Stumbled upon this video last night after I got off of work...YouTube loves to direct me to videos late at night that peak my interest and prevent me from sleep.

Many people I know have come to discover my fascination with Beethoven's Third Symphony in E-flat Major, aka the "Eroica" Symphony, it was one of the first Symphonies I posted on a year back and even wrote a paper on it for a class non-musically related. The "Eroica" is one of the few works in music history where the story of the composition has become as illustrious as the symphony itself. The one work that, maybe along with the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies have evolved a legacy of their own, greater than what Beethoven ever intended.

The video is of a program called "Discovering Beethoven." A feature presented by Michael Tilson Thomas, now the director of the San Francisco Symphony on the BBC with the London Symphony Orchestra. The video presents the symphony through the perspective of Beethoven himself and how, not only struggling with his ability as a composer but a progressing hearing ailment as well, he came in the end to realize, the strongest form of achievement he had ever reached came from writing to his own heart, rather than the noble as he attempted with the Eroica or for the styles of the time. Plus an intriguing source of inspiration that the entire symphony was created from.

Enjoy Discovering Beethoven

Part One


Beethoven and the background of Bonn before he came to Vienna.

Part Two


The source of Beethoven's initial conflict...Beethoven vs. Steibel? The first true opponent in Beethoven's career that would eventually end for the better.

Part Three


The two themes, the music that was to change his life forever. And the creation of the Finale movement that started the entire symphony.

Part Four


The inspiration comes full circle, back to the days of beginning in Vienna when he was struggling to make his mark on the crowd. There's not enough talk about the second movement in my opinion, including the heart-wrenching double fugue in the middle of the movement.

Part Five


Then Beethoven came to the most important realization of his career. After writing about mythological figures (the ballet "Creatures of Promotheus" one of the first pieces to use the theme used in the Eroica finale), celebrated revolutionaries of the day (Napoleon Bonaparte), what he really has to write about, is himself.

"It is within himself to be the hero, he is the hero and all he wants to do is communicate to us, and with every performance all he's saying is, can you hear me?"

This post marks No. 100 for BG & the PIANO, officially making it my longest blog, and I figured to do it on one of my favorite piano pieces by one of my favorite performers...

...or it was mere coincidence that it worked out this way.

Claude Debussy wrote the waltz, La plus que lente for piano in 1910. It was a late incidental composition that holds reference to the popular tune at the time La valse lente, Debussy's title can be translated into "the even slower waltz." It is a light, sentimental piece, the italian term morbidezza accompanying the tempo at the beginning means softness or gentleness.

When asked about the piece, Debussy said, "Let us think of cabarets, let us think also of the numerous 'five o'clocks' where the beautiful feminine listeners of whom I thought, meet."

Arthur Rubinstein performs:

For that is what music can truly be without when taken from the depths of our soul. Mind you music with words can be just as equally expressive, if not more depending on the context, but, there's just something about a single melody soaring above the silence without words that just seems so natural.

Here cellist Jacqueline du Pré performs Felix Mendelssohn's Song Without Words in D Major, Op.109

Arthur Rubinstein spoke the clearest through music, recognizing the strength of the bond between music and the soul. Allowing him to become clear with the virtues of life while and through the natural, organic medium that music has become.

The title of today's post comes from a belief involving Hellenistic philosophy, stoicism. It concerns that the active relationship between determinism and human freedom is through the belief that it is virtuous to maintain a will that is in agreement with nature. The best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but through how they behaved, such becomes the philosophy that stoicism is a way of life, so much an argument towards nature.

Rubinstein performs Brahms' Intermezzo in B-flat minor, Op.117 No.2 in a 1973 concert


Stoicism: teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason.

Well this post should be regular for about the next month or so, as I have already created the posts and have used the lovely "scheduled posting" feature available on blogger to make it easier.

So to start, here is the next five: 74-70. In case you're as lost as I am with this, the previous 26 concertos can be seen in yesterday's recap or here.

74. Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1 in E-flat, Op.107

First Movement performed by Misha Quint, with the Duqesne Symphony Orchestra with Sidney Harth conducting

73. Hummel Piano Concerto No.2 in A minor, Op.85

Second movement performed by Steven Hough with the English Chamber Orchestra and Bryden Thompson conducting

72. Berg Violin Concerto

Part 1 of 3 with Frederieke Saeijs with the Orchestra National de France conducted by Jonathan Darlington.

71. Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F BWV 1047

First movement performed by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

70. Vivaldi Flute Concerto in D Major, RV 428 “Il gardelino”

First movement performed by Giovanni Antonini with Il Giardino Armonico.

Till next Wednesday, the usual question...
What Concerto could you not live without?

Last January I stumbled upon a list that I thought would be interesting to post on, hence a partial reason for the creation of this blog.

As I never got past the first 25 in the countdown, here they are again with the countdown to resume tomorrow with the next five. They are sorted as they were in the previous posts, with the links to the previous posts accompanying. A video of my favorite from each post accompanies the recap. Enjoy!

Concertos are listen in descending order.

100-95
~Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Mandolins

second and third movements
~Carl Pine, Piano Concerto
~Vaughan Williams, Tuba Concerto in F minor
~Telemann, Viola Concerto in G
~Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No.1 in c minor, Op.35
~Mozart, Basson Concerto in B flat Major KV 191

94-90
~Saint-Saëns, Piano Concerto No.5 in F Major, Op.103
~Giuliani, Concerto for Guitar and Strings No.1 Op.30
~Ross Edwards, Oboe Concerto
~Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in F Major BWV 1046

first movement
~Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Trumpets in C Major RV 537

89-85
~Liszt, Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat
~Korngold, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.35

third movement
~Haydn, Cello Concerto No.2 in D Major Hob2
~Glazunov, Saxophone Concerto in E-flat, Op.109
~Bach, Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052

84-80
~Bruch, Scottish Fantasy

second movement
~Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No.6 in B-flat Major BWV 1051
~Mozart, Oboe Concerto in C Major KV 314
~Telemann, Concerto for Flute, Oboe d'amore and Vila d'amore
~Mozart, Horn Concerto No.1 in D Major KV 412

79-75
~Bach, Violin Concerto in E Major BWV 1042
~Shostakovich, Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, Op.77

third movement
~Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No.3 in C Major, Op.26
~Mozart, Piano Concerto No.9 in E-flat Major KV 271, "Jeunehomme"
~Vivaldi, Lute Concerto in F Major RV 93

It continues by five concertos continuing with 74 onwards (or downwards) tomorrow...
What Concerto could you not live without?

Arthur Rubinstein was without a doubt a gifted man. He lived during the great years of composers such as Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich and among great pianists such as Wilhelm Kempf, Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau and many others.

Here he is performing one of my favorite pieces from Franz Schubert. The Impromptu in A-flat Major, Op.90 No.4



One of the biggest tragedies in music is that not many knew of the great genius in Franz Schubert until long after his death. It wasn't until 1838, ten years after his death that fellow friend Robert Schumann discovered the dusty manuscript to Schubert's great ninth symphony in C major.

Many of his piano and other major works went undiscovered until 1867 (almost forty years after his death) when Sir George Grove (famed for the "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, a fuse to any music student and paper writing) and Arthur Sullivan made a trip to Vienna. In their quest they discovered and rescued from near oblivion, seven symphonies, the Rosamunde incidental music, some of the Masses and Operas, several chamber works including the great "Death and the Maiden" string quartet, and a vast quanity of miscellaneous pieces and songs.

The works of one of Western Music's greatest composers nearly disappeared into the rapidly changing world that his music helped shape.

Today's post features the new label "Russian Resonance" which focuses on the strengths of Russian music, and it starts with today's symphony by Sergei Prokofiev.

Even in the absence almost 108 years after his death, Josephy Haydn still had tremendous impact on Russian composer, Sergei Prokofiev. Considered by many to be the first neo-classical inspired composition, Prokofiev's Symphony No.1 in D Major, Op.25," shows great tribute to the Symphony of Haydn, with of course a blend of niches provided by Prokofiev himself.

1. Allegro


The work was completed in September of 1917 with the premiere coming on April 21, 1918 in the Russian coastal city of Petrograd. Prokofiev himself led the Orchestra that evening to a great reception and the piece since has grown to be one of the composer's most beloved works, and the most adored of the five symphonies he wrote. The work is often considered the first work that brought back renewed interest in classical music to the wide public, making ground for the neo-classical movement that moved into music following World War I.

2. Larghetto


Music had spiraled into an overwrought emotional vehicle, the spawning legacy of 19th Century Romanticism. The response by composers of the early 20th century was to return music to that of the balanced form it was back in the high classical era, including capping the limits as to what it could aspire to emotionally. The first symphony is modeled after Haydn and whilst being "classical" in its origins, the work is still uniquely twentieth-century.

3. Gavotta. Non Troppo Allegro


The music is short. The symphony is approximately 15-20 minutes long in length and could be even seen as a reference back to the early pre-classical form of the symphony. The symphony is scored as it was back in the days of Haydn, two of each woodwind, two trumpets and horns, timpani and strings.

The symphony follows strict classical form, save the third movement, with the opening allegro and finishing with a fast movement, surrounding an endearing second movement demonstrating Prokofiev's great excitement and ability in lyricism.

4. Finale. Molto vivace


The opening stroke of the first movement pays homage to the days of the Mannheim school in Germany, but then clearly becomes Prokofiev on his own with deeper harmonies and a mix in the classical sonorities. Prokofiev at his most creative and endearing in the second movement, with a fine opening melody supplemented by an even more serene middle section before the two combine to close out the movement. A short humorous gavotte is the subject of the third movement, which in contrast is merely a blink at just under two minutes long. The pacing for the finale is immediate and the strength falls in the opening strings before taken over by the flute, one can hardly keep a straight face in the most popular movement of the symphony. The symphony ends as it begun, triumphantly and in classical tradition of the final movement being the most important musically.

Performance was of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan in one of the last great concerts he would ever conduct in 1988. His death came a year later.