Programme 18: about Music Pieces Throughcomposed and Binary form
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Hello again. This is Brian, and I am pleased to welcome you back to “about Music”, our weekly chat and listening experience.
As I mentioned last week, there will be very little chatting this week as I did all of it last week. So today I’m spending nearly the entire programme on two pieces that we touched on last week.
First we will hear all 24 of Chopin’s preludes Opus 28.
As you listen, remember that these are very brief pieces, most of them consisting of just one idea, and therefore we would say that they are through-composed. Most of the preludes revolve around a single, memorable theme or idea, with variations in texture, dynamics, and harmonies, creating a piece that explores the depth of this one idea. This is a characteristic approach in some of Chopin's preludes, where a single motif or mood is explored in a compact form. In the later preludes there are some that are a little longer and have two or more ideas.
We follow that with five of Scarlatti’s Sonatas. These all illustrate the Binary form with two balanced halves, which is the third characteristic of Binary form, as I mentioned last week: The third characteristic of Binary form is Balance: Both sections are often of equal or similar length, contributing to a sense of symmetry and balance in the music.
Remember that the form of these, using the letters A and B to the indicate sections, is A, repeat of A, then B and repeat of B. The divisions between the sections are very clear
As I mentioned last week, there will be very little chatting this week as I did all of it last week. So today I’m spending nearly the entire programme on two pieces that we touched on last week.
First we will hear all 24 of Chopin’s preludes Opus 28.
As you listen, remember that these are very brief pieces, most of them consisting of just one idea, and therefore we would say that they are through-composed. Most of the preludes revolve around a single, memorable theme or idea, with variations in texture, dynamics, and harmonies, creating a piece that explores the depth of this one idea. This is a characteristic approach in some of Chopin's preludes, where a single motif or mood is explored in a compact form. In the later preludes there are some that are a little longer and have two or more ideas.
We follow that with five of Scarlatti’s Sonatas. These all illustrate the Binary form with two balanced halves, which is the third characteristic of Binary form, as I mentioned last week: The third characteristic of Binary form is Balance: Both sections are often of equal or similar length, contributing to a sense of symmetry and balance in the music.
Remember that the form of these, using the letters A and B to the indicate sections, is A, repeat of A, then B and repeat of B. The divisions between the sections are very clear