Great Chords: Liszt's Sonata in B minor

"It is impossible to convey the nature of this musical monster in words. Never have I heard a more impudent or brazen concatenation of utterly disparate elements, such savage ravings, so bloody an assault on all that is musical...Anybody who has heard this thing and liked it is beyond hope." - Eduard Hanslick

The "musical monster" Eduard Hanslick is referring to is the Sonata in B minor by Franz Liszt. (Hanslick was a well known German music critic 1825-1904). The Sonata in B minor was published in 1854 and was the only sonata that Liszt ever wrote. Much has been written about this epic work. I came to it very late in my musical exploration...just within the past year or so. To me it is a symphony within a sonata. It is huge in scope and ambition, soaring and boundless, but also at times delicate, measured and contemplative. After listening to it, it leaves you exhausted...but in a good way! I can't imagine what one must go through performing it. 

My "Great Chords" installment is about specific moments in a piece of music that stand out musically...that really grab my ear. In the Sonata in B minor, this moment occurs at bar 307.  Look above at the music at the top of this page. The last 2 notes...or chords...occur about eleven minutes into the piece following a very quiet and beautiful Recitativo phrase marked as ritenuto ed appassionato. They are scary...play them if you have a piano nearby. I know what the notes are...but I was not sure what the chord was called, so I reached out to my friend Dr. Reynold Simpson, Associate Professor of Music at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Dr. Simpson offers this analysis of the chord in question:

"Liszt really pushed to the edge. Functionally this example is pretty straightforward. In the key of B minor the progression is a minor I chord (F minor), a major VI on the lower sixth degree of the key (D flat major), then a D-flat augmented triad (with the A natural) sounds as the dominant substitution as it has two leading tones (F to G-flat and A to B-flat) and this leads to G-flat, which is the Neapolitan of the key (lowered second). The odd thing is that this Neapolitan chord in not just a major chord, but a major seventh chord with the seventh in the bass. The major seventh, with the inversion, the dynamics, and the lower thick voicing is what is producing the harsh sound."

Another fascinating thing about this sonata is the very first measure. This giant work kicks off with two notes..a simple G in the bass register. I can't think of any other work that begins this way. If you are not ready for it, you can actually miss it altogether because it is so quiet and staccato. It seems to me as though he could have started with the second measure...that would have made more sense to the listener...but that is the genius of Liszt.

Another interesting point about this piece; it was the first piano work to be published showing a low B, which is the very last note of the piece, and the only time in the entire work that it appears. Prior to this time, the lowest note written for a piano was C (Chopin and Schumann never wrote a note lower than C).

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Its fascinates me that what today are considered great compositions were not always received well when they were first published. Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major is a great example of this. How could it not be immediately recognized as perhaps the greatest of all violin concertos? Well, for some reason it was not, and it took decades for it to begin to be recognized as a great work. Such is the case with the Liszt sonata. The quote above is scathing to say the least. Critics can be merciless. And wrong.

I would encourage you to listen to this sonata. Here is a link to YouTube that has the score to follow. You will see the incredible genius of Liszt as you watch and listen. I think Andre Laplante's performance is excellent as well.

Classics in Commercials: Bach and a Triangle Solo

Here is a funny TV commercial that cracked me up. A chamber orchestra begins playing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto number 3. A few bars into the performance, a percussionist playing a triangle surges forward to take a solo...a long solo.....

Of course, Bach did not score the Brandenburg Concertos to include a triangle. But it sure is funny to imagine that he had. Well done GEICO.

Artist's Profile: Imant Raminsh

I remember the moment in 2011 when I heard a piece of music that changed my life. I was surfing through YouTube looking for Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. This was a period of time when I was exploring scared music, which I have always loved, but admittedly knew less about than other classical music. I saw a video for Ave Verum Corpus and clicked it. A few moments into the video, it was clear this was not Mozart. But who? I read the description and learned that this was Ave Verum Corpus by Imant Raminsh. Who is Imant Raminsh? Before I tried to figure that out, I watched and listened to the video....an absolutely gorgeous, spellbinding work, performed by the University of Utah Singers. I literally sat there frozen by what I had experienced. So I listened to it again....and again....and again. Today, in 2017 as I write this, I still come back to this work frequently. The recording itself is very bright and clear. The performance is exceptional. The voices blend together so beautifully. The human voice is the finest instrument of all...and choral singing of this quality knows no equal.  Anyway, I read all I could about Imant Raminsh and became a big fan of his music. He is a composer, musician, teacher, and conductor from Canada. I decided to see if I could contact him and talk to him about his music. He was very gracious to me and agreed to answer my questions via email and let me share his answers it in this blog. 


TH  I first learned about you when I “stumbled” on a video of Ave Verum Corpus on YouTube…your Ave Verum Corpus…performed by the University of Utah Singers. I was absolutely blown away and transfixed by it. It remains one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard, which is why I have sought you out to talk to. I appreciate your willingness to answer my questions.

Where did your Ave Verum Corpus come from...meaning tell me about when it was composed, your inspiration for it etc….

IR  In 1972/73, I took a trip around the world that included trekking into Everest Base Camp and some small climbs in that area, exploring Sarawak (north Borneo) and crisscrossing Australia where I had lots of relatives. It was while I was in Adelaide staying with my aunt and uncle that the urge came upon me to write a short motet. In the botanical gardens that were close to where I was staying there was an immense Araucaria tree at the base of which I would often sit and contemplate. It was there that the Ave Verum Corpus came to be written in a couple of days. The choice of text was out of homage to Mozart and there are a couple of hidden references to Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus in mine.

TH  Where did you grow up?

IR  I was born in Latvia in 1943 but our family fled westward in July 1944 with the approach of Russian tanks, and we spent the end of the war years and the first post-war years as refugees and later, transit camps in Germany. We came to Canada in the Summer of 1948 and settled in northern Ontario where my father was employed as a forester and my mother supplemented the family income by teaching piano (she had finished a piano performance course at the Riga Conservatory before the war.) Later, I moved to Toronto to pursue violin studies at the Royal Conservatory while finishing high school.

TH   Did you hear classical music in your home during childhood?

IR  Yes, of course. All of my siblings (3 sisters one younger brother) took piano lessons. I also took  up violin. We did have a record player.

TH  Are there any composers who you would list as your primary influences or favorites?

 IR  Initially the Romantics, later the Classicists, and Baroque masters. Even later, some of the   Moderns such as Bartok and Kodaly and Poulenc. I hate to be more specific because I respond to 

 the works rather than the composers. I remember being completely stunned the first time I listened   all the way through Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

 TH  One of my standard questions for musicians and composers is: do you actually listen to much   music in your free time? I find that many say they don’t because they play music for a living and   therefore want to get away from it when they are not working, which I think is sad, What about you?

 IR Who has free time? Mostly I listen when I am driving but hardly ever at home. My composition takes place away from any instruments and my wife says you would never know there was a musician living here considering how quiet the house normally is.

TH   What instruments do you play?

 IR  My primary instrument has always been violin and I was for many years one of the principle violinists in the Okanagan Symphony (British Columbia), but I play viola as well and my piano skills are generally good enough for accompanying students.

TH  Where do you live?

 IR  My wife Becky and I and our golden retriever Jaspor live in Coldstream B.C. (adjacent to Vernon, B.C.) in the Okanagan Valley. The north Okanagan is a transition zone between the dry, arid bunchgrass-Sonoran desert to the south and the interior Montana Douglas Fir/hemlock/cedar rain forest to the north and east.

TH   I write a lot about classical music in our culture. I’m not sure about Canada, but here in the US, it has a very small audience. Are you optimistic about the future of classical music?

 IR Classical music requires time and effort to listen to-also an extended attention span and ability to focus. Audiences will always be smaller than for big pop events, but they will always be there.

TH  If you had to name your top 5 composers, who would they be?

 IR This list will always change from day to day, but J.S. Bach, will always be there.

 TH    This may seem like a stupid question, but as amazing as you are, why haven’t more people heard of you?....and I mean this in the nicest possible way because you are an amazing composer!!!

 IR  I don’t know why more people haven’t heard of me. Maybe it’s enough that you have. How many do I need?

 TH   Are you a baseball fan?

 IR  Not particularly. My sports are hiking, cross country skiing, canoeing, and such.

 TH   Do you like coffee?

 IR  Yes!!! Dark roast-maybe Sumatra-black if its good coffee-often with cream, but no fancy other flavors. Coffee is one of the food groups (also chocolate).

 TH Thank you so much for your time and help with this. If you are ever in the Kansas City area, please give me a call and we can meet for coffee.

Here is Ave Verun Corpus by Imant Raminsh, performed by the University of Utah Singers.