Beethoven Piano Sonata No 8 'Pathetique'

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as Sonata Pathétique, was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old, and was published in 1799. It has remained one of his most celebrated compositions. Beethoven dedicated the work to his friend Prince Karl von Lichnowsky. Although commonly thought to be one of the few works to be named by the composer himself, it was actually named Grande sonate pathétique (to Beethoven's liking) by the publisher, who was impressed by the sonata's tragic sonorities. Prominent musicologists debate whether or not the Pathétique may have been inspired by Mozart's piano sonata K. 457, since both compositions are in C minor and have three very similar movements. The second movement, "Adagio cantabile", especially, makes use of a theme remarkably similar to that of the spacious second movement of Mozart's sonata. However, Beethoven's sonata uses a unique motif line throughout, a major difference from Haydn or Mozart’s creation. The Pathétique was an important success for Beethoven, selling well and helping to create his reputation as a composer, not just an extraordinary pianist. Not only was it immediately popular, it also exposed the world to the characteristics that Beethoven's music would continue to develop in the coming years.

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VIDEO: Krystian Zimerman plays Beethoven Piano Sonata No 8 in C minor Op 13 1st Movement

Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies

The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (French: Rhapsodies hongroises, German: Ungarische Rhapsodien, Hungarian: Magyar rapszódiák), is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and later in 1882 and 1885. Liszt also arranged versions for orchestra, piano duet and piano trio. Some are better known than others, with Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 being particularly famous. No. 10 and No. 6 are also well known. In their original piano form, the Hungarian Rhapsodies are noted for their difficulty (Liszt was a virtuoso pianist as well as a composer).

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VIDEO: Franz Liszt Herbert Von Karajan Hungarian Rhapsody Great Quality Orchestra Version MP4 Everybody know about Franz Liszt,the greatest hungarian composer,pianist,musicien. One of hes best work is the second Hungarian Rhapsody. 

MUSIClassical notes: Beethoven Piano Sonata No 14 "Moonlight"

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27 , No. 2, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, it is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano. The first edition of the score is headed Sonata quasi una fantasia, a title this work shares with its companion piece, Op. 27, No. 1. Grove Music Online translates the Italian title as "sonata in the manner of a fantasy". Translated more literally, this is "sonata almost a fantasy". The name "Moonlight Sonata" comes from remarks made by the German music critic and poet Ludwig Rellstab. In 1832, five years after Beethoven's death, Rellstab likened the effect of the first movement to that of moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne. Within ten years, the name "Moonlight Sonata" ("Mondscheinsonate" in German) was being used in German and English publications. Later in the nineteenth century, the sonata was universally known by that name.

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VIDEO: From the Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos 1-32 cycle recorded 1983-84 Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight" Daniel Barenboim, piano 

Beethoven Piano Sonata No 14 "Moonlight"

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27 , No. 2, popularly known as the Moonlight Sonata, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil, Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, it is one of Beethoven's most popular compositions for the piano.                               WIKIPEDIA



 VIDEO: Concert in honour of the Holy Father offered by the "Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola" Paul VI Auditorium, Saturday, 17 October 2009 Concerto offerto, in onore del Santo Padre, dall'Accademia Pianistica Internazionale di Imola Aula Paolo VI, Sabato, 17 ottobre 2009 Jin Ju, piano Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight / Chiaro di luna) Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2 Sonata per pianoforte n. 14 in Do diesis minore - Sonata Quasi una fantasia 

 

Sibelius Finlandia

Finlandia, Op. 26 is a symphonic poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The first version was written in 1899, and it was revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, as the last of seven pieces, each performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from Finnish history. The premiere was on 2 July 1900 in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. A typical performance takes anywhere from 7½ to 9 minutes. A recurrent joke within Finland at this time was the renaming of Finlandia at various musical concerts so as to avoid Russian censorship. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous, a famously flippant example being Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring. Most of the piece is taken up with rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people. But towards the end, a calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic Finlandia Hymn is heard. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the Hymn section is of Sibelius's own creation. Although initially composed for orchestra, in 1900 Sibelius arranged the entire work for solo piano.
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VIDEO: Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic 

Respighi Fountains of Rome

Fountains of Rome (Italian: Fontane di Roma) is symphonic poem written by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. It is the first orchestral work in his "Roman trilogy", followed by Pines of Rome (1924) and Roman Festivals (1928). Each of the four movements depict one of Rome’s fountains at different times of the day. Its premiere was held on March 11, 1917 at the Teatro Augusteo in Rome under the direction of Antonio Guarnieri. Arturo Toscanini originally planned to conduct the work in 1916, but the Italian composer refused to appear for the performance after a disagreement over his having included some of Wagner's music on a program played during World War I.[clarification needed] Consequently, it did not premiere until March 11, 1917 at the Teatro Augusteo in Rome with Antonio Guarnieri as conductor. Although the premiere was unsuccessful, Toscanini finally conducted the work in Milan in 1918 with tremendous success. The piece was first performed in the United States on February 13, 1919. Toscanini recorded the music with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in 1951; the high fidelity recording was issued on LP and then digitally remastered for release on CD by RCA Victor. The work has since become one of the most eminent examples of the symphonic poem.

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VIDEO: Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Sakari Oramo Composer: Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936) 

Rachmaninoff Scherzo for Orchestra

Scherzo in D minor is Sergei Rachmaninoff's earliest surviving composition for orchestra, composed when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory. It is quite short, taking between four and five minutes to play. The manuscript is dated 5-21 February 1888, when Rachmaninoff was still only 14. An unknown hand has changed this date to 1887. It is dedicated to his cousin Alexander Siloti, and it was intended to be part of a larger work because it is headed "Third movement". The model for the work is the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Rachmaninoff had earlier transcribed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony for two pianos, and the Scherzo also has echoes of that work. The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B♭), 2 bassoons, horn (F), trumpet (B♭), 2 timpani, violins I, violins II, violas, cellos and double basses. The first performance of both the Scherzo and another early work, Prince Rostislav,took place in Moscow on 2 November 1945, conducted by Nikolai Anosoff. The Scherzo was published in 1947.
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VIDEO:If I'm correct, this is also known as his Scherzo in D minor.I only named it F Major because that's what it says on my disk. The piece is one of his earliest works, composed in 1887. "Scherzo in F Major" by Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin

Mendelssohn Symphony No 3 in a Op 56 'Scottish'

The Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, known as the Scottish, is a symphony by Felix Mendelssohn, composed between 1829 and 1842. Mendelssohn was initially inspired to compose this symphony during his first visit to Britain in 1829. After a series of successful performances in London, Mendelssohn embarked on a walking tour of Scotland with his friend Karl Klingemann. On 30 July, Mendelssohn visited the ruins of Holyrood Chapel at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, where he received his initial inspiration for the piece. The premiere took place on 3 March 1842 in Leipzig Gewandhaus.

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VIDEO: Kurt Masur, conductor Gewandhausorchester

Liszt Transcendental Etudes, S 139

The Transcendental Études (French: Études d'exécution transcendante), S.139, are a series of twelve compositions for solo piano by Franz Liszt. They were published in 1852 as a revision of a more technically difficult 1837 series, which in turn were the elaboration of a set of studies written in 1826.


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 VIDEO: 2011 Gwhyneth Chen Piano Recital (Liszt Transcendental Etudes Complete)

Beethoven Piano Sonata No 30 in E, Op 109

Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, composed in 1820, is the antepenultimate of his piano sonatas. In it, after the huge Hammerklavier sonata, Op. 106, Beethoven returns to a smaller scale and a more intimate character. It is dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of Beethoven's long-standing friend Antonie Brentano, for whom Beethoven had already composed the short piano trio in B flat major WoO 39 in 1812. Musically, the work is characterised by a free and original approach to the traditional sonata form. Its focus is the third movement, a set of variations that interpret its theme in a wide variety of individual ways Work on Op. 109 can be traced back to early in 1820, even before Beethoven's negotiations with Adolf Schlesinger, the publisher of his last three sonatas. Recent research suggests that Friedrich Starke had asked Beethoven for a composition for his piano anthology The Vienna Pianoforte School, and that Beethoven had interrupted work on the Missa Solemnis. In the end, though, he offered Starke numbers 7-11 of the Bagatelles, Op. 119.

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VIDEO: Claudio Arrau - Beethoven - Piano Sonata No 30 in E major, Op 109

Respighi Feste romane

Roman Festivals (Italian: Feste Romane) is a symphonic poem written by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. It is the third orchestral work in his "Roman trilogy", preceded by Fountains of Rome (1916) and Pines of Rome (1924). Each of the four movements depict a scene of celebration from ancient or modern Rome. It is the longest and most demanding of the trilogy, and thus it is less-often programmed than its companion pieces. Its premiere was performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Arturo Toscanini in 1929. Arturo Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the music in Carnegie Hall in 1929. Toscanini recorded it with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Academy of Music in 1942 for RCA Victor. He recorded it again with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in 1949, again for RCA. Both recordings were issued on LP and CD. Indeed, the 1949 performance pushed the very limits of the recording equipment of the time as Toscanini insisted the engineers capture all of the dynamics of the music, especially in Circuses and Epiphany.

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VIDEO: Bruno Aprea dirige Respighi - Feste Romane (Circenses e L'Ottobrata) - Orchestra RAI Milano

 

Tchaikovsky Sérénade mélancolique Op 26

The Sérénade mélancolique in B-flat minor for violin and orchestra, Op. 26 (Russian: Меланхолическая серенада), was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in February 1875. It was his first work for violin and orchestra, and was written immediately after completing the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor. The piece was dedicated to Leopold Auer on its publication by P. Jurgenson in February 1876, but Auer did not premiere it. It was first performed by Adolph Brodsky on 16/28 January 1876, at the seventh symphony concert of the Russian Musical Society in Moscow. Auer seems to have been the first to play it in Saint Petersburg, on 6/18 November 1876. Two years later, Tchaikovsky was offended by Auer's criticisms of, and refusal to perform, the Violin Concerto in D major written for him, and he withdrew that dedication. The Concerto was premiered by the same Brodsky who had premiered the Sérénade mélancolique. At that time, Tchaikovsky chose to also withdraw the dedication to Auer of the Sérénade, although it was impossible to remove his name from the edition then being printed by Jurgenson.

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VIDEO: I Perlman, Tchaikovsky Gala Leningrad Music "Sérénade mélancolique, Op. 26" cond by Yuri Temirkanov. 

Berlioz Symphony Fantastique

Symphonie fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un artiste ... en cinq parties (Fantastical Symphony: An Episode in the Life of an Artist, in Five Parts) Op. 14 is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period, and is popular with concert audiences worldwide. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire in December 1830. The work was repeatedly revived after 1831 and subsequently became a favourite in Paris. Leonard Bernstein described the symphony as the first musical expedition into psychedelia because of its hallucinatory and dream-like nature, and because history suggests Berlioz composed at least a portion of it under the influence of opium. According to Bernstein, 'Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral.' In 1831, Berlioz wrote a lesser known sequel to the work, Lélio, for actor, orchestra and chorus. Franz Liszt made a piano transcription of the symphony in 1833. (S.470)

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VIDEO: Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (complete performance) Chicago Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Stephane Deneve Rec. at Orchestra Hall, 06-12-2013
 

Berlioz The Damnation of Faust, Op 24, Dance of the Sylphides; Hungarian March; Menuet des follets

La damnation de Faust (English: The Damnation of Faust), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "légende dramatique" (dramatic legend). It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846. Three instrumental passages, the Marche Hongroise (Hungarian March), Ballet des sylphes, and Menuet des follets are sometimes extracted and performed as "Three Orchestral Pieces from La Damnation de Faust.

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VIDEO: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) 1. Dance of the Sylphs. 2. Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps Baltimore Symphony conducted by David Zinman
 

Beethoven String Quartet No 10 in Eb Op 74

Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 10 in E♭ major, nicknamed the "Harp", was published in 1809 as opus 74. The nickname "Harp" refers to the characteristic pizzicato sections in the Allegro of the first movement, where pairs of members of the quartet alternate notes in an arpeggio, reminiscent of the plucking of a harp. Like many nicknames for Beethoven's works, this was created by the publisher.

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VIDEO: Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No 10 Op 74 Harp E flat major Alban Berg Quartet 

Isaac Albeniz piano, suite Iberia

Iberia is a suite for piano composed between 1905 and 1909 by the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz. It is composed of four books of three pieces each; a complete performance lasts about an hour and a half. It is Albéniz's best-known work and considered his masterpiece. It was highly praised by Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen, who said: "Iberia is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of instruments". Stylistically, this suite falls squarely in the school of Impressionism, especially in its musical evocations of Spain. Technically, Iberia is one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire, requiring immense strength from its interpreters and flexible hands.WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO:

Cuaderno 1
00:00 - Evocación
06:04 - El Puerto
10:14 - El Corpus Christi en Sevilla

Cuaderno 2
19:15 - Rondeña
26:39 - Almería
36:29 - Triana

Cuaderno 3
41:35 - El Albaicín
49:03 - El Polo
56:05 - Lavapiés

Cuaderno 4
01:03:10 - Málaga
01:08:29 - Jerez
01:18:20 - Eritaña

• Music

  • "Iberia: I. Evocación" by Larrocha Alicia de

 

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in d, Op 35

The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1878. It is one of the best known violin concertos, and is considered one of the most technically difficult works for the violin. The concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A and B-flat, two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in D, timpani and strings. The piece was written in Clarens, a Swiss resort on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Tchaikovsky had gone to recover from the depression brought on by his disastrous marriage to Antonina Miliukova. He was working on his Piano Sonata in G major but finding it heavy going. Presently he was joined there by his composition pupil, the violinist Iosif Kotek, who had been in Berlin for violin studies with Joseph Joachim. The first performance was eventually given by Adolph Brodsky on December 4, 1881 in Vienna, under the baton of Hans Richter. Tchaikovsky changed the dedication to Brodsky. Critical reaction was mixed. The influential critic Eduard Hanslick called it "long and pretentious" and said that it "brought us face to face with the revolting thought that music can exist which stinks to the ear". Hanslick also wrote that "the violin was not played but beaten black and blue", as well as labeling the last movement "odorously Russian". The violinist who did much early work to make the work popular with the public and win a place for it in the repertoire was Karel Halíř (who in 1905 was to premiere the revised version of the Sibelius Violin Concerto). When Tchaikovsky attended a Leipzig performance of the work in 1888, with Haliř as soloist, he called the event "a memorable day". The Polish premiere of the concerto was given in Warsaw in 14 January 1892, with Stanisław Barcewicz on violin and the composer conducting. They also played the Sérénade mélancolique for the first time in Poland on that occasion.
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VIDEO: Sayaka Shoji is the first Japanese and youngest winner at the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1999. She was born into an artistic family and spent her childhood in Siena, Italy. She studied at Hochschule für Musik Köln under Zakhar Bron and graduated in 2004. Her other teachers have included Sashko Gawrillow, Uto Ughi and Shlomo Mintz. Zubin Mehta has been her strong supporter. When Shoji auditioned for him in 2000, he immediately changed his schedule in order to make her first recording with the Israel Philharmonic possible in the following month, then invited her to perform with Bavarian State Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) なぜか突然、チャイコフスキーのバイオリン協奏曲を聴きたい気分になっちゃいました。­ワタシは 20:22 からの第二楽章が大好きです。そして 27:04 からの第三楽章でガラリと曲調が変わるダイナミックな変化が好きです。庄司紗矢香(S­ayaka Shoji)さんの小柄な身体からあふれ出すエネルギー、そしてそれを支える繊細な弦­のテクニックに魅せられますよね。「やってやるワ」という向こう意気も感じられて、素­敵です。 ・テミルカーノフ(Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov)指揮 ・サンクトペテルブルクフィル(Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra)