Pianophilia

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iano wrote:Bach WTC II Preludium I, penultimate bar, last quaver/eighth...Beethoven op.26, first movement bar 26, second beat...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect what you are looking at here is a constant pedal point (although in the op26 case not in the bass so much) against a moving counterpoint which then resolve into the one voice.

My own favourite here, and one which on the Stuart I play with the damper pedal down throughout, is the first bar of the Adagio movement of the Beethoven op110, where the bass Bb underpins five changes of harmony from the initial Bb minor.

Also try the last four bars of DriftLight, from Pictures of Light by William Baines. Utterly magical...

Regards
Fred

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Interesting that both the Bach and Beethoven examples involve a chromatic descent in an inner voice.
IMHO, the exquisite Beethoven passage is most definitely the result of passing motion within the dominant chord (ascending diatonic motion in tenths and, simultaneously, descending chromatic motion Eb-D-Db). The Bach passage is an interesting final cadence; ii - vii dim 6/5 - I, over a tonic pedal. I bet you didn't hear that everyday back then.
One of my favorite harmonic passages is the opening of Liszt's Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este II: Thrénodie. Surely decades ahead of it's time.

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iano wrote:Sometimes I miss the old pianophilia.

Why so, if I may ask?

Regards
Fred

iano wrote:It's a more mysterious process than theory routinely allows

Of course! Theory is merely descriptive, not explainitory. Still, I find theory a fascinating topic and I always leap at the chance to do a bit of analysis. That's why wrote that stuff.

Perhaps not so interesting to seasoned musicians, but one of the most wondrous and accessible teaching pieces is Mozart's Gigue KV 574. It distills so much for intermediate students - and I have never failed to gain smiles when explaining the Neapolitan chords, the hemiolas, the pedal points, fugato style, the improvisation after Handel etc., - it's as if all that paper harmony work that kids dutifully and drolly do through exam systems suddenly awakens. I like to teach it simultaneously with Shchedrin's loopy but lovely Let's Play an Opera by Rossini and Frank Bridge's Rosemary for luscious but simple contrast. There's a lot to be learnt in how to awaken harmonic function and understanding in the teaching process.
dm

Just a thought, and correct me if I'm wrong, but no isolated chord is intrinsically "interesting" right? I mean, aren't chords kind of meaningless out of context?

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