The Ballades Op.10 are a product of the youthful composer, dedicated to his friend Julius Otto Grimm, and coincided with the beginning of Brahms’s affection for Clara Schumman.  Clara went a long way to help Brahms launch his career as composer and pianist.  The music sits in pairs – D minor/D major and then B minor/B major.  There is no specific connection any poems except with the first Ballade, inspired by a Scottish poem “Edward”, found in a collection by Johann Gottfried Herder.

Debussy wrote 3 collections of Images – 2 for piano and one orchestral.  The piano compositions were written between 1901 and 1905 (book 1) and in 1907 (Book 2).  Debussy wrote to his publisher, Jacques Durnand, about the 1st book, “without false pride, I feel that these pieces hold together well, and that they will find their place in the literature of the piano …..to the left of Schumann, or to the right of Chopin.”  These beautiful pieces are prime examples of what became known as musical impressionism.  On a personal note, it reminds me of fierce argument with an art teacher who was appalled at the thought of musical sound creating images and colours.  That Debussy’s music does evoke such images is beyond doubt, but how he does it is part of the magic and mystery of his musical language.  

The influential Russian pianist and teacher, Sergei Dorensky, once told me that he regarded Rachmaninov as the last great genius of the piano.  An interesting remark and one difficult to refute.  Like all the great pianist composers before him, Rachmaninov was one of the finest executants of his time.  He recorded much of his piano catalogue including the 4 concertos, creating the benchmark for all future interpretations.  He left Russia after the revolution in 1918, living in New York.  From this point until his death in 1943, Rachmaninov spent his time performing throughout the USA and Europe, composing little.  

The Etudes Tableaux have been described as musical explorations.  The were composed in 1911 and are not, like the Debussy Images, musical pictures but musical explorations in sound and textures made possible on the piano.  They are also a test, being études, of the player’s technique and virtuosity!

Sig. Busoni was famed for his piano transcriptions of Bach’s organ works.  Excellent piano music but frowned upon by organists!  

 Programme Notes Copywrite Alistair Jones, 2026