Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Gone Chopin


Chopin and George Sand.

Sand is what I do. I sanded this pearwood bowl today:


My father used to play Chopin and Liszt. I use a Liszt when I go Chopin. 

15 comments:

ndspinelli said...

When our granddaughter is constipated, a pear is her laxative.

ricpic said...

The Chopin waltz video has the following comment, "This is impossibly beautiful." And it is.

Dead at 39. We're all so incredibly lucky, those of us who get in our three score and ten plus whatever.

deborah said...

So lovely. What are the dimensions?

The Dude said...

The Waltz in C♯ minor is the second work of Chopin's opus 64 and the companion to the Minute Waltz (Op. 64, No. 1). It was composed in 1847. Chopin dedicated this Waltz to Madame Nathaniel de Rothschild.

It consists of three main themes:

Theme A tempo giusto chordal with a walking pace feel;
Theme B più mosso (faster) — theme stated in running eighth notes, with all harmony in the left hand.

Theme C più lento (slower) — a sostenuto in the parallel key of C♯ minor (D♭ major, enharmonic equivalent to C♯ major). Besides the slower general pace, the melody is in quarter notes except for a few flourishes in eighth notes, giving this section the quality of an interlude before the dramatic restatement of Theme B.
The overall layout of the piece is A B C B A B. In an orchestrated version, it forms part of the ballet Les Sylphides.

Oh, you mean the pearwood bowl - it is 10" in diameter and 3-1/2" tall.

deborah said...

Show-off :)

The Dude said...

Yep, showin' off my mad copy and paste from Wikipedia skilz - you know I got 'em.

edutcher said...

Hope the Lord High Executioner doesn't have you on his little Liszt or you might end up on the Chopin block.

deborah said...

Don't play dumb with me, Sixty, you've already outed yourself as one of them ejimikated city slickers.

@ Ed: Zing!

Dad Bones said...

Swing that ax, cat!

The Dude said...

Them there is fightin' words, deborah. I done been to the city in both 2000 and 2010, an' I ain't goin' back.

deborah said...

Nice, DB, very nice.

All right, Jed, my mistake :)

The Dude said...

Woody Herman, son of Otto and Myrtle (Bartoszewicz) Herman. Weren't we just carryin' on about Poles and what they have accomplished?

The Dude said...

Holy carp - I just listened to Caldonia by Woody Herman and his Thundering Herd - damn, Sam, they played the hell out of that tune! Sheeit - Woody was quite the showman, that's for sure.

Caldonia!

Dad Bones said...

Hadn't listened to Woody in years but Gone Chopin made me think of The Woodchopper's Ball. Caldonia is a wild ride. Those trombonists pulled off some of the fanciest triple tonguing I've ever heard.

The Dude said...

You are correct - that solo was so good that Woody himself walked over and shook his hand. Unbelievable playing right there.