These are the sweetest little musical ‘squeaks’ I’ve ever heard!
4 squeaks starting about 4 minutes and 45 seconds in, up to 5:25 It’s a nice piece of music worth listening to anyway. But just dig those squeaks. (it’s the Oboe)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel / Introduction, theme and variations in F major / Allegretto Op. 102
Hummel introduction theme and variations for Oboe and Orchestra Op. 102 Allegretto
“All by Myself” by Eric Carmen. No wonder it was such a smash hit! Based on one of Rachmaninoff’s most rousing and gorgeous themes. (at the time Carmen thought the music was in the public domain … but it wasn’t! He had to come to an arrangement with the Rachmaninoff estate)
Rachmaninoff piano-concerto-no-2-in-c-minor-second movement
Besides the ‘inner prods’ to listen to Classical – which I ignored (*see ABOUT ME on the right); there were a few periods of false starts. One is when I was living in California in the late 70’s where I joined a Classical cassette club that lasted about 6 months – and the other time was way back in those innocent ‘hippie’ days – (during which I participated fully! Woodstock – yes I was there … but by accident!, Haight Ashbury, Greenwich Village, Psychedelic Utopianism etc.) In 1967 … or 68? – maybe 69! (*to quote the axiom: “If you remember the 60’s – you weren’t there”) So true!
Anyway …  I was living near the Ohio State University campus in Columbus Ohio and the other day recalled an incident where I’d planned days ahead to get “high” on LSD … and go to the campus music listening room. And listen to this! I did … about 5 times! There’s no escaping the fact that this is one of the most powerful, beautiful and dynamic pieces of music ever written. BUT – I used to turn it off after the super climax, (a bit over 2 minutes into this First Movement) and play those first couple of minutes again. NOW I realise that the entire first movement is wonderful and worth listening to! ..  And it belongs in the Perfect Music section where it now lives.
(*pianist is Yevgeny Sudbin)
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor
UPDATE: As a result of the two comments above (thanks again Taneyev!) – I’ve replaced the “sleeping pianist”! with the master Maurizio Pollini
If you Google stuff like: Greatest Piano pieces or Greatest Piano Compositions; you’ll find a wealth of information. And you’ll almost always find in the list: Beethoven’s Variations on a theme by Diabelli. It’s a really strange story.
This guy Diabelli who wasn’t exactly a shining star in the composition world at the time! – Asked all the “Greats” of the day, to compose some variations on this roughly 1 minute piece. Then he would use the proceeds for charitable donations. (perhaps a forerunner of Bob Geldorf!?)
So what does Beethoven do? He composes 33 Variations on this piddly little theme! (*the critics evaluation of Diabelli’s initial effort range from praise, all the way to this trashing by critic William Kinderman, who says: “Banal, trite, a beer hall waltz”)
The full story is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabelli_
(AND you get to listen to bits of Beethoven’s Masterwork)
First we have the original piece by Diabelli, followed by Beethoven. I’ve only included 6 of the 33 variations he did. Afterall … how many “Piano Freaks” are there out there?!
Diabelli theme
Now … here’s what “The Man” – The Big B … did with them. NOTE: Some of the variations are often included in the most difficult to play categorie.
11-ludwig-van-beethoven-33-variationen-var-3-listesso-tempo
13-ludwig-van-beethoven-33-variationen-var-5-allegro-vivace
14-ludwig-van-beethoven-33-variationenvar-6-allegro-ma-non-troppo-e-serioso
29-ludwig-van-beethoven-33-variationenvar-21-allegro-con-brio-meno-allegro
32-ludwig-van-beethoven-33-variationen-var-24-fughetta-andante
40-ludwig-van-beethoven-33-variationen-var-32-fuga-allegro