Schnittke - Variations on a Chord

[snowboarderxzxz]

Variations on a time signature

[2hyeok]

what is the key signature? i know it's c or a minor but the keys have to much accidentals

[Tamadrum1111]

@2hyeok The piece has no key, so it has no key signature. :)

[karenlee29]

Thank you. Always nice to see more Schnittke.

[lsbrother]

why bother with a time sig or even bars if you keep changing them?

[AkLvKk]

what's up with the ginormous time signature?

[AkLvKk]

next thing you know: variation on a note

[Haeronthegreat]

How do you achieve the notes written like harmonics?

[mickyj300x]

@Haeronthegreat You press the keys silently. They do this because if you play notes above it in it's overtone system it'll ring on.

@lovesGenet You can't teach someone how to love music. You can teach them how to appreciate it, but not how to really enjoy it. That's up to the listener. I could say that maybe more people would enjoy maths if it was taught to them, but they don't.

[lovesGenet]

maybe if art in general was part of secondary music curriculum more people would love this music. People get stuck with Hadyn&Mozartand Chopin & never move to HOW IT FEELS NOW . As a pianist I was stuck with Chopin for years because its great and difficult. GalinaU.Sofia Gubaid,Schnittke,Carter,Babbit­t,Copland have given me LIFE! Now if i can only get some compositional training. studying these scores esp.Beethoven quartets is a big help. There are second acts in American Life.

[Pageboy72]

I lol'd at the time signatures.

[deSadetheImpaler]

im a huge rockNroll fan and i just discovered this type of music about a week or so ago.i knew all the "famous" composers, Mozart, Bach, Chopin, etc but not until i heard Ornstein did i stop asking myself what they were missing.through Ornstein i eventually discovered Cowell and now im giving Schittke a listen.if i can get into scoring films, this type of music will definitely be my inspiration.on a side note, King Crimson created the most brilliant music imaginable

[capthook1]

I enjoyed this piece a lot and I am a fan of Schnittke. This is the first piano piece I have heard of his, I have a lot of chamber and vocal music of his. Great language and style.

[mynameisandycostello]

This piece is so delightfully cellular and anti climactic! Schnittke had cajones!

[paradiddleday]

@mynameisandycostello I didn't know he wrote for Zambo Cavero ("cajón"). That's really neat Peruvian percussion. Or did you mean "cojones"?

[mynameisandycostello]

@paradiddleday yeah, definitely meant balls. Sorry for the typo!

[owatson322utube]

Magnificent. This is a masterpiece by a disgracefully underrated genius.

[Medsas]

schnittke underrated? he's very famous...

[lewars1912]

Lovely melody. Great music for dancing to.

[KBMKBMKBMKBM]

I find the macarena is best suited for this piece hhahahah

[EMPERORMIKI]

Hum, the first part of this reminds me of Scriabin's 5th piano sonata.

[MusicaRicercata]

Wonderful work! I can't help but feel however that there are some portions in the work that bizarrely remind me of musings from Boulez's Douze Notations...

[Smaejdah]

Nice

but.. which chord is it?

[MusicaRicercata]

It is not a tonal chord, per se, but a chord that could be created by taking each note in the row in their proper octave and vertically rendering it.

[Smaejdah]

hmm ok, thanks :)

[zutflutefleur]

line the notes up vertically- they are restricted to a certain octave. A pretty big, bad-assed chord.

[shinobi1311991]

@Smaejdah

It's a 023 chord (in pitch class music)

The piece revolves around variations of an 023 chord (ex.: c-d-eflat, e-fsharp-g, whole step-half step) in different octaves, pitches and order.

But it seems that Schnittke is not following the format throughout the whole piece, I found some parts where he uses notes from other chords (pitch-class groups). But it is interesting. Berman is a great pianist. Although I don't really enjoy this kind of 20th century music...

[juanmaMCMLXXXII]

@Smaejdah I think that it`s a twelve note chord, it's like a dodecaphonic row, always using the same pitches (look at the notes in the score, you will notice what I'm saying). But the durations and the dynamics are employed freely. I hope that my explanation will be useful for you, my English is not very good...

[cwcaplinger]

I think it might be the Viennese tri-chord that appears at the lento section.

[juanmaMCMLXXXII]

@Smaejdah A twelve note chord, always the same pitches. You can find the chord in the first and second measures:

C1, G#1, A1, D2, B2, Db3, F3, Eb4, Bb4, E5, G5, F#6

[VicPetkov]

It's amazed! I'll play it on my next term!

[sparkyfry]

Thanks for the video! I'd love to see more Schnittke. I don't know if you ever put up sheet music to orchestral pieces, but the Concerto Grosso #1 would be cool.

[Hexameron]

I don't upload orchestral pieces (non-concerto) owing to the fact that a full orchestral score is difficult to view in the youtube video screen. I may, however, upload the Concerto for Piano and Strings and definitely the Concerto Grosso No. 6 some day.

[RaRaLandEQ]

@Hexameron If you do, oh please let it be Auerbach&Kremer. Ivashkin&Gridenko are both great artist, but in juxtaposing the pieces, Auerbach&Kremer both seem incendiary and Ivashkin&Gredenko sound tame in comparison (on concerto grosso 6 - then again, I am comparing the Ivashkin Cd to the Auerbach live video on youtube). Although I've yet to hear (if there is one) Victoria Postnikova play it;

The pianist to whom it was dedicated. (but you probably knew that)

[npelletier89]

lol :P

[scriabinwasmydad]

beautiful!!!