Recommended Past Performed Classical Music Exam Pieces

What kind of music do you usually listen to?
I am sure that most of you listen to pop music, but there is a lot of "classical" music that can purify your heart.
As a music high school and college graduate, classical music has always been a part of my life. In my biannual performance examinations, I played pieces by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, and others, all of whom are well-known to everyone. Even though they are well-known in the music world, I am sure there are many pieces that you have never heard of!

I have previously recommended Chopin's music, and now I would like to recommend some of the classical pieces I have played in past performance exams for those of you who don't know them... ♪

Beethoven / Piano Sonata No.31, Op.110

Beethoven's piano sonata, "Piano Sonata No. 14, Moonlight" is probably the most famous piano sonata, as seen in the TV drama series "Nodame Cantabile. For the last graduation exam in my life, I decided to play the piece I wanted to play, and this is one of the memorable pieces I selected.

Beethoven composed 32 piano sonatas in total, and unlike Mozart and Haydn, who lived in the same period, his style is characterized by a weighty feeling of anguish caused by the disease of deafness.
However, in "Beethoven/Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110," we can feel Beethoven's calm emotions throughout the piece, as if he were enveloped in elation and overflowing lyricism rather than anguish.
First, listen to "Beethoven/Piano Sonata No. 14 Moonlight, 3rd Movement.

■ Beethoven / Piano Sonata No.14 Moonlight, 3rd movt.

The atmosphere is filled with indescribable sadness and suffering.

■ Beethoven / Piano Sonata No.31, Op.110

What do you think? It has a completely different atmosphere from Moonlight, doesn't it?
It is a huge work in three movements, lasting a whopping 18 minutes. Just by listening to the first phrase of the first movement, you will be drawn into the world of this piece. And as the song comes to an end, you can feel Beethoven's feelings growing and overflowing with joy.
Just listening to this wonderful piece, you will feel a sense of peace and tranquility, as if you are immersed in another world, forgetting the reality of the world. Please take this opportunity to listen to it♪

Schumann/Abegg Variations

The name of this piece is very strange, but first, let me explain briefly about the name of this piece.★
Everyone knows "Do Re Mi Fa So La Si Do" is the musical scale in Italian, but if you sing this scale in German, you will find it’s:

C, D, E, F, G, A, H, C.

Look at the beginning of the song.
There’s some writing on it because it’s my sheet music.

The right hand of the opening section begins with "la-si♭-mi-so-so".
If we convert this to German, it becomes…

“A-B-E-G-G" *Si♭ is B in German.

If you read it as it is, it becomes "Abegg". ★
Let's listen to it right away!

Dedicated to the fictional Countess Pauline von Abegg, this piece was composed when Schumann was 20 years old. It has a bright and honest feeling with a somewhat youthful air, but how do you feel about it?

The piece begins with the main theme and develops into the first variation.
In fact, this "A-B-E-G-G" also appears in the tenor part of the second variation.

It’s a relatively simple piece, but when I played it, I found it very difficult to play with expression because of its simplicity (^_^;).
The piece is light and joyful, and first-time listeners will wonder what the next variation will be.

Debussy: Feux d’artifice (Fireworks) from “Preludes, Book 2”

Debussy is one of the leading composers of the modern era. Unlike the Romantic period, which was characterized by subjective expression of emotions as they were, this was a time when music was linked to art and literature, and objective expression was often influenced by paintings in his compositions. It is often referred to as Impressionism!

This piece depicts Bastille Day on July 14, and as you can immediately tell when you listen to this type of piece, it is called Impressionism, and the very fireworks dancing in the sky are expressed using a variety of techniques.
Please listen to it once.

The passage is so detailed that it makes me dizzy even when I play it myself, but this passage reminds me of the clear night sky, and the occasional uncoordinated harmony expresses the colors of the fireworks and the moment when they are in full bloom. At the end of the piece, a phrase taken from the French national anthem "La Marseillaise" is used!

I have introduced three classical pieces. Have you heard of any of them before? If you are studying music professionally, you must know them, but even if you are not familiar with them and have little interest in them, I would be so happy if you could feel the splendor and discover some interest in classical music through this blog!