3/13 Performance Today's "50 Essential Classical"

NPR Radio has always been an incredibly rich source of information and education about classical music.  One of my favorite features, especially when I was just getting into classical music, is The "PT 50" - that is, the "Performance Today 50 Essential Classical Music CDs" show.  This is a series of - guess what - 50 half-hour programs where 2 radio hosts basically "sell" their favorite classical records and play excerpts from them.  The 3 shows about Beethoven works were these:

BEETHOVEN:
Piano Sonatas Nos. 21 "Waldstein", 23 "Appassionata" & 26 "Les Adieux"
Emil Gilels, piano
(Piano Sonata #26 In Eb, Op.81A, "Les Adieux" (1810) is performed in its entirety starting from 6:30)

The String Quartets
Emerson String Quartet (Op.95 M1, Op.18,No.2 M2, Op.135 M2, Op.59,No.3 M4)

Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Op. 67
Vienna Philharmonic,Carlos Kleiber, conductor

By clicking on the above links you should be able to launch your RealMedia player (or whatever browser plug-in you have set to play RAM streams).  Personally, I have Media Player Classic assigned in my Firefox Options/Applications to play RAM files. 

These programs were hosted by Fred Child and featured selections and commentary by Ted Libbey, who I also paraphrased in 1/5 Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas: An Overview (Libby).

To go to the full listing of the PT 50 see below:
The NPR PT 50 w Ted Libby

8/17 String Quartet Op.59/1 "Razumovsky"

String Quartet No.7, Opus 59, No. 1, Movement 1

In order to make up for a lack of posts on Beethoven string quartet analyses on this blog I'm going to post another.  This, the 1st movement of String Quartet 7, Opus 59 No. 1 (for Count Razumovsky), was my first "favorite" string quartet of B's.  It starts with the melody in the cello, which gives it a very "modern" feel to it, almost orchestral.  And just like the "Waldstein" piano sonata, it has a driving 8th-note figure right from the start, and proceeds through a head-spinning series of motivic gyrations.  Here I will outline the structure somewhat.  I find "signposts" make listening to Beethoven's quartets a bit easier to follow.

Exposition Phase:

• A1 - (ms. 1-19 Theme A part 1) Main theme, 2nd inversion tonic
• A2 - (ms. 19-29, Theme A part 2) Decisive tonic arrives (F), derived from main theme
• T1 - (ms. 30-47, Transition part 1) Legato figures signal change
• T2 - (ms. 48-59, Transition part 2) Going to V of V
• B1 - (ms. 60-70, Theme B part 1) Sub theme in dominant (C)
• B2 - (ms. 71-84, Theme B part 2) Triplets
• B3 - (ms. 85-90, Theme B part 3) Attacking half-note block chords
• C - (ms. 91-102, Theme C) Contains elements of main theme and sub theme

Development Phase:

• D - (ms. 103-111) Variation of main theme
• E - (ms. 112-125) Modulate to Bb
• F - (ms. 126-143) More modulating using dim 7th harmonies
• G - (ms. 144-151) Modulating half note chords
• H - (ms. 152-184) Motivic variations
• I - (ms. 185-221) Fugato in Ebm - Fm
• J - (ms. 222-242) Transition back to recap with triplets

Recapitulation Phase:

• K - (A2) (ms. 242-279, Theme A part 2) Recap starts with first derivation, not A1.
• T1 - (ms. 279-294, Transition part 1)
• T2 - (ms. 295-306, Transition part 2)
• B1 - (ms. 307-331, Theme B part 1) denser texture than expo
• B3 - (ms. 332-337, Theme B part 3)
• C - (ms. 338-367, Theme C) Forceful restatement of main theme in variation

• Coda:    (ms. 368-400) Pitch register explodes to 5 octaves

Notice that in the recap K, the A1/A2 themes are reversed.  Or you could say the recap starts with A1 and skips A2, either way it's pretty witty and wacky.  Follow this amazingly unpredictable yet completely organic journey below as performed by the Emerson String Quartet:

Alternate Youtube Link

The above structure is somewhat cribbed from Lewis Lockwood's analysis in Inside Beethoven's Quartets: History, Performance, Interpretation. A bit pricey but it comes with a bonus CD. Lockwood interviews the Juilliard Qrtt about B's quartets.