Well well well

Thought I'd follow suit with the classical twist the blogs taken at the moment. This means I may well waffle a tad. Firstly, a few extracts from one of the greatest works from (in my opinion) the greatest composer that ever lived, J.S. Bach.

Bach's Goldberg Variations are a set of pieces composed for some Count or other that had trouble sleeping. There's an opening aria, which is then used as the basis for thirty variations. The far and away best player of them that you can get hold of is Glenn Gould, either his 1955 recording, which is much more youthful and energetic, or his 1981, near the end of his life, which is more introspective. Both are superb. My favourite variation is number 25, nicknamed the Black Pearl, however I can't find Gould playing it on youtube and don't want to sully it by posting an inferior player. It's well worth the 79p or whatever off iTunes if you don't fancy the whole set.

Here's the aria with some variations. If you're in a rush, I'd recommend listening the aria and then the 15th variation, at 4:48.



Secondly, a classic from the Romantic period, with Chopin's raindrop prelude. The piano music of Chopin is well worth a look, although it tends to be played to death on Classic Fm...



Finally, to end with, a piece from perhaps the most significant composer of the 20th century, Schoenberg. Schoenberg broke with tonality from 1908 onwards, and could be argued to be a beginning link in a chain that progressed through others (like John Cage, who studied under him) to Stockhausen and eventually to Aphex Twin and the like. In this piece you can hear him struggling with the confines of traditional tonality, creating a magnificent work.