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Feeling tired? Need to unwind? Then how about some gentle, soothing piano music? Welcome to Episode 5 of Series 4 in the Relaxing Piano Playlist! In this episode, I perform for you music by Bach, Rubinstein, Offenbach, Grieg and MacDowell.
00:30 - James Quinn
Hello and welcome to Episode 5 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 and the Romantic period.
We start by making a return to the Baroque period with the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, and the piece that you will hear will be one of his works that he originally composed for the Organ as a type of Chorale Prelude which was published as BWV 659. The piano arrangement for this is by the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni. Translated from it’s German title as Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland, this is otherwise known as Now comes the Gentiles Saviour.
We then progress in to the Romantic period for our next number of pieces. The first of these comes from a new composer added to the podcast in the form of the Russian musician Anton Rubinstein, He was a pivotal figure as he would later found the renowned St.Petersburg Conservatory, and his younger brother Nikolai would go on to establish the Moscow Conservatory. To give you an idea of his compositional style, you will hear a short work, the Romance No.1 in E Flat from a short cycle of pieces that he published as Op.44.
We then have another new composer added, in the form of French composer Jacques Offenbach. It would be quite appropriate to have one particular piece that remains one of his most cherished works, and so you will a piano of the famous Barcarolle from his own opera the Tales of Hoffman.
Afterwards, we revisit the Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg, and in this case you’ll hear a short movement known as Solveig’s Song. This comes from his Peer Gynt Suite No.2 which he composed in 1875 and was published in 1888 as Op.23.
To finish this episode, you’ll hear another short piece from the American composer Edward MacDowell, and on this instance you will hear the movement entitled Starlight, which comes from his miniature known as the Sea Pieces, which was published as Op.55.
So to recap, here is the order just once more: Now comes the Gentiles Saviour BWV 659 by J.S Bach, Romance No.1 in E Flat from Op.44 by Rubinstein, the Barcarolle from the opera Tales of Hoffman by Offenbach, Solveig’s Song from Peer Gynt Suite No.2 Op.23 by Edvard Grieg, and finally, Starlight from Sea Pieces Op.55 by MacDowell.
So sit back, relax, and I hope that you all enjoy the music. Thank you.