Conservatorium of Music
Thursday Concert Class
Thursday Concert Class
| Sonata in E Flat Major Major No. 62, Hob XVI:52 | Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) |
| I. Allegro | |
| Yizhu Chen, piano | |
| Written in 1794 by Joseph Haydn. It is the last of Haydn's piano sonatas and is widely considered his greatest. Its harmonic exploration is unusually broad for Haydn's solo piano writing. It has a strong rhythmic character and forward momentum. | |
| Petrarch Sonnet in D flat major, No. 47, S.161 | Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) |
| Yizhu Chen, piano | |
| The 3 Petrarch Sonnets (No.47, No.104, and No.123) appeared in their first versions in 1838; the forms they take in the Annees de Pelerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) were only established in 1858. In their 1858 versions, they are among the most compellingly lyrical piano works of the 19th century. | |
| Gargoyles | Lowell Liebermann (1961 - ) |
| I - III | |
| Katniss Li, Piano | |
| The score exemplifies Liebermann's modernist style, in which tonal harmony and expressive gestures grounded in tradition coexist with avant-garde procedures. | |
| Eight Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs, Op.20 | Bela Bartok (1881 - 1945) |
| I - VI | |
| Katniss Li, Piano | |
| This composition is the last one on which Bartók put an Opus number because henceforth he would treat his folk music and his more artistic side as equal. However, this work is far from his folk pieces, with its abrasive harmonies and rhythms. | |
| Along the Way | Ralph Towner (1940 - ) |
| Kaine Foster, Guitar | |
| A beautiful piece for the nylon string guitar on his album "Solstice/Sound and Shadows". | |
| The Unseen Suite | Kaine Foster (2001 - ) |
| I. The River VI. The Abode of the Blessed | |
| Kaine Foster, Guitar | |
| These two sections highlight the unique characteristics of the three components of the instrument. The first focuses primarily on the fretless aspect. The second uses the 12 string's capability to be tuned to various different pitches and not just in octaves. | |
| Bach Toccata in E minor | Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) |
| Anna Gao, Piano | |
| One of seven toccatas, most likely written for pedagogical purposes. | |
| Faschingsschwank aus Wien | Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) |
| I: Allegro | |
| Anna Gao, piano | |
| Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival Scenes from Vienna), Op. 26, is a solo piano work in five movements written in 1839 in Vienna. | |
| Feux d\'artifice | Claude Debussy (1862 - 1916) |
| Anna Gao, piano | |
| Feux D'artifice depicts a brilliant fireworks display over Paris, and captures in tones the many furious streaks of rockets and their colorful explosions in the night sky. Listen out for the quote from La Marseillaise at the very end of the piece. | |
| Sonata in C Minor, k. 457 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) |
| I: Molto Allegro II: Adagio III: Allegro assai | |
| Anna Gao, piano | |
| The piano sonata was composed during the period of Mozart's life where he worked as a freelance artist in Vienna. It is one of the earliest of six sonatas composed during the Vienna years, and was most likely written for personal use or pedagogical purposes. | |
| Variations on \"Mio caro adone,\" K180 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) |
| Anna Gao, piano | |
| A set of variations of a theme from Salieri's opera, 'La Fiera di Venezia.' “A funny tune, but it yielded some good things†WA Mozart, "Amadeus" 1984 | |