Guiseppe Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

            Sonata in G minor, K35

            Sonata in G major, K455

Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni (1866-1924)

            Two Preludes from Op.37

1. No.17 in A flat – Allegretto vivace
2. No.21 in B-flat – Andantino sostenuto

Joseph Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

            Gaspard de la Nuit

1. Ondine
2. Le Gibet
3. Scarbo

Interval

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

            Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor

1. Allegro maestoso
2. Andante espressivo
3. Scherzo – Allegro energico avec trio
4. Intermezzo – Andante molto – “Rückblick” – (Remembrance)
5. Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato

Haydn’s Piano Sonatas number 62!  They span the years when the sonatas appeared “for harpsichord or Pianoforte” through to the years when the instrument was developed further into the realm of the piano as an instrument expressive by touch.  The Sonata in D, composed in 1773, was published in 1774 as part of 6 Sonatas, Op.13 and dedicated to Haydn’s employer, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy.  For analysis, it presents no problems.  Just enjoy it. 

Domenico Scarlatti is one of 3 famous names born in 1685, the other 2 being Bach (JS) and Handel.  It was quite a year!  Between them they produced a huge amount of music.  Domenico Scarlatti’s life began in Naples, from whence he went to Venice (for lessons) and where he met the young  Handel.  Handel’s patron in Rome, Cardinal Ottoboni arranged a friendly competition between the 2 – Handel was judged the better organist, Scarlatti the better harpsichordist. Scarlatti obtained various musical posts in Rome but spent the majority of his career in the employ of the Portuguese Royal family.  From 1719-28 he was the teacher of Princess Maria Barbara, for whom he composed more than 550 one movements sonatas.  While these were interesting as music, they were also for the Princess studies in various finger and hand techniques.  The have remained important in the history of keyboard music. 

Busoni, he of the impossibly long name, was one of the most fascinating figures in musical history.  He was an admired piano virtuoso and teacher as well as a notable and influential composer and conductor.  He was a great admirer of the music of JS Bach, whose works he transcribed for the modern piano.  His virtuosity looked back to the music of Liszt and his compositions looked forward to Bartok and others.  His catalogue of compositions is large crossing all genres.  Sadly, his opera Dr. Faust, was incomplete at his death, but completed by various musicians.  His vast and very difficult Piano Concerto is much admired, with its unusual choral ending.   His Preludes Op.37 are from his teenage years, but, while following the traditional key scheme of all 24 major and minor keys, the musical style is all his own flowing from the world of romanticism. 

Ravel composed his 3 movement Suite, Gaspard de la Nuit, in 1908.  The musical pictures are based on poems by Aloysius Bertand.  The work is noted for its difficulty, Ravel intending that the 3rd piece, Scarbo, should be harder than Balakirev’s Islamey.  Ravel said of the work, “Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems. My ambition is to say with notes what a poet expresses with words.”  So, it is all about the devil and his tricks.

Brahms was just 20 when he completed this 3rd Piano Sonata.  Unusually it is in 5 and not 4 movements.  Brahms was a great devotee of Beethoven, and in form this Piano Sonata, Brahms’s last, is inline with classical tradition but imbued with the free spirit of the Romantic period.   You hear this in the flow of the composer’s melodic ideas and the wonderful way in which he exploits his tunes.  That Brahms was himself a fine pianist is evident in every bar of music. 
 

Programme Notes Copywrite Alistair Jones, 2025