Instrumental Sonata and Symphony months
Some of you have asked how the Beethoven project is doing. I haven’t written a blog post for a while. I will be honest in telling you, it’s been a rough few months. Not because I haven’t been playing the piano. There has not been a day in my life where I haven’t sat at a keyboard of some kind or not studied a score of music, its because I have been so incredibly busy with gigs and music projects. The fact is, there has not been a day since I started this project that I haven’t studied or read about Beethoven’s life or studied and practiced a score. If I can’t sit at the piano and practice, I still study and memorize the scores and have new recitals being planned for this coming year that will include performances of some of these sonatas. The fact is, I still have the goal of learning all of the sonatas and my minimum is to learn at least 4 new Beethoven sonatas this year. It won’t be difficult to do. I have new blogs for this page coming soon. Meanwhile, my listening goals have continued. In January, I listened and score studied a String Quartet a day for every day in January. February was an Instrumental Sonata every day and March is a Symphony every day. Most of the instrumental sonatas were quite familiar as I had performed a great number of the sonatas I listened to. Here is the list for February and for March.
Feb 1: Beethoven - Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 "Spring"
Feb 2: Brahms - Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120, No. 1
Feb 3: Schubert - Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821 (cello or viola and piano)
Feb 4: Poulenc - Sonata for Flute and Piano
Feb 5: Franck - Violin Sonata in A major
Feb 6: Hindemith - Sonata for English Horn and Piano
Feb 7: Beethoven - Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69
Week 2
Feb 8: Brahms - Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78 "Rain Sonata"
Feb 9: Saint-Saëns - Bassoon Sonata in G major, Op. 168
Feb 10: Debussy - Cello Sonata in D minor
Feb 11: Prokofiev - Flute Sonata in D major, Op. 94
Feb 12: Mozart - Violin Sonata in E minor, K. 304
Feb 13: Dvořák - Sonatina in G major, Op. 100 (violin or flute and piano)
Feb 14: Ravel - Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major
Week 3
Feb 15: Brahms - Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38
Feb 16: Poulenc - Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
Feb 17: Schumann - Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70 (French horn or cello and piano)
Feb 18: Fauré - Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13
Feb 19: Glinka - Sonata for Viola and Piano
Feb 20: Beethoven - Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 "Kreutzer"
Feb 21: Saint-Saëns - Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166
Week 4
Feb 22: Brahms - Clarinet Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 120, No. 2
Feb 23: Enescu - Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 25
Feb 24: Mozart - Clarinet Sonata in E-flat major, K. 378 (violin or clarinet)
Feb 25: Schumann - Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105
Feb 26: Janáček - Violin Sonata
Feb 27: Respighi - Violin Sonata in B minor
Feb 28: Stravinsky - Duo Concertant for Violin and Piano
Mar 1: Haydn - Symphony No. 94 in G major "Surprise"
Mar 2: Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 "Eroica"
Mar 3: Mozart - Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 "Jupiter"
Mar 4: William Grant Still - Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American"
Mar 5: Schubert - Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished"
Mar 6: Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 "From the New World"
Mar 7: Samuel Barber - Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
Week 2
Mar 8: Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"
Mar 9: Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 "Italian"
Mar 10: Florence Price - Symphony No. 1 in E minor
Mar 11: Brahms - Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Mar 12: Mahler - Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor
Mar 13: Leonard Bernstein - Symphony No. 2 "The Age of Anxiety"
Mar 14: Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43
Week 3
Mar 15: Copland - Symphony No. 3
Mar 16: Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27
Mar 17: Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 5 in D major
Mar 18: Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
Mar 19: Amy Beach - Symphony in E minor, Op. 32 "Gaelic"
Mar 20: Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 "Classical"
Mar 21: Elgar - Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55
Week 4
Mar 22: Charles Ives - Symphony No. 2
Mar 23: Bruckner - Symphony No. 7 in E major
Mar 24: Stravinsky - Symphony in C
Mar 25: Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14
Mar 26: Bernstein - Symphony No. 1 "Jeremiah"
Mar 27: Nielsen - Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 "The Inextinguishable"
Mar 28: Roy Harris. Symphony no.3
Final Days
Mar 29: Franz Josef Haydn-Symphony no. 101 in d minor, "The Clock"
Mar 30:Sergei Prokofieff - Symphony 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100,
Mar 31: Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral"
I look forward to writing more about the Beethoven as I get there.
Peace!