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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
I have never found this moving, for some reason. And I don't think it's that sad. Actually, knowing what I know about Chopin, I think it's possibly a kind of parody, except for the middle section. The irony to me is confirmed by what I see as the deliberately gauche ending. JMI.
Changing the subject a bit, but sticking to the Chopin Sonata, do you all listen to music waiting for your favorite bits? Maybe you even fast-forward past the boring stuff? Or just hit the stop button when the good stuff has finished? For me, the Chopin Bb minor sonata is over after the end of the second movement, though I will sometimes listen to the last movement on headphones when I need to clear my mind. Anyway, just asking.
One other thing, do other people replay their favorite bits ad infinitum? Technology makes this easy, of course, but it's something I do and I feel sad about my motives but happy with the results. An example from classical music would be the passage in the slow movement of Rachmaninov's second symphony starting at around 4:00 and continuing through the lovely recap of the theme in the strings is something I could loop through for hours. Likewise the section towards the end of the last movement of the Dvořák's cello concerto - everyone who knows it will understand what I'm talking about.
BTW, the sad quality of that Schubert movement is somewhat blunted for me by what I once heard at a recital. The pianist kept 'missing' the third left-hand note of the groups -- not playing wrong notes, but failing to make the note sound. It seemed like it was happening about half the time. Evidently he was trying to have each measure sort of fade away, and it wasn't working on that piano, and he didn't adjust. Since then, it's impossible for me to hear the piece without thinking of that performance, so I'm half tearful over the piece and half laughing over the missed notes.
But I'm going to make it funnier. Or maybe just smirkier.
I sort of knew the pianist's parents, peripherally, and they were fellow attendees at a festival/celebration a few years ago. Y'know, we like to be positive and kind, especially to elder folk (which some of us have already become) .....and so I took the opportunity to be extra positive and kind with them. I told them that I still remembered a couple of the pieces that their son had played, all those years ago, and that the performances were still ringing in my ears. They were so happy.
By the way, the reason I remember the other piece (Bach-Busoni Toccata, Adagio, & Fugue) is that he was unhappy with his first note of the fugue, stopped and shook his head, and started it again. There is more than one way for a performance to be unforgettable.
BTW the pianist wasn't just some kid. He's a guy with a real career. Anything can happen to anybody. And really, despite the things I mentioned, it really was a very good recital.
Another piece, in the same key, is the slow movement of Mozart's A major Concerto (K. 488).
Definitely. I performed this concerto once, with the late and truly great Philip Ledger directing. In the slow movement, when it got to the decorated reprise of the big second theme, perhaps the apex of sadness in an otherwise sad as heck piece in F# mnor - I'm sure we all know which bit I'm talking about - I was so conscious of it being one of the most poignant moments in all of Mozart that I for some reason lost my bearings and performed it like a Czerny exercise. One of the biggest lost opportunities of my creative life! Oh how I would love to have those thirty seconds back again.
If we are going non piano then perhaps the devil's trill sonata? there is a lot of despair.
Back to piano, Alkan's L'Enfer from his Grand Duo Concertant in F sharp minor. it is both beautiful but also incredibly depressing, as it really captures the whole idea of being doomed to heck forever. (not like I have experience with that)
BTW, most performances by professionals seem to forget that it's marked "Lento"! (Usually you need the player to be an amateur in order for the tempo to be reasonable.)
One time I played the Mozart and the person I was playing for thought it was a Chopin waltz. That made me realize the piece needed some more work....
Is the grin because you're just being silly and trying to pretend that BDB didn't say Rondo? Or is it something else? I think we should be told!
Two things: Mainly, that in fact the waltz could be seen as a rondo. (!)
But also, meaninglessly except to me ....when that thing happened where the person thought the Mozart Rondo was a Chopin waltz, of course (of course???) I thought of this A minor Chopin waltz, and the pieces became forevermore linked in my mind.
It's not just that the two pieces are in A minor and that the Mozart is also in a triple time. For example, I never would have linked the Mozart with the Chopin posthumous A minor waltz. I think there is indeed somewhat of a spiritual similarity between the Mozart and the Op. 34 A minor. Although not when the Chopin is played allegretto as it often is.
And the end of the development section of the first movement. However, I think we're drifting a bit from sad to tragic now. Admittedly a fine distinction, but a distinction nevertheless.
Brahms Intermezzo, Op 119 - 1 Ravel Pavane for a Dead Princess Brahms Intermezzo, Op 116 - 4 Schumann In der Nacht Mompou Cancion, from Cancion y Danza #12 Rachmaninoff Mvt #2, Piano Sonata #2 Scriabin Mvt #3, Piano Sonata #3 Rachmaninoff Vocalise*
*OK, not a piano song - but there have been several transcriptions for solo piano.
Curiously, I don't place anything of Schubert in "saddest of all" category, even though he's often spoken of as coming from an especially sad place. For me, Brahms and Rachmaninoff were the absolute masters at conveying "sad" especially well.
Agreed, Rach Sonata 2 mvt. 2 immediately came to mind. For me, listening to it is almost like listening to a friend tell you about something bad happening in their life and trying to comfort them.
.....and so I took the opportunity to be extra positive and kind with them. I told them that I still remembered a couple of the pieces that their son had played, all those years ago, and that the performances were still ringing in my ears. They were so happy.
) things of beauty. What a musician! Genius! 