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MUSIC NOTES
THE FESTIVAL RECITAL SERIES
JUAN PEREZ FLORISTAN
18 March
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) – Années de pèlerinage (Italie): No. 2. II pensieroso
Franz Liszt’s life and work virtually defined the Romantic era. He pushed the
bounds of what pianos – and pianists – could do. As music director for the city of
Weimar, Germany, he created the genre of the symphonic poem and championed
the radical music of Wagner – who became his son-in-law – and Berlioz. As a
semi-reclusive mystic, Liszt extended harmonic language and developed forms that
pre-figured the music of the next century.
Années de pèlerinage is a set of three suites for solo piano and includes Liszt’s
most provocative and stirring pieces. Here, he transcribes three petrarch sonnets (a
form of poetry devised by string of Renaissance poets) into lyrical, love music for
the mid-19th century. The title of the work refers to Goethe's famous novel of selfrealisation, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Divided into three sections (1st year:
Switzerland, 2nd year: Italy and 3rd year), "Deuxième année: Italie" ("Second Year:
Italy") was composed between 1837 and 1849 and draws upon the art and literature
of Italy for its inspiration. Il Penseroso is the 2nd movement and refers to
Michelangelo’s statue of “The Thinker” from the Medici tomb in Florence.
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) – Piano Sonata No. 2 in b flat minor, Op. 35
Chopin was one of the great virtuoso pianist composers. With its adventurous
harmonies, formal creativity, and inspired invention for piano, his music captures
the spirit of the Romantic era. His second piano sonata really captures the essence
of salon and concert life for the pianist of the 1830s and 1840s. Chopin is regarded
as a miniaturist, known for creations in small forms – preludes, etudes, mazurkas,
nocturnes. However, he also scaled the heights in larger forms as in this work
Piano Sonata No. 2 in b flat minor, Op. 35 is popularly known as the Funeral
March, and was completed in 1839 when Chopin was 29 years old. It has become
well known in popular culture. It was used at the state funerals of John F.
Kennedy, Sir Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.
MUSIC NOTES
The sonata comprises four movements:
– Grave – Doppio movimento (B minor and in modified sonata
form with the first subject absent in the recapitulation, ending in B
major)
– Scherzo (E minor and in ternary form, middle section and ending in G
major)
– Marche Funèbre: Lento (B minor- Trio in D flat major)
– Finale: Presto (B minor)
The first movement opens with a short introduction, followed by a stormy opening
theme and a gently lyrical second theme. After the development comes again the
lyrical second theme - but this time in B major (in which the movement ends).
The second movement is a virtuoso scherzo in E minor with a more relaxed
melodic central section in G major.
The third movement begins and ends with the celebrated “funeral march” in B
minor which gives the sonata its nickname, but has a calm interlude in D major.
The finale contains a whirlwind of unremitting parallel octaves, with unvarying
tempo and dynamics, and not a single rest or chord until the final bars with a
sudden fortissimo B octave and a B minor chord ending the whole piece. The
pianist Arthur Rubenstein described it as "wind howling around the gravestones."
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) – Pictures at an Exhibition
Modest Mussorgsky was known as a wild, original but untutored genius (RimskyKorsakov completed, edited, and arranged many of his friend’s works). The
Russian composer was part of a group known as ‘The Five’ or ‘The Mighty
Handful’ (prominent, 19th-century Russians: Balakirev, Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Borodin, Mussorgsky). Mussorgsky was an innovator of Russian music in the
Romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often
in defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his
works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist
themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone
poem Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.
Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874 as a suite of solo piano
pieces inspired by a retrospective exhibition of watercolours, drawings, and
designs by his friend Viktor Hartmann, who had died the previous year.
MUSIC NOTES
It comprises movements corresponding to 10 artworks by Hartmann:
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Promenade
1. The Gnome
2. The Old Castle
3. Tuileries (children’s quarrel after games)
4. Cattle
5. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
6. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle
Promenade
7. Limoges, The Market (The Great News)
8. Catacombs (Roman Tomb)
9. The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba-Yagá)
10. The Great Gate of Kiev (pictured)
Each of the character pieces captures the fantasy of a specific artwork, introduced
and linked by a "Promenade" that depicts Mussorgsky (the listener) strolling
through the exhibition. Many others have been inspired by Mussorgsky's vigorous
music, so colourful in its own right. The orchestrations by Maurice Ravel (1922)
and Leopold Stokowski (1939) are probably the adaptations best known in
classical circles, but everyone from organists to prog-rock groups have tried to
express something new out of Mussorgsky's inspired original.
Discover more at the onstage Post-Concert Talk
with Matthew Quayle, Assistant Professor of Music, NYU Abu Dhabi