Tagged: Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 31 is an amazing collection of inspirations.

Pop music is (usually) in English and is easy to understand, but Classical works are often in another language, and even when they are in English the operatic vibrato clouds the message.

Absolute music like a symphony or sonata has no words, but sometimes the work has a helpful title.

We've been presenting Beethoven's piano sonatas in order weekday mornings and one sonata that is very important in understanding the composer is being broadcast April 10 in the 6 a.m. hour.

Jeffrey Biegel talks about his upcoming recital at the First Unitarian Universalist Church this Saturday. While the topics all had something to do with great music, some are a little off topic. Biegel first talks about his new passion, tweeting; @tprclassical subscribes to his tweets and he certainly has a lot to say - as do those that follow his remarks.

A singular honor

I remember reading a legendary performer once say that no two performances are alike. When I starting studying the piano I recorded some of my practice sessions to hear how I was playing without the distraction of making the music.

The great musician was right, not only were all my repetitions different, I couldn't make my performances sound the same if I tried.

In the hurly-burly of a Piano competition there are selections that can make or break the chances of a competitor; pieces so difficult or dense that only a master musician can make them work for the audience and more importantly, the judges.

On the Piano this Sunday, we continue with music from the 2012 San Antonio International Piano Competition where two of the pianists "go big" in an effort to convince the judges that they have what it takes to be worthy of the gold medal.

Debussy