Ottorino Respighi: Pines of Rome

It is no exaggeration to say that Italy's role in contemporary music was not as brilliant and influential as in other periods. However, from the generation of the eighties of the 19th century onwards, Italian music did indeed participate in the renewal of musical language and, thanks to the knowledge of its past (which is no small thing), musicians were able to break new ground in the search for new paths. Among these composers – contemporaries of the French musicians who reacted against Germanic post-romanticism (Debussy, Satie, Ravel, to name a few) – Ottorino Respighi stands out as the most famous worldwide among his Italian colleagues.

The "Roman" trilogy

In his early thirties, Respighi settled in Rome after taking over, in 1913, the post of teacher of composition at the Accademia Santa Cecilia. The academy would soon become the Conservatory of Rome, and Ottorino would be appointed director of the prestigious institution in 1924. Seduced by the Roman musical life and the remarkable landscape of the city, he decided, during the first year of his administration, to resume his tribute to the eternal city with the composition of the tone poem Pines of Rome, a tribute that had begun in 1916 with Fontana di Roma, and that would culminate with Feste Romane, in 1928.

Ottorino Respighi, in 1935
1879 - 1936

Pini di Roma
Although in close competition with Fontana... it is the most popular work of the trilogy, and certainly the one that arouses the greatest enthusiasm of the orchestral ensembles of the world. It had its premiere, not without a few setbacks, on December 14, 1924, in Rome.

The theater was packed, but Respighi sensed that the audience would soon be disappointed in the first movement. And indeed there was a considerable whistling at the end of the first section, not at all surprising since the trumpets insist with clatter on a discordant note, completely alien to the tonality in progress [minute 2:31 and later]. In the second movement, the orchestra calmed down, and so did the audience, although it remained intrigued by the development of the work. A resounding ovation greeted the end of the piece.

Movements

Aware that Italian audiences have always been more inclined to opera than to instrumental music, the author included some "explanatory" notes in the hand program, for each of the sections. The following is a synopsis:

00 I Pini di Villa Borghese

Children play around the pines of the Villa Borghese [the opulent mansion of the conspicuous 17th-century Roman family]; they dance in circles, they play at being soldiers, marching and fighting, they come and go in flocks. Suddenly, the scene changes and...

2:50  Pini presso una Catacomba
... we see the shadows of the pine trees framing the entrance to a catacomb. From the depths emerges the sound of a funeral psalm, floating in the air like a solemn hymn, which gradually and mysteriously begins to dissipate.

9:94  I Pini del Gianicolo
The air shivers: The pines of the Gianicolo [Rome's hill from which the best views of the city are enjoyed] can be seen outlined by the clear light of the full moon. A nightingale sings... [The score calls for the inclusion of birdsong, real, recorded... innovation that became prophetic].

18:27  I Pini della Via Appia
Misty dawn on the Via Appia: the solitary pines are guardians of the magical landscape; the insistent rhythm of countless footsteps can be heard. The poet has a fantastic vision of past glories: trumpets sound and, in the brightness of the new radiant sun, a consular army is gradually approaching the sacred Via, heading triumphantly towards the Capitol...

Critics have often called Respighi ultra-conservative, among other less-than-warm epithets. But audiences love it. That's what ultimately matters.

The performance is by the Slovenian ensemble, Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Nejc Bečan.

Chopin, Ballade No 3, in A flat major

Although Chopin never confirmed the source from which he took inspiration for his four ballades, it is customary to affirm that they obey the admiration he had for the work of his friend and Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, exiled like him in the Paris of the thirties. An enthusiastic supporter of this conjecture was Robert Schumann (dedicatee of Ballade No. 2, with no great rapture on Chopin's part, it must be said). Schumann found Mickiewicz inspirational poems for each of the ballads. For No. 3, he claimed he was inspired by the poem Undine, which tells the tragic story of a water sprite, an undine, who falls in love with a mortal.

The fact is that Chopin never had any interest in music that contained characters or told stories. But neither did he reject these suggestions outright. He simply ignored them, as flippant, perhaps. 
(As for the magical character, he would reappear in one of Ravel's most celebrated compositions in the next century, as the protagonist of the first movement of his 1908 solo piano suite Gaspard de la Nuit).

Teaching wealthy ladies
The third ballade was composed during the years 1840-41, when Chopin had been in Paris for almost ten years. The early days had not been easy. But everything changed after he met the very wealthy Rothschild family, of Jewish origin, through whom Chopin gained access to the noble and aristocratic circles of Paris. The ladies asked him for lessons. The Baroness de Rothschild was the first to enroll. Also Miss Pauline de Noailles, daughter of a prince. Ballade No. 3 is dedicated to her.

Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, opus 47
Less turbulent than the two previous ballads, the third ballad begins with a long introduction that resembles, according to scholars, a conversation, a dialogue between two lovers. It is not until minute 02:11 that the first theme appears, charming and elegant. The seven-minute piece concludes with an abbreviated version of the second theme (03:58), virtuosic but not triumphant, because the infatuation of the undine, following Schumann, has turned out to be more bitter than happy.

The performance, superb, is by the Polish maestro Krystian Zimerman.

Thalberg, Opera Fantasies - Barbieri di Siviglia

In the early 1800s, concertgoers were mostly music professionals or knowledgeable amateurs. But it wasn't long before an emerging middle class moved in that direction. It is a time when music is moving beyond the courts and churches. As a result, specialized magazines and music criticism are emerging, and the publication of printed music is on the rise. The cultural horizon of the middle class widened and, one day, they decided that they also wanted to go to concerts.

New audience, new musicians
And for this new audience, there were also new musicians: pianists of outstanding craftsmanship who were also composers, although their work survives them faintly. In the first half of the 19th century, there were dozens of them.

Sigismund Thalberg
(1812 - 1871)

Sigismund Thalberg, born in Geneva in 1812 (two years after Chopin) was one of them. A pupil of Hummel and Moscheles, and possessing an extraordinary technique, he made his debut in Vienna in 1829 to great acclaim. From then on, taking advantage of his aristocratic and elegant bearing, he built up a good following, primarily women, almost, almost, in the style of Liszt.

Reaping success
A successful musician, he was also a gentle person. It was not unusual for his admirers to honor him with sumptuous gifts. One of them gave him a magnificent mansion in Vienna.
He toured all over Europe and the USA, achieving success everywhere. By the time he retired in 1863, he had earned more money than he could spend. So he went to Italy, where he devoted himself to winemaking. His retirement was for real: there was no piano in his Italian home.

Chopin's approach
And just as he had admiring colleagues (Mendelssohn, Schumann) he also had detractors. Chopin, not much given to praise, left only a sketch of his personality: "...women like him, he is younger than I am and makes potpourris with La Muette [an opera of the time]...".

Fantasies about operas
Indeed, Thalberg specialized in fantasies on operatic themes. He composed around fifty or more, which usually made up a large part of his performances. His music is not particularly ingenious or novel but it is pianistic to a high degree, and often very difficult. But it was short-lived. Today, from time to time some pianist recalls it, perhaps lest we forget that this music once captivated an era and an audience.

Grand Fantasia opus 63 - Variations on themes from The Barber of Seville by Rossini
At the piano, the Ukrainian performer Valentina Lisitsa.

 

Schubert, "Valses Sentimentales", op 50

During his short life, Franz Schubert wrote about one hundred waltzes for piano. The group of 34 miniatures he called Valses Sentimentales, probably composed around 1823, were not conceived as a complete work but as short pieces written at different times that finally interested a Viennese publisher who released them in 1825 grouped together as his Opus 50.

In 1827, a year before his death, he would choose another twelve, which this time he would call Valses Nobles. They would make up a new collection that was published as his Opus 77.

"Valses Sentimentales"
The set of 34 miniatures, whose complete performance lasts no more than twenty-five minutes, contains some of Schubert's most beautiful as well as small masterpieces, for their melodic invention and tenderness, so characteristic of the composer (hence perhaps the title "sentimental"). And, as is the case with most of the Viennese master's oeuvre, these very short pieces are not abundant in virtuosic effects. Nevertheless, the grace and freshness they display are admirable.

Ravel homage
Almost ninety years later, in 1911, Maurice Ravel will publish in Paris one of his most recognized works, the set of seven waltzes plus an epilogue that he titled Valses Nobles et Sentimentales in homage to little Franz.

Guillaume Coppola, French pianist, performs here waltzes Nos. 18, 20, 21 and 23. The four waltzes together do not exceed three minutes in length. They are, in fact, miniatures.

Sibelius, "Finlandia" - tone poem

The land we know today as Finland was absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1809 with the decorous name of the Grand Duchy of Finland. Ninety years later, in 1899, irrepressible nationalist winds forced Russia to impose strict censorship on the small nation's press. As a result, in November of the same year, the Finnish press organized a fundraising gala in Helsinki, which was in reality a subterfuge to drum up support for a free press.

The gala ended ceremoniously with the performance of a recently created work by Jean Sibelius. For the occasion, the work was presented with careful innocence under the title "Music for the Press Ceremony". Composed of six tableaux and an overture, the work ended with the piece entitled "Awakening of Finland". Such was the reception given to this sixth tableau that Sibelius revised it the following year, transforming it into an independent tone poem which he retitled straight and simply "Finlandia".

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Finlandia, a tone poem

Premiered as an autonomous work on July 3, 1900, the tone poem revealed to the world the poetic mastery of Sibelius, becoming the starting point of a rapturous nationalist feeling, of which the composer was an outstanding protagonist.

From then on, Finlandia became the second national anthem practically. However, due to censorship, the work was presented in those years under the most diverse titles, which ranged from the cautious Nocturne to the more daring Heroic Sentiments, or The Awakening of the Finnish Spring. This was a mandatory practice until Finland achieved independence after the First World War.

The superb rendition is by the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Caracas, conducted by maestro César Iván Lara. Its most celebrated passage is presented at 4:00 minutes; first in a reverent atmosphere; by the end, it will turn into a powerful statement of victory.

Mozart, Fantasia in C minor

 
In February 1784, Mozart took an impressive turn from his carefree and mischievous nature and set about making a complete record of his works, which he called "List of All My Works" in all seriousness and application. However, he did not intend to burn the midnight oil on the project, as he planned to complete it around 1800, by which time it would be duly "updated".

The solo piano piece Fantasia in C minor (K. 475) entered the catalog on May 20, 1875.

These are years in which Mozart, despite the success achieved with The Abduction from the Seraglio in 1782, focused on the production of piano concertos and the development of his career as a pianist. In 1785, precisely, the concertos Nos. 20, 21, and 22, no more and no less, saw the light of day.

Fantasia in C minor, K 475

It was published that same year as a set (opus 11) with a sonata (the sonata in C minor, KV 457), a completely different genre if one thinks of the improvisatory character that every "fantasia" is supposed to have. This led to thinking that the latter's mood served in some way as an introduction to the sonata, both pieces forming an integral work. Today they are considered independent pieces, and in that light, they are part of the repertoire of contemporary pianists.

The Atmosphere

Unlike the plurality of sensations (pathos, joy, abandonment) evoked by its namesake, in D minor, from 1782, the Fantasia in C minor, beginning in a beautiful adagio tempo, is characterized by maintaining, in general, a somewhat somber and perhaps even gloomy atmosphere. In line with the rest of Mozart's fantasias, it demands from the interpreter a translucent virtuosity.

An exquisite version is the one delivered here by the remarkable Hungarian pianist Zoltan Kocsis, who passed away in Budapest 6 years ago. Maestro Kocsis, in addition to developing an extraordinary career as a virtuoso, also successfully tackled conducting, composition and pedagogy. This modest blog pays here a heartfelt tribute to him.

Debussy, La fille aux cheveux de lin

Claude Debussy wrote his two books of Piano Preludes between the end of 1909 and the first months of 1913. Both collections consist of twelve preludes, presenting at the time the editorial novelty that the delicate descriptions with which they are known today were placed by Debussy at the end of the pieces and not at the beginning, as was usual. Perhaps the purpose was that these brief and somewhat picturesque descriptions would work as a reflection, a second thought inspired by the music and not the other way around.

La fille aux cheveux de lin is the description Debussy added to the end of Prelude No 8, from Book I. A mere two pages of delicate, superbly designed music that, in terms of popularity, are on a par with the renowned Moonlight from the Bergamasque Suite from 1890, or the symphonic poem Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun from 1894.

The Innocence or the Candor
Debussy took the title from the homonymous poem by his compatriot Leconte de Lisle, one of his Chansons écossaises that outlines the image of a flaxen-haired girl, which the aesthetics of the time associated with innocence, or candor. Very much in tune with this portrayal, Debussy's piece is surprising for its melodic and harmonic simplicity, far removed from his own style for the time and rather close to the character of his early compositions.

(Among these youthful compositions, there is a melody with the same title, never published, dedicated to Madame Vasnier, a soprano with whom Debussy was romantically attached between 1880 and 1884, and to whom he dedicated about twenty songs, all inspired by poems of French authors).

The first public performance of the piece took place, along with the rest of the preludes from Book I, in London on June 2, 1910.

The superb version presented here is by the German pianist Katharina Treutler.

Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, "Leningrad"

Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, called "Leningrad", is a work brought to completion in wartime and premiered in the most heroic manner imaginable.
On June 22, 1941, German troops invaded Russia as part of a plan conceived the previous year, "Operation Barbarossa". By the end of July, the capital Leningrad (i.e. St. Petersburg, then and now) was completely surrounded. The city's siege lasted precisely 872 days, from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944. It was the longest siege of a city in history and the most costly in terms of civilian and military lives.

Although it is possible that Shostakovich had begun composing the symphony before the invasion, the fact is that when the siege began he was working there, in Leningrad, as a professor at the Conservatory (he was a fireman there during the siege). There he finished the first three movements. Months later, he and his family were evacuated, completing the symphony in Kuibyshev, the provisional capital, on December 27, 1941. Its premiere took place there on March 5, 1942. Astoundingly, five months later, it premiered in the besieged city.

A year after the siege, the only remaining orchestra in the city, the Leningrad Radio Orchestra, was inactive because a number of its members had been wounded or were dead. So when its conductor called its members for the exceptional rehearsal of a new Shostakovich Symphony, only fifteen showed up. Most of them were starving: the wind players fainted after the first few notes. Musicians had to be brought in from the front. The first rehearsals did not last an hour, due to general exhaustion. Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe bombing did not stop.

Shostakovich, a fireman in Leningrad

Music for the enemy ranks

Under these incredible conditions, with only one rehearsal of the complete work achieved only that morning, the Symphony was performed in the Great Hall of the Philharmonic on August 9, 1942. Through loudspeakers installed throughout the city in the direction of the enemy ranks, it could also be heard by German soldiers (and Finns, who also took part in the siege).

[A comprehensive article on the conditions, preparations and logistics involved in this incredible performance can be found here.]

Written in the key of C major, the Symphony is nearly 80 minutes long, and consists of four movements: Allegretto / Moderato (poco allegretto) / Adagio / Allegro non troppo.

The First Movement is presented here, with Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting the Symphony Orchestra of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, which we assume will have disappeared, or at least, changed its name.

First Movement - Allegretto
The first movement opens with a sweeping, resolute theme that plays an important and prominent part in the Symphony. An ensuing group of themes radiates a relaxed, carefree warmth. In lieu of a development section, Shostakovich instead gives us a protracted orchestral crescendo on a theme over an insistent rhythmic pattern. He called this the “invasion theme,” and, initially, it was interpreted to represent the German invasion of Russia. But Shostakovich was clear about its double meaning – “I was thinking of other enemies of humanity when I composed the theme.” It begins innocently, non-threateningly, soft and seemingly in the distance, and becomes increasingly ominous and terrifying as it gains in volume and proximity. It is one of the most remarkable passages in Shostakovich’s symphonic output; at its climax – distorted, tremendous, horrific – the composer brings back the opening theme, a gesture of defiance and heroism in the face of the invasion.
(This paragraph, taken from LA Phil site).

JS Bach, English Suite No 2 - Prelude

Just as the French Suites of the baroque master are only French because they were published under the title Suites pour le clavecin, the English Suites are not English either. The origin of the title is a complete enigma.
They were never published during Bach's lifetime, but a handwritten copy once existed with the inscription "fait pour les Anglois". Then speculations began, ranging from a wrong interpretation of what was written (someone understood "Anglois" where it could say something else) to the possibility that they were indeed written for an anonymous English nobleman who would have requested them to Bach during a visit to Köthen. The debate continues.

The Six "English" Suites

The group of six keyboard suites was likely composed in the 1720s, shortly before the French Suites, and possibly in Köthen where the master served as Kappellmeister from 1717 to 1723. Speculation aside, they must have been composed for the private use of pupils, relatives, and acquaintances. Whoever did read "Anglois" may also have read "Angoisses", griefs, given the difficulty of many of its movements.

The dances, or movements

Like the "French" suites, the six "English" suites maintain the traditional structure, with their four movements, or dances: allemande - courante - sarabande - gigue, to which are added, between the sarabande and the gigue, a variable number of supplementary movements such as a minuet, a gavotte, bourré, or an aria. The difference is that in the "English" Bach incorporated a prelude, at the beginning (as expected), which will no longer appear in the later French suites.

It is the section that is often played as an encore after a performance. Its great technical complexity lends itself to the performer's brilliance.

Prelude from the English Suite No. 2 in A minor

Just over four minutes of a remarkable exercise in counterpoint. The outstanding rendition is by a beautiful and very young Martha Argerich, in a 1969 recording. The video, badly edited, starts late, missing a couple of notes at the beginning, but it is still very worthwhile.

Chopin, Waltz op 70 No 3

The three waltzes grouped in opus 70 are posthumous. They were published in Berlin in 1855, six years after Chopin's death. The decision was made by his friend and pianist Julian Fontana (a Pole of Italian origin), after consultation with Chopin's mother and his sister Ludwika. The last of them, No. 3, is actually the first of the three that he composed. And it was not far from being marked as the first waltz of all his work in the genre, since it is only preceded by the two waltzes of opus 69, from 1827.

Waltz opus 70 No 3, in D-flat major

It was composed in 1829, when Chopin was back in Warsaw after his first trip to Vienna. At that time, Chopin seemed to be in love with a fellow student at the Warsaw Conservatory. In a letter to his friend Tytus Woyciechowski, he points out that in this waltz he evokes "a charming being". Chopin does not give names because "...I know that it is not necessary to draw your attention to that detail: you will feel it yourself," he confesses.

Konstancja 

The charming being is Miss Konstancja Gladkowska, a singing student, who will appear repeatedly in the correspondence that the young master maintains with his friend Tytus. He will tell him, for example, that he has been her piano accompanist. Later, he will confess that the Adagio of the Concerto No. 2 (chronologically, the first) was inspired by his charming fellow student.

A simple piece

Although "deliciously polyphonic" according to scholars, the piece is rather simple. With an A-B-A structure (a first theme, second, return to the first), it presents no major technical difficulties, other than a couple of left-hand trills, which demand a sonority as elegant as it is substantial.

The rendition is by Martin Leung, an American pianist born in Hong Kong.
A delicious two-minute a half of music.

Karl Czerny, pedagogue and composer, Variations on "La Ricordanza"

Karl Czerny, the Viennese composer and pedagogue, is remembered today mainly for his pedagogical work. Every piano student has had to deal with his etudes and exercises on speed and fingering. Not for nothing is he considered one of the fathers of modern piano technique. As a teacher, he taught Liszt. As a student, he was a pupil of Hummel, Salieri, and Beethoven. He was a child prodigy, as befits every great pianist.

Beethoven's pupil

At the age of nine, when he was already composing and handling the standard repertoire, he was introduced to Beethoven in Vienna, for whom he played the Pathetique Sonata. Beethoven wrote to his father: "The boy has talent. I accept him as a pupil. I will teach him myself. Send him to me once a week."

Czerny received lessons from the master from 1800 until 1803. Two years later, he needed a recommendation. This is what Beethoven wrote, in 1805:

"I, undersigned, have the pleasure of attesting that young Karl Czerny has made an extraordinary advance on the piano, beyond what could be expected at the age of 14. I think he deserves all the help he can get, not only because of what I have just stated but because of his amazing memory."

Karl Czerny (1791 - 1857)

A vast oeuvre
Indeed, Czerny was one of the great pianists of the first half of the 19th century. In 1812 he premiered his master's Emperor Concerto in Vienna.
But he did not like to play in public. He did not tour much either, preferring to stay in Vienna and compose, in which he was prolific: his oeuvre totals more than a thousand published opus numbers, including masses, symphonies, concertos, and sonatas. He never married, and at his death he left an important fortune. 

Variations on a theme by Rode
The 20th century, however, had forgotten him as a composer. Until 1940, when Vladimir Horowitz discovered some interesting variations, stemming from his writing. They are variations on "La Ricordanza", an aria by Pierre Rode, a French violinist and composer.

After Horowitz's discovery, the master and great pedagogue Karl Czerny has enjoyed a modest rebirth, rescuing part of his work in the last twenty years; the compositional work we say, because his pedagogical contribution has been continuously present for two centuries.

The performance is by the South Korean pianist Sangyoung Kim.

Chopin, Scherzo No 4, in E major

As in all the years following the trip to Majorca, the "family group" consisting of Chopin, George Sand, and her two children, spent the summer of 1842 in the vacation house the writer had in Nohant. It was a year in which life smiled on Chopin. In the company of his adopted family, he moved to a more comfortable residence in Paris, in February he gave a concert at the Salle Pleyel, and his creative work at Nohant paid off handsomely.

Scherzo No. 4 in E major

From that fruitful year date the Ballade No. 4, the third impromptu, four mazurkas and the last of the scherzos, No. 4, in E major, opus 54. This is the less frequently performed scherzo because of its very different character compared to Chopin's earlier works in the form, pieces that arouse greater enthusiasm among performers. In this work, the Polish composer offers us a more whimsical work, with greater panache or elegance rather than intimacy or depth.

A "real" scherzo

Indeed, it is the most radiant, joyful, and lively of his four scherzos, in keeping with the meaning of the Italian word scherzo: play or joke.

The piece shows a ternary structure, that is, two themes and a return to the first theme with witty modifications. The middle section (second theme) contains a beautiful and inspired melody with the occasional hint of nostalgia or sadness, typical of the composer's most intimate music, traits that are barely hinted at here. The piece culminates with a brilliant ending.

The work was published in Paris in 1843 and in London in 1845. Both editions are dedicated, one for each, to the Miss Caraman sisters, Chopin's pupils in those years.

The rendition is by the Polish pianist Raphael Blechacz.

Béla Bartók, Violin Concerto No 1

The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was a piano professor at the Budapest Academy when in 1908 he solemnly handed over the manuscripts of his first violin concerto to Stefi Geyer. The girl accepted them on the express condition that the work should only be known after death. After her death, we mean, because the girl, seven years younger, assumed that Bartók would be the first to leave this world.

Stefi Geyer

Stefi was a talented violin student, a pupil of the Academy, with whom Bartók had fallen in love, in a crush, when the composer was around twenty-seven. With a marked personality and strong religious convictions, Stefi never reciprocated Bartók's feelings, due to the composer's introverted character, in addition to his deep atheism. But she accepted the offering, with the aforementioned requirement.

(In matters of the heart, Bartók fared better with piano students. Barely a year after his offering to Stefi, the author married a sixteen-year-old pupil, Marta Ziegler).

Béla Bartók, young (1881 - 1945)

Violin Concerto No. 1, posthumous opus
Stefi Geyer died in 1956, faithful to her commitment. The premiere of Béla Bartók's youthful work, his First Violin Concerto, took place in 1958, fifty years after its composition, when no one knew about its existence.

The work, in only two movements, is considered a sort of "portrait" of Geyer, where the author expressed his pain at the failure of love while drawing the beloved in two facets: a first movement for an "idealized, celestial and interior" Stefi, and a second movement for a "cheerful, witty and funny" Stefi.

Movements:

00:00  Andante sostenuto

09:01  Allegro giocoso

The performance is by the Brazilian-born German violinist José Maria Blumenschein, accompanied by the NRW Youth Orchestra (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany), conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

Ravel, "Valses nobles et sentimentales"

Although it was already known in Mozart's time, the musical genre of ternary rhythm known as waltz had in Europe its apogee and greater development in the XIX century. But, at the beginning of the 20th century, in a world that had long abandoned romanticism, it did not show signs of losing vigor. During the first decades of the new century, serious composers, and less serious ones too, kept on composing waltzes, danceable or not, thus showing its perennial and powerful presence.

Noble, and also sentimental
Maurice Ravel, who in 1928 would give the world his masterpiece, the famous Bolero, was no stranger to the trend. In 1906 he began to glimpse the sketches of La Valse, a work described as "the apotheosis of the waltz", and whose final version would be published in 1919. In the meantime, the author worked on a set of short pieces for piano that he titled Valses nobles et sentimentales in homage to Franz Schubert, who almost a hundred years ago had written two series of waltzes: the Valses sentimentales, of 1823, and the Valses nobles, in 1826.

Maurice Ravel, in 1925
(1875 - 1937)

The premiere, and the riddle
The work was privately premiered by the pianist Louis Aubert (to whom it is dedicated) on May 8, 1911, in Paris, in one of the recitals sponsored by the Société Musicale Indépendent to promote the most daring composers of the time. To that effect, the authors were not identified during the concert, thus forcing the audience to guess who the works belonged to. On the occasion, it is said that only Debussy, in attending there, was able to recognize in the Waltzes... the pen of the master Ravel.

The seven waltzes
The set is composed of seven waltzes plus an epilogue, marked as follows:

00       Modéré - très franc
01:52  Assez lent - avec une expression intense
04:03  Modéré
05:26  Assez animé
06:32  Presque lent - dans un sentiment intime
07:22  Very vivid
08:05  Moins vif ("the most characteristic of all", according to Ravel, foreshadowing the appearance of La Valse)
10:44  Epilogue: lent

Neither so noble nor less sentimental
Unlike Schubert's waltzes, nothing makes Ravel's waltzes seem "noble", and even less "sentimental". Harmonically complex and full of unresolved dissonances, the waltzes are not easy on the ear, although in Ravel's opinion everything is very simple: "it is always counted in three beats".
The year after its premiere, Ravel published an orchestral version, intended to accompany a ballet. Presented here is the original piano version by the Polish maestro Krystian Zimerman.

Cesar Franck, piano Quintet in F minor

As the renowned French pedagogue and composer Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) once remarked, no piece of music contains a greater profusion of pianissimos and fortissimos than the Piano Quintet in F minor by the Belgian composer César Franck. The work was composed in the winter of 1878-79, when the composer, in his late sixties, was showing a somewhat unseemly interest in one of his female students. This highly expressive work (as demonstrated by the profusion of ppp and fff) has led some biographers to venture that it may have been inspired by that winter passion.

A repeated story
The one who had no doubts was Eugénie Desmousseaux, Franck's wife, who by then had given him four children (survived two). Eugénie openly declared that the piece was not to her liking. But why make it public? Perhaps she noticed unusual behavior in her husband, a state of mind that she could easily identify... Eugénie had also been his pupil. 

Cesar Frank (1822 - 1890)

A masterpiece
In any case, the work marked César Franck's return to chamber music after more than 35 years. And he did so with a masterpiece, which from its premiere in Paris in January 1880 won the applause of audiences and critics, with the notable exception of its performer for the occasion, Camille Saint-Säens. Despite being the dedicatée of the work, Camille left the stage at the completion of the piece annoyed by the incessant modulations that Franck's language demanded. The future French master thus joined Eugénie's disaffection, with as much or less justice.

Movements:
00       Molto moderato quasi lento - begins with a dramatic tone which then develops into a powerful and passionate discourse.
15:00  Lento, con molto sentimento - is presented as a long aria where the piano dialogues with the string quartet.
26:35  Allegro non troppo, ma con fuoco - takes up the themes exposed in the preceding movements in a fiery atmosphere, creating a kind of musical drama. 

The rendition is by the French ensemble Quatour Ébéne and the Russian pianist Vyacheslav Gryaznov.

J.L. Dussek, Sonata "Élégie Harmonique"

Dussek, the first pianist to sit at the piano the way we do nowadays
As is common knowledge, in the recitals and concerts of our times, the piano is placed on the stage with its longest axis across the width of the stage so that the raised lid acts as a sounding board sending the sound directly to the audience. Thus arranged the instrument, when the pianist takes a seat in front of it, shows his or her profile to the audience, the right profile, for greater rigour... But it was not always like that.

The new concert hall
Before public concerts began, keyboardists and harpsichords, or clavichords, were arranged in any way in relation to the audience because those were intimate evenings in the small space of a room or salon of a nobility member. But when the public piano recital became popular, it was necessary to decide how the instrument (and the pianist) should be arranged in front of those new listeners. The emerging bourgeoisie, comfortably seated in the chairs of a concert hall, was eager to participate avidly in what nobility, aristocracy and clergy had been enjoying for a long time.

J.L. Dussek (1760 - 1812)

The profile of the beautiful Dussek
How to sit? with your back to the audience? facing the front? or sideways? Although not so obvious, there was a pianist who solved this question once and for all. He has a face and a name. Jan Ladislav Dussek is remembered as the first great virtuoso who sat at the piano showing his right side to the public, for the first time in history.
Born in Cáslav, Bohemia, in 1760, the very graceful Dussek (the Parisian public called him le beau Dussek) exhibited his beautiful profile at the age of twenty before ecstatic audiences in Europe, as he was also the first concert pianist to go on tour.

Dussek, composer
A great virtuoso of the instrument, he was also a fruitful composer. His more notable works include several large-scale solo piano pieces, 34 piano sonatas, many piano concertos, sonatas for violin and piano, and various works of chamber music.
He was a close friend of the prince and amateur pianist Ludwig Ferdinand of Prussia. Upon his death – in a battle against the Napoleonic troops in 1806 – he composed a sonata in his memory, which he entitled "Élégie Harmonique".

After the death of his friend and protector, the life of the beautiful Dussek became somewhat messy. He died obese and alcoholic in St. Germain-en-Laye on March 20, 1812.

Sonata in F sharp minor, opus 61, "Élégie Harmonique."
The piece has only two movements:

00:00   Lento patetico - Tempo agitato
07:58   Tempo vivace e con fuoco quasi presto

It is presented here in a solo audio version by American pianist and teacher Constance Keene.

Chopin, Étude Opus 10 No 6 - the practice of legato

Although the creation of the set was almost simultaneous over an extended period, Chopin's 24 Etudes were grouped into two opuses, Opus No. 10 dedicated to his friend Franz Liszt, and Opus 25, dedicated to the Countess d'Agoult, Franz's partner at the time. Published in Paris in 1833, the twelve studies that make up Opus 10 are of long standing. Some of them were composed in Warsaw when Chopin was almost a teenager.

By its publication, Chopin had been settled in a politically turbulent Paris for two years. But his music aroused interest in the newspapers and his presence in the salons was greatly admired. Dressed with the utmost elegance, he appeared for dinner at the homes of ambassadors, barons, and various lords. And while he accompanied the Countess Potocka in her singing, he could also hear Marie d'Agoult commenting to the audience that his Etudes were "prodigious".

Étude in E-flat minor, Opus 10 No 6
Prodigious perhaps, but by no means spectacular. Lasting a little less than four minutes, this Étude exudes an atmosphere that mimics a nocturne by Chopin himself. At the same time, it gives the listener the feeling that the technical demands are less demanding. But its difficulty is of another kind, not very visible: it lies in demanding from the performer a remarkable ability to play legato and legatissimo, with both hands, while simultaneously making the inner voices sound clear and distinct.

The performance is by the talented Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa.

Brahms, Ballades from Op 10, Nos 1 & 2

The four ballads of the opus 10 were written by Brahms shortly after he met the Schumann family in Düsseldorf, which at that time, 1853, consisted of Robert, Clara, and seven children. On the occasion, the good-natured Schumann openly praised the talented 20-year-old. Clara was not far behind, and recorded in her diary that Brahms "seemed to have been sent to them directly by God".

Johannes and Clara

Brahms was trying to make a career, and Robert Schumann would become his mentor, although only for a short time, for Robert would die only three years later. In the meantime, Johannes and Clara will establish a communion of ideas and interests very close to a sentimental relationship, although Brahms would have liked to go further. Three months before Robert's death, in 1856, while Robert was bedridden in an asylum for the mentally ill, Brahms wrote to Clara:

My Beloved Clara,

I wish I could write to you as tenderly as I love you and tell you all the good things that I wish you. You are so infinitely dear to me, dearer than I can say. I should like to spend the whole day calling you endearing names and paying you compliments without ever being satisfied. ...If only things could go further than they are right now... If only I could live in the same city with you and my parents... write me a beautiful letter soon. Your letters are like kisses.

One would think that Brahms was definitely in love. Clara responded, we believe, as far as respect for the memory of her beloved Robert allowed. The epistolary relationship would continue until their deaths, which occurred, barely a year apart, forty years later.

Johannes Brahms, in his twenties
(1833 - 1897)

The Ballades from Opus 10

It is said that they were composed eager to show the musical world (including Robert and Clara) the progress achieved in his mastery of the piano up to that moment -remember that Clara was an extraordinary pianist. The composer is 21 years old and has only composed works in which the piano is the mainstay (solo, voice, and piano, also a trio with piano). The ballades, four short pieces that form a unit, will prepare him mentally for the approach of major works. Brahms would not take up this form, the ballad, until very late, in the third of his Six Piano Pieces of 1892, dedicated, by the way, to Clara Schumann.

The first of these four pieces, Ballad No. 1 in D minor, is inspired by a Scottish poem, "Edward", of no little dramatic content as it deals with a patricide, committed by that very Edward. It is the only piece of the set with a "programmatic" character. In keeping with the nature of the tragedy, the piece ends in the greatest stillness, but in the key of D major. It is in this key that Ballade No. 2 will come to life.

Dated 1854, the set is dedicated to his friend composer and conductor Julius Otto Grimm.

The performance is by the highly talented Chinese pianist Yuja Wang.