The three scherzos Chopin wrote between 1831 and 1839 display sharper contrasts than many of his earlier works. Dark, expressive moods alternate with reserved and lyrical passages. A kind of dialogue is present in all three, both in the form of the works – usually ABA – and in their motifs. In the first scherzo in B minor the composer has incorporated an old Polish lullaby as lyrical respite between the two instances of the principal subject.
The word ‘scherzo’ is Italian for ‘joke’, and even though the joke often acquires serious undertones in the hands of Romantic composers, it is always present in openness and suddenness. The music constantly follows new whims, running onward or hopping back to repeat an earlier theme. The opening of Scherzo No 2 is a good example of how Chopin also allows the dialogue form to develop dynamically, when tentative little questions receive major outbursts in reply. In the third Scherzo accented harmonic progressions alternate with long shimmering waves of descending notes.
Franz Liszt published his Mephisto Waltzes as pieces both for piano and for orchestra. In all of the waltzes the devil theme recurs in various ways, not least in the harmonies, which are in many instances stretched to extremes. The waltzes are also technically demanding for the performer. In the first, subtitled The Dance in the Village Inn, the Mephisto character is present in a concrete programme. In the score there is an excerpt from Nikolaus Lenau’s Faust, in which Mephisto snatches the fiddler’s instrument from him at a wedding and plays a waltz with such passion that Faust joins the dancing, and waltzes in wild abandon out of the room and away into the woods.
Chopin’s wrote his Sonata No 2 in B flat minor in the same year as the third Scherzo, and the expression in the nightmare-like final movement is reminiscent of the dramatic outbursts in the scherzo. When the sonata was first performed, audiences found it disjunct. Schumann felt that Chopin had ‘simply bound together four of his most reckless children’, and Mendelssohn is believed to have said that as music, he found the last movement abhorrent.
Three movements from Petrushka constitute another example of piano music based on an orchestral score. Stravinsky arranged the three movements for piano in 1921, ten years after composing the orchestral work. The piano version was written for the legendary pianist Arthur Rubenstein, to whom it is dedicated. The musical material comes directly from the ballet Petrushka, but Stravinsky was concerned that it should not be a mere transcription. The movements have been reworked with an eye to the inherent potential of the piano and the intention of providing the performer with both musical and technical challenges.
This should suit Khatia Buniatishvili well. The young Georgian pianist has a strong personality, and her interpretations frequently give rise to discussion. The fact that critics rarely agree on their verdict tends to indicate that her concerts are worth a visit.
Text: Hild Borchgrevink
English version: Roger Martin