Music of the Day- The Tickling Clock

Feel the impulse of the march like tempo. Steady but exciting. Please note, Gould didn't play it fast. He played it steadily, but with very strict tempo. But it sounds so exciting and energizing.

Sometimes, being frantically fast does not bring excitement. :-) It is being grounded and metronome like rhythm that makes Beethoven's sonata rocks. I think this is the most perfect version of the seemingly simple and cyclic movement of Beethoven's sonata No 13 in E Flat Major. Tempo marking is Allegro. To me it is an Allegro Marcato.

Domenico Scarlatti

Embrace the spirit of spanish guitar on the forte piano!



Frédéric Chopin, as a piano teacher, notably wrote:
"Those of my dear colleagues who teach the piano are unhappy that I make my own pupils work on Scarlatti. But I am surprised that they are so blinkered. His music contains finger-exercises aplenty and more than a touch of the most elevated spirituality. Sometimes he is even a match for Mozart. If I were not afraid of incurring the disapprobation of numerous fools, I would play Scarlatti at my concerts. I maintain that the day will come when Scarlatti's music will often be played at concerts and that audiences will appreciate and enjoy it".

Quoted in the liner notes to Domenico Scarlatti, Sonatas, Anne Queffélec (piano). Apex CD 0927 44353 2 (2002).

Scarlatti is contemporary of Bach and Handel. He was born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples in 1685. Although he was born in Italy, he spent most of his lifetime under the service of Portuguese and Spanish royal families.

In his lifetime, he composed 555 keyboard sonatas. They are in single movement and mostly in binary form. Most of the sonatas are written for harpsichords and earliest pianofortes. (4 of them are for organ and some for group ensembles) As he spent most of his life time working for Portugese and Spanish royal families, his compositions display Iberian influence (Spanish and Portugese folk songs). At that time it was considered unconventional to have modulations to "exotic" keys and daring use of discords.

Source: wikipedia

Obviously if you listen to a lot of spanish music you will find that the Iberian flavor in Scarlatti's works comes from the guitar. Just like Chopin, I found that spanish guitar is very uplifting. A "sad" or "depressed" chord sounds so uplifting because of the "flamenco rhythm".

Schedule for a Piano Lesson at TEN PIANO STUDIO

Mozart Sonata K448

performed by Argerich & Baldocci

Mozart Sonata KV448
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Andante
III. Molto Allegro

This sonata for 2 pianos was composed in galant style, posing the beauty of echoing melodies and puntuating cadences. It is believed that listening to this sonata will have the "Mozart Effect", i. e., listening improve spatial reasoning and reduce the number of seizures in people with epilepsy(According to the British Epilepsy Oganization). Other than this sonata, According to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, research suggested that Mozart's Concerto K488and Greek Composer Yanni's "Acroyali/Standing in Motion" can also make the listeners experience "Mozart Effect" due to the similar tempo, musical structure, melodic & harmonic consonance and predictability.

First Movement


Second Movement


Third Movement

Schedule for a Piano Lesson at TEN PIANO STUDIO

Beethoven's Bright Side

Composed in a "sunny mode key", A-flat MAJOR. Enjoy the cantabile of the theme in the first movement. The third is my favorite form- Fugue. It is very touching. Performed by pianist Sviatoslav Richter.

I. Moderato cantabile Live recording


II. Allegro molto- Adagio ma non troppo - Arioso dolente


III. Fuga. Allegro ma non troppo - L'istesso tempo dell'arioso - L'istesso tempo della Fuga, poi di nuovo vivente