Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55, No. 2
A member of Chopin’s circle called this Nocturne “the dangerous one… the fatal nocturne.”
Tag: Piano
Claude Debussy: Images, Book 2
Debussy was not so interested in making musical versions of paintings as he was in getting at the same kinds of ideas that art did, but by other means.
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83
Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7 was written at the height of World War II and premiered just as the Russian Army came within reach of victory at Stalingrad.
Frédéric Chopin: Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52
Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 tells a story that emerges at the intersection of the imaginations of the composer, performer, and listener.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
While many composers might set out to write a piano quintet, for Brahms it was simply the best ensemble in which to house a musical idea.
György Ligeti: Musica ricercata
Musica ricercata was written for the “bottom drawer”— Ligeti knew it could not be performed in Hungary behind the Iron Curtain. But for him alone, it was a new beginning, built from the most basic musical elements.