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Piano recital
This
is a sélection of "untypical" works by well-known composers.
Schumann wrote his Fantasiestücke when he was 27 years old.The rhythm and the
phrasing are very complex, literally fantastic; "Des Abends" has a phrasing
in several rhythms at the same time: 2/8 time and triplets, in sequences of
four measues. "Aufschwung" and "Grillen" are written in a three-beat time, whereas
the phrasing is again in four-measure sequences. Schumann combines all this
with an exuberance of musical and technical skills.
Domenico Scarlatti composed about 500 sonatas. In the piece included here, Scarlatti
imitates wind instruments on his harpsichord. A joyful flute and horn melody
is interrupted by a trumpet fanfare theme. The motifs are then given alternately
and in the second part, combined.
Shostakovitch's collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues, composed in 1950-51, is
the twentieth-century equivalent of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
Shostakovitch creates his own universe, intimate and audacious, including dances
(Prelude no. 1, Saraband, Fugue no. 2), humorous pieces (Fugues nos. 3 and 5)
and an overture (Prelude no. 6). Fugues nos. 1, 4 and 6 are masterpieces of
their kind.
The first prelude is a saraband followed by a fugue in four voices which, remarkable
for the twentieth century, contains not a single accidental.
The second prelude is a brilliant monody; the fugue is dissonant and staggering,
jumping from one key to another. The third piece commences with a Russian chant
and the three-part fugue is humorous and lively. The following Prelude in E
minor is dark and introverted. It takes us without interruption to the double
fugue, composed as one single crescendo which goes from near silence to an almost
symphonic end.
The fifth piece is a delightful serenade with the theme in the bass. The fugue
is bright and skips through many different keys.
A French overture introduces a mysterious fugue (no. 6) in four voices, with
two themes.
The Fantasia in D minor by Mozart (1782) is a fragment, but it gives us an impression
of how Mozart might have improvised.
Beethoven's Sonata no. 26 concerns the farewell of his friend and pupil, the
Archduke Rudolf, on the 4th of May, 1809.
The original title, "Lebewohl", directly inspires the principal theme of the
entire Sonata (a descending G, F, E flat melody, whose notes are harmonized
respectively with E flat major, B flat major and C minor chords). You can hear
the Postillion (farewell horn motif) at the end of the first movement, followed
by a lamento on the absence of his dear friend, while the third movement celebrates
his return.
Program
Robert Schumann
Fantasiestücke op 12
des Abends, Aufschwung, Warum, Grillen
Dimitrij Schostakovitsch (1906-1975)
from 24 Preludes and Fugues op 87
Prelude & Fugue in C major
Prelude & Fugue in a minor
Prelude & Fugue in G major
Prelude & Fugue in e minor
Prelude & Fugue in D major
Prelude & Fugue in B minor
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonate opus 81 "Les Adieux" E flat- major
Das Lebewohl (Les Adieux)
Adagio / Allegro
Abwesenheit (L`Absence) Andante espressivo / in gehender Bewegung, doch mit viel Ausdruck
Das Wiedersehen (Le Retour)
Vivacissimamente / Im lebhaftesten Zeitmaße
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Fantasie d-minor (KV 397)
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonate in G major
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonate op.28 in D-dur (Pastorale)
Scherzo/Trio
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