Liebesträume n3 – Franz Liszt (1850)
Franz Liszt, born on 22 October 1811, is a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is one of the fathers of modern piano and Impressionism in musical compositions. With Frédéric Chopin, he is the origin of an offspring of composers such as Maurice Ravel, Sergueï Rachmaninov and Alexandre Scriabine.
Since his childhood, his father taught him piano through pieces by Haydn, Amadeus Mozart or Ludwig Von Beethoven. He quickly shows some capacities so he is sent to Vienna, when he is just 10 years old, to follow the lessons of Salieri and Czerny.
Unfortunately, his early works do not meet the success, which will affect him a lot.
His life is punctuated by several trips to Europe which leads him to finally settle in Paris. He met and became friend with many artists who have chosen the “vie de bohème” such as Berlioz, George Sand, de Musset and Balzac.
In 1861, he enter religion and settle in Rome to join the Franciscan order. From the year 1869 and until his death, he travels between three cities: Weimar, Budapest and Rome.
Six days before his death, on Sunday 25 July 1886, despite his weaknesses, he attends an opera of his friend Richard Wagner. Until the following Friday, the fall of this great master is happening. He is gradually losing his strength. Saturday, July 31, it is about 10 o’clock when his family asked him if he suffers, and in a last gasp he replied calmly: “Not anymore…”.
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Arthur Rubinstein plays Liszt on Youtube
Further information on Wikipedia [en]
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Ständchen (Serenade) – Schubert (1828)
Franz Schubert was born in Lichtenthal, near Vienna on January 31, 1797. He was the 12th of the 14 children of his parents.
His musical formation began when he was 5 years old. His father teach him alto while his brother Ignaz teach him piano.
In 1812, he became the student of Antonio Salieri, he will stay grateful to him his whole life. In 1813, greatly influenced by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and mostly Ludwig van Beethoven, he composed his first symphony.
Schubert spent the main part of his short life in Vienna. He was a forever unsatisfied person. It’s probably what led him in his research of great quality in musical composition.
In 1822-23, Schubert got the syphilis, and his health never stopped getting worse. From his despair, he composed a music which never stopped getting deeper and full of great feelings.
He died from typhus on november 19, 1828, when he was only 31 years old. Only one year and a half after Ludwig van Beethoven for who he felt respect and a huge admiration.
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Further information on Wikipedia [en]
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3055 – Ólafur Arnalds (2007)
This artist, signed on the british Erased Tapes label, is a member of this huge wave of music coming from Iceland we hear about at the moment. This young men who is in his 20′s, makes some soft music with beautiful piano tracks. He makes some classical influenced post-rock which can remind us of Amiina.
The album Eulogy For Evolution by Ólafur Arnalds is quite strange: the tracks, which have only numerical titles, takes us to a loneliness and spleen-esque place. His music could be influenced by Rachmaninov or Frédéric Chopin as well as Joe Hisaishi and it can remind us of the Furious Angels by Rob Dougan.
This track, 3055, have some reminiscences of Takk by Sigur Rós especially with the rising of these almost post-rock drums which gives a huge unexpected energy to the end of the track.
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Ólafur Arnalds Myspace
Ólafur Arnalds Interview – 3055 Live, on Youtube
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Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte – Ravel (1899)
Joseph Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, France. He is a french composer and pianist, perfectionist to the extreme extent influenced by the pioneers of jazz and Jean-Philippe Rameau. According to Le Robert (french dictionnary), his music combines “the most subtle intelligence games” and “the most secret heart effusions.”
He has produced relatively few works unlike prolific composers like Amadeus Mozart or Frédéric Chopin, only eighty-six original works and twenty-five works choreographed or arranged.
The piece Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte composed in the first place in 1899 for piano, was orchestrated in 1910. The one for piano is one of his most played pieces by amateur music lovers, although Ravel does not appreciate it because he feel it being too much influenced by the works of Emmanuel Chabrier.
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Further information on Wikipedia [en]
Buy Complete Works for Solo Piano on Amazon.com
