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…2 min read·Jan 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…2 min read·Jan 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…1 min read·Jan 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…2 min read·Nov 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…2 min read·Nov 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…2 min read·Nov 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…2 min read·Nov 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…2 min read·Nov 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…2 min read·Oct 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…1 min read·Oct 18, 2020----