Just today I got the chance to see the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter play the three Brahms violin sonatas. Her playing (as well as her accompanist Lamber Orkis') was impeccable, although I found only the third sonata to be really interesting. She also came out to play four (!) encore pieces, also by Brahms. After dazzling performances of three of the Hungarian Dances (the first two were Nos. 7 and 1 but I did not catch the third one) she played the Weigenlied before bidding good night.
Also this past weekend I and a group of fellow pianists played at a party hosted by their former piano teacher. I had the rare chance to hear the formidable solo version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue performed (first part here and second part here) as well as one of Ginastera's more accessible works, the second of the Tres Danzas Argentinas (1:40 in this clip). I with my duet partner played the Waltz and Romance from Rachmaninoff's second two-piano suite and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, arranged by Rachmaninoff himself for two pianos (first part here, second part here, and third part here, with the famous 18th variation being 5:24 in the second part).
I also finally started looking at new pieces again. I ordered some of Fazil Say's published sheet music (these pieces, among others) and I am also looking at Scriabin's third sonata (first movement here, second movement here, third movement here, and fourth movement here) which has always been a favorite of mine. It is shaping up to be a fine challenge; one particularly obnoxious section has an ossia (a simplified version of a passage) with the footnote:
This passage, difficult to perform at a rapid tempo, was played differently by Scriabin himself[.]
Hopefully this marks an end to the musical slump I've been in; it's been too long since I've prepared new pieces.
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