Impromptus (Schubert)
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Eight piano compositions composed in 1827 by Franz Schubert were published during the composer's lifetime (or shortly thereafter) under the name Impromptu.
Three other unnamed piano compositions composed in May 1828, a few months before the composer's death, are alternatively indicated as impromptus or Klavierstücke ("piano pieces").
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[edit] Four impromptus Op. 90 - D. 899
Op. 90, No. 3 was featured in the film Gattaca -- with sligh modifications.
[edit] Four impromptus Op. post. 142 - D. 935
[edit] Three Klavierstücke - D. 946
The three Klavierstücke D. 946 are three solo piano pieces by the Austrian composer Franz Schubert, composed in May 1828, just six months before his early death. They are largely neglected pieces, rarely heard in the concert hall or on disc. Pianists who have recorded the pieces include Alfred Brendel on Phillips and Maria Joao Pires on Deutsche Gramophone.
The first of the set in E-flat minor, begins with unresolved agitation, before a more measured middle-section attempts to find resolution which it is unsuccessful in achieving and the original allegro is repeated, in quick 2/4 time, leaving the piece as it started: restless and full of unresolved inner conflicts.
Perhaps the finest of the set is the second of the trio in E-flat major, which starts off as a gentle landler, but is transformed into a piece of great poignancy, encompassing Schubert's brilliance for music of great personal anguish and sorrow, with a beautiful hym-like melody in the middle section perfectly capturing his feelings of fear, anger and uncertainty and making use of his favourite minor-major contrasts when it is repeated in an attempt to resolve the conflict. The piece ends with the same lilting landler as it begun with, leaving the journey's end ultimately unresolved.
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[edit] Op. 142 No. 2, in Ab major
Impromptu Op. posth. 142 (D. 935) No. 2.
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[edit] Op. 142 No. 3, in B flat major
Impromptu Op. posth. 142 (D. 935) No. 3 played by Randolph Hokanson.
This is the "Rosamunde" impromptu, while the theme derives from the incidental music Schubert composed for the play with the same name. Schubert had already re-used this theme in the string quartet in A minor D. 804, equally nicknamed "Rosamunde". This impromptu is a theme with variations.
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