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Written at age 27 by Beethoven, this piece proved an instant hit. Commonly known as Sonata Pathétique, this piece remains among his most famous works.
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Chopin is one of my favorite composers, as he is for many others. I highly recommend playing these preludes. It’s an experience unlike any other.
Each prelude represents an emotion. Stories tell us people would gather under Chopin’s hotel, drawn to the music. Depending on the prelude, they would say angels arrived from the heavens, or the Devil walked among them.
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A piano transcription of Bach’s Chaconne. A particularly brilliant section starts at 9:00.
Brahms wrote of the Chaconne, “The Chaconne is one of the most wonderful, incomprehensible pieces of music. On a single staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings. If I were to imagine how I might have made, conceived the piece, I know for certain that the overwhelming excitement and awe would have driven me mad”
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A masterwork considered to be among the most significant pieces of the early romantic period, Schumann considered the composition his most passionate piece. Schumann dedicated the work to Franz Liszt, one of the only pianists at the time capable of meeting its technical demands.
The first and most famous movement calls out to Schumann’s beloved Clara Wieck. Forbidden from contacting each other by her father, Schumann voices his anguish through the music. Certain phrases are said to be ciphers calling out her name, “Clara, Clara”!