LAST BLOG!!!!! AHAHSKUDHKAJSHDKJAHDSFKJH!! (3:03 AM)

John Cage (1912 - 1992)

Pretty odd character, and really took new extended techniques to a whole new level. He is most famous for is Sonatas and Interludes, which is famous for its use of prepared piano. Certain random items are placed in certain places on certain strings to produce certain sounds. Its actually not that random at all, its EXTREMELY specific, and usually a pain to set up, and most piano techs can't stand John Cage. However, some of the sounds that are produced from the piano with all that material inside is completely different than any other piano music. It is actually meant to sound like drums and percussion instruments, perhaps Balinese Gamelan.

John Adams

Minimalist composer. Not too significant.
Only real popular work is China Gates.
China Gates is actually quite pretty, or at least for the first 10 seconds. Then, once you realize that it is the same thing over and over and over and over (but wait! the left hand is different!!!) and over and over - you start to hate it. There is a 5 note pattern repeated in the right hand throughout the entire thing (thus, minimalist music), which starts to grow on you. However, if you can completely immerse yourself into the music, and get over the repetitions, it can become quite hypnotic.

George Crumb

Crumb (1929 - )

Influenced by a number of very important people, which is clearly evident in his music. His biggest influence is probably Debussy. His music is almost entirely foreground with very little background, nearly always. His use of silences, timings, and production of specific sonorities and sound qualities are directly related to his Debussy influence. His other most important influence is through Bartok's formal structure. Bartok's arc form is apparent in much of Crumb's work. Including the 5 Piano pieces.

The first piece is very quiet and sparse. There are some repeated notes, but they never get to intense. And then all of a sudden OH MY GOD! dont turn the volume up too loud! There is a scare right in the middle of the first piece. Some crazy randoms get a little hairy, and then settle down again to end softly. ARC FORM!

The second piece is a little different. This one begins with the scare and settles down eventually. The Silences between the loud stuff is almost worht listening to on it's own. If this one had a shape, it would start off high and gradgually decesned.

The third piece starts going inside the piano. Starts low and ascends, arpeggioes.

The fourth piece also goes inside the piano. It sounds very much like the third piece, however, there are more silences in this one than the last.

The last piece uses strumming and sweeps inside the piano, as well as traditional playing techniqie. This piece is quite ominous. just when you think things are settled down, there is some weird pluck or sound that jumps out at you.

Stockhausen and Cowell

Stockhausen (1928 - 2007)

This guy wrote alot of Klavierstuck. A very interesting character - Stockhausen worked pretty much all day, very diligently. He, unlike Beethoven, or many composers before him, actually told you the meaning behind his music, so there was no confusion. The one I am listening to is Kalivierstuck IX.

Stockhausen was famous for being one of the first composers to use aleatoric music, or chance music. Much of his music depends on the rolling of dice or random chance, which both arguably music, and non music...

The piece begins with the same chord, repeated over and over, several times, at different dynamics. It sounds like it could be serial, but I'm not certain. Not the best piece in the whole world, but some small interesting things hidden in there.


Cowell (1897 - 1965)

Not too much to say. Cowell was one of the first to explore different piano echniques in the 21st century, which would later be taken over by Cage and Crumb. Cowell indicated the use of entire palms and forearms to play certain chords and clusters, which he was fond of using. He was also one of the first to go inside the piano and mess with strings.

The Banshee is a piece played entirely on the inside of the piano. The performer is required (have someone) hold the pedal down, and strum, rub, and pluck strings inside the piano. It makes for a pretty interesting effect. This piece is actually pretty scary. Some of the sounds produced by the strings on the inside of the piano can sounds like screams and scary sounds. Its a pretty effective piece. Most pieces like this are rather simple once the coereography is sorted out.

Aeolian Harp is another piece which requires the performer to play inside the piano. In this case, the performer silently holds down certain keys, (chords) while struming the inside. once the giberish noise is settled, all that remains is the left over sound of the chords from the keys that are held down. It sounds pretty cool. Less effective than the Banshee.

Messiaen

Oliver Messiaen (1908 - 1992)

Messiaen's most famous piece for solo piano are the "Jesus Pieces"... The entire collection takes about 2 hours to perform in one sitting. The only two I'm listening to are regards 10 and 15. I begin in reverse. Regard 15, or "Le Baiser de l'Enfant-Jesus" is very slow and chordal. Like pretty much all of Messiaen's music, it is nearly all foreground and little background, and like Debussy, it is centered on production of specific sonorities. This usually runs the longest in the entire set, clocking in at about 12 minutes or so.

The 10th regard, or "Regard de l'Esprite de joie," is very much the complete oposite. This is fast Messiaen, which is very rhythmic, and driving, begining in the bass and working its way around. This is most difficult of the entire set, and comes as a complete shock in the set, being randomly difficult and scary compared to the rest.

The last Messiaen piece I am listening to is the "Mode de caluers et d'intensities." This is a pretty cool piece, for sure. It uses complete serialism, where each pitch is assigned a certain articulation, dynamic, duration, etc, and pitches appear in serial orders. Pretty cool - it's one of the only pieces to use complete serialism.

Copland and Barber

Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990)

American Composer who did alot of experimenting with American folk tunes. His most important pieces for solo piano are the Variations, and the Sonata. I will be listening to the Variations.

Awesome piece! The theme is based around 4 notes, and moved all around and played with extensively. It is often displaced by octaves, and appear only in close form once I believe. It's a very "ugly" piece, but it is incredibly cool. The story is that it was meant to be premiered by Walter Gieseking, but he refused, saying that no ordinary concert-goers would enjoy such an ugly piece, so Copland ended up premiering it himself, and thereafter it was famous. I love this piece, and deffinitly want to play it one day.


Sammy Barber (1910 - 1981)

Only famous for a few pieces for piano, the excursions being the most popular, also the piano concerto, and the Sonata, Op. 26. The first movement of the Barber Sonata open with rapid reverse-dotted rhythms which sound like some kind of antiphonal dialogue. The second movement begins with a falling figuration which is repeated a couple of times, softly, before it is played with and varried, then repeated. The same figuration persits, expands, and eventually unfolds and contracts, with different accompaniment. The best one is the um-pa pa accompaniment that appears for only a measure or two, but it comes out of nowhere. The third movement is slow. The opening sounds almost like the opening to the Copland variations, but then a real melody comes in. Of course the whole thing is over "odd" accompaniment, which sounds kind of modal, but not quite atonal. The final movement is a fast fugue, and sounds like a bitch to play. It just keeps going..

Shostakovich

Shostakovich (1908 - 1975)

Shostakovich was unfortunately always living under the Stalinist regime, which completely shaped his music. There were ridiculous amounts of censorship and control over the arts during Stalin's time, and Shostakovich couldn't really develop into what he wanted to break out of, so he developed into it. There is deffinitily a certain degree of opression which can be heard in his music, the sonatas and the preludes and fugues. He copied Bach, 48 P's and F's, two in each key.

The D minor prelude and fugue from the second book (Op. 87) is the best, and last one. In one word it is simply:

Epic

Good piece, a very strong sense of power behind the music. The Prelude especially. It begins very chordal and grows into passionate orgasims. The fugue begins simple, but like the prelude grows. The subject begins with perfect 4ths, A - D, A - D.. etc. It sounds heart-wrenching as it develops. Beautiful.

Prokofiev Sonata No. 6

Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)

6th sonata

1st movement has a recognizable rhythmic figure which is repeated, feeling in an unusual meter. cool movement, sounds difficult. Winds down into a steady, beautiful flowing melody, sounding at first pentatonic. The second movement is all staccato chords, easily recognizable. The third movement is slow and quite beautiful, there is a long melody over the top of some interesting sounds underneath it. Sounds almost tonal, but not Atonal. The last movement is exciting, vivace, sounds to me like a chase - very fun.

back to Stravinsky

Stravinsky

This is an extra, for me, on his Piano Rag-Music.
The opening is slowish and grandeur, eventually getting into a rag-like theme with a continuous 5 - 1 motion in the bass constantly. Pretty sweet piece actually.

Hindemith and Ginastera

Paul Hindemith (1895 - 1963)

A German. Very much so. He was very Germanic in the traditional sense, believing (like Brahms) that music should be functional. His most famous piece for solo piano is the Suite "1922." The piece is pretty cool, using early 20th century dances as the 5 movements. All of the movements sound like their title, except that they are quite dissonant. The first, a march, is what you would expect from a march, quite rhythms in a march tempo. The second, a "Shimmy" is a popular early 20th century dance, and has grinding rolls up into a repetitive rhythmic figure, all of which sounds very dissonant, but yet quite danceable at the same time. The third movement, a Nocturne, isn't much of a dance, but it is slow and steady. It opens very steadily, and feels like it isn't really going anywhere. The fourth movement, a "Boston" sounds to me like it opens more like a nocturne than the previous one, before going into the slightly turbulent section before winding down back into solemness. There is a recognizable grace note, sounding somewhat like the first Chopin ballade or something.. The last movement, "Ragtime" is probably the most popular, it has a repetitive rhythmic figure, that repeats, very much like an awesome parody on Joplin. Its my favorite of the batch.

Ginastera (1916 - 1983)

His music is characterized by a rhythmic percusivness which gives it drive. It it usually very exciting to listen to, and is alot of fun to play.

The first sonata is what I have to listen to. It is quite exciting, and has an extremely memorable opening motive in the first movement. The second movement is fast and pianissimo, sounding like the Carl Vine sonata. The third mvement is slow and kind of lyrical. It has some dissonant arpeggioes rising, always rising, until a brief cadenza-like thing that brings it back down a bit. It kind of floats around like this. The last movement is fast and exciting, and sounds like it could easily be the sound-track for some mortal combat game or something of the sort. The rhythm gives it drive (as one might expect with Ginastera).

The best last name ever.

Szymanowski (1882 - 1937)

So there's not much at all for this guy, besides his awesome last name.
He is the next famous Polish composer after Chopin, and he happens to be quite impressionistic. His influences include Chopin (of course), Scriabin (of course), Debussy (of course), Strauss, and Stravinsky. He's basically a impressionistic Chopin. So he's basically a copy-cat of Scriabin. His music is pretty interesting, and never played.

The good stuff for solo piano: Etudes Op. 4, and Op. 33, 3 Sonatas, and some good character piece stuff.

Stravinsky and Poulenc

So, i will be writing several blogs to catchup the night before the exam! This will be an adventure.

Stravinsky (1882 -1971)

Not a whole lot to say. Began his career successfully writing ballets. There isn't too much for the piano. There is the famous Petrushka, which is one of the toughest pieces to play. Its interesting how the composers who wrote the famously difficult music didn't write too much else for the piano (except for Liszt of course). There is also the Sonata and some Etudes, Op. 7.

If Schoenberg was the "Emancipator of dissonance," than Stravinsky was the "emancipator of rhythm." He write some of the most obscene and often erroneous time signature changes and random rhythms that really do give the sensation of an ametric meter. He and Bartok were both doing things like this, but it seems like Stravinsky was the one who went the extra step.

And oh yeah, Stravinsky was also quite neo-classicist. In fact, sometimes more neo-borouqe than Neo-Classiscist. Taking ideas from the past, and making them fresh.

Poulenc (1894 - 1963)

Very little to say:
Famous for his line: "Do not analyze my music - love it."

And so I wont.

Very little rep to know about, the "Les Soires de Nazelles" is a big piece, about 30 mins long, which is comprised of 8 character pieces or "portraits." There is also a presto in B-flat, and "Perpetual Motion," a pretty cool piece.

Bartok

Bela Bartok (1881 - 1945)

Bartok is a big name for any pianist. He was, as I see it, one of the last great pianist-composers, He himself being an excellent pianist, and a huge composer as well. He made it his goal to meld Hungary (his native country) into the world of western classical music. He is also famous for his use of Hungarian folk melodies. He actually went all over the Hungarian country-side collecting folk tunes, which he would use later in his music.

We divide his life into different periods (like Beethoven). The first being from 1907 - 1917, which was characterized by his "folky-ness," and include works like his Rhapsody Op. 1, Bagatelles, the Allegro Barbaro, the 15 Peasant Songs/Dances, and the popular suite Op. 14.

In what we call his second period, Bartok experimented with more rhythmic thingamabobs and more dissonant sounds, and we soon find Bartok's obsession with 4ths and tri-tones. Bartok has a number of characterizing features, including the 4ths and tt's. Bartok's music is usually quite dry, not quite A-tonal but most ceratainly modal, and even bi-modal or bi-tonal, he uses ostinatoes quite often, he music is very motivic, and his use of odd metic entities, such as contiuously changing meters, and what not.

He has alot of famous rep to mention.
For solo piano:

Rhapsody Op. 1, Bagatells Op. 6, Romanian Dances Op. 8a, Suite Op. 14, Etudes Op. 18 (which are bloddy hard), Improvisations on Hungarian Folk Songs Op. 20, Allegro Barbaro, 15 Hungarian Peasent Songs, the Sonata, the Out of Doors Suite, and the 6 books of Microkosmos.

The Far East

Eastern Europe / Hungary

Janacek (1854 - 1928)

One of the only famous Czheck composers, Janacek was as all of the Eastern European composers are: folky. He used folk songs in much of his music. Like I said, there isn't too much to say about him - he only has a few famous pieces for the piano, the Sonata (1905) titled "1. X 1905," refering to a date (October 1st, 1905), when some worker was violently killed, and the piece is tribute to him. Its a very somber work, the two movements are titled "foreboding" and "death." The only other significant piece for piano by Janacek is "In the Mists (1912)," which has four movements. Again another depressing work - he wrote it during times of hardship loss, including the recent death of his daughter. The piece is as you might expect fomr the title - very impressionistic.


Dohnanyi (1877 - 1960)

Really the only reason we do Dohnanyi is because he taught at our very own Florida State University. He was Hungarian and studied at the Budapest (Liszt) Accademy, tought piano in Berlin, and eventually moved to the US, where he taught at FSU for 10 years. Other than that, there are really only a couple of contributions into the piano repetoire. The first big one is the 51 exersices, which are great! they are aimed at finger independence and most involve holding some keys with some fingers while lifeing and playing others. The only other significant work is the "Variatoins on a Nursery Song" for piano and orchestra. The piece is meant to be humerous and features lush, dramatic orchestral parts, followed by the pianist playing "twinkle twinlke little star."


Zoltan Kodaly (1882 - 1967)

He's really not that important in the big scheme of things. All that needs to be known of him is thta he was the Bartok apprentice, the Robin. I don't believe he wrote anything significant for the piano. I just discoverd that his first name is Zoltan, which is pretty awesome. Maybe that's why were mentionining him. He wrote a famous dissertation on Hungarian folk music at the Budapest Accademy.

Ives and Griffes

Charles Ives (1875 - 1954)

In my opinion one of the most interesting composers we've discussed in class. His life sounds very interesting. He was a very intelligent man - went to Yale, and was smart enough to realize that music business doesn't pay. He sold insurance, and earned a fortune along with the inheritance of his father, and so he composed in his spare time. This unusual pairing of "insurance salesman" and pianist/composer showed his the fullness of life. He was able to see the world from two different perspectives.
To add, from someone who writes music in their spare time - its pretty good! He is considered one of if not the best American composer to date.
His most famous work for piano is the "Concord" Sonata, which is broken down into 4 movements all named after famous transcendentalists Emerson, Hawthorne, Alcott, and Thoreau.


Charles Griffes (1884 - 1930)

Not as much to talk about with Griffes. He is one of the American impressionists, and his music is influenced by that of French impressionism. His music thus uses a number of exotic scales and what have you, for impressionistic means. He is considered the American equivalent to Debussy, but he is not nearly considered as successful as Debussy. His major works for piano included a Sonata and a tone poem. Not too much else to mention. He also wrote a few works for voice as well.