Meg Lowenthal Akabas & Lev Akabas Piano Recital November 2024

REPETITIVE STRUCTURES
0:19 Opening by Philip Glass
7:27 Etude No. 6 by Philip Glass
11:25 Etude No. 12 by Philip Glass
19:12 Sonata No. 14, “Moonlight” (1st Movement) by Ludwig van Beethoven
25:30 Impromptu, Opus 90 No. 2 by Franz Schubert

DANCES
30:43 Danzas Argentinas No. 2 “Danza de la moza donosa” by Alberto Ginastera
34:44 Waltz in C# minor, Op. 64 No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin
38:48 Tango from España, Opus 165 No. 2 by Isaac Albeniz
41:29 Bink’s Waltz by Scott Joplin
45:30 Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin
49:39 Hungarian Dance No. 1 in g minor by Johannes Brahms
53:27 Hungarian Dance No. 5 in g minor by Johannes Brahms

ENCORES
56:49 Chopin Nocturne
1:01:40 Chopin Prelude



A few notes on the program…

“Opening” and Etudes No. 6 and No. 12 — Philip Glass

Glass is considered one of the most influential American composers of our time. In addition to composing an abundance of symphonies, concertos, operas and other concert works, he has received three Oscar nominations for Best Original Score and wrote the music for one of our favorite films, Koyaanisqatsi. Glass helped to evolve a compositional style that came to be known as minimalism, however he prefers to define himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” Listen for layers of different meters (e.g., one hand repeating a 2-note figure against a repeated 3-note figure in the other hand), subtle changes in harmony, and variations of simple, short musical fragments.

Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight” (1st Movement) — Ludwig van Beethoven

One of Beethoven’s most famous works, “Moonlight Sonata,” was not actually nicknamed by Beethoven, who simply marked it sonata quasi una fantasia ("sonata almost like a fantasy"). The first movement is a big departure from typical sonatas of the time, which almost always began with a fast movement. The “repetitive structure” in this piece is the triplet arpeggio (three notes of a chord played in succession rather than together) in the right hand, just like Glass’s Etude No. 12, and continues throughout the entire movement.

Impromptu Opus 90 No. 2 — Franz Schubert

An ‘impromptu’ is a type of musical composition that is meant to sound spontaneous or ‘off-the-cuff.’ It was a form popularized in the Romantic era, particularly by Chopin and Schubert. The structure of Schubert’s Impromptu Opus 90 No. 2 is A-B-A-B, with the repetitive “moto perpetua’ (perpetual motion) passages of triplets throughout the entire A section.

Dances by Ginastera, Chopin, Albeniz, Joplin and Brahms

For the second half of the program, we’ve selected a variety of pieces inspired by dance forms. Composers throughout the ages have written music that is either conceived to evoke the feel of a certain type of dance or specifically to be danced to. We have examples of both here, from Argentine composer Ginastera's “Danza de la moza donosa” (which translates loosely to “Dance of the graceful maiden”), which conjures up an image of a solo dancer, to Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, which are suitable for two types of actual folk dances, the csárdás and verbunkos.

Two Pieces by Scott Joplin

Dubbed “The King of Ragtime,” Joplin is said to have been partially inspired by Brahams’s Hungarian Dances, to which he was exposed by his childhood piano teacher. Ragtime is known for its syncopated or “ragged” rhythm. It peaked during the late 1890s to the early 1900s, was arguably the earliest African American music to enter mainstream pop culture and ushered in a new freer style of social dancing. Maple Leaf Rag is often considered the archetypal and quintessential rag, becoming the model for the genre. Joplin himself went on to heavily influence early jazz, but remained under-recognized for decades after his death and regained popularity when his music was used for the score of the 1973 movie “The Sting.” Lev was introduced to Joplin by his two grandfathers—both big fans of his music.