Author: jacobtw

This is a little excerpt from the Wanderer Fantasy by Schubert. The name comes from the second movement of the piece where Schubert uses his own song and creates a variation on it. The whole piece is actually a variation on the that song title “der Wanderer”. In the song, the wanderer is lost in a desolate place, mentally and emotionally.

This little excerpt comes a couple pages before the song quote so I imagine this is a traveling scene. It’s quite serene with some bustling underneath, almost like a smooth carriage ride through the country side with rolling green pastures.

This week was finals week and I haven’t had a lot of time to play the piano. I would take breaks from writing my portfolio (9,000 word min), and play a little piano to free up my mind from words and precision and give me some respite from the computer screen. The title of this one is “Child falling asleep” by Schumann. It’s a movement from Kinderszenen, “childhood scenes”. I played this throughout the week, just to feel some peace from the flurry of finals.

It’s a bit of a strange piece. One would think that a child falling asleep would be unfailingly sweet yet it seems rather bittersweet instead, almost troubled. The warm major section in the middle seems like dream, slightly out of reach. It’s subdued but peaceful and rocks like a cradle through the night.  It ends unresolved, as if in mid thought—the child drifts off.

Amidst the final push of the semester, I’ve been revisiting some pieces that gave me comfort and made me fall in love with music. This little excerpt comes from the Franck Violin Sonata. I’ve played this piece with a variety of instrumentalists (including flute and cello) and over the years have become very familiar with it. Comfort was hard to find in this piece as the chords so big and stretched out, they are impossible to play and the voicing is very subtle and hard. I think I find comfort in this hyper romantic piece because my fingers have a memory of their own, the push and pull have a familiarity that this music lends itself to.

The opening of the first movement builds to this solo piano part and the grandness dissipates to a sweet melancholy sigh. There’s a tenderness and mellowness to the dulcet tones that brings to mind an empty room of billowing curtains with a once warm bed.

This is the second movement of the Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata. I was able to come home this week and celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents. This is one of those comforting pieces that remind me of home. I remember playing it as a child and it really just has a nostalgic quality to it. Kind of like a big comfy and plush armchair next to the fireplace. Somewhere to sink into and enjoy.

This is the second theme from the Rachmaninoff second piano concerto. It’s a melody that flows on and on, whirling around never quite settling. This theme is the heart of the first movement full of warmth, sincerity, and love. It’s shy at first but gathers some courage to fly and soar.

Zart is sweet like a tart und singend is singing like a bird. Who said German was an ugly language?

Sometimes we need to take a break and sing like a sweet tart bird, or actually perhaps it’s more realistic to sit and listen to this sweet tart bird 🙂