Wednesday, May 22

Mozart's Piano Sonatas through the eyes of Alfred Einstein - Part 7 (K. 330)

Sonata in C major, K. 330
Light returns in Mozart's work, after the darkness of his Sonata in A Minor. 

"The sonata appears 'lighter' than the preceding one, but it is just as much a masterpiece, in which every note 'belongs' - one of the most lovable works Mozart ever wrote. In it the shadows of the Andante cantabile give place to an unclouded purity; a particularly delighful feature is the way the second part of the Finale begins with a simple little song".

When Einstein writes that "every note 'belongs'", what he actually means is that every note is in its proper place; we simply cannot imagine a different melodic course, therefore it is impossible to "alter" the score in any way...One cannot alter what is perfect...

Here is a live performance of this Sonata, played by Daniel Barenboim


 
 

Tuesday, May 21

Spyros Souladakis performing Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto

This was yesterday in Athenaeum, a nice concert hall in Athens. The idea was to perform two well-known piano concerti in a transcription for piano and a string quartet. Spyros Souladakis chose to play Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto in C minor. (I played Schumann's Concerto). "Kochlias" String Quartet played the orchestral part. 
 
Let me first say that, for some reason, the Beethoven transcription was not, in my view, very succesful. Maybe this is due to the fact that Beethoven is an "orchestral" composer, that is, he has a full orchestra in his mind when composing and, therefore, it is not easy to transcribe a full score for just four instruments. (This is not the case with other composers, like Chopin and Schumann). 
Souladakis from his very first notes (the well known C minor scale) established a well-balanced Beethovenian sound; and he kept it till the end. Apart from his technical excellency (shown particularly in the cadenza of the 1st movement), one could easily discern that he had worked very hard on his sound, and this was mostly apparent in the Second Movement (Largo) - one of the most musical and lyrical themes ever composed by the great German composer. Souladakis's tempo in the Largo was (in my view) the slowest one can take; but he managed to bring out the melodic qualities really well, and without turning the music into romantic music - which is a great danger here! 
His Rondo was light and brillante, and was well accompanied by the String Quartet. I think, I would prefer it to be just a bit faster. 
This was Spyros's first performance of this work and the result was impressive!
 

Monday, May 13

Mozart's Piano Sonatas through the eyes of Alfred Einstein - Part 6 (K. 310)

Let's now move to the five Paris sonatas, written in the summer of 1778. First, we 'll concentrate in the famous A minor sonata K. 310, one of Mozart's sonatas that I love most, and which I have often performed. It is indeed an unusually (by M's standards) dark work, composed just after his mother's death...

"... this sonata is dramatic and full of unrelieved darkness; not even the turn towards C major at the end of the exposition section of the first movement can brighten the mood of this work. In the slow movement, con espressione, the development does begin somewhat consolingly, but the whole impression is governed by the uncanny agitation that comes just before the recapitulation. Uncanny, too, is the shadowy Presto, from beginning to end - despite the interpolation of a melody that begins in musette style. The key of A minor - and sometimes A major as well - is for Mozart the key of despair. No trace of "sociability" is left in this sonata. It is a most personal expression; one may look in vain in all the works of other composers of this period for anything similar. And it is easy to undestand the astonishment of M. de Saint-Foix over the fact that the public of Paris, the city of criticism, where the work appeared in 1782, greeted it silently and without comment".

Mozart Sonata in A minor K. 310, Dezso Ranki, piano. (I really like his playing - his Mozart in particular).




 

Friday, May 3

Orthodox Good Friday: They stripped Me of My garments

One of the most beautiful as well as moving hymns of Good Friday (The Passion Service) is the one below. This is not just a music of unparallelled anguish and beauty; it is also the lyrics that speak directly to the christian's heart
Christ "speaks" in the 1st person here, describing the humiliation he suffered before being crucified:
  
They stripped me of my garments, and clothed me in a scarlet cloak; they placed a crown of thorns upon my head and put a reed into my right hand, that I might smash them like a potter’s vessels.

Music-wise, I would only like to draw the attention to the apparent change in tone when the words "upon my head" (επί την κεφαλήν μου) are sung (move to 2:00): the Tone of the hymn is Plagal Second, and at this point, it reaches its most highly charged moment; the effect is immense - there is intense emotion (quite rare for Byzantine music) powerfully expressing utter desperation and hopelessness. 

Here is the hymn, as performed by the Hellenic Byzantine Choir and Lykourgos Angelopoulos. I do not know the name of the solo chanter - but I think his singing is superb. 


Wednesday, May 1

Mozart's Piano Sonatas through the eyes of Alfred Einstein - Part 5 (K. 311)

Let's now move on to the "sibling" of the Sonata in C major - Sonata in D, K. 311. Einstein begins his comments with the Sonata's 2nd movement, a charming Andante con espressione. He also makes some very interesting remarks on the innovations brought in music by Mozart, with his two Manneheim sonatas:

"How little Mozart was concerned with realism may be inferred from the fact that the slow movement of the other Mannheim sonata [K. 311] - an Andante con espressione, very childlike, very innocent - has also been taken to be the portait of the young Rose Cannabich
This whole sonata is in a way a companion-piece to the sonata in C. Just as in the first movement of that work, the repetition of the initial motive is here avoided in the recapitulation and appears only as a surprise in the coda. In both sonatas the middle register of the instrument is cultivated in a new way; in both, the left hand no longer furnishes a mere accompaniment, but becomes a real partner in the dialogue; both works are showy. Mozart counted them among his more difficult piano sonatas - and rightly so, although even the apparently simplest clavier pieces by Mozart are difficult."

I am not sure why Mozart considered the Mannheim sonatas to be more difficult than other piano works (his late sonatas, for instance). I would personally find other pieces much harder from a technical of view. Having said that, it is very often the case with Mozart that I begin practice a piece, I realise that the notes are easy, the result comes almost at once... I think that I am now ready to perform this piece... and only then the real difficulty begins. The more one practices Mozart, the more one realises how difficult his music is. 

Here is the 2nd movement (Andante con espressione) of the Sonata in D, K. 311, (Ushida on the piano).