If you're looking for a classical work with great emotional breadth, a work worthy of obsession, you ought to consider Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106.
For a review of a terrific recording of this great sonata, check out my good friend Lloyd Arriola's review.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Flute Music and the Olympics
While the Winter Olympics were going on, I was preparing and performing a flute recital with my friend Jeremy MacEntire.
One of the pieces we played was Casella's Sicilliene and Burlesque. The Burlesque is full of directions from the composer to the performer to speed up. Thus, playing this piece seems a lot like downhill skiing. I heard that Casella was from Turino.
Another of the works we played was Schubert's Introduction and Variations which is based on Schubert's own song "Trockne Blumen." I think this work is a real masterpiece for flute and piano. One of the variations features rapid ascending scales in the piano part. Normally I think of scales of this sort as representing getting somewhere. But to me, having watched the Olympics quite a lot, these scales suggested a figure skater twirling around in place. This phenomenon reminds me of something Fleisher once said. He was discussing a piano piece in which there was a downward spiral of notes that somehow suggested an upward movement, as if the music were somehow implying an ascent into heaven. The idea that musical materials could suggest some movement other than what seems like the obvious choice based on register, is fascinating. Perhaps it depends on context and also harmonic content.
One of the pieces we played was Casella's Sicilliene and Burlesque. The Burlesque is full of directions from the composer to the performer to speed up. Thus, playing this piece seems a lot like downhill skiing. I heard that Casella was from Turino.
Another of the works we played was Schubert's Introduction and Variations which is based on Schubert's own song "Trockne Blumen." I think this work is a real masterpiece for flute and piano. One of the variations features rapid ascending scales in the piano part. Normally I think of scales of this sort as representing getting somewhere. But to me, having watched the Olympics quite a lot, these scales suggested a figure skater twirling around in place. This phenomenon reminds me of something Fleisher once said. He was discussing a piano piece in which there was a downward spiral of notes that somehow suggested an upward movement, as if the music were somehow implying an ascent into heaven. The idea that musical materials could suggest some movement other than what seems like the obvious choice based on register, is fascinating. Perhaps it depends on context and also harmonic content.
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