Mieczysław Weinberg: Prelude No. 13 from 24 Preludes for Solo Cello, Op. 100
Weinberg’s Preludes for Solo Cello were written in 1968 for Mstislav Rostropovich, who never performed them. The cryptic 13th Prelude is set entirely in pizzicato.
Author: Benjamin Pesetsky
Benjamin Pesetsky is a composer and writer. He serves on the staff of the San Francisco Symphony and also contributes program notes for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Sonata No. 27 in G major, K. 379/373a
Mozart said he composed this violin sonata in G major on Saturday, April 7, 1781, between 11:00pm and midnight. Even for Mozart, writing a 25-minute sonata in a single hour was an incredible feat.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
Bach’s manuscript of the Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas dates from 1720, during his time as Kapellmeister in Köthen, though their inception probably goes back to 1703, during his time in Weimar.
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3
In 1798 Beethoven thought the three trios he had just published as Op. 9 were his best works to date.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
After the first rehearsal of Brahms’s Piano Quartet in Vienna, a notoriously grumpy violinist hugged him and said, “this is Beethoven’s heir!”
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 96, “Archduke”
Beethoven was deeply indignant at the very idea of noble birth. The son of a town musician, he resented those of higher class, claiming a kind of artistic nobility for himself.
Frédéric Chopin: Fantaisie in F minor, Op. 49
Many critics hear the Fantaisie as a reflection of Poland’s plight after the failed 1830 November Uprising against the Russian Empire, a grand anthem for a national victory that never was.
Johannes Brahms: Sechs Klavierstücke, Op. 118
The rather dry title of Brahms’s Sechs Klavierstücke (Six Piano Pieces) conceals the enormous amount of feeling held within.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Rondo in A minor, K. 511
Most rondos are lively pieces, but there are also slow rondos, where each return of the melody suggests an inescapable sadness. Mozart’s A-minor Rondo is of this kind.
Frédéric Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 59
Chopin wrote his mature mazurkas in exile, reinterpreting a Polish folk dance for Parisian salons. The Op. 59 Mazurkas are relatively late works, written in 1845, a decade-and-a-half after he last stepped foot on Polish soil.