It’s phenomenally difficult to play, with hand-splitting chords and vertiginous virtuosity, but it’s also very beautiful, profoundly emotional and hauntingly romantic. 2 in C minorĬomposed at the very start of the twentieth century, this piece confirmed Rachmaninoff as a great composer and also one of the greatest pianists of all time. 1, “Minute” (Dinu Lipatti, piano) Sheet Music Download. It is one of Chopin’s most famous piano pieces and is also a popular encore.įrédéric Chopin: Waltz No. It’s easy to imagine an excitable dog chasing its tail in the twirling, seemingly never-ending quavers in the outer sections of the waltz, and the joyous mood of the music. 1, nicknamed the ‘Minute’ waltz, is a test of the pianist’s fleet fingers – although the piece is not intended to be played in the space of just 60 seconds! It is also known as the Valse du petit chien (French for “Waltz of the puppy”) and is said to have been inspired by the gleeful antics of George Sand’s little dog ‘Marquis’, whom Chopin mentions in some of his letters. Like Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca, Chopin’s Waltz in D-flat Major, Op 64, No. 6 in D-Flat was inspired by the antics ofĪ small dog chasing its tail. Mozart gave it the title Alla Turca (Turkish style), and it imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary (military) bands whose music was very popular at the time of the sonata’s composition.Ĭhopin’s Waltz No. 11, K.331, but it is often performed as a stand-alone piece. This is actually the final movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. Wolfgang Amadues Mozart: Rondo alla Turca It’s an amazing gesture, created by a composer poised on the threshold of change in the early years of the nineteenth century. It is unusual for a classical piano sonata to begin with a slow movement and although the nickname ‘Moonlight’ was given to the work after Beethoven’s death, it is perfectly suited to the expressive nature of this twilight first movement whose harmonies shimmer and shift. It is so famous that people often forget it is followed by two other movements! The piece was popular even in Beethoven’s day and remains amongst his most famous works. The opening movement of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata is, like Bach’s C Major Prelude, instantly recognisable, with its repeating pattern of hushed broken chords and simple but haunting melody.
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