Moszkowski: Suite in G minor for Two Violins & Piano, Op. 71

i'm only going to do one entry for this suite because i feel one can get to know it pretty well without any formal introduction to every movement. 

moszkowski was a german composer of polish descent, and his nationality is somewhat of a debate. unfortunately he's not too well known today but he did some nice writing mostly for piano. he lived from 1854-1925 and was probably one of the most respected pianist-composers after chopin and liszt. too, a lot of his stuff sounds sort of like chopin plus, harmonically speaking. it's a bit crunchier and chromatic, but has very similar flourish and pianistic elements.

the poor guy resisted mightily the changes brought about by schoenberg, scriabin, and debussy. in that sense, he was born quite after his time.

this is a fun, fairly tasteful little violin duet i discovered last week. it was written in 1902. it has four movements.

I. allegro energico

II. allegro moderato

III. lento assai

IV. molto vivace

this performance is decent, but there are certainly recordings out there which bring out the virtuosity and color better. this is a bit soupy for my tastes. i'll just post the first movement, and if you are interested enough to catch the rest then the links are provided for you above.

probably my favorite part is just the opening. i enjoy how it sounds like there are more instruments because of the double stops. it's a dramatic theme, and reminds me quite a lot of one other famous violin duet, the ysaye sonata for two violins. it is pretty predictable, down to the modulation and cadence in B-flat major.

second theme comes in at about 0:58, very reasonably in b-flat major as well. it's lighter, sunnier, but no less melodramatic.

development starts at about 2:10, with the second theme coming back in D major instead of b-flat. then we begin a pretty typical sequence of shifting keys which indicate a development. there are some fakeout moments, like what sounds like a sort of elided recap at 2:53, which makes it sounds like they're going to go back into the themes this time in the correct key of G. but instead of going into the second theme in that key it sinks a bit further than we expect, with the expected tonic of G turning into the third of an e-flat chord.

there is also a sort of fake ending at 3:37 ish, but we are still in e-flat, so this is clearly not the end. we go onto a sort of suspended state which hovers for a bit before ascending up and turning into some d octaves which serve as the dominant lead-in for the real recap at 4:14.

the recap is really short and is pretty much actually a coda for the g minor ending.

the second movement is sort of understated and lovely, with a very romantic spin on what could be a classical theme (well, until the keys start shifting around anyway). there is also a cool little burst of tarantelle-like energy 1:21 of the recording which melts quickly away.

the third movement is real romantic writing, what sounds like an elegy or song without words. and the fourth movement is a fast little gallop of fun. it's altogether quite a cute piece, and i'm kind of surprised that it doesn't get played more often by students and the like.

this duet was almost immediately made into a piano trio (a more popular and balanced ensemble) to make it more accessible to perform and program. but this is the version which it was originally conceived for.