1/23 Beethoven's Cello Sonata 5 w Yudkin Lecture on Concision

Beethoven's Cello Sonata 5 (in D Major Op.102, No. 2 (1815)) is another one of those pieces where the late-period Ludwig just floors me with "sublime feeling".  Here's Alfred Brendel and his son (?) Adrian Brendel on cello doing the entire work with one of those cool "accompanied score" videos.  These first 2 vids are followed by Micah Fusselman and Jeongin Kim in a Masterclass with Yehuda Hanani at CCM May 25, 2009.
(total time 1 hour).

Pt 1 - 2: (Brendel and Son recital)
Pt 3: Masterclass recital of the 2nd movement
Pt 4 - 7: Masterclass instruction


Linklist

I can't resist throwing in this performance of the 3rd and final fugue movement by Martha Argerich and Mischa Maisky - explosive.

---

...As a follow-up "Sunday feature" - here's a very recent lecture (October 14, 2010) by Jeremy Yudkin, music professor and chair of the musicology and ethnomusicology department at the College of Fine Arts of Boston University.  He talks about "concision" and does a nice analysis of the 1st movement of Beethoven's 5th, and then moves on to Miles Davis' "Blue in Green" and Paul McCartney...
The Beethoven stuff starts around 28:20...

12/7 "Kreutzer" Violin Sonata, Mvmt 1 (Annotated Analysis)

I've posted about this Kreutzer Violin Sonata performance by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich before but the video I found back then had the 1st movement in 3 parts. I found that a bit annoying so I joined them together into 1 video.  Since I did that, I figured I might as well add some brief annotations....which turned out to be substantially more work than I expected - but very rewarding!

Violin Sonata No.9 in A, Op.47 'Kreutzer' (1803): I. Adagio Sostenuto - Presto

Violin Sonata No.9 in A, Op.47 'Kreutzer' (1803): Movement I. (Adagio Sostenuto/Presto)

Introduction in 3/4 time, Adagio Sostenuto
A - Violin enters with thickly chorded fanfare, melancholy
A1 - Piano replies, followed by violin 2-note rising motif
A2 - violin and piano trade 2-note motif in sympathy

Exposition
Theme 1
A - Exclamatory statement of main theme, meter changes to 4/4.Presto
A1 - builds to 8th note shimmy motif
A2 - syncopated violin accents lead into ostinato-like 8th note patterns
Theme 2 - Lyrical contrasting theme dominated by whole note chords
Theme 1 Motif Variations
Cadence Section
Pt 1 - Based on Theme 1-A w Syncopated plucked strings
Pt 2 - Furious 8th note passages end the exposition
a pause for breath leads into...

Exposition Repeat

Development
Pt 1 - Motif from Cadence Section
Pt 2 - Piano cuts loose.
Pt 3 - Back to Cadence motif, sensual, then playful
Pt 4 - forceful burst of energy erupts, then subsides back to lyricism
Pt 5 - rising, then falling scales
Pt 6 - Theme 1 motif reprise
Introduction Theme 2 reprise

Recapitulation
Theme 1
A - Exclamatory statement
A3 - Modulating variation leads to A1 shimmy motif
A2 - syncopated violin accents lead into ostinato-like 8th note patterns
Theme 2 - Lyrical contrasting theme dominated by whole note chords
Theme 1 Variations
Cadence Section
Pt 1 - Based on Theme 1-A w Syncopated plucked strings
Pt 2 - Furious 8th note passages end the exposition

Coda
Pt 1 - shuffling piano arpeggios disguise the tonality
Pt 2 - modulating Theme 1 fragments
Pt 3 - Time stands still for a moment...
Pt 4 - a final burst of Theme 1 ferocity!

11/29 Beethoven "Invents" Swing Jazz

(the 18th century Bohemian look?)

When I first listened through the complete works of Beethoven, I was struck several times by how several times, especially in his piano music, he evokes a kind of rhythmic syncopation with a swing-ey bass line which undeniably pre-echoes 20th century jazz or "ragtime".  I don't think anyone could say Beethoven "invented" jazz, but it's pretty amazing that his soundworld could encompass elements which would not truly reach fruition until more than a hundred years later...Here's a couple "jazzy" places I can recall, though there are several more I'm sure...

Diabelli Variations Op.120 (1823) Variation #16 (Maria Yudina).  Some jazzy basslines...

Diabelli Variation #27 (Maria Yudina again).


Piano Concerto 1 (1797), 3rd Movement at around 2:33, as performed by Martha Argerich and Seiji Ozawa has a pretty ragtimey section....  (The full concerto was previously posted.)


And finally Piano Sonata 32, Op.111 (1822), an excerpt from the 2nd movement by Maurizio Pollini, 1973.  There is a kind of back-beat here...


Andras Schiff however takes exception.

10/9 Argerich, Dutoit, Kremer, Ozawa...Beethoven.

Martha Argerich is one of my favorite pianists, male or female, living or dead. I've featured her before on this blog I think... So I was extremely excited to find this French documentary about Martha and one-time husband Charles Dutoit with optional ENGLISH subtitles! Use the UP triangle to turn off Annotations (the corner-turned page) and leave Captions alone (which should automatically be on English). In this program they show footage from a 1972 documentary with Martha and Charles, and then from a reunion in 2004.  Hard to believe these two were married for 5 years, they are both such alpha personalities...Martha at times looks totally pissed at Chuck!  Enjoy...

Documentaire: "Martha Argerich et Charles Dutoit: La Musique Partagée" 1972, 2004 (44 min)


Since this is a Beethoven blog, here's the lady of the day performing Beethoven's
Violin Sonata No.9, Opus 47 ("Kreutzer"), with Gidon Kremer.  
(I added a bonus interview at the end.)

Linklist

...and if you want more, here's Martha with Seiji Ozawa performing
Piano Concerto 1, Opus 15.  
(Maybe save this for after dinner.)

8/11 Piano Concerto No. 2 (Argerich & Friends)

Here's an unusual concert of Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto, Op.19 as performed by Martha Argerich with a reduced orchestra.  I never knew she had her own Sinfonietta!  Apparently founded and conducted by Dario Ntaca, this group gives a fleet interpretation and shows off Martha's 'mad skilz' quite well.  I wonder why she never recorded Beethoven's piano sonatas?  As far as I know there exists only a very early recording of Opus 101, but no other sonata....

 





First Movement below:


Movement 2 is here.

Movement 3 is here.

(embedding is not allowed for the 2nd and 3rd movements, oddly)

Linklist for the whole concert
Martha Argerich blog

One thing that many people do not know (besides the fact that Piano Concerto No. 2 (1795) was written BEFORE Piano Concerto No. 1 (1797)) is that the cadenza for this work was written much later than the date of original publication.   In fact it's generally surmised that the cadenza was written around 1810, almost 9 years after the concerto was first performed.  The 1810 cadenza reflects a much more seasoned Beethoven, and has notes beyond the range of pianos that existed in 1801.  For that reason every time I hear this concerto (as well as Opus 15, same deal) I always wonder how Beethoven had performed it when it first premiered.  Interestingly, some historical/period pianists have recorded this concerto using their own cadenzas since the one Beethoven finally published can't be used on fortepianos for the reason mentioned above.