Scarlatti sonatas

I have secret crushes on too many dead composers. I need to start being a more discerning critic or no one's going to take me seriously. Then again, I could just say, "LISTEN TO EVERYTHING!" But then I wouldn't have reason for this blog, and that would take all the fun out of it!

My favorite of the week is Scarlatti. I'm playing two right now, K 420 and K 548. By the way, the harpsichordist for the second sonata is Scott Ross. He recorded the complete Scarlatti sonatas. ALL 555 OF THEM. Then he died.

After a nasty and unsuccessful stab at a Bach French Suite a few semesters ago, I had resigned myself to disliking Baroque music. Or at least disliking performing it. But dear Scarlatti has breathed new life into me! He's like Bach, if Bach had been less stubbornly German (all that brilliant counterpoint and the stoic Art of Fugue). Scarlatti is just more athletic. It's much more enjoyable to play, speaking from a purely physical perspective. It's more simple, but then again, everything feels more simple than Bach.

Scarlatti has this way of taking such simple motives and developing them in such simple ways, and somehow creating a gem of a sonata. Every single time! K 420 is a good example of this. In each of the two sections (all of his sonatas are in binary form), you hear bright repeated notes. For some reason this reminds me of a banjo--a distinctly un-Spanish instrument. The repeated notes fold themselves into scale patterns which then fold themselves into these sweeping arpeggios. The rhythms are the only thing that drives the piece forward. There are no singable melodies, no particularly striking harmonies or key changes. I think it's actually quite boring in theory, but it's not boring at all when played with the right energy.

I'm writing a paper this semester on the influences of Spanish folk music in Scarlatti sonatas, so you will probably be hearing more about him in the next few weeks. Just a warning.

Emanuel Ax

Y'all. Emanuel Ax came to Baylor. I am not joking. This is not a dream.

I had been really excited about this since I heard about it last September. A few years ago, I heard Emanuel Ax perform the second Brahms piano concerto with the Houston Symphony, and it still inspires me to this day.

He played a Schubert program, and it was wonderful (duh). I love his conservative playing. I like that when he plays Schubert, I hear Schubert, not Emanuel Ax. He doesn't let his artist's ego get in the way, like so many do (*ahem* Lang Lang).

He does this thing, y'all. He sits down to play something, and plays it as if he was born playing it. It's like he just waves his hands and--voila!--magic happens! And then he gets up and bows all bashful-like like he hasn't just played that little A Major sonata more beautifully than I've heard it played in my entire life.

This post has no point except to let you all know that I have the world's biggest pianist crush on Emanuel Ax. I am in love with him. That is all.

Tomorrow's Classical Music

I thought this was interesting.

Credits to Alfredo.
:)

Leon Fleisher Is My Hero

Read here.

Merry Christmas!

Kabalevsky Sonata Op. 46

So I promised to write about this sonata. I spent some time yesterday working on it, and fall more in love with it all the time. It's the perfect antidote for too much Mozart.

The sonata was composed in 1945, right towards the end of World War II. The Soviet Union emerged from the war as one of the world's superpowers, but the victory came at a steep price. The estimated death toll was roughly 27 million. I can imagine that, despite the victory, the USSR was not a particularly bright and happy place in 1945.

According to Kabalevsky, this is not a strictly programmatic work. However, the two themes of youth and war are prevalent throughout the sonata. The themes clash through the piece, and youth is victorious in the end. And if you know Kabalevsky and his penchant for the inspiration of children, that makes perfect sense. It made really wonderful propaganda for the Communists at this time, but it also, in an under-handed way, made known Kabalevsky's opinion of the war. This is a good example of what I mentioned in the post about Kabalevsky. He was able to write truly good music under the Communist regime. He did what he needed to do to be able to write his music. Anything is possible if you are talented and clever enough to make it so.

The entire sonata is energetic and spirited. Both youth and war are energetic and spirited; they are so in completely opposite ways. The first movement opens with a theme of youth. It's bright and quick and mischievous in an innocent sort of way. It skips along. The second theme is also one of youth, perhaps less carefree but still fun and light. The rhythms here are particularly fun to play (and by fun, I mean difficult but impressive). In the development of the first movement, the war theme appears. All these really crazy rhythms come flying out of nowhere, but it's really exciting. There's a lot of big bass stuff in here as well, symbolizing the war theme. Youth and war struggle for a bit, then the war theme subsides completely and almost instantaneously. There's a sense of nervousness and agitation through the rest of the movement.

The second movement is very similar. It opens with a sweet, graceful youth theme. The war theme comes back, but it's sneakier this time around. (I prefer this) These dissonances start creeping in. Every time you hear one, it's a little bit less subtle. I'm just so inspired by the way Kabalevsky does this. It really is masterful. As in the first movement, the youth theme comes back in the end, much more raucous than we've heard it before.

The third movement portrays the triumph of youth. It's a fast waltz (*FAST* waltz) and it's witty and roguish. I think it depicts very well that overwhelming exuberance of youth.

Kabalevsky

My semester from hell has ended! I'm enjoying some much needed relaxation (with my handsome new fiancé! *girlish squeal*), and figure that I could do something at least semi-productive with all this free time.

As much as I love Mozart, I'm very happy to be free of him for a good while. My jury went well and I am officially a performance major now! Hooray! This means that I get to start planning super-fun things like a junior recital!

I have this odd fascination with 20th century Russian composers. The Soviets really could compose music like none I've heard (and I mean that in the best possible way). There are 20th century elements involved, those being dissonance, strange rhythmic patterns and meter changes, etc. But they somehow manage to simultaneously create beautiful melodies. I suppose I like it because it's interesting in all the ways that only 20th century music can be interesting, while still be an enjoyable listening experience. I am particularly in love with Shostakovich's second piano sonata but, unfortunately, the technical difficulties are too much for me to handle right now. My professor was kind enough to assign me a Kabalevsky sonata instead so I can get my Soviet fix.

Kabalevsky was an interesting guy. His father was a mathematician, but he was drawn to the arts and became a composer. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory and became a professor there in 1932. At this time he joined the newly formed Union of Soviet Composers, which promoted the idea of Socialist Realism in the arts. Generally speaking, they promoted Communism, though their doctrinal goal was a "truthful and historically concrete depiction of reality in its revolutionary development." He joined the Communist party in 1940 and began writing lots and lots of fun-time patriotic Communist music, including pieces with names such as The Heroes of the Revolution of 1905, Vast Motherland, and Revenger of the People. Oh, yes. In the 1940s he was briefly accused of formalism. That is, he was supposedly composing music for music's sake and not for the glorification of the Communist party. But he knew some people who knew some people and the charges were quickly dropped. I do admire his ability to write creative music under such a strict regime. It's something that many composers struggled with.

My favorite thing about Kabalevsky (besides his being a hard-core Commie, obviously) is his desire to bring good music to children. In fact, before a few weeks ago, I had no idea that he wrote anything but really wonderful early- and intermediate-level literature for children. During his lifetime he set up strong music education programs in some twenty-five Soviet schools. He also wrote several large-scale works involving children's choruses.

In terms of his actual music, it was much less adventurous than that of his contemporaries. The harmonies are interesting, but diatonic for the most part. He liked to play with chromaticism and the interchange of major and minor.

I want to write about the sonata I'm playing, but I'll most likely be long-winded about that as well. I'll leave it for next time.

Nurturing Creativity

I found this to be...wonderful, actually.

Read here.