{"id":67,"date":"2016-08-28T12:22:10","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T10:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicallradio.com\/articles\/?p=67"},"modified":"2019-11-08T18:55:06","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T17:55:06","slug":"the-three-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicallradio.com\/articles\/en_US\/2016\/08\/28\/the-three-b\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three B"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pogorelich Pogorelich If you were to ask someone which artists (actors, musicians, celebrities) they consider the icons of the 20th<\/sup> Century, you would probably get the most varied answers \u2013 The Beatles, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Brigitte Bardot, B. B. King, Bob Dilan\u2026 The list would go on forever, even if we only stuck with the ones starting with B! It is not by accident – if we go back to the past and look exclusively at the musical scene, it is pretty clear which of the three great B\u2019s changed history: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.<\/p>\n

The Teutons of serious music wrote grand pieces, which will adorn the programs of concert halls around the world for centuries to come: symphonies, masses, passions, choirs, orchestras, chamber ensembles\u2026and \u2013 piano pieces. To what degree did the piano sound change as time went by? Besides the familiar fact that contemporary piano doesn\u2019t sound like it used to in 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> century, there is also a difference in the manner in which it is played, or to simply put it \u2013 in the playing style. Baroque music is very precise rhythmically and dynamically (f-p<\/em>), so you could easily picture it as black and white, just as the piano keys. If we could name one epoch that depicts luminosity and \u2018clear skies\u2019 then it would definitely be classicism. Indeed, it is like Haydn and Mozart are pouring the sun on the keyboard (even when the sun rays are sheltered by cloudy chords). The same cannot be said for Beethoven who will part from classicism and announce romanticism. The sonata Les Adieux<\/em> is not only saying \u2018farewell\u2019 with its title, but also with the colors of music \u2013 the sun sets while the rays are melting on the flaming sky, leaving it with mixed emotions, which really is the dominant feeling when parting ways. At the end of the day, when a calm night is at our doorstep, Brahms is waiting with his Intermezzo \u2013 <\/em>a blue lullaby as a prelude for a dream. Listen to the three nuances of the black and white piano readings with artists that are considered outstanding interpreters of our three Bs \u2013 Gould, Barenboim, and Pogorelich.<\/p>\n