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Feeling tired? Need to unwind? Then how about some gentle, soothing piano music? Welcome to the Episode 8 of the Fourth Series in the Relaxing Piano Playlist! In this episode, I perform for you music by Granados, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Scriabin, Ravel and the Second Movement from Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1 in E, Op.11.
00:30 - James Quinn
Hello and welcome to Episode 8 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 short number of pieces featuring a wide range of composers, covering the Romantic and the 20th Century periods. We’ll also have another slow movement from a piano concerto later to follow.
The first piece you will hear is from the romantic Spanish composer, Enrique Granados, where you will hear a short movement from his larger work, Escenas Romanticas, translated as ‘Romantic Scenes’, and from this you will hear the second movement known as the Berceuse.
We return to the composer Felix Mendelssohn for our next piece, where you will hear one of his Songs Without Words. In this case, you will hear No.4 in G Major from a set that he published as Op.62.
After this we revisit the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt for our next piece, where you will hear a short movement from one of his larger works which he entitled Christmas Tree, and from this you will hear Evening Bells.
The next piece you will hear, is from the return of the Russian composer Scriabin, and in this instance you will hear his second Impromptu in C sharp minor, which comes from a set of 2 Impromptus that he published as Op.11.
To finish this section we return to the 20th century French composer Maurice Ravel, and the piece that you will hear is the the second movement entitled “Le Gibet” from his larger work Gaspard de la nuit. Set in the in ‘key’ of E Flat minor, Ravel based the whole work on a series of poems originally written in 1836 by Aloysius Bertrand. Based on the text, Ravel scores this from the perspective of an observer with a view of the desert where a lone man hanging from a gibbet against the horizon, being reddened by the setting sun.
We then have another slow movement from a piano concerto to finish this episode. On this occasion you will hear movement 2 set to the speed of Larghetto from Piano Concerto No.1 Op.11 in E by Chopin. This contrasts with the outer movements in the key of E major and almost simplified texture from the orchestra. Chopin himself premiered this in 1830 when he was just 20 years old, to great success. In a letter that he wrote to a friend by the name of Tytus Woyciechowski, he described it as “not meant to create a powerful effect; it is rather a Romance, calm and melancholy, giving the impression of someone looking gently towards a spot that calls to mind a thousand happy memories. It is a kind of of reverie in the moonlight on a beautiful spring evening”.
So to recap, here is the order just once more: Berceuse from Escenas Romanticas by Granados, Songs Without Words No.4 in G Op.62 by Mendelssohn, ‘Evening Bells’ from Christmas Tree by Franz Liszt, Impromptu No.2 Op.11 by Scriabin, ‘Le Gibet’ from Gaspard de la nuit by Ravel and finally Movement No.2 from Piano Concerto No.1 in E by Chopin.
So sit back, relax, and I hope that you all enjoy the music. Thank you.