Yeah, I know. You’ve probably been hearing Beethoven on the radio, from your piano students, from your local orchestra, and from everyone who is scrambling to make Beethoven’s 250th anniversary a big deal (even though it’s not till December 2020). But have you heard this piece? I sure hadn’t. And I’m….really into Beethoven. If you're... Continue Reading →
I’m still taking some time to sort out all the riches of The Etude magazine, but in the meantime here’s some straight-up repertoire discussion. Don't confused by the title "duet" – these are for one player, but the title comes from the fact that they are written in two voices. I became interested in these... Continue Reading →
I discovered Mozart’s Fantasia and Fugue in C Major, sometimes titled Prelude and Fugue, while looking for a non-sonata Mozart piece to learn in college (at the time I settled on the C minor Fantasia, K. 396). I’ve wanted to write about this one for a while, but I always had a fundamental problem: I... Continue Reading →
Every once in a while I wake up in the middle of the night with a horrible realization: I haven’t been talking about Brahms enough. So here I am to keep making the case for Brahms’s piano music. I first heard this piece when I was about ten years old and just starting to really... Continue Reading →
OK, so I thought I knew everything that Dmitri Shostakovich had written. I was wrong. During some random browsing of the “library” at Hal Leonard (go to the About the Editor page to see a photo of this place), I found this set of five preludes he composed when he was a thirteen-year-old student at... Continue Reading →
In the year 1828, Franz Schubert stared down his impending death from syphilis and produced an astonishing amount of music. In his desperation, with the clock running out, he achieved some of his greatest art (see my post about his B-flat sonata). Thankfully, he also left most of it in a finished state, but the... Continue Reading →
Johannes Brahms loved variation form. This is clear from the number of standalone variation sets he composed, as well as the numerous times he turned to variation form for a movement of a sonata or other work. All of these pieces are quite fine, but there’s something about Op. 21, No. 1 that I keep... Continue Reading →
When you hear the name Muzio Clementi, what comes to mind? Those six charming little sonatinas that have been and will be played by young pianists for perpetuity? Gradus ad Parnassum? Introduction to the Art of Playing the Pianoforte? Unfortunately, Clementi’s legacy as a pedagogue has completely overshadowed his other, considerable contributions to the art... Continue Reading →
Béla Bartók’s music is a hearty stew (a goulash, if you will) of folk influences and crunchy harmonies, held together by counterpoint and symmetry. I first fell in love with his string quartets, but only became familiar with his piano music when I worked on a new Boosey & Hawkes anthology a couple years ago.... Continue Reading →
