Relaxing Piano Playlist Series 5 Episode 8

Feeling tired? Need to unwind? Then how about some gentle, soothing piano music? Welcome to the Episode 8 of the Fifth Series in the Relaxing Piano Playlist! In this episode, I perform for you music by Muzio Clementi, Adolf Henselt, Samuil Maykapar, Philip Scharwenka and Mvt 2 of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No.1 in G.

Chapters

• 0:30 Introduction
• 7:28 Mvt 1 from Piano Sonata No.5 Op.1, Clementi
• 11:41 Romance No.6 Op.10, Henselt
• 15:06 "Longing for Home" from 12 Album Leaves Op.16, Samuil Maykapar
• 17:22 Mvt 6 from Album for The Young Op.71, Philipp Scharwenka
• 20:37 Mvt 2 from Piano Concerto No.1 in G Op.25, Mendelssohn

Transcript

00:30 - James Quinn
Hello and welcome to Episode 8 of Series 5 in the Relaxing Piano Playlist, with your host, James Quinn here at the piano, thank you very much for joining me.

Before getting into the formalities, I would like to thank you all for waiting ever so patiently for the continuation of the Series, as a number of important commitments meant I had to unexpectedly  put a long temporary pause once these were all out of the way. These included quite a lot of concerts between June and July, my annual return to the piano summer course in Manchester, UK and another charity piano concert which I did back in late September which took up a lot of my time and energy. If that wasn’t enough, I’ve also been working very hard on a course which I’m currently working on which is known as a Certificate for Music Educators which I am expecting to finish by the Spring of 2026, which involves a couple of written assignments which have taken a lot of my time to focus on. You get the idea by now! 

I’m sure you can all understand that there may be an occasional moment where I have to prioritise my various commitments, so that I don’t have too much on my plate and of course not getting stressed by it all. With that out of the way it’s time to focus attention back on this podcast.

In this episode, you’re going to hear a number of pieces ranging from a wide variety of composers, covering the Classical and the Romantic periods. You will also hear another slow movement from a piano concerto later towards the end.

The first piece that you’re going to hear, comes from the Italian composer Muzio Clementi, and in this instance you will hear a movement from one of his Piano Sonatas. Specifically you will hear the first movement set to the speed of Larghetto from his Fifth Sonata which he published in a cycle of 6 Sonatas as Opus 1.

We then feature a piece from a new composer added to the series, by the name of the Adolf Henselt. Born on the 9th of May in 1814 and later died on 10th of October in1889, Henselt first learnt the violin at the tender age of 3 and piano soon after. After studying composition with many teachers Henselt was given a  the opportunity to study with Johann Hummel. He would performed around Germany before moving to St. Petersburg in Russia, and would soon become the court pianist to Alexandra Feodorovna. Later on in life he became the editor of the magazine Novelist. He would even become a noted influence from the likes of Franz Liszt and Rachmaninoff. He would dominantly work throughout his long life as a composer, despite withdrawing his concert career at the age of 33.

To give you an idea of his compositional style, you will hear a short work which comes from a short cycle of Piano Pieces that he published as Opus 10. From this you will hear his Romance No.6 in B Flat. 

We then revisit the composer Samuil Maykapar for our next piece, and on this occasion you will hear a piece which comes from his piano cycle of known as the 12 Album Leaves which was published as Opus 16. From this you will hear the movement entitled “Longing for Home”.

Finally, we finish this section with a piece from another new composer added to the podcast, in the form of the German composer, Philipp Scharwenka. Born the 16th of February in what was Szamotaly in Grand Duchy of Posen in 1847, he lived until the age of 70 where he sadly died on 16th July 1917 in Nauheim in Germany. He was the older brother of the more well known Xaver Scharwenka, His list of works included symphonies, symphonic poems, a violin concerto, some choral music, a four-act opera Roland, as well as numerous instrumental works. In complete contrast to his brother’s extroverted style, Philipp have a certain dreamlike and expressive approach. To give you an idea of his compositional style, the piece you will hear will be the sixth movement taken from his piano work, Album for the Young which he published as Op 76.

After this, you will hear another movement from a piano concerto to finish off this episode, and in this case you will hear the second movement set to the speed of Andante from Piano Concerto No.1 in G from Opus 25 by Felix Mendelssohn. Composed between the years of 1830-31, where he also wrote his Fourth Symphony. He wrote the piece during his travels in Italy after he met the a female pianist by the name of Delphine von Schauroth in Munich. He in fact dedicated the concerto to her and performed it at its premiere in Munich during October in 1831.

So to recap, here is the order just once more: Mvt 1 from Piano Sonata No 5 from Op1 by Clementi, Romance No 6 in B Flat by Adolf Henselt, “Longing for Home” from 12 Album Leaves Op 16 by Samuil Maykapar, Mvt 6 from Album for the Young Op 71 by Philipp Scharwenka, and finally Mvt 2 from Piano Concerto No 1 in G from Opus 25 by Mendelssohn.

So sit back, relax, and I hope that you enjoy all of the music. Thank you.