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Sergei Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 32 No. 12 in G sharp minor

zygis — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:27:25 +0000

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vadim Chaimovich

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Valentina Lisitsa

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

Prelude Op. 32 No. 12 in G sharp minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 32 No. 5 in G major

zygis — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:22:58 +0000

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vadim Chaimovich

By Valentina Lisitsa

By Grigory Sokolov

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Prelude Op. 32 No. 5 in G major sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minor

zygis — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:49:47 +0000

The Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5 is a composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff completed 1901. It was included in his Opus 23 set of ten preludes despite having been written two years earlier than the other nine. It is an epitome of Rachmaninoff’s Russian nationalism, rife with full chords and evocative melodies.The Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No. 5 is a composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff completed 1901. It was included in his Opus 23 set of ten preludes despite having been written two years earlier than the other nine. It is an epitome of Rachmaninoff’s Russian nationalism, rife with full chords and evocative melodies.

The prelude’s form is similar to that of a traditional three-part rondo, consisting of an opening “A” section with punctuated sixteenth-note chords (marked Alla marcia), a more lyrical and melancholy “B” section with arpeggiated triplets in the left hand (marked Poco meno mosso), a transition into the original tempo, and a recapitulation of the initial march. Despite the bombast of the main march theme, the piece ends with a short arpeggiated run to a high G, marked pianissimo.

Although the g minor prelude is not considered one of the most technically challenging preludes, the speed of the march section and its thick repeated chords require both strong wrists and dynamic control, while the middle section requires a controlled legato in both hands to ensure that the melody is properly projected.
The composer recorded this piece, but because of the piece’s musical “flexibility”, it can be found performed in a variety of different styles, much contrary to the composer’s recordings.

There is a famous video in which Emil Gilels plays this Prelude at a front in World War II, in support for the Soviet military forces fighting the war. The narrator says (in Russian): “Gilels is playing at the front, to remind us what the war is worth fighting for: Immortal music!”

This Prelude is one of the most performed and recorded pieces of the set, displaying the virtuosity and musical genius of Rachmaninoff.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Evgeny Kissin

By Andrei Gavrilov

By Emil Gilels

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Sergei Rachmaninov

Prelude Op. 23 No. 5 in G minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 5 D flat major

zygis — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:42:45 +0000

Following the torrential gauntlets of number four is the fifth piece, likened in a Ph.D thesis to a passage in the Bible (1 Kings 19:12, read text), which says, “And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” This is in direct reference to the position of the work between two pieces with “incredible pyrotechnics,” as the figurative calm before and after the storm. The piece is similar to the form of a barcarolle, a folk song with a rhythmic tuplet accompaniment. Playing it takes approximately five minutes, and it is 53 measures long, the shortest in terms of measures. It is an adagio sostenuto (sustained at ease) at 54 quarter notes per minute, with a simple melody presented in ternary form.

Lacking any prodigious figures or difficult runs, the piece displays Rachmaninoff’s capability for musical lyricism. Although the piece seems simple, the mood must be sustained by playing simultaneously restrained but dynamic triplet figures in the left hand. The melody, a chordal texture with frequent suspended tones, creates a difficult task in voicing, and placing the correct emphasis on the correct notes. Its relatively short melody lines are a direct contrast to Rachmaninoff’s characteristically long lines, giving a shorter time to bring out the phrases.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Vadim Chaimovich

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Horowitz

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 5 D flat major sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 2 E flat minor

zygis — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:10:28 +0000

The second piece, referred to as a “glittering showpiece”, is positioned in contrast to the lyrical and “atmospheric” melody of the first piece. The piece is in the quick tempo allegretto (quickly), at 92 quarter notes per minute. It is 131 measures long, the most of all six pieces, but the second shortest in terms of playing time, usually no longer than three and a half minutes (the shortest is number four). This piece represents a typical nineteenth-century étude, similar in style to Frédéric Chopin’s Études (Opp. 10, 12), with a melody interspersed between rapid sextuplet figures. It is in strict ternary form with a coda: identical beginning and ending sections beginning on measures 1 and 85, and a contrasting middle section starting on measure 45. The second section radically changes dynamics, constantly changing from piano to fortissimo and even sforzando. It is, throughout, a relentless torrent of descending half steps and a cascading left hand figure reminiscent of Chopin’s Revolutionary Étude (Op. 10, No. 12, 1831). Ending the piece is a slow coda in Adagio (at ease) which closes with a perfect authentic cadence in E-flat major.

Rachmaninoff revised this piece in March 1940, changing the melody but leaving the constant sextuplets, proving that the rushing figures are not simple bravura or flair.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Eduard Lenner

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 2 E flat minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 9 in D major

zygis — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:28:53 +0000

By Alexander Gavrylyuk

By Pavel Raikerus

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 9 in D major sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 5 in E-flat minor

zygis — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:28:36 +0000

By Evgeny Kissin

By Alexander Gavrylyuk

By Alexei Sultanov

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 5 in E-flat minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 5 in E flat minor

zygis — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:47:05 +0000

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 5 E flat minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 2 in C major

zygis — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:54:28 +0000

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Hélène Grimaud

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 2 C major sheet music

Frédric Chopin Mazurka Op. 59 No. 3 in F sharp minor

zygis — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:46:31 +0000

By Arthur Rubinstein

By Vladimir Horowitz

Mazurka Op. 59 No. 3 in F sharp minor sheet music

Frédric Chopin Mazurka Op. 33 No. 2 in D major

zygis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:33:35 +0000

By Colleen Lee

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Arthur Rubinstein

Mazurka Op. 33 No. 2 in D major sheet music

Frédric Chopin Mazurka Op. 30 No. 4 in C sharp minor

zygis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:16:21 +0000

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Arthur Rubinstein

Mazurka Op. 30 No. 4 in C sharp minor sheet music

Frédric Chopin Mazurka Op. 30 No. 3 D flat major

zygis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:49:25 +0000

By Arthur Rubinstein

By Vladimir Horowitz

Mazurka Op. 30 No. 3 D flat major sheet music

Frédric Chopin Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4 in A minor

zygis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:23:51 +0000

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Michael Glenn Williams

By Arthur Rubinstein

Mazurka Op. 17 No. 4 in A minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Mazurka Op. 7 No. 3 in F minor

zygis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:20:20 +0000

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vadim Chaimovich

By Arthur Rubinstein

Mazurka Op. 7 No. 3 in F minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Sonata in B flat minor Op. 35 No. 2

zygis — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:02:27 +0000

Frédéric Chopin composed his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 (”Funeral March”) mainly in 1839 at Nohant near Chateauroux in France, although the funeral march third movement had been composed as early as 1837.

The sonata consists of four movements.

Grave; Doppio movimento
Scherzo
Marche funèbre: Lento
Finale: Presto

The first movement features a stormy opening theme and a gently lyrical second theme. The second contains a calmer, more relaxed melodic theme. The third movement begins and ends with the celebrated funeral march in B flat minor which gives the sonata its nickname, but has a calm interlude in D flat major. The finale contains a whirlwind of unison notes with unremitting (not a single rest or chord until the final bars) unvarying tempo or dynamics (changes of volume); James Huneker, in his introduction to the American version of Mikuli edition of the Sonatas, quotes Chopin as saying “The left hand unisono with the right hand are gossiping after the March”. Others have remarked that the fourth movement is “wind howling around the gravestones”.

The Sonata confused contemporary critics who found it lacked cohesion. Robert Schumann suggested that Chopin had in this sonata “simply bound together four of his most unruly children.” (See Schirmer’s modern reprint of the Mikuli edition)

Funeral March

As noted above, the 3rd movement is structured as a funeral march played with a Lento interlude. While the term “funeral march” is perhaps a fitting description of the 3rd movement, complete with the Lento interlude in D flat major, when the “Chopin Funeral March” is actually played (typically by a brass ensemble) in a funeral procession, only the part in B flat minor is used. This “funeral march” adapted for brass as described, has become well known in popular culture. It was also used at the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and those of Soviet leaders, including Leonid Brezhnev. It was transcribed for full orchestra by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1933 and its first performance was at his own memorial concert the next year. It was played at the graveside during Chopin’s own burial at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

The sonata’s opening bars allude to Beethoven’s last piano sonata, Op. 111. The basic sequence of scherzo, funeral march with trio, and animated, resolving finale, repeats that of Beethoven’s sonata in A-flat major, Op. 26. Chopin’s first movement, however, is animated and in sonata form, unlike Beethoven’s Andante con variazioni. Chopin was known to have admired these two sonatas of Beethoven’s.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Grigory Sokolov part 1/3

By Grigory Sokolov part 2/3

By Grigory Sokolov part 3/3 “Marche funèbre”

By Vladimir Horowitz part 1/4

By Vladimir Horowitz part 2/4

By Vladimir Horowitz part 3/4 “Marche funèbre”

By Vladimir Horowitz part 4/4

Sonata in B flat minor Op. 35 No. 2 sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Polonaise Op. 44 F sharp minor

zygis — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:05:38 +0000

The Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op. 44 is a solo piano composition by Frédéric Chopin composed in 1841. The piece is less popular than some of Chopin’s other polonaises such as the Military Polonaise and the Heroic Polonaise.

The polonaise is in ternary form, with a central Mazurka section in A major.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Evgeny Kissin part 1

By Evgeny Kissin part 2

By Vladimir Horowitz

Polonaise Op. 44 F sharp minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 15 D flat major

zygis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:48:58 +0000

Prelude No. 15 in D flat, nicknamed the “Raindrop” Prelude, is the longest of the twenty-four. The main melody is repeated three times; it is melancholy, despite its major key. The middle section is much darker; the melody moves to the bass and the right hand mostly repeats G sharp (enharmonically equivalent to the repeated A flat of the opening section), first alone and then in octaves. The mood becomes more agitated with the melody’s return to the right hand and an increase in volume, with many large chords. After this the melody and texture of the first section return briefly, leading to a restful ending.