Discover Top Posts Tagged with #moszkowski

Chopin and Rachmaninoff, I will always love you (and you're my #2 and #4 on my Last.fm, respectively). However, Moszkowski Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 59 in E has stolen my heart.

I'm mildly shocked that while this lovely piano concerto was popular during Moszkowski's lifetime, it doesn't get a lot of contemporary interpretations like Rachmaninoff's, Tchaikovsky's, Beethoven's, and Chopin's, etc. Piers Lane's is still the best, so far. Really insane....

Geez, can someone really popularize Moszkowski's again?!? THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, MOST LISTENABLE but unfortunately MOST CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED piano conerto ever, with lots of memorable "hooks" (as I call them). It also sounds something like The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon would write if he were a classical composer.

I wish there's a movie or a TV series using this concerto as a central theme. Cos this is really OST-ready - it also sounds Disney-esque. I guess it's on the public domain now?

And... I also wish I could do an appropriate visual representation of this piano concerto.

#Moritz Moszkowski #Moszkowski #Piano Concert No. 2 Op. 59 in E major #Piano Concerto No. 2 #piano concerto #Romantic era #classical piano #classical music #I have a personal connection with this piano concerto #last.fm #scrobbling #I play nothing this week but this piano concerto #I'm crying at this concerto

This Week's Listening & Muses - April 1-7

Schmitt - Suites from Antoine et Cléopâtre. For r/classicalmusic 's piece of the week. I haven't listened to much by Florent Schmitt, I know his symphonie concertante and some piano works. I liked his orchestration, like Debussy mixed with Strauss. Doesn't captivate me as much as the piano and chamber works but it is luscious.

Mendelssohn - Concerto in Ab Major for two pianos. Decided to listen through more of Hyperion's catalogue of "Romantic Piano Concertos", which were some of the works I listened to getting into classical music and were formative to my tastes. Mendelssohn's double piano concertos were written when he was a teenager for him to play with his sister Fanny, and they weren't published in his lifetime and apparently he thought they were immature. The concerto was charming and made me think of the early/classical Beethoven piano concertos

Moszkowski - Piano Concerto in E major. Another recording from the Romantic Concertos series, I hadn't listened to this one much before and wasn't that interested. Listening to it again now, I loved the exuberance and larger-than-life sounds

Schmidt - Symphony no.1. A less popular symphonist I was really into years back, late romantic and decadent. I didn't like this one as much at first, but listening now I'm surprised that I used to find it boring. It's very loud, grand, "majestic", and like a lot of romantic symphonies, long. It's great for blasting on speakers

Messiaen - Turangalîla. To break up the Romantic monotony, I was happy to see Marc-André Hamelin as the pianist for this masterpiece. Bombastic, "futuristic", otherworldly, fun and beautiful and sometimes mind-boggling.

I'll try to post the top favorites of music I listen to in a week to share some recommendations and act as my own listening diary, hopefully introduce some music to you guys or get recommendations in return!

OTD in Music History: Composer-pianist Moritz Moszkowski (1854 – 1925) dies in Paris. As a young man, Moszkowski studied piano in Dresden and Berlin, where he also gave his first public concert in 1873. His two books of “Spanische Tänze” (“Spanish Dances,” Opus 12) were published in 1876, and they proved to be an immediate hit; they have remained enduringly popular examples of “nationalist” music written in a lighter vein. Moszkowski proved to be a prolific composer, albeit one who generally focused on “salon” music; he ultimately penned over two hundred small-scale piano pieces which brought him much popularity in his own day. Today, however, Moszkowski is probably best known for his fifteen “Études de Virtuosité” (“Virtuosic Etudes,” Op. 72), as well as a handful of small and brilliant piano pieces which continue to delight audiences across the world as glittering encores in solo piano recitals. One particularly famous example of the latter group of works is “Étincelles” (“Sparks”) -- a particular favorite of legendary 20th Century super-virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz (1903 - 1989). A highly gifted virtuoso pianist himself, Moszkowski’s own concert career was unfortunately cut short after he began suffering from a neurological problem in his arm in the mid-1880s which forced him to re-focus his energies on composing and teaching. Luckily, he proved to have substantial gifts in the latter field, as well -- his diverse array of students included famed British conductor Thomas Beecham (1879 - 1961), who took private lessons in orchestration with him; Josef Hofmann (1876 - 1957), of whom he claimed once that there was nothing anyone could teach him; and Wanda Landowska (1879 - 1959). PICTURED: A c. 1890s cabinet photo showing the middle-aged Moszkowski, which he signed and inscribed to a fan in Paris in 1898 -- also including a short autograph musical quotation from an unknown work.

Moszkowski - 15 Etudes de Virtuosité, Op.72 (1903) [Audio + Score]

#moszkowski #etude #piano

been in a depressed mood lately so have been forcefully injecting dopamine into my ears with very dense and optimistic / symphonic piano music from the turn of the century

what concert showpieces would you include?