Music Monday: The Concert Podcast #109 Not Quite What I Was Expecting

Works for violin and piano duo, and solo piano, performed by violinist Corey Cerovsek and pianist Paavali Jumppanen.


- Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96
- Beethoven: Sonata in C minor, Op. 111


Revered as he is, it’s easy to think of Beethoven as somehow staid and a bit predictable. It’s easy to forget just how surprising his music can be. Written when Beethoven was struggling to find love and was just about to begin writing his heavier late works, this sonata is surprisingly serene, with singing, lyrical melody more or less throughout, interrupted only briefly by a more spirited third-movement Scherzo and a fleet little coda to bring it to a close. Then, we’ll hear Beethoven’s last piano sonata. The first movement is in C minor, the same key Beethoven used for the famously stormy Fifth, and it has that same moody, tempestuous feel. Suddenly, though, in the second movement, we find ourselves in C major, with the introduction of an incredible, beautifully simple chorale-like theme. From here, Beethoven proceeds through a set of variations, leading the listener ever deeper into the piece.


Recorded live in the Tapestry Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.


The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is pleased to share this concert under a Creative Commons Music Sharing License. For details see www.gardnermuseum.org.

Source: The Gardner Museum Concert Series [Download MP3] [Archives]

Related Information:

The Performers

Corey Cerovsek, the violinist in this podcast [website] [Agent]

Davidson Institute [Tips for parents: Corey Cerovsek on the Life of the Gifted Young Musician]

Paavali Jumppanen, the pianist: [Wikipedia] [Agent]  

The Composer

Ludwig van Beethoven on Wikipedia (from whence I swiped the above image)

Beethoven House [website]

List of Compositions [Wikipedia]

Commentary

This is the third in my effort to share with you the greatest music of the Western World every Monday on this blog as a regular series called Music Monday. 


When the Gardner Museum is posting podcasts, I will be publicizing those here, when they are not, I will be digging into their archives as well as sharing other sources of great classical music with you. 


Previously (in reverse chronological order):

Music Monday: Deutsche Welle Classical Masterpieces
Schumann's Symphony No 3, the "Rhenish"

Music Monday: The Concert Podcast #108
Schubert’s Journey

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Music Monday: The Concert Podcast #108 Schubert’s Journey

The Concert #108


Works for solo piano performed by pianist Seymour Lipkin, and for orchestra performed by the Gardner Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Douglas Boyd.


•Schubert: Sonata in C minor, D. 958
•Schubert: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, D. 417 (Tragic)


Today’s podast takes us on a journey through Franz Schubert’s life. The smaller forces of a chamber ensemble seem a fitting vehicle for this early orchestral work, the second piece on the podcast, which shows more connection to Haydn and Mozart than Schubert’s contemporary, Beethoven. Schubert was still a teenager at the time and, though the composer’s talent is quite evident, the piece hews closely to the traditional classical structure. Written about two months before his death, Schubert’s final piano sonatas offer a tantalizing glimpse of where the composer’s music was headed, had he lived through his 30’s. By turns stark, witty, serene, and driving, the 19th sonata still uses the traditional four-movement form while covering a wide-ranging emotional and harmonic terrain.


Source: The Gardner Museum Concert Series [Download MP3] [Archives]
Related Information:


The Performers


Seymour Lipkin, the pianist in this podcast [website] [Arkiv Music]
Douglas Boyd, the conductor: [Wikipedia] [Agent]  


The Composer


Franz Schubert on Wikipedia (from whence I swiped the above image)
Google Books, The Life of Franz Schubert, [Vol 1]
Music Brainz, Franz Schubert Discography
Franz Schubert Institute [website in German][Google Translate]

Commentary

I've been meaning to do this for some time, and will be making an effort to share with you the greatest music of the Western World every Monday on this blog as a regular series called Music Monday. 


When the Gardner Museum is posting podcasts, I will be publicizing those here, when they are not, I will be digging into their archives as well as sharing other sources of great classical music with you. 

Read More