn of 1828, but were not published until about ten years after his death, in 1838–39. Like the rest of h is piano sonatas, they were mostly neglected in the 19th century. By the late 20th century, however, public and critical opinion had changed. These sonatas are now considered among the most important of the composer's mature masterpieces; part of the core piano repertoire, appearing regularly on concert programs and recordings.




Piano sonata D.960 Tracks:

I. Molto moderato
II. Andante sostenuto
III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace con delicatezza
IV. Allegro, ma non troppo

For more listening pleasure, I highly suggest Maurizio Pollini's interpretation of Schubert's Piano Sonatas D.958, 959, 960 (live 1985).  YouTube, uploaded by ADGO. Accessed May 21, 2017.




Video Credit:

Schubert Piano Sonata D.960. YouTube, uploaded by incontrario motu.  Accessed March 31, 2017.  (Sviatoslav Richter Studio recording, Salzburg, 6, 9 & 11.VIII.1972)


Resource:

Schubert's last Sonatas. en.wikipedia.org.


(c) 2017-2018. Tel Asiado.  Inspired Pen Web.  All rights reserved.

Marin Marais

Classical Music / Composers Datebook: May 31

French Composer Marin Marais

Marin Marais (31 May 1656 – 15 August 1728), was born and died in Paris. He is said to have brought viola da gamba playing to the highest level of perfection. He was a French composer and viol player who often conducted his own opera.  He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for few months.

In 1676, he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles.  Three years later, in 1679, he was appointed "ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole", a title he kept until 1725.

Joseph Lanner

Classical Music Composer Dateline: April 12

Joseph Lanner, Austrian Dance Composer and Violinist

Austrian composer Joseph Lanner (1801-1843), is born on April 12, 1801, in Vienna. He is credited, along with Johann Strauss, Sr., in founding the Viennese waltz.

In 1820, he built a full orchestra that performed popular dance music in taverns in Vienna and in the Prater --- from a quintet in which he played the violin and Johann Strauss, Sr., the viola. Later, the duo Strauss Sr. and Lanner split forming rival dance bands - laying the foundations of the classical Viennese waltz. 

Featuring: VIENNA STATE BALLET - "Die Romantiker, Waltz" 

(by Joseph Lanner).  Youtube, uploaded by Poesia della Danza. Aaccessed April 12, 2024. 

André Previn

Classical Music Datebook: April 6

André Previn, Conductor, Pianist, Composer

André Previn, KBE, was a German-born American conductor, pianist and composer, born on April 6, 1929.  

Previn was one of the most versatile musicians of the 20th century, and winner of Academy Awards for his film work. He won many Grammy Awards for his recordings.

Andre Previn Profile 

Previn, a distant relative of the composer Gustav Mahler, was born in Berlin, Germany, to a Russian Jewish family.

Johann Dussek

Mozart Contemporaries / Johann Dussek

Czech composer, harpist and pianist:  Johann "Jan" Ladislaus Dussek

Jan Ladislav Dussek (more known as Václav Jan Dusík) (Feb 12, 1760 - Mar 20, 1812) was a Czech composer and pianist. He was born at Caslav, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). 

The Dussek family has a long history as professional musicians, starting from Jan Ladislav's grandfather, and lasting into the 1970s. Jan Ladislav is often known as "Dussek the Great". His mother was a harpist, and therefore not surprisingly he composed much music for the harp as well as for the piano.

After early studies, Dussek traveled to the Netherlands and Germany, where he may have studied with C.P.E. Bach. From there, he moved to St. Petersburg in Russia, where he was a favourite of Catherine the Great for a time.
However, he fled St. Petersburg just ahead of Catherine's secret police, who accused him of involvement in a plot to assassinate Catherine. Given Dussek's lifelong royalist sympathies, his well-attested personal good looks, and Catherine's proclivity for beautiful young men, a different explanation seems more probable.

Pablo Casals, Cello Virtuoso

Classical Music Datebook: December 29

Spanish virtuoso Pablo Casals, composer and conductor

Pau Carles Salvador Casals i Defilló (December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973), was a Spanish composer born in Catalonia. Commonly known as Pablo Casals, he was a virtuoso cello player, and later conductor. He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor. Casals is best remembered for the recording of Bach's Cello Suites he produced from 1936 to 1939.

Once every four years, the International Pablo Casals Cello Competition is held in Germany under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy. It started in 2000, to discover and further the careers of the future cello elite. It is supported by the Pablo Casals Cello Foundation under the patronage of Marta Casals Istomin. One of the prizes is the use of Casals' Gofriller cello.  The first top prize was awarded in 2000 to Claudio Bohorquez.

El cant dels ocells (The Song of the Birds)   

"El cant dels ocells" ("The Song of the Birds"), is a traditional Catalan Christmas song and lullaby. It tells of nature's joy at learning of the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable in Bethlehem. The song was made famous by Pablo Casals' instrumental version on the cello. After his exile in 1939, he would begin each of his concerts by playing this song. For this reason, it is often considered a symbol of Catalonia. American singer, songwriter and activist included it in her 1966 best selling Christmas LP, dedicating the song to Casals.






Suggested listening:

"Song of the Birds". Traditional Catalan song arranged by Pablo Casals. Interpreted by Yo-Yo Ma. KCRW. Accessed January17, 2020. 



Video Credit:

Pau Casals, accompanied by pianist Mieczyslaw Horszowski, plays El cant dels ocells (The Song of the Birds) at the White House. Piano from the album "A Concert at the White House" (Columbia KL 5726) recorded live on November 13, 1961 at the White House and released in 1962. Uploaded by juristchesus. Accessed December 29, 2014.


Resource:

El cant dels ocells. Wikipedia. Accessed December 29, 2014.
Pablo Casals. Wikipedia. Accessed December 29, 2014.


(c) December 2014. Updated January 17, 2020. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Fritz Kreisler

Classical Music / Composers Datebook:  February 2  

 

Fritz Kreisler was an Austrian and later American composer and violinist. At the age of 13, he made his American debut in Steinway Hall, New York City.

Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962), Austrian-born American violinist and composer. He was one of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Kreisler was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately recognizable as his own. Although it derived in many respects from the Franco-Belgian school, his style is nonetheless reminiscent of the gemütlich (cozy) lifestyle of pre-war Vienna. 

Kreisler wrote a number of pieces for the violin, some of them in the style of other composers, in particular, emotionally committed performances of the Beethoven and Brahms violin concerti. Many of these works were originally ascribed to earlier composers such as Giuseppe Tartini and Antonio Vivaldi until Kreisler revealed in 1935 that they were actually by him.

He is famous for romantic short pieces, for example:  "Liebesfreud" (Love's joy), "Liebesleid" (Love's sorrow) and "Schön Rosmarin", among others.  

Mauro Giuliani

Classical Composer Datebook:  July 27



Mauro Giuliani, Italian virtuoso guitarist,cellist, and composer, is born July 27 (1781) in Barletta. He devised a guitar with shorter fingerboard.

As a guitar composer he was very fond of theme and variations, a form extremely popular in Vienna. An example of this ability is his Variations on a Theme of Handel, Op. 107. This popular theme, known as "The Harmonious Blacksmith", appears in the Aria from Handel's Suite no. 5 in E for harpsichord.

Giuliani's achievements as a composer were numerous with with opus number constituting a huge part of the nineteenth-century guitar repertory. He composed excellent pieces for solo guitar, orchestra, Guitar-Violin and Guitar-Flute duos.

Franz Joseph Haydn

Classical Music / Composers Datebook: March 31
 

 

Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent of the Classical period. He was known as the 'Father of the Symphony.'

Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31, 1732, in Rohrau, Austria. Along with that of Mozart, he epitomised the early Classical era. The son of a wheelwright, he went to St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna as a chorister. He was mainly self-taught in composition however gained maturity as a composer. Haydn was married to Maria Anna Aloysia Apollonia Keller (m. 1760–1800.) His younger brother, Michael Haydn was also a composer. He was known affectionately as "Papa" Haydn to his young friend Wolfgang Mozart. He was a tutor of Ludwig van Beethoven for a brief period.

In 1761, at the age of 29 (his young friend Mozart was then five years old), Haydn took employment with the Esterhazy family, a post he held for the rest of his life. On the death of Prince Nikolaus in 1790, he accepted an invitation to go to England from the impresario Salomon, where he composed many symphonies.

 

Joseph Haydn was a major exponent of sonata form in his numerous chamber and orchestral works having written more than 100 symphonies. He was also the first great master of the string quartet.  

Haydn is famous for his oratorio "The Creation" (German: Die Schöpfung) and "The Seasons" (German: Die Jahreszeiten). He wrote many symphonies and string quartets.  He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio. His contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe.

Related Article: 

What "Papa" Haydn Taught Mozart
   

Listening pleasure:

Pianist Martha Argerich performing Haydn's Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVIII:11.  YouTube, uploaded by Roberto Carvalho de Magalhães. Accessed February 9, 2018.  (Added info from  Hyperion for those who want to know more about this concerto by Haydn - Here.)  

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op.30

Classical Music / Piano Concerto 

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff considered one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard classical repertoire. It is used in the 1996 film Shine, based on the life of pianist David Helfgott.

The video below is performed by piano virtuoso Martha Argerich, with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly.




Following the form of a standard concerto, the piece is in three movements: 0:28 - Allegro ma non tanto, 16:27 - Intermezzo: Adagio, and 27: 27 - Finale: Alla breve