Relaxing Piano Playlist Series 5 Episode 3

Feeling tired? Need to unwind? Then how about some gentle, soothing piano music? Welcome to the Episode 3 of the Fifth Series in the Relaxing Piano Playlist! In this episode, I perform for you music by Scarlatti, Chopin, Antonio Fragasco, Samuil Maykapar, Bortkiewicz, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Chapters

• 0:30 Introduction
• 7:00 Piano Sonata in A Major K.208, Scarlatti
• 11:16 'Fruhling' from 6 Polish Songs S.480, Chopin-Liszt
• 14:12 Aria, Antonio Fragasco
• 15:51 Elegy No.22 Op33, Samuil Maykapar
• 18:10 Consolation No.2 Op17, Bortkiewicz
• 21:50 Andante from "Three-Fours" Valse Suite Op7, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Transcript

00:30 - James Quinn

Hello and welcome to Episode 3 of Series 5 in the Relaxing Piano Playlist, with your host, James Quinn here at the piano, thank you very much for joining me.

In this episode, you’re going to hear a number of pieces ranging from a wide variety of composers, covering the Baroque, the Romantic and 20th Century periods.

The first piece that you’re going to hear, sees the return of the Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti. The piece you will hear comes from his expansive list of Piano Sonatas, and in this case you will hear his Piano Sonata in A Major, published as K.208.

The next set of pieces all come from the Romantic period. For the first of these we revisit the composer Frederic Chopin, and here you will hear a piano arrangement of one of his cycles of 6 Polish Songs. From this you will hear the second song called ‘Fruhling’. This piano arrangement was made possible by the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt which he published as S.480.

Afterwards, we then have a short piece from a new composer in the form of the Portuguese  composer Antonio Fragasco. Born in 1897, he first had music lessons from his uncle and at the age of 17 he entered the Lisbon Conservatoire where he studied Piano, score reading and harmony. Very sadly, he died very young at the age of 21 from influenza. Today, under his namesake of the Associacao Antonio Fragasco which exists to help commemorate and celebrate his work to help promote both performances and recordings of his works. To give you a sample of his sensitive and mature voice at the piano, you will hear a short standalone piece simply called Aria. Translated from its Portuguese title, this comes a set known as the "Three pieces from the 18th Century". 

We then follow this with another new composer courtesy of the Ukrainian composer Samuil Maykapar. Born in Kherson, he initially studied Law at Petersburg University, then went on to study piano at St. Petersburg Conservatory and graduated in 1893. He furthered his studies with the Austrian-Polish pianist Theodor Leshetitzky from 1894-1896. While he was active as a concert pianist, he also taught at St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1910 to 1930. To give you glimpse of his compositional style, you will hear a short work of his, simply known as the Elegy which comes a large cycle of "Miniatures" which he published as Op.33.

After this we revisit the composer Sergei Bortkiewicz for our penultimate piece, where you will hear his Consolation No.2 which he published in a set of "8 Pieces for Piano" as Op.17.

Finally, we finish with a work from a special addition in the form of the first Black composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Born in Holborn in 1875 to an English mother and a father originally from Sierra Leone, he identified himself as Anglo-African. As well as being a composer and conductor, he was also a political activist, and was hailed by his critics as a musical genius. Sadly his popularity gradually faded, this was unfortunate for him when he died at the young age of 37. However, in the last few years, his work has made a successful resurgence into the concert hall, as a result of recent recordings and performances by many established artists. To give you the opportunity to experience his special musical style, the piece you will hear is known as Andante which appears as the second of a six movement work known as the “Three-Four” Valse Suite, which he published as Op.71.

So to recap, here is the order just once more: Piano Sonata in A Major K.208 by Scarlatti, 'Fruhling' from 6 Polish Songs originally by Chopin and arranged by Franz Liszt, Aria by Antonio Fragasco, Elegy from Op33 by Samuil Maykapar, Consolation No.2 Op.17 by Bortkiewicz, and finally Andante from “Three-Fours” Valse Suite Op.71 by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. 

So sit back, relax, and I hope that you enjoy all of the music. Thank you.