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Feeling tired? Need to unwind? Then how about some gentle, soothing piano music? Welcome to the Episode 4 of the Fourth Series in the Relaxing Piano Playlist! In this episode, I perform for you music by Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Faure, Tchaicovsky, and the Second Movement from J.S Bach's Harpsichord Concerto No.2 in E Major, BWV 1053.
00:30 - James Quinn
Hello and welcome to Episode 4 of Series 4 in the Relaxing Piano Playlist, with your host, James Quinn here at the piano, thank you very much for joining me. In this episode, you’re going to hear a number of pieces ranging from a wide variety of composers, covering the Baroque, the Classical and the Romantic periods, which will include another movement from a piano concerto later to follow.
We start by making a return to the Classical period with the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, and the piece that you will hear will be the first movement set to the speed of Andante from one of his Piano Sonatas, specifically No.1 in G minor which he composed in 1797 and later published in 1805 as a set of two ‘Little” sonatas, as Op.49.
We then progress in to the Romantic period for our next number of pieces. The first of these comes from the Polish composer, Frederic Chopin, and in this instance you will hear his Waltz No.2 in A minor, which he published in a set of 3 Waltzes Op.34 that he composed between 1831-1838.
The next piece that follows is by the composer Franz Schubert, and the piece that you will hear, is known as the Andante in C, which he composed as a short standalone work in 1812 and published as D.29.
Afterwards, we revisit the French composer, Gabriel Faure, and in this case you’ll hear one of his collection of pieces known as the Romance Sans Paroles, from which you will hear No.3 in A Flat, which he published as Op.7.
We also return to the Russian composer, Tchaikovsky, where you will hear from his cycle of 18 Pieces, the second movement known as the Berceuse, which he composed in 1892 and was later published the following year as Op.72.
After this, you will hear another slow movement from a concerto to finish off this episode, in particular you will the second movement known as the Siciliano from his Harpischord Concerto No.2 in E major by Johann Sebastian Bach, which was published as BWV 1053. Composed in the year of 1738, this was one of 6 keyboard concertos where Bach cleverly arranges some of his own compositions as a basis for each movement. In this movement, set in the contrasting key of C sharp minor, he adapts the solo aria “Stirb in mir, Welt” from his Church Cantata known as ‘God alone shall have my heart”. These concertos are known to be the first ever written for the keyboard instrument.
So to recap, here is the order just once more: Movement No.1 from Piano Sonata in G minor Op.49 by Beethoven, Waltz No.2 in A minor from Op.34 by Chopin, Andante in C D.29 by Schubert, Romance Sans Paroles No.3 in A Flat Op.7 by Faure, the Berceuse from Op.72 by Tchaicovsky, and finally Movement No.2 from Harpsichord Concerto No.2 in E Major BWV 1053 by Johann Sebastian Bach.
So sit back, relax, and I hope that you all enjoy the music. Thank you.