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Sonata in A major D959 Schubert’s penultimate piano sonata was one of three written in the summer of 1828, just months before his death. This is a pianistically challenging work of unusually wide emotional range. Its moods run the gamut … Continue reading
Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands D940 Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor for piano duet, composed in 1828, is similar in structure to the composer’s ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy of 1822. Both are laid out in one continuous movement of … Continue reading
Sonata in C minor D958 Of the three last sonatas Schubert wrote just before his death in 1828, it is the Sonata in C minor that most reveals him as Beethovenian, not just in his choice of key, synonymous with … Continue reading
The age of the German lied, an art-song for solo voice with piano accompaniment, extends from the first songs of Schubert (1814) to the last songs of Hugo Wolf (1897). Its emergence in the early part of the 19th century … Continue reading
Franz Joseph Haydn Piano Trio in F sharp minor, Hob. XV/26 Haydn’s piano trios are really just accompanied piano sonatas, with the cello doubling the bass line and the violin the melody on top. Such a stylistically regressive texture, so … Continue reading
Bach: Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 870 Among the chores assigned to the prelude in the time of Bach were those of catching the listener’s attention, establishing the tonality of the following (presumably more important) piece, … Continue reading
Robert Schumann Piano Trio No. 2 in F major, Op. 80 Robert Schumann began composing in the 1830s, a time when the formation of a canon of great musical works was just beginning, thanks to new publications of older music … Continue reading
Johann Sebastian Bach Partita No. 4 in D major, BWV 828 The Baroque suite was the iPod shuffle of its time. It was a colourful bowl of musical Smarties with a cosmopolitan flavour, offering a collection of dances from all the major … Continue reading
Franz Joseph Haydn Sonata No. 62 in E flat major, Hob. XVI:52 Joseph Haydn wrote his last three piano sonatas on his second visit to England (1794-95), keenly aware that the sound of the English piano was very different from … Continue reading
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sonata in B flat major K. 570 The period of the 1770s and 1780s brought regime change to the world of keyboard music as the harpsichord was gradually edged out by the first generation of fortepianos, capable … Continue reading
