#piano variations
Poulenc-Les soirées de Nazelles(1936)
Something that has been on my mind lately is how we perceive and evaluate music. I was born near the end of the cutoff for the “millennial” generation, so for me music is something that exists in the environment, it radiates as an MP3 from a computer, played on CDs, and then streamed digitally. For me, music is something that I can conjure with my phone and take anywhere. This personal and mobile music gives us a way to perceive the world that is so different from humans before the 21st century (really, before recording technology) that we often take for granted how special music is. At least before records, you had to physically be present where the music was being created. It was something that exists in that moment, and then once the music is done, you’ve “heard” it. You don’t always get to play it again. It’s why music was, and still is, a communal experience. This piece by Poulenc is a set of variations that are based on improvisations he played at the piano during vacations with friends at his country estate. Each variation is a little musical picture of a different friend, much like Elgar’s more famous Enigma Variations. Poulenc shows off his pianistic brilliance and his ear for textures throughout from moments like the opening slam into the bass, or the delicate and hazy “Le goût du malheur” with hints of Satie and Ravel. The mix of playfulness and severity in these variations is typical of his neoclassical style. Here as piano variations it makes me think of French Baroque keyboard suites. The music is still good without any program information or knowing which friend is referenced when, but still I love the picture of him creating music in the moment for a small group to appreciate in the moment of its creation. We can experience music as the personal digital soundtrack to our lives, and we can still experience it traditionally as a spontaneous act of creation for the limited number of listeners who are there to experience it.
Movements:
Preamble
1. Le comble de la distinction
2. Le cœur sur la main
3. La désinvolture et la discrétion
4. La suite dans les idées
5. Le charme enjôleur
6. Le contentement de soi
7. Le goût du malheur
8. L'alerte vieillesse
Cadence
Final
Chopin-Variations in A, “Souvenir de Paganini”(1829)
Every now and then I fall into a listening rabbit hole where I explore music from one composer for a few days, sometimes spilling into weeks or months. Right now, I’m back with Chopin. Odd choice, because I’m already familiar with him, and there’s tons of works in my “to listen to” list that are gathering dust while I replay the same nocturnes again and again. Chopin was the first composer that got me into classical music, so maybe because of how stressful the world is to live in right now, I’m turning back to something comfortable and familiar. And despite the familiarity, some Chopin has been hitting my ears as if for the first time. This “souvenir” is a set of delicate variations on Paganini’s Carnaval of Venice. Instead of virtuosic scratching violin solos, we get Chopin’s delicate nocturne-style piano writing and compact variations over a simple repeating bass. A precursor to his later more elaborate Berceuse. And it’s probably the mix of being a charming melody with a simple harmony (I-V-V-I almost throughout) that got this piece stuck in my head. The earworm’s been living in my brain for three days, but I don’t mind too much. Each variation adds a new arabesque figure into the mix, new ornaments, glittering extra-notes, and baroque figurations. And the calmer atmosphere makes me feel like I’m listening to music that could go on forever, constantly playing around with the melody. Feeling like one of those summer afternoons you wish wouldn’t end.
