JS Bach, on his way to infinity, today. Brandenburg Concerto No. 2

Of the historical-musical fact surrounding the sending of six instrumental concertos to the Margrave of Brandenburg, only a couple of things are known with certainty: the date, March 24, 1771, noted by Bach in the dedication; the copy of the manuscripts was made by Bach himself; and that he accompanied the material with a very delicate dedication that today would make the most submissive and humble of servants pale... if servants would exist today...

After that, only remain diverse inquiries: if the Margrave acknowledged receipt; if in what place and time they were written; and the most ominous of all conjectures: if the noble dedicatee, Christian Ludwig, ever had them performed by the musicians of his court.

In the scenario of the presumptions, they were composed in Köthen, mostly. But not necessarily for the Margrave. Bach may have taken earlier works or passages of them to make up the set of six concertos in order to fulfill the commitment he had made to the nobleman several years ago. However, there are some certainties following the offering. The manuscripts were found among the belongings of the Margrave's heirs, and the complete work was published for the first time in Leipzig in 1850, in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of its author's death. And rather more modernly, let us note that the Voyager 1 space probe, which at this very moment continues unperturbed on its voyage to the stars, has engraved on its gold disc its calling card, the first movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.

The extraterrestrial listener will not be disappointed. Let us point out that the concertos are written for different instruments, and this one, No. 2, is remarkable for its unusual combination of soloists. The melody is carried at one moment by the trumpet, at others by the violin, or by the oboe. And of course, the trumpet, as a rule, sounds louder than the other instruments. That is why this concerto has been jokingly called Concerto for Trumpet and Any Other Instrument.

Fortunately, for the rest of the soloists, the trumpet does not feature in the second movement, written in a different key, because at that time the instrument was not able to play in any key.

Brandenburg Concerto No 2 in F major, BWV 1047
Its title in the autograph score reads, in Italian, Concerto 2º à 1 Tromba, 1 Flauto, 1 Hautbois, 1 Violino, concertati, è 2 Violini, 1 Viola è Violone in Ripieno col Violoncello è Basso per il Cembalo. That is, the concertino (or group of solo instruments) is made up of the trumpet, the recorder (which in some ways resembles the one required of today's school children), the oboe, and the violin. The ripieno (the remaining instruments) consists of two violins, viola, cello and harpsichord.
The trumpet, indeed, has an outstanding contribution, highly virtuosic, in the first and third movements. In the second, flute, oboe, and violin dialogue intimately.

Movements:
Lasting about twelve minutes, it is structured in the Vivaldian manner: fast - slow - fast movements:
00:18  'Allegro moderato' (the original has no tempo indication, and is sometimes performed a little faster, allegro).
05:14  Andante
08:55  Allegro assai

Claudio Abbado and the Orchestra Mozart perform Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047 at the Teatro Municipale Valli in Reggio Emilia, Italy (2007).

Beethoven, "Hammerklavier" Sonata / Yuja Wang

For English speakers, the popular title of "Hammerklavier" that Beethoven's sonata No. 29 bears may seem rather rude. That title could suggest the idea of a sonata in which the pounding of the piano is a necessity. Nothing could be further from that.
The title, which the work shares with the preceding sonata, is simply the German word for "pianoforte." Beethoven wanted to thank the English piano builder Broadwood, who had recently sent him a modern piano with swinging strings. It is for this modern piano that the sonata is written: Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier, its full title.

It is a cliché to say that this monumental sonata is the most respected and studied by music lovers, but at the same time, the least loved or liked of the 32 sonatas by the master from Bonn. Regarded as unplayable by many 19th-century pianists (with the remarkable exception of Liszt), it is the first sonata for which Beethoven added metronomic indications, specifying the speed at which it should be played.

The required speed

This requirement, added to those inherent to the craft, has led renowned performers to suggest that the master's metronome must have been damaged because the speed demanded seems unattainable. On the contrary, those who trust in the goodness of the artifact of those years claim that Beethoven simply created a work that is sustainable at a certain speed and no other. We believe that the truth is on the side of the latter.

The length

Lasting about 45 minutes at the required speed, it is the longest sonata written by the master and at the same time the most difficult. As for its structure, Beethoven returned this time to organize the sonata in four movements, which he had not done since 1802 (opus 31 No. 3).

Four movements

The initial allegro is introduced by a few measures whose most relevant characteristic is its rhythmic aspect.
It is followed by a brief scherzo of just under three minutes.
In opposition, the subsequent adagio (which here goes as the third movement and not second as was common) is one of the longest slow movements in all piano literature, about twenty minutes, and one of the most dramatic written by Beethoven: appassionato e con molto sentimento, the master noted.
The last movement is the most ambitious, the one containing the famous fugue, in three voices, whose theme or subject extends for ten bars (min 34:15, in this version) and not the typical two or three of the baroque fugue, thus raising the technical and interpretative demand to incredible extremes.

Dedication

Like so many others, the work is dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria, the highest-ranking aristocrat and the most cultured of Beethoven's noble friends. Composed between the summer of 1817 and the autumn of 1818, it is inserted in the vital period of the master in which deafness is total and hopeless. It is in these circumstances that the master of Bonn will reach the highest point in the piano production of his last period.

Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106

00:00 Allegro

11:24 Scherzo: Assai vivace

14:12 Adagio sostenuto - appassionato e con molto sentimento

31:50 Largo - Allegro - Fuga: Allegro risoluto

The rendition is by the brilliant Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, in a recital on May 14, 2016, at the legendary Carnegie Hall, where not for being in New York the audience does not cough between movements (Yuja didn't find it funny at all).

Liszt, Études d'exécution transcendante / No 12, "Chasse-neige"

Liszt's famous studies known today as Transcendental Études took the author a good number of years to finish. The first seed dates from when the author was fifteen years old, and already had pupils, in Paris. Ten years later, the author revised the twelve original studies and proceeded to intensify the technical difficulties, since at that time he was himself a piano virtuoso. The final version would be published in 1852 under the title Douze Études d'Exécution Transcendante, dedicated to his teacher, Karl Czérny.

For practicing, or a challenge?
In this way, Liszt added his contribution to the current custom of writing works for piano intended for the practice and improvement of technical skills on the instrument. The most prominent contribution to the tradition up to that time was Chopin's Etudes, in two series, opus 10 and 25, the first of them dedicated precisely to Franz Liszt. But unlike the Polish composer, Liszt's Études do not have such a clear didactic intention. They do not seem to be designed for the practice of this or that specific technical difficulty, but rather as a challenge to the already experienced performer.

Chopin vs Liszt
Thus, for example, it is a general opinion that in order to approach Etude No. 4, Mazeppa, one must first have the skill that allows you to play "double thirds" with ease. On the other hand, with Chopin's Etudes, a pianist with, let us say, a timid left hand, may well decide to spend some time preparing the Revolutionary Etude precisely in order to transform this "timidity" into gallantry.

Etude No. 12 in B-flat minor, "Chasse-neige"
The twelve Etudes are rather heterogeneous in their conception. There are those of "pure music" as well as "programmatic". To the latter category belongs the last of the series, the one Liszt called "Chasse-neige". ("Pure" or "programmatic", all bear evocative or descriptive titles except No. 2 and No. 10). It is one of the five that pose the greatest technical difficulties of the entire series. The title alludes to a sort of "snowstorm" although the music itself is rather more tempestuous than an ordinary snowstorm might suggest.

The rendition is by Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa.

Erik Satie, "Embryons desséchés", pour piano

The clever and witty Erik Satie gained the recognition of his peers (or anything resembling it) when he was well into his forties. And here his colleague and friend Maurice Ravel had a unique role to play. In 1911 the author of the famous Bolero organized a monographic concert in Paris with works by Satie. It was the only occasion on which the Parisian public attended an evening entirely dedicated to pieces by the composer, the same one who twenty years earlier had astonished a few and baffled others with his now famous Gymnopédies.

From then on, his solo piano music gained great momentum. He had long since passed his "cabaret" stage, but he had not forgotten his sense of humor. During 1912-13 a series of humorous compositions came to light, which he titled in a somewhat outlandish way, adding comments to the score for the performer and, in passing, ignoring the bar division lines. From that period are, for example, Deux Preludes pour un Chien, Descriptiones Automatiques, and Embryons desséchés.

Embryons desséchés, pour piano ("Desiccated embryos")
Barely six minutes long, the piece is made up of three even more extravagantly titled sections, taken from the names of invertebrate beings that Satie came across in a school encyclopedia. But, there are no mentions here about embryos, desiccated or not.

Erik Satie, in 1820
(1866 - 1925)

What you do find are "quotations" to works by other authors.
The second piece contains a quotation from Chopin. In the "comments" for the performer, we read: "And then they all began to cry (quote from Schubert's famous mazurka)". As far as we know, Schubert never wrote a mazurka (let alone a famous one). The real quote is to the Interlude of the Funeral March (Sonata in B♭ minor), clearly not by Schubert but by Chopin, with which Satie toys for a couple of bars.

The "expression guides"
And as usual, the score is not lacking in "character indications" with which the author ousted the usual tempo and expression indications, replacing them with, say: Light as an egg - Like a nightingale with a toothache - Moderately, I beg you - A little bit warm, and the like.

Sections

00:00  d'Holothurie

02:13  d'Edriophthalma (3:02, the "quotation" from Chopin begins)

04:42  de Podophthalma

The rendition is by Ukrainian pianist Dina Pisarenko, during a break in the rehearsal/recording of another work, with orchestra.

Beethoven, Sonata violin & piano "Spring"

Beethoven wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano in the span of fourteen years, from 1798 to 1812, although nine of them were born during a much shorter period, from 1798 to 1803, the year the famous "Kreutzer" Sonata was published. Almost ten years elapsed, then, between this famous ninth sonata and the last, of 1812, thus completing the corpus of ten sonatas that in the chamber works of the master from Bonn are graciously placed in second place in importance, only surpassed by the string quartets.

Sonata No 5 was composed between 1800 and 1801 when the beginnings of deafness were starting to worry him. Even so, it is a quiet and fruitful period for the master, established in Vienna since 1792. Composed along with Sonata No. 4, it is contemporary with the Piano Concerto No. 3 and the First Symphony.

"Spring" Sonata
Published in 1801, it is dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries, Beethoven's generous patron and recurrent dedicatee of his work (the Seventh Symphony would be dedicated to him). Also known as the "Spring" sonata, together with the Kreutzer they are the only two sonatas to bear the title with which they became popular after the composer's death.

Sonata No. 5 in F major, opus 24 - Movements
Its first sketches date from around 1795, so the Mozartian influence in it is somewhat visible, or if you prefer, "audible", in all the sections that make it up. This is a four-movement structure that Beethoven would use for the first time in this genre, although it should be noted that the added scherzo lasts a minute and a bit longer. Its complete audition takes just over twenty minutes.

00:00   Allegro – The violin sings, generously lyrical, over a delicate piano accompaniment.

11:51   Adagio molto espressivo – A nostalgic melody, first introduced by the piano.

18:10   Scherzo: Allegro molto – Deliberately asynchronous moments between the two instruments.

19:32   Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo – Perhaps the most "Mozartean" of the movements.

The rendition is by German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and American pianist Lambert Orkis.