The popular name 'Moonlight Sonata' for Beethoven's Sonata in C-sharp minor originated from a Berlin music journalist, Ludwig Rellstab, who associated the first movement with a nocturnal boat ride on Lake Lucerne.
Performer Biography
Sachiko Furuhata-Kersting, the pianist on this album, began piano lessons at the age of three and has performed internationally, including a debut recital at Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven titled both his Sonata in C-sharp minor and Sonata in E-flat major 'Sonata quasi una fantasia' to indicate his deviation from the customary sonata form.
Composition History
Schumann's Symphonic Etudes are based on a theme composed by Ignaz Ferdinand Freiherr von Fricken, the father of Schumann's then-fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken.
Composition History
Beethoven dedicated his Sonata in C-sharp minor, known as the Moonlight Sonata, to his 16-year-old aristocratic piano pupil, Giulietta Guicciardi.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Robert Schumann, a composer and co-founder of the 'Neue Zeitschrift für Musik', believed that 'in the broadest sense, each piece of music is an etude'.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven's 32 Variations on an Original Theme, WoO 80, were inspired by the great variation cycles of Johann Sebastian Bach and feature a continuous flow of imaginative and expressive ideas.
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