Tag Archives: piano

Saturday Noon Concert (29): Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106

The 29th piano sonata (also called Große Sonate für das Hammerklavier) is one of the most difficult works for piano solo ever written by man. It is a bit long, though, so make sure you have about 40 minutes to spare before you start listening to it.

As usual, we want to thank Bunji Hisamori for his kind permission to post the above audio rendering on our blog. The midi file was downloaded from The Classical Music Archives. You can find some technical details and the previous sonatas from this series here.

Saturday Noon Concert (15): Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.15 in D, Op.28

This sonata was called (by Beethoven’s publisher) the Pastoral, maybe due to its sense of tranquility and simple joy. Gramo’s favourite is the last part, which escapes this calm atmosphere, without becoming dark. Happy listening (and happy holidays, btw):

The midi file rendered by Gramo here was created by Bunji Hisamori, who has kind enough to give us the permission to post it on our blog. The file was downloaded from The Classical Music Archives. Here are the other “concerts” from this series.

p.s.: For a short, but interesting analysis of this sonata’s musical structure you may read this post.

Saturday Noon Concert (14): Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.14 in C#-, Op.27, No.2 ‘Moonlight’

Today we’ll be listening to Beethoven’s most famous piano sonata, the Moonlight. Although the first part is beautiful, it doesn’t suit Gramo’s personality, so the last part is our favourite. Enjoy your listening:

The midi file was created by Bunji Hisamori. We thank him for kindly allowing us to post an audio rendering of it on our blog. The file was downloaded from The Classical Music Archives. Here are the other “concerts” from this series.

Saturday Noon Concert (13): Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.13 in Eb, Op.27, No.1

Beethoven’s 13th piano sonata has also got a name: “Quasi una fantasia”. This is actually an indication written by Ludwig on the front of his score – “like a fantasy”. Some say this is because this composition doesn’t have a regular sonata structure. We like to think this is how Beethoven’s thinking sounded like when he left his mind to wander:

As always, Bunji Hisamori gets the credit for creating the midi file and allowing us to post an audio rendering of it on our blog. The file was downloaded from The Classical Music Archives. Here are the other “concerts” from this series.

Saturday Noon Concert (4): Beethoven – Piano Sonata in Eb, Op.7, No. 4

Perhaps you are wondering why we are using midi files instead of “real” interpretations of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Well, we think that for a first audition (especially if you don’t listen much to classical music) these midi versions, apart from being of very good quality, have a particular advantage.

That is, they are, of course, interpretations of the scores, but the interpretation does not come first, so you may focus on the musical structures better. And here is the fourth sonata:

Again, we are greatful to Bunji Hisamori for allowing us to post an audio rendering of his midi file on our blog. The file was downloaded from The Classical Music Archives, the other details on how we’ve produced the mp3 can be found here.

p.s.: We’ve created a separate page for this series, you can find it here.

Saturday Noon Concert (1): Beethoven – Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1

You should listen to this even if you don’t usually listen to classical music. Really, it’s beautiful!

We want to thank Bunji Hisamori, the creator of the midi version of Beethoven’s sonata, for his kind permission to make an audio rendering of it and post it on our blog.

p.s.: Yes, this is a new project. We’ll post audio renderings (created using open source software and free audio fonts) of classical music on our blog every week.