Rubinstein - Piano Concerto No. 4 in D minor

Anton Rubinstein (1829 - 1894) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. He was part of the tradition of the 19th century virtuoso performer/composers such as Franz Liszt. Although his compositions are seldom heard now, at one time he was equally valued as a composer as a performer.

He toured Europe as a virtuoso pianist and even toured the United States during the 1872-73 concert season. He gave over 200 concerts in 239 days. The Steinway piano company financed this tour, and he received $200 per concert plus expenses. Rubinstein said of this tour: "May Heaven preserve us from such slavery! Under these conditions there is no chance for art—one simply grows into an automaton, performing mechanical work; no dignity remains to the artist; he is lost.... The receipts and the success were invariably gratifying, but it was all so tedious that I began to despise myself and my art. So profound was my dissatisfaction that when several years later I was asked to repeat my American tour, I refused pointblank..."  The fact that he earned enough from this tour alone to never have to worry about money  no doubt helped him make the decision to not do it again.

In appearance, Rubinstein favored Beethoven so much that rumors had him as Beethoven's illegitimate son. Liszt called him 'Van II'. He had hands that were more like paws with a broad palm,  short, thick fingers that were broad and square at the finger tip. He could make the piano roar, or have it speak in a whisper. He was a master of the pedal, and said of it that, "The pedal is the soul of the piano."

Rubinstein's life was music and he contributed greatly to music education in Russia by founding the St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music in 1862.  He continued to compose, conduct, and give recitals all of his life until his death from heart disease.

His Piano Concerto No. 4 was  once highly esteemed and was part of the repertoire of such virtuoso pianists as Rachmaninoff and Paderewski.  It was composed in 1864, revised twice and the final version was published in 1872. It follows the typical Romantic piano concerto structure and is in 3 movements:

I. Moderato assai - The main theme is stated by orchestra alone, the piano enters alone then joins with the orchestra in the main theme. The movement is in sonata form with a cadenza added towards the end. The movement ends with another statement of the main theme and a coda.
II. Andante -  Serene music that begins in D minor and progresses to F major. Some of the most beautiful music Rubinstein ever composed.
III. Allegro- An exuberant rondo in the style of a Russian peasant dance. After the orchestra and piano take turns yelling and stamping, the movement ends with piano pyrotechnics.

Brüll - Konzertstuck For Piano and Orchestra

Ignaz Brüll (1846 - 1907) was an Austrian pianist and composer that was born into a Jewish merchant family. The family moved to Vienna in 1850 with Brüll destined to take over the family business. When he showed amazing musical aptitude and after a glowing assessment from Anton Rubinstein the family embraced his decision to become a musician.

He began composing early on. He began to compose his first piano concerto in 1860 when he was 15 years old. It was premiered in 1861 in Vienna by his teacher Julius Epstein.  He also wrote for solo piano, chamber music, opera and lieder. He bacame a friend to many of the musicians in Vienna of the time, most notably Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler.

Brüll wrote two piano concertos, both works of his youth. The Konzertstück was written later in his life, in 1902.  Brüll remained a conservative composer and never embraced any of the experimentation of the turn of the 20th century.  Some of what a critic that attended the premiere of the piece had to say about the work:

"In the beautiful Andante, full of gentle orchestra color, we wander among the German pine forests, several times hearing the ominous rustle of cedars of Lebanon from distant times. The composer celebrates his morning worship alone until the cheerful Allegro leads him back to the bustle of happy people."

Brüll - Kozertstück For Piano and Orchestra

G.H. Matos Rodríguez - Tango 'La Cumparsita'

Gerardo Matos Rodríguez (1897 - 1948) was an Uruguayan musician and composer. He studied architecture but the lure of music was too strong. His father owned a cabaret in Montevideo. He wrote many tangos plus music for theatrical plays that opened in Buenos Aires, and  he also led his own tango orchestra for a time.

The tango as a dance evolved from different dances brought to Argentina and Uruguay from European and African immigrants.  Early tangos were played by immigrants in Buenos Aires which is considered the birth place of the tango.  The tango was originally associated with the lower classes, and could be heard in bordellos and other seamy places, very similar to the history of American ragtime.  It eventually became a main-stream entertainment and attained world-wide popularity after WW I.  Read more about the history of the tango here.

Rodríguez composed La Cumparsita when he was 18 years old, in 1916.  It is the most recognized tango ever written. The title translates to 'little parade' and it was originally written as an instrumental for solo piano as a Uruguayan carnival march. Different sets of words were written for the music later, with the most popular set beginning, "The little parade of endless miseries..."

Liszt - Symphonic Poem 'Les Préludes'

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886)  wrote Les Préludes,  his third symphonic poem in 1856. It was derived from pieces he wrote as early as 1844 for chorus and piano.  although it was the third of his symphonic poems, it was the first to be heard and the first to be called a symphonic poem.

The full title of the work is Les Préludes (d'aprés Lamartine) references a poem written by the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine.  The first printing of the score also had a short essay printed with it, although this was not by the poet:

"What else is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of which is intoned by Death?—Love is the glowing dawn of all existence; but what is the fate where the first delights of happiness are not interrupted by some storm, the mortal blast of which dissipates its fine illusions, the fatal lightning of which consumes its altar; and where is the cruelly wounded soul which, on issuing from one of these tempests, does not endeavour to rest his recollection in the calm serenity of life in the fields? Nevertheless man hardly gives himself up for long to the enjoyment of the beneficent stillness which at first he has shared in Nature's bosom, and when "the trumpet sounds the alarm", he hastens, to the dangerous post, whatever the war may be, which calls him to its ranks, in order at last to recover in the combat full consciousness of himself and entire possession of his energy."

There is also evidence in a letter written by Liszt that explained the work was only a prelude to his method of composing.  There has been quite a lot of research done on the naming of this symphonic poem that can be read here.


Les Préludes by Franz Liszt:

Chopin - Scherzo No. 2 In B-flat Minor

Frederic Chopin was a virtuoso of the instrument, and the vast majority of his compositions were for the piano. He brought the Mazurka, the national dance of Poland, into the concert hall and helped establish the form of the piano Nocturne.

Chopin has been called the poet of the piano, and many consider him to be the greatest of all the composers for the instrument.  He brought to his piano works a type of technical quality that is by no means easy, but at the same time it is not an empty display of rapid finger work. Everything in Chopin comes from the heart, from emotion, and serves musical expression.

Scherzo is an Italian word that means 'joke', but the Scherzo No. 2 In B-flat Minor is hardly a laughing matter.  There is something ominous from the very beginning of the piece. One of Chopin's students said of the opening of the Scherzo,  "For Chopin it was never questioning enough, never soft enough, never vaulted enough. It must be a charnel-house."  When the Scherzo comes to a thundering close in D flat Major some nine-odd minutes later,  (some say a triumphant close) in the same rhythm as the opening, the 'bad' joke has been transformed.

Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Opus 31:

Albert Ketèlby - Dance Of The Merry Mascots

Albert Ketèlby - (1875 - 1959) was an English composer, pianist and conductor. He attended the Trinity College Of Music in London and his early piano sonata was praised by Edward Elgar. He had a knack for being able to play all the instruments of the orchestra,  practical knowledge he used when he composed for orchestra.

He was musical director of London's Vaudeville Theater and wrote many vocal and instrumental pieces while there. He was also music editor to some publishing houses and was Musical director for the Columbia Gramophone company and conducted on more than 600 recordings issued by the company.

He is most well known for his light popular music that was used at dances and sometimes for silent movies. Some of his most well-known compositions are In A Persian Market, In A Monastery Garden,  and Dance Of The Merry Mascots. Many of these pieces had a short program attached to them. The program for Dance Of The Merry Mascots is as follows:

"The Mascots go to a Fancy-dress Ball dressed as Pierrots, Pierrettes, Japanese and Spanish dancers.  They start with a Waltz for the Pierrots and Pierrettes, (during which Weber's "Invitation to the dance" is played as a counter-melody), then follow two movements for the Japanese and Spanish dancers; the Waltz is now resumed, and towards the end some of the Mascots who have got a little bit too "merry", find it rather difficult to keep in time, but they manage to finish all together!  The chimes now indicate that it is near midnight and the Mascots are heard taking their departure."   

Dance Of The Merry Mascots by Ketèlby:

Beethoven - Choral Fantasia

Ludwig van Beethoven   first made his mark in the musical world as a virtuoso pianist. His skill as an improvisor was well known. The art of improvisation has had something of a rebirth, especially with jazz musicians. Of course, there was no sound recording in Beethoven's day, so how he actually sounded is a matter of conjecture. There are contemporary descriptions of his improvisations, but we will never know how great he really was.

Be that as it may, we do have a few instances of music that Beethoven improvised and later wrote down. Such is the piano solo beginning the Choral Fantasia. This work had its first hearing at a benefit concert in December of 1808.  It was the Finale of a concert that also had the premieres of Symphonies 5 and 6, the 4th Piano concerto, an Aria, and half of the Mass In C Major. The thought of such a long concert, at least 3 1/2 hours long in an unheated concert hall in Vienna, Austria in December boggles the mind.  Beethoven wrote the piece to be a culmination of the concert that integrated solo piano, orchestra and voice.

Beethoven was the soloist in the first performance. He was so hurried and busy in preparation for it (the ink was still wet at concert time on the vocal parts)  he had no time to write down the piano solo, so he improvised it at the concert.  After the 26 bars of virtuosic piano, a theme is introduced by the deep strings, the piano enters in a dialogue with the orchestra for a few measures, then the main theme of the piece is stated by the solo piano and a set of variations on the choral theme begins.  After the variations, the initial theme is restated by the deep strings that are punctuated by flourishes from the piano. Then the chorus enters with a piano accompaniment. The chorus continues with the next verse as the piano continues accompanying until the full orchestra and chorus join in together, until the piece ends with the full orchestra and piano alternating with chords and flourishes until all end together.

The Choral Fantasia has been likened to an experiment that was the precursor of the 9th Symphony. And there is similarity in the main choral tune and the Ode To Joy of the 9th, as well as some of the structure of the two being similar. But the Choral Fantasia is a masterpiece in its own right, one of those pieces of music that Beethoven wrote that needs to be judged on its own merits.

Beethoven's Choral Fantasia and  English translation of the chorus:

With grace, charm and sweet sounds The harmonies of our life, And the sense of beauty engenders The flowers which eternally bloom. Peace and joy advancing in perfect accord, Like the alternating play of the waves; All harsh and hostile elements Render to a sublime sentiment. When the magic sounds reign And the sacred word is spoken, That strongly engender the wonderful, The night and the tempest divert light, Calm without, profound joy within, Awaiting the great hour. Meanwhile, the spring sun and art Bathe in the light. Something great, into the heart Blooms anew when in all its beauty, Which spirit taken flight, And all a choir of spirits resounds in response. Accept then, oh you beautiful spirits Joyously of the gifts of art. When love and strength are united, The favor of God rewards Man.