Recital program/topic

[mikey6]

I need to write and essay which accompanies/enforces my recital program.  I need to find a link between the repertoire but I can only get a vertical link - ie. the works attach to the topic but not too eachother which apparently I can't do.
My program at the moment is
Scarlatti k380
Mozart Concerto no.15
Beethoven op.111
Schumann Symphonic Variations
Chopin Ballade no.4
Liszt Mephisto Waltz (no.1)
Ravel Gaspard
Scriabin 4th
Can anone establish something common to all these works which is not something obvious like the use of pedal.  Feel free to offer repertoire suggestions, the only definite ones are the Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann.
Thanks

[anda]

it's hard to find an element to connect these - very different works, from any point of view. if i were you, i'd probably write an essay about the evolution of *** from baroque to the 20th century (maybe the evolution of colours in instrumental -piano- compositions, or maybe the evolution of subject usage, or something like that).

best luck,
anda

[pita bread]

Write about the evolution keyboard usage, from the replication of polyphonic voices in Scarlatti to the creation of colors and effect in Ravel and Scriabin.

[pianistimo]

maybe you could also combine keyboard maturity with the composer's maturity (how the keyboard style developed for each composer during their lifetime).  all of these works seem like they are written during the mature phase of the composer.

are there differences between scarlatti's early sonatas and the latter?  explain it.
what are differences between the early concertos of mozart and the mid to latter?
what was beethoven doing different in form in his latter sonatas (as compared to earlier?)
how did schumann's symphonic variations come to be?  explain how he came up with this form vs. compared to 'normal' symphonic forms of the time.

after doing all this - you'll probably come up with many other similarities such as the spiritual place of each composer at the end of their lives. what made them 'tick.' 

also, their personal letters and writings.  this is very revealing and a primary source instead of secondary.  in my grad studies i finally learned not to cheat and use the internet - but actually go to the library.  read read read  - and maybe read a few journal articles.  the journals articles can give you more primary sources that maybe you hadn't thought of.  of course, some are in foreign language (which always irks me).

but, some things you can get translated and really blow away a teacher that you took the time to learn something new on your own.  i would go to the library and get the best book on each of the composers that you can find, also - (besides photocopying letters that give details as to how they came to compose these specific pieces - and how they intended the performance).  then gather a stack of reliable books on each of the composers (as close to first hand as you can) - read about their mature stage of life/composition.  then write three papers.  (this helps me)

one paper - just what comes to mind off the top of your head (from your practicing these pieces - reading books - and just basically in your own words).

another paper - basically listing secondary sources and using all the quotes that you want to use and notating the pages and sources.

last paper - only primary source material (letters - what others at the time wrote about the performances of that piece - what they said about the mature composer).

then take all three papers and cut and tape.  putting them into whatever order you feel is according to the 'flow.'  it seems that all these composers became more 'intricate' and had much more fast passage work (i could be wrong about some, but this is my gut feeling) - more virtuosity.  you could talk pianistically about the different experimentations in technique, too.  this would be a maturity aspect.

*note:  i met with my teacher at least two times to adequately narrow down my topic and write it formally as he desired.

[pianistimo]

in john gillespie's book 'five centuries of keyboard music' (page 191) he also points out that beethoven's op. 111 in c minor is 'a perfect argument for a two movement sonata.  the two movements are unrelated, yet they augment and complement each other in the manner that only beethoven's genius could project. a brief introduction (maestoso) to the first movement leads by means of a series of modulations to the allegro con brio ed appasionato.  this allegro is remarkable for the skillful way in which beethoven evolves the A-flat theme from the intitial one in c minor.   the theme of the second movement, arietta, replies to the dramatic message of the allegro, thereby imparting a strong internal unity to the whole work.  this theme, to be played adagio molto semplice e catabile, is simple in itself but underlined with manifest implications.  five variations follow; more appropriately, they might be called progressions or extensions.  unlike most variations these great patterned amplifications of the intial subject have no opposition, no attempt at diversity.  the theme's original spirit is prolonged, preserving the unity and at the same time transporting the listener to unimagined realms of sound.'

from this paragraph you can glean stuff for music composed by other composers on either side of it.  the evolving and modulating that many of these composers did in their maturity.  and, the idea that the 'variation' was even evolving as a form.  i liked also the idea of dialogue.  most all of these composers understood that idea of dialogue (probably the most in their mature works) and it's importance to making a composition entirely stand alone (apart from classification).

they are classic piano works - but each is in a class by itself.  the creative pinnacle reached by each of these composers - and it is as if each speaks through these pieces.

[pianowelsh]

taking the works ypu suggest you could chart the development of keyboard/pianistsic virtuosity from scarlatti through mozart concerto into late beethoven and then in to chopin and then (or instead of) looking at ?etude symphonique - then on into the 'romantic' 20th c with Ravel gaspard and the challenges of the continuous melody before looking at the more chordal dexterity of scriabin 4 th and all the multilayering issues in that? just a thought!