“Thanks to her constant touring, which almost always included performances of her own music, Clara was probably a better-known composer than Robert when they married,” (LA Philharmonic). “The Four Polonaises of her Op. 1 (not her actual first compositions) had been published when she was 11 years old, to be followed by numerous other solo piano pieces and her Concerto.
After her marriage, Clara turned to larger forms, studying jointly with Robert through all of his enthusiasms. Their influences were mutual – composed in 1846, Clara’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17, was a direct influence on Robert’s Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 63, written the following year. (Robert’s own G-minor Piano Trio would be composed in 1851.) After Robert wrote his trios, Clara lost confidence in hers, but Brahms was one of many others who also played the work.”
While the Trio’s first movement, Allegro Moderato, begins in G minor, one of several harmonic shifts begins early (1:18) as a change in emphasis to the relative Bb major takes root.
“In the 1980s and ’90s, a style of pop that certainly cannot be described as ‘rock’ brought many very talented individuals and bands to the spotlight, if only for a brief time, although their work has continued to shine and gain avid devotees in the decades after those initial spurts of airplay and publicity,” (GarryBerman.Medium.com). “Some have described one particular style as ‘lounge jazz’ — but not always as a compliment. Others classify it as ‘Cool Jazz,’ ‘Smooth Jazz,’ ‘Adult Contemporary,’ ‘MOR (Middle of the Road),’ even ‘Sophisti-pop.'”
“Basia Trzetrzelewska, born in Poland and based in the UK, is long-beloved for her global fusion of jazz, pop, Brazilian and Latin rhythms seasoned with R&B and rock,” (BasiaSongs.com). “Her albums Time and Tide, London Warsaw New York, The Sweetest Illusion and It’s That Girl Again were worldwide hits, with Time and Tide and London Warsaw New York going platinum in the US.”
Basia’s track “Third Time Lucky,” a single from 1994’s The Sweetest Illusion, makes key changes more the rule than the exception. Nods to Brazilian music appear at every turn, woven around the saturated walls of sound that are Basia’s trademark DIY multi-layer backing vocals. The first of many key changes appears at 0:34 at the top of the second verse.
Many thanks to frequent contributor Ari S. for this submission!
In 1786, early in the era of the pianoforte, “Mozart wrote his two piano quartets for an ensemble essentially as new as the piano,” (Earsense.org). “But for a few random and now obscure composers before him, Mozart became the first to claim a genre that would captivate composers from Mendelssohn and Schumann onwards … Mozart’s “piano” quartets are considered the first in the genre not because they are historically the first, but because they are the historically the first great ones.
When he wrote them, Mozart was at the zenith of his fame as a performing concert pianist as well as a confirmed master of chamber music. The quartets are superbly balanced chamber works with all the craft and intimacy that implies, but they are also magnificent showcases for piano — in essence, chamber concertos, a kinship emphasized by their three-movement designs.”
The first movement’s opening section is in Eb major, but by 1:40 we’ve clearly shifted to Bb major after several hints and feints. The movement eventually concludes in its original key as well, but not before some more delightful harmonic meanderings!
“Within the grand narrative of global pop music, the Swedish quartet Ace of Base were a blip, a one-album wonder who came and went,” (Stereogum). “Between 1993 and 1994, Ace of Base essentially conquered the world, and their hits from that album will always work as strange, anachronistic reminders of a very specific early-Clinton moment. AoB themselves were not terribly important, but the group’s short-lived success stands as a kind of proof of concept. In Sweden, a certain form of sleek, shiny, bulletproof computer-pop music was just starting to come into existence, and that sound would rule the pop charts in the century to come. AoB gave some indication that this new hybrid style could work.
… Ace of Base emerged just shortly after the heyday of Roxette, a duo who were, in their time, the most successful Swedish group in the history of the American pop charts. Roxette’s astonishing four #1 hits were defined by a certain cheerful inanity — colossal hooks, absurdist lyrics, slick textures, hard riffs. AoB essentially did the same thing, though they sounded nothing like Roxette. The sound of American pop music had shifted since Roxette’s run, and AoB reflected that. ‘The Sign,’ AoB’s one American chart-topper, is a strange and hypnotic combination of sounds and ideas — chirpy and effervescent bubblegum melodies over deep digital-reggae beats. This particular mad-scientist crossbreed should not exist, and yet it resonates.
After “The Sign” (1994) completes its instrumental intro in G minor, 0:39 brings a verse in the parallel key of G major. At 1:21, an instrumental interlude mirroring the intro takes us back into G minor. subsequent verses switch back to major. The pattern continues throughout as off-beat synth-reggae keyboards propel it all relentlessly forward — at least for the single’s short run time of just barely over three minutes!
Parisian pianist and composer Charles-Valentin Alkan “wrote his Grand Sonata ‘The Four Ages’ after he returned to performing in 1844 after a six-year hiatus.” (Musical Musings). “The work was published in 1847. Alkan lived in an apartment in Paris, the Square d’Orléans for about ten years and was a neighbor to Chopin. They became close friends, and he became acquainted with many other artists that lived in Paris at the time, including Franz Liszt.
The work is in four movements, with each one portraying the ages of a man. Alkan wrote a preface to the published work where he expressed his intentions with the titles and structure of the sonata:
The first piece is a scherzo, the second an allegro, the third and the fourth an andante and a largo, but each of them corresponds, in my case, to a particular moment of existence, to a particular disposition of the imagination. Why should I not point it out?”
The second movement corresponds to the age of 30; perhaps not surprisingly, it goes through several transformations and shifts along the way. Starting in D-sharp minor, it shifts to B major, G-sharp minor, and finally F-sharp major (quite a list of relatively rare keys!). We won’t timeslate the changes, because in order to fully experience this piece, your full attention will be required — and the video provides a full score! Make sure you’ve packed a lunch and have had some coffee first.
French composer Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) “… described himself, saying ‘I was born in Paris on 7 January 1899 and I studied piano under Vines and composition mostly from books, because I was feared being influenced by a teacher. [He allowed himself only one lesson with Ravel!] I read a lot of music and greatly pondered musical aesthetics,” (IndianapolisSymphony.org). “My four favorite composers, my only masters, are Bach, Mozart, Satie and Stravinsky. I don’t like Beethoven at all. I loathe Wagner. In general I am very eclectic, but while acknowledging that influence is a necessary thing, I hate those artists who dwell in the wake of the masters. Now, a crucial point. I am not a cubist musician, even less a futurist, and of course, not an Impressionist. I am a musician without a label.’ (In Praise of Poulenc, Fred Flaxman, WFMT 2002)
Poulenc dedicated his Concerto for Two Pianos to Winnaretta Singer, Princesse Edmond de Polignac, who was the twentieth child of Isaac Singer, inventor of the Singer sewing machine. Although born in Yonkers, New York, she grew up in Paris, and eventually presided over an influential salon, some say the most important avant-garde music salon in Paris between the wars. Poulenc (and the other members of Les Six) was a frequent visitor: along with Faure, Stravinsky, de Falla, Satie, Widor, Nadia Boulanger, Milhaud, Debussy, and many more. It was the crème de la crème. The social and musical power and presence of her salon as well as extraordinary life are well told in Music’s Modern Muse by Sylvia Kahan … Regarding his presence in Les Six, Stewart Gordon in A History of Keyboard Literature noted ‘Poulenc was the most consistent in developing and sustaining a style of directness, simplicity, clarity, and the inclusion of influences from popular music … ‘ The composer completed the work in three months (in 1932).
The piece begins with a restless introductory section, making liberal use of accidentals instead of written key signatures (probably just to save ink in noting rapidly shifting tonalities as they whiz by). But at the 5:40 mark, the piece falls squarely into Bb major for a section fittingly marked très calme. More changes in key follow.
“The Brahms Third Piano Quartet offers plenty of interpretive temptations. A young Brahms began the piece during Robert Schumann’s last illness, when Brahms was torn between despair for his friend and love for his friend’s wife,” (LAPhil.com). “He then tabled the project for nearly two decades before picking it up again and making thorough revisions (including lowering the key a half step), resulting in the current work. An older Brahms confessed to his publisher in characteristically sarcastic terms, ‘On the cover you must have a picture, namely a head with a pistol to it. Now you can form some conception of the music! I’ll send you my photograph for the purpose. Since you seem to like color printing, you can use blue coat, yellow breeches, and top-boots.'”
“It was a tongue in cheek reference to Goethe’s 1774 epistolary novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which the Romantic hero commits suicide after falling in love with a married woman whose husband he admires,” (The Listeners’ Club). “Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor was the last to be published of Brahms’ contributions to the genre. Yet, its first version, which preceded the other two quartets, was completed in 1856 at a time when the 23-year-old composer had become devoted to Clara Schumann. While Robert Schumann spent his final years languishing in an asylum amid deteriorating mental health, Brahms assisted Clara in taking care of the Schumann household. Obvious parallels can be drawn between Brahms’ deep affection for Clara and the emotional tumult of the fictional Werther.”
Beginning in C minor and touching briefly on several other keys, the piece clearly shifts to the relative Eb major at 2:13, starting with a piano solo section which is joined by the string trio at 2:27. Many other shifts in tonality follow.
Chess The Musical is a musical stage production with a very interesting story line that captures the essence of the Cold War … Tim Rice, the legendary British musical theater lyricist, and writer, became hooked on the epic chess match between world chess champions Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. It was during the Cold War that tension between the US and the USSRled to his thinking, “Hey, this would be a great backdrop for a story.”
Tim was a regular collaborator with Andrew Lloyd Webber for a while and he wanted to work with him again. Unfortunately, Andrew was busy with Cats, so Tim (worked with) ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. We can say Chess The Musical is about the rivalry between the American and Russian players with a romantic subplot … Even before it hit the stage, it was clear that the soundtrack for Chess was a total game-changer. Released as a double LP concept album in 1984 by RCA Records, it quickly became a worldwide hit. The show later had its West End debut in 1986 and its Broadway opening in 1988.
The New York Times called the album “a sumptuously recorded…grandiose pastiche that touches half a dozen bases, from Gilbert and Sullivan to late Rodgers and Hammerstein, from Italian opera to trendy synthesizer-based pop, all of it lavishly arranged for the London Symphony Orchestra with splashy electronic embellishments.” The standout single, “One Night in Bangkok,” performed by Murray Head, ranked #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 list.” Other standouts from the soundtrack include “I Know Him So Well,” “Pity the Child,” “The Arbiter,” and “Nobody’s Side.” The ballad “Someone Else’s Story” begins in F major; after a a bridge starting at 2:16, the key shifts up a full step to G for the balance of the tune.
“Camille Saint-Saëns was many things. Also a scholar and writer of wide-ranging interests and an equally wide-ranging traveler, he was a multifaceted musician who excelled as a keyboardist, composer, conductor, teacher, and editor,” (LAPhil.com). “He lived to scorn the work of Debussy and Stravinsky (among others) and is often regarded as a conservative – if not reactionary – composer. But in the early and middle years of his career Saint-Saëns championed the most progressive wing of contemporary music (including Schumann, Wagner, and Liszt) and his own music was often highly original in form and orchestration.
‘Danse Macabre’ (1874) is a case in point. It is one of four tone poems Saint-Saëns composed in the 1870s, all inspired to some degree by examples from Franz Liszt (whose own ‘Totentanz’ dates from 1849) and exploring both Liszt’s thematic transformation concept and novel instrumentation … The piece caused some predictable consternation on its premiere … but it also quickly became a popular hit. Liszt himself arranged it for piano not long after the premiere, and it soon found other keyboard transcriptions, including piano four hands and organ.”
The piece, originally written by the French composer for orchestra, is adapted here for guitar quartet and performed by the Quatuor Eclisses, an ensemble which formed at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in the early 2010s. After an intro which briefly visits D major, the piece shifts to G minor for the first statement of its main theme (0:32). At 3:05, a middle section transitions into B major, growing more turbulent until 5:29, when the original theme (and primary key of G minor) return. (NOTE: The video embed looks like it won’t play, but it does!)
“Peaking at No. 21 on the national charts in the spring of 1970, ‘Little Green Bag’ scores a bounty of brownie points for being one of the most enigmatic songs ever placed on plastic,” (Something Else Reviews). “Driven by cheesy surf guitars, the zippy little tune sounds a bit like ‘She’s A Woman’ by the Beatles, accompanied by a sprinkling of bossa nova styled rhythms. The vocals are rather theatric, and the hooks are jarring and jaunty. The lyrics of ‘Little Green Bag,’ which are somewhat muddled, are just as quirky as the tone and structure of the song itself. Subtle references to pot are easy to imagine, but the truth is the theme is money.
A Dutch band, George Baker Selection went several years before courting the airwaves in a serious way. Early in 1976, the catchy and danceable ‘Paloma Blanca’ seized the Top 30. But that was that, making George Baker Selection a two-hit wonder. Released in an era when pop music was all for taking chances and nothing seemed too odd or alien for public consumption, ‘Little Green Bag’ still proved to be quite daring, different and downright curious at the time.”
The tune starts in G minor, but a shift to G major for the chorus is hinted at during a short pre-chorus instrumental section (0:46; the first several repeating choruses run from 0:55 – 2:00). At 2:01, another verse returns us to G minor; at 2:29, we revert back to the major chorus. 3:08 brings a wholesale shift up a half step to Ab major for another chorus, but 3:30 brings us back down to the original key.
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