“Only Girl (In The World” is the lead single from Barbadian singer Rihanna’s 2010 album Loud. A number one hit in the United States, Australia, Austria, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland, the track won a Grammy award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording. “Only Girl (In the World) aims squarely for dance-floor domination,” said Billboard critic Monica Herrera.
Rihanna performed the song on Saturday Night Live in 2010, and at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2022. The track begins in F# minor and subtly shifts up to B minor at 1:03. It returns to F# minor for the second verse at 1:49 before a final modulation to B minor at 2:18.
“Marked by its technical bravura, Widmung (or Dedication in English) … is much more than a mere showpiece – containing probably the most passionate music writing and most heartfelt feelings,” (Interlude). “Written by Robert Schumann in 1840 (from a set of Lieder called Myrthen, Op.25), this piece was later arranged for piano solo by Franz Liszt. Myrthen was dedicated to Clara Wieck as a wedding gift, as he finally married Clara in September, despite the opposition from Clara’s father (who was also Robert’s piano teacher).
The work starts with a flowing sense of pulse, while the first phrase (‘Du meine Seele, du mein Herz’) already captures Schumann’s love for Clara and devotion to the relationship. Here, Schumann sincerely confesses to Clara, declaring how important she is to him. For him, Clara is his angel, his spiritual support, and his entire world. Nevertheless, there is still a sense of fear and insecurity in the music, due to separation and uncertainty about their future. This complex mixture of feelings, as a true and full-bodied representation of love, certainly strengthens the emotional power of the music.”
At the 0:35 mark, Ab major shifts dramatically down to E major via a common-tone modulation. Amy Broadbent is the soprano in this 2014 performance; Christopher Koelzer is the pianist.
Emily Linge is a prolific YouTube contributor and a British-Norwegian singer songwriter born and raised in Dubai. She sings and self-accompanies on piano and guitar, sometimes with other instrumentalists, including her two brothers. Despite her young age (she was 13 when this video was posted), many of the songs she performs are from decades past, with lots of Beatles covers in particular.
“All By Myself” is a power ballad written by Eric Carmen, with elements taken from Sergei Rachmoninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto. (A version by male vocal group Il Divo appeared previously on MotD). Emily’s rendition largely follows Carmen’s, including the expressive piano interlude featured on his album edit.
Linge’s cover begins in G major; from 2:41 – 3:12, a brief interlude takes leave of the key, moving in several directions before a return to G. At 4:24, a common-tone modulation to B major takes a page from Céline Dion’s gutsy version, including a soaring high vocal line at 4:21. A few more keys are briefly visited before Linge lands in A major at 4:47.
“This breakup ballad was written by Roxette’s instrumentalist, Per Gessle. Despite the somber lyric, the song proved very pleasing to the ear and became a huge hit,” (Songfacts). “Recorded before Roxette started working on their 1990 Joyride album, ‘It Must Have Been Love’ was reworked for the movie Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The movie was an enormous hit, and so was the soundtrack … Released in March 1990, Pretty Woman developed a huge following, which helped send this song to the top of the US Hot 100 in June, where it stayed for two weeks.
The Swedish group had been popular in Scandinavia for years before they hit it big in the US: “It wasn’t until an American student studying in Sweden brought a copy of their second album home to Minneapolis, and persuaded a local radio DJ to play ‘The Look,’ that they achieved international fame,” (BBC). In 2019, the duo’s vocalist, Marie Fredriksson, passed away at age 61 after a 17-year battle with cancer.
The verses’ melody is simple and contained, but the choruses bring a greater range. Building on that trend, a resounding modulation up a perfect fourth hits on a chorus at 2:59.
“Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B minor (1854) is arguably his finest composition and one of the greatest piano sonatas ever written,” (PianoStreet). “Many place it alongside Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17 as “the two 19th-century masterpieces” of the piano literature.
Although Liszt performed it for his enthusiastic disciples in Weimar, the work failed to impress Brahms or Clara Schumann. Robert Schumann, to whom it was dedicated, was already incarcerated in the asylum in Endenich by the time of the Sonata´s arrival in his home in Düsseldorf. The Sonata drew an enthusiastic compliment from Richard Wagner … It has now been more than 150 years after the Sonata’s public premiere and no musicologist, music theorist or classical music fan can deny its influence, craft, and original power. The work also represents one of the most successful solutions of the problems of the sonata form to come out of the 19th century.”
The four movements of the Sonata are blurred together; between the first and second movements, a chord is sustained over the bar line, or the nominal demarcation between the movements, followed by a very unexpected chord progression. The transition to a surprising new key center is the result, starting around the 12:00 mark in the first video below. The second video, by Polychoron Productions, provides a detailed discussion of the modulation.
Rajaton “is a six member a cappella group founded in Helsinki, Finland, that comprises two sopranos, two baritones, and an alto and tenor each,” (DCTheaterArts). “Rajaton is a pop sensation in its native Finland, where it is renowned for its genre-crossing repertoire of classical to Europop and where it has a double platinum, three platinum, and a collection of gold records, amongst over awards under its belt. The group … continues to spread the joy of their music through touring in over twenty-five countries. … The name Rajaton is the Finnish word for ‘boundless’ and (is a) metaphor for the wide breadth of their repertoire.”
From AllMusic’s profile of the group: “The group released its first album, Nova, in 2000, and over the course of the next decade managed another eight releases, including albums and DVD offerings. Their October 2007 album, Maa, was another strong seller for the band, as it cracked the Top Ten on the Finland album charts.”
The joyful track “Laulamahan,” released in 2022, shifts in texture throughout while the overall tempo remains unchanged. There are several modulations, the first of which is a shift two whole steps downward at 0:43.
” … composer, pianist, and arranger Richard Smallwood has clearly and solidly changed the face of gospel music,” (Kennedy Center). “He can impeccably blend classical movements with traditional gospel, and arrive at a mix that is invariably Smallwood’s alone. A diverse and innovative artist, Richard Smallwood has achieved many honors; Dove Awards and a Grammy also attest to his talents … Smallwood has been honored by the Smithsonian Institution as a ‘gospel innovator and songwriter,’ and his hometown, Washington, D.C. heralded two separate occasions as ‘Richard Smallwood Day,’ also, distinguishing him with the Mayoral Art Award for ‘precision and excellence in artistic discipline.'”
… His debut album, The Richard Smallwood Singers, spent 87 weeks on Billboard’s Gospel chart. “The next project, Psalms, received a Grammy nomination. Two years later, another nomination for Textures, the album that contained the classic ‘The Center of My Joy,’ penned by Richard Smallwood along with Bill and Gloria Gaither.” His career has only grown from there.
Gospel Church, a prominent French gospel ensemble, produced this video performance of Smallwood’s “Anthem of Praise” in late 2023. After a cinematic instrumental intro establishes the piece in Bb minor, the choir enters at 1:03. At 3:33, the arrangement transitions to Bb major; from there, there are half-step upward modulations with each successive vocal soloist, eventually landing in Db major. The final few seconds bring an emphasis on the original Bb, now clearly the implied relative minor even in the absence of any chord color.
Now that the holidays are over, it’s perhaps the least distasteful time of the year to post this monumental gaffe by an organist accompanying Handel’s Messiah (1741). This error wouldn’t have been possible during Handel’s lifetime, when the “transposition” function on pipe organs was still a few hundred years in the future. It all adds up to a category of “unintentional modulation” — one which we hope won’t grow much over time!
“Performing under pressure is hard, and there’s no doubt that accompanying a full choir is stressful even for the most unflappable of musicians,” (ClassicFM). “But this is just… something else.
During a performance of Handel’s Messiah, at that crucial moment at the end of the ‘Hallelujah’ Chorus when the choir and organ come together in four glorious final chords, this organist completely loses it. It seems they accidentally pressed the ‘transpose’ function on their instrument, only-just-and-only-sort-of recovering it by adding an unexpected seventh at the end, before finally landing on the tonic chord. We can all agree the choir deserves a huge pat on the back for holding it together.” The video is only 0:44 long; in the interest of safety, make sure you’re sitting down by about the 0:20 mark.
“Chopin composed 21 nocturnes, 18 of which were published during his lifetime,” (The Guardian). “They span almost his entire creative career – the earliest were written in the late 1820s, when the composer was still in his teens, the last in 1846, three years before his death. That period also coincided with massive advances in the technology of the piano itself; the instruments that Beethoven and Schubert wrote for – the kind that Chopin would have known in his youth – were very different in their tonal capabilities and power from those that he was able to play and compose on in the last decade of his life.
In some significant respects, Chopin’s development as a composer, and the steady refinement of his musical language, are inseparable from the increasing expressive power that the steady advancement in piano technology offered him through his career. Together with the mazurkas, the other miniature form that he made his own, the nocturnes provide a musical chronology of that development.”
“Chopin’s Nocturne in G (1839) is written like a barcarolle, a song of the Venetian gondoliers. In the left hand you’ll hear the gentle rocking motion of the boat,” (VermontPublic.org). “The music shifts and the key changes just like the scenery passing by. The boat comes to a rest and we hear a melody, like the gondolier singing a simple, repetitive song.”
After the piece begins in G major, at the 0:18 mark we’ve clearly launched into new harmonic territory, with many additional shifts throughout. However, the piece manages to come to its final resting point by returning to the key of G major.
“I’m Totally Fine With It” is the lead track on Norwegian singer Billie Van’s 2017 album Pure Emotions. An emerging artist, Van released her first album, 1 2 3 4 Radio Star, in 2013. The tune begins in G and shifts up a whole step to A at 2:54.
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