Podcasts about major op

In the second half of a special two part conversation, conductor Devin Patrick Hughes speaks with broadcaster and author John Suchet in Part 2 of a special two-part One Symphony series on Beethoven, based on Suchet's new book In Search of Beethoven: A Personal Journey. This episode explores Beethoven's life in Vienna — his patrons, performance venues, and independence as a composer. We also dive into his personal struggles, including his court battle for custody of his nephew Karl and his gradual onset of deafness, described as the “worst fate for a musician.” Through it all, Beethoven's music speaks of resilience and triumph. Suchet reminds us: “If I can overcome what I had, the worst fate that can befall a musician, you too can overcome.” Featured Music Includes: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No 22 in E-flat Major, K. 482 I. Allegro. Performed by the English Chamber Orchestra featuring Murray Perahia on piano. Ludwig van Beethoven composed the rest of the featured music in this episode. Cello Sonata No 3 in A, Op. 69 II. Scherzo (Allego Molto). Performed by Mstislav Rostropovich on cello and Sviatoslav Richter on piano. Symphony No 3 Eroica in E-flat Major, Op. 55. I. Allegro con brio. Performed live by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Celibidache.  Muzik zu einem Ritterballet (Music for a ballet of Knights), WoO 3. Jagdlied (Hunting Song), 6. Trinklied (Drinking Song), 4. Romanze (Romance). Performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Günther Herbig.  Symphony No 5. I. Allegro con brio. Performed by the Weiner Philharmoniker conducted by Carlos Kleiber.  Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 Hammerklavier. IV. Largo allegro resoluto. Performed live by Tatiana Nikolayeva.  Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": I. Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande. Allegro ma non troppo Performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan.  Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": II. Szene am Bach. Andante molto mosso. Performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": III. Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute. Allegro. Performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": IV. Gewitter, Sturm. Allegro. Performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral": V. Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm. Allegretto. Performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major Op. 81a “Les Adiuex” I. Das Lebewohl, Adagio-Allegro. Performed by Tatiana Nikolayeva.  Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight:” III. Presto agitato. Performed by Emil Gilels.  Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No 2. “Tempest”: III. Allegretto. Performed by Alfred Brendel.  Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101. I. Etwas lebhaft, und mit der innigsten Empfindung. Performed by Emil Gilels.  

There is a special category when it comes to Beethoven; a catalogue that doesn't include complete symphonies, sonatas, concerti, string quartets, etc., but just single movements. This is the catalogue of great Beethoven slow movements. Beethoven's slow movements are like a great Tolstoy novel. They span the gamut of human experience and also reach beyond it, into something we cannot understand but all somehow perceive. Simply put, Beethoven often seems to know us better than we know ourselves. This brings me to the slow movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata. Unlike those late quartet slow movements, the slow movement of the Hammerklavier is not about ecstatic contemplation. Instead, it is a movement of pure and profound despair. It has been described as “a mausoleum of the collective suffering of the world,” and “the apotheosis of pain, of that deep sorrow for which there is no remedy, and which finds expression not in passionate outpourings, but in the immeasurable stillness of utter woe.” This is not a movement I would necessarily enter into lightly as you go about your day—it requires you to take a moment and enter a world unlike any other. Today, in Part 2 of this Patreon-sponsored exploration of this great, in all senses of the word, Sonata, we'll go through this slow movement in detail. Then we'll tackle the life-affirming and maddeningly complex last movement, which is not quite the antidote to the slow movement, but perhaps it is the only possible answer to the questions the third movement so profoundly asks. Join us! 

Beethoven once wrote to his publisher: “What is difficult, is also beautiful, good, great, and so forth. Hence everyone will realize that this is the most lavish praise that can be bestowed, since what is difficult makes one sweat.” If this credo manifests itself most powerfully in any one of Beethoven's works, it might be the piece we'll talk about today, the piano Sonata Op. 106, nicknamed, “Hammerklavier.”  It is the longest Sonata Beethoven ever wrote, which essentially means that it was the longest sonata anyone had written up to that point. It marks one of the pivot points between Beethoven's so-called heroic period and his late period, where his music became even more cosmically beautiful than before. It is certainly his most ambitious Sonata to that point, and his most difficult. The scale of the Hammerklavier sonata is hard to describe; in around 45 minutes of music, Beethoven explores the full gamut of human emotion. The intensity, the difficulty, and the concentration that this sonata requires from the pianist and listener alike has led to many people, as the pianist Andras Schiff says, to “respect and revere this Sonata, but not love it.” Most of the articles and analyses of this sonata that I found in researching this show emphasize its difficulty, its scale, its obsessiveness, and its impenetrability. But I must say that when I talk to musicians abut this piece, their eyes light up. Yes, this sonata is difficult, but what have we just learned from Beethoven? What is difficult is also beautiful, good, great and so forth. Join us as we begin a two part exploration of this remarkable work together.  Thank you to Jerry for sponsoring this show on Patreon! Recording: https://youtu.be/yBtJF_4msqw?si=bIznKSGuRyXDbFaT    

Pianist Henrik Kilhamn goes through Brahms Intermezzo in E major, no. 6 from Op. 116, with discussions of meter dispacement, structural reconfiguration and emotional transformation throughout the piece.Video: https://youtu.be/Xjlvl5b4ayo

A cherishable 1953 broadcast performance of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major Op. 83 with soloist Clifford Curzon and the New York Philharmonic, conducted by George Szell is the topic for this episode.YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmY3QA_FaEwLink to purchase: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7974718--the-art-of-george-szell-vol-2?srsltid=AfmBOoqJQc9L7orcEjllu7OP5VEMn8PEMxDJy7G6k_ARCE6jYtyI1tpKConsider making a donation to The Piano Maven podcast by subscribing to our Substack page (https://jeddistlermusic.substack.com/about), which you also can access by clicking on the "Donate" button here: https://rss.com/podcasts/pianomaven

We'll look at Beethoven's final three string quartets: No. 13 in B-flat Major, No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, and No. 16 in F Major.

ReferencesCell Prolif. 2021 Dec 22;55(1):e13167Front. Oncol 2017 26 November Guerra, DJ. 2025. Unpublished LecturesBeethoven LV. 1804. Symphony 3. IN E. Major Op. 55. "Eroica"https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fhHcty9OM-0&si=3pkScsgJBGiuyMhJMiller and Winwood 1968. "Medicated Goo" Traffic•https://open.spotify.com/track/3OD2BlIAkr1DkSe94sKIoI?si=46125a00f2474ac5Hayward and Thomas 1969. " Are you sitting comfortably" Moody Blues On the Threshold of a Dream lp•https://open.spotify.com/track/5E8djSHnmvGSnupEF6t35w?si=55b70751bcd04bf7

We'll focus on the first two of Beethoven's five late string quartets: the String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127, and the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132.   

We'll look at Beethoven's final three piano sonatas: No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 (1820); No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 (1822); and No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 (1822).    

We'll focus on two piano sonatas, No. 28 in A major, Op 101 composed in 1816, and No. 29 in Bb major, Op 106 ("Hammerklavier"), completed two years later.  

We'll look at Beethoven's last two cello sonatas:  Cello sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No.1, and Cello Sonata No. 5 in D Major, Op. 102, No. 2. both completed in 1815.

We'll focus on Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93. composed in 1812.  

We'll focus on Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, completed in 1812.  

We'll focus on the "Serioso" String Quartet, No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95  (1810-1811), and the "Archduke" Piano Trio, B-flat Major, Op. 97 (1815).  

This is a real showstopper of a piano piece, composed by a young and ambitious Schubert in 1822. The seed of much of the work's material comes from the song "The Wanderer" he had written earlier; he used a melody for variations in the slow second movement and kept the same rhythm for the other fast movements too! Maybe there it feels more like running than wandering, but it's really a fantastic work full of energy and sparkling melodies. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/jTE569yQ9EM

We'll focus on Piano Sonatas No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a, completed in 1810, and No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90, completed in 1814.  

We're going to focus on Piano Sonata No. 24 in F# Major, Op. 78, and Piano Sonata No. 25 in G Major, Op 79, but we'll also take a quick look at the two piano sonatinas of Op. 49. 

The Polonaise provided Chopin a ground for writing grand pieces in dance form. One of the most emblematic, the "Military" Polonaise feels more like a victorious parade rather than conflict and war. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/x-R6flahwqI Thumbnail image: Fanfare 'Korps Nationale Reserve' - Eksjö (Zweden) 2022 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

We'll look at Beethoven's String Quartet No. 10  in E-flat Major, Op. 74, completed in 1809 and nicknamed the "Harp" quartet.

William Mival chooses his favourite recording of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

We'll look at Beethoven's fifth and final piano concerto, the so-called "Emperor" Concerto in E-flat Major, Op. 73.

I have a theory on what is the ultimate lounge song and I'll play it for you tonight! www.cocktailnation.net   Sir Julian- A Man And A Woman Eddie Costa- Adelaide Milt Buckner-Turquoise Lyn Stanley-Cry Me A River  Dan Cray Trio- Moon River Pepper Greenwald-Morocco Bill Irwin- Claire De Lune Angellika-Waltz in A-flat Major Op. 69, no. 1 Don Shirley-One for My Baby ( Richard Marino-Fever Beegie Adair- April In Paris Bill Evans-Blue In Green Cal Tjader-Goodbye

We'll look at Beethoven's highly unusual Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, and his Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 69.  

We'll focus on Beethoven's Mass in C Major, Op. 86, composed in 1807.  

A real gem to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the great Rachmaninoff. This is his way of basically writing a Nocturne, albeit under the wider-encompassing title of a Prelude. But compared to Chopin and the first generation of romantics, Rachmaninoff utlizises the modern piano to its full extent with breathing swellings of sound and aching chromatic harmony, put together to perfection. Henrik Kilhamn, piano. Video: https://youtu.be/zdAF-BOgQ2E

Beethoven's two sonatas in Op. 49 are usually called "Leichte Sonaten" or "Easy Sonatas", and are perfect pieces for early intermediate students who want to become more familiar in the classical style. In this video we check out the music of the 1st movement in Op. 49 no. 2 in G major, with a lot of consideration of the governing Sonata form structure. With pianist Henrik Kilhamn. Video: https://youtu.be/wMMP50y691g

From 1825-1827, Mendelssohn wrote 3 of his most beloved and most played works: his Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, his String Quartet, Op. 13, and the piece were going to talk about today, his Octet. What is truly astonishing about these three pieces is that they were all written before Mendelssohn turned 18 years old. Mendelssohn was the greatest prodigy in the history of Western Classical Music, writing music so spectacular at such a young age that it almost overshadows his later, more mature, works. In my opinion, the greatest of these three towering early pieces from Mendelssohn is his octet. It is a piece of structural perfection, ingenuity, innovation, and most of all, it is a piece of such youthful enthusiasm that it is impossible to not put a smile on your face. We'll talk all about this piece today, from its soaring first movement, to its contemplative second movement, the brilliant third movement, and the bubbling last movement. Let's discuss this miracle of a piece together - join us!

We'll look at Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61, from 1806.  

We'll talk about Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60.