One of the first instruments most musicians learn to play
(at least a little) is the piano. It has a huge range—both in pitch and in
easily accessible repertoire, it has no shortage of qualified teachers and
performance opportunities, and it is a staple of nearly every genre imaginable.
However, the use of keyboard instruments in classical music is so much broader
and well worth exploring.
The behemoth of the keyboard world is the mighty organ, with
its diversity of colors and applications. The harpsichord is the granddaddy of
the family; after virtually disappearing for centuries, it is finding renewed
interest thanks to modern amplification. Lesser-known relatives like the
celesta and microtonal piano have their advocates, and the period-instrument
movement active in some classical circles has resurrected the clavichord,
spinet, and other early keyboards. Here we have presented a playlist that
proudly features many examples of these Different Keys.
To hear the playlist, access NML as usual, go to the
Playlists section,
and select the
Playlist of the Month folder under the
Themed Playlists tab. If you are on your institution's premises, you
may also be able to access it if you
CLICK HERE.
1. John Williams – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Hedwig’s Theme –
Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy” might have brought the
celesta its greatest fame, but an entire generation now also associates
it with their first exposure to the Harry Potter films. John Williams’
haunting melody is the theme for Harry’s trusty owl Hedwig, and when
played by the celesta it perfectly captures the magic of the series.
2. Camille Saint-Saëns – Symphony No. 3, “Organ”: II. Maestoso. Allegro. Più allegro. Molto allegro. Pesante --
Saint-Saëns seemed to know that he had reached the peak of his career
with his third and final symphony, saying “I gave everything to it I was
able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve
again.” Franz Liszt died two months after its premier, and Saint-Saëns
then dedicated it to his friend’s memory.
3. Francis Poulenc – Organ Concerto: IV. Allegro, molto agitato; V. Tres calme; VI. Allegro; VII. Largo -
Poulenc had never composed for the organ before this work was
commissioned, and he studied the music of Bach and Buxtehude to
familiarize himself with the instrument. This Baroque influence can be
heard in the piece, which was premiered privately with Maurice Duruflé
on organ and Nadia Boulanger conducting.
4. Bohuslav Martinů – 2 Impromptus: No. 1 Allegretto –
Martinů was a prolific composer of neo-classical music who was forced
to flee Europe during World War Two because of his ties to the Czech
resistance. He became noted for his use of the piano with the orchestra,
though he also composed for the harpsichord. This pleasant work is
performed by young harpsichord advocate Christopher D. Lewis.
5. Ottorino Respighi – Suite in G Major: I. Preludio –
Respighi carved out for himself a niche that combined Baroque and
Classical forms with some of the most colorful orchestrations ever
created. Even limiting himself to strings and an organ, as he does in
his Suite in G Major, he conjures up a buoyancy and sparkle that many
other composers can’t with a full musical palette.
6. Joan Lippincott – Organ Concerto in D Major: I. Allegro –
Princeton professor Dr. Joan Lippincott has arranged organ-obbligato
passages from cantatas by J.S. Bach into concertos, with the selection
here derived from BWV 169:I. Before anyone cries sacrilege for this,
Bach himself often did the same thing, repurposing portions of past
works for new use.
7. J.S. Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D Minor: Fugue –
No organist gets very far without a thorough immersion into the music
of J.S. Bach. His Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is arguably the most
famous organ composition of all time, and on this recording it is
tackled by acclaimed Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki. If historical
authenticity is a performance priority for you, this is a recording to
consider.
8. Matthias Weckmann – Toccata in A Minor – Matthias
Weckman was a German composer and organist of the Baroque Era. On this
recording, his Toccata in A Minor is performed on the lute-harpsichord
(or lautenwerck), an instrument that functions like a harpsichord but
uses strings made of gut, rather than metal. This gives it a mellower
tone that sounds not unlike a lute played with a pick.
9. François Couperin – Pièces de clavecin: Les barricades mistérieuses –
The Couperin family was a major force in French Baroque music, with
François Couperin earning the nickname “Couperin le Grand” as the
greatest of them all. He composed many small works for harpsichord,
which are collected into four volumes. The work selected here is one of
the better-known pieces, and it is performed on the spinet, a miniature
version of the harpsichord.
10. Domenico Cimarosa – Harpsichord Concerto in B-Flat Major: III. Aria –
Domenico Cimarosa is primarily remembered for the whopping 80+ operas
he composed during his lifetime, but he left behind some instrumental
music as well, including a lovely concerto for harpsichord. Even in this
genre the operatic bent is observed, as he chose to refer to its third
movement as an aria.
11. George Frideric Handel – Organ Concerto in F Major, “The Cuckoo and the Nightingale”: II. Allegro –
Handel may be most beloved now for his oratorios, but he was
ridiculously prolific in a wide variety of forms. He composed at least
eighteen numbered organ concertos, with No. 13 called “The Cuckoo and
the Nightingale” in reference to the imitations of bird calls in its
second movement.
12. Johann Gottfried Pratsch – Piano Sonata in C Major: I. Allegro molto con espressione – Pratsch
was a Czech composer living in Russia during the Classical Era. Little
of his music is known today, though this sonata, performed here on
clavichord, makes one wish for more. He is best remembered for a
collection of Russian folk tunes that influenced composers like
Glazunov, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Weber, and Beethoven.
13. C.P.E. Bach – Rondo in D Minor –
The tangent piano is an extremely rare early keyboard instrument; today
only around twenty are known to exist. It has a unique sound, with the
higher notes sounding more like a piano and the lower notes more closely
resembling a harpsichord. Its popularity was very short-lived, though
some experts believe some of C.P.E. Bach’s works were composed for it.
14. Johann Adam Reincken – Fuga in G Minor – While
not a great percentage of Reincken’s work has survived, he was known to
be one of the best organists in Germany in his day. There also is
enough evidence to indicate that he had a profound influence on J.S.
Bach. One apocryphal story says that after hearing Bach improvise,
Reincken declared, “I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it
lives in you.”
15. Christos Hatzis – Overscript: III. Both (Left and Right) –
Hatzis is a Greek-Canadian composer who here takes J.S. Bach’s Concerto
in G Minor for Flute, Strings, and Basso Continuo and reworks it into
what he calls “a palimpsest (an overwrite) of, and a musical commentary
on” it. It’s an interesting example of how one can still find new
dimensions to the Baroque master’s timeless work.
16. Vera Ivanova – Mbira (or In Cage with Adams) –
In recent decades, composers have explored the use of microtones.
Initially this required re-tuning pianos to different specifications,
but recently available techniques have involved scrambling the map of
the keyboard itself or placing sliders on the strings so that pitches
can be manipulated on the fly. The result is a very warped sound, but in
the right hands it can be enchanting.
17. Béla Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta: III. Adagio – Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
is one of Bartók’s best-known works, and the third movement is a prime
example of the “night music” style he often employed for slow movements.
Here the celesta steps in to portray twinkling stars, dancing aurora,
or any other mysterious beauty of the night your mind might conjure up.
18. John Cage – Suite for Toy Piano: IV. ---- – John Cage has built a career out of composing the unexpected, the conceptual, and the downright weird. His best-known work,
4’33”,
consists of a musician sitting silently on stage for 4 minutes and 33
seconds, with the audience reactions and ambient noise making up the
music. His Suite for Toy Piano, however, required actual composition,
and it stretches the boundaries of this tiny keyboard.
19. Patricia Morehead – Tourbillon Galaxy – Harpsichordist Jory Vinikour picked up a Grammy nomination in 2014 for his album
Toccatas, which featured works by contemporary American composers. One of these works,
Tourbillon Galaxy, was composed by Patricia Morehead, who has been an active advocate for women composers in the American Midwest and beyond.
20. Jehan Alain – Fantasmagorie -
Best known for his compositions for organ, Alain served as a dispatch
motorcyclist in the French Army during World War II. He was killed on
reconnaissance when he encountered a group of German soldiers on the
road, but he managed to take down sixteen of them before he died. For
his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Bonus Track: Olivier Messiaen – Turangalîla-Symphonie: V. Joie du Sang des Étoiles –
The ondes Martenot is a bit of a Frankenstein instrument, combining
elements of the theremin with a keyboard and other electronics. It’s far
enough outside the scope of this playlist to “officially” leave it out,
but we’ve included this Messiaen track as a bonus. Messiaen composed
for it a number of times, while in popular music, Radiohead and Yann
Tiersen have used it extensively.
Each month, Naxos Music Library presents a themed playlist for our
subscribers to enjoy. We know that a database of over 1.8 million
tracks can be a bit daunting, so we'd like to highlight some of the
amazing music that is available to you. Let it kickstart discovery!
