Last month, I attended the Beethoven Beethoven Beethoven concert put on by the VSO and featured the French pianist David Kadouch. The first piece played was Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave. I believe this piece featured a sonata form. There was an Exposition which introduced a theme 1 in tonic (minor), some modulation towards a major key, then the Development, Recapitulation, and Coda. The main theme that was present throughout the piece was first introduced in the first few seconds of the piece in the minor key. After this there are several variations of it and it also continued as a base throughout the piece. The overall feeling in the exposition seemed to be quite dark but calm at the same time. Although, there is a major variation of this theme, eventually there is a return to the minor key of this theme. Later on, there seems to be a movement between major and minor of this recurring theme. Furthermore, the playing of this theme seems to be passed between the wind and string instruments. In addition, near the end the theme is played slower and in the major theme, however this doesn’t last long as the piece seems to gain momentum and is played faster in the minor key again and builds up to a climax. There is then a sense of calm created contrasted with the previous rush. In the final moments of the piece, it starts to slow down and the major variation of the theme is played by the clarinet and it descend with each drop in key playing the theme and the piece is brought to a conclusion with the plucking of strings.
The next piece that greatly interested me was funnily enough, again not Beethoven, nor was it included in the formal set – but a Chopin waltz that was played as an encore by Kadouch. This Waltz in C sharp minor, much like the other Chopin piece we listened to in class was quite lyrical and fluid. It also seemed to feature three slightly different themes throughout. The first seemed like a typical waltz that had a very steady triple meter rhythm. Overall it had a very soft quality and seemed very easy to dance along to. The piece then moved on to the second theme which moved faster. It still featured a constant rhythm in the left hand while the right hand played the lead melody over top. Although the piece did move faster, the soft quality was still retained – it never seemed rushed or aggressive. Each phrase of this section would feature a scale at the end before starting the theme again. The third theme featured in the waltz played much slower. The rhythm also seemed less structured that the previous two. It seemed as though the main melody moved with a bit more liberty. It almost seemed to be used as almost an interlude played before to reintroduce the second, faster theme. Throughout this waltz I feel as though there is a ritornello structure as there are the three different themes that are repeated a few times.