Ariel LanyiThe Albéniz-Debussy connectionAlbéniz and Debussy were exact contemporaries, and they intensely influenced each other. Debussy, who had few good things to say about…Jan 30, 2021Jan 30, 2021
Ariel LanyiDiabelli according to SchubertWhen one mentions the “Diabelli Variations,” the first thing that comes to mind is Beethoven’s set of 33 variations on Diabelli’s simple…Jan 30, 2021Jan 30, 2021
Ariel LanyiThe ornamental ambiguity of the chromatic scaleThe chromatic scale, one of the most prevalent and recognizable figures in all of music, from the Baroque era to the present day, has many…Jan 10, 2021Jan 10, 2021
Ariel LanyiThe gloomy undercurrents of Schubert’s Moments MusicauxThe last three pieces of Schubert’s Moments Musicaux are fraught with gloom, pessimism, and ambiguity. The brief moments of respite are…Nov 30, 2020Nov 30, 2020
Ariel LanyiSchubert’s Moments Musicaux and the natural creation of a genreSchubert seems to have invented a new genre with the Moments Musicaux cycle of seemingly unconnected pieces. Its closest relative may be…Nov 22, 2020Nov 22, 2020
Ariel LanyiHow do we play early music on a late piano?My first experience playing the music of CPE Bach was not as a pianist but as a violinist, leading a high school orchestra in the…Nov 22, 2020Nov 22, 2020
Ariel LanyiAre coincidences from providence?It is no surprise to find traces of Chopin in Scriabin, who greatly admired the Polish composer. But can there be influences of Schubert…Nov 8, 2020Nov 8, 2020
Ariel LanyiBeethoven’s “Tarnhelm” variationThis is Wagner’s magic helmet (Tarnhelm). Put it on, and there’s no telling what you’ll be transformed into. Maybe a toad… Fittingly, its…Nov 1, 2020Nov 1, 2020
Ariel LanyiThe curious tintinnabulations of Grieg’s KlokkeklangBells… What can be more straightforward in music than representing bells? If music can represent anything, it is bells. So what makes…Oct 25, 2020Oct 25, 2020
Ariel LanyiThe Adagio in B minor: A different sort of MozartOf the many hundreds of adagios that Mozart wrote, K. 540, is the only complete one in B minor (other than the second movement of the D…Oct 18, 2020Oct 18, 2020
