Adagietto | Franz Schubert - Impromptu D.935, Op. posth. 142 - No. 2 | Maria João Pires @Adagietto | Uploaded January 2013 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Franz Schubert - Impromptu for piano in B flat major, D. 935/2 (Op. posth. 142/2) | Maria João Pires
Recording: Haarlem, Concertgebouw, Lisbon, Palácio de Queluz, 1996

4 Impromptus D.935, Op. posth. 142:
Impromptu D.935, Nº 1 youtu.be/44OtKHKwQw8
Impromptu D.935, Nº 2 youtu.be/WQ0A3DG09eA
Impromptu D.935, Nº 3 youtu.be/ecYEOth-Oyw
Impromptu D.935, Nº 4 youtu.be/WL7uGd4k66M

4 Impromptus D.899, Opus 90:
Impromptu D.899, Nº 1 youtu.be/A2EyHtQ8J-g
Impromptu D.899, Nº 2 youtu.be/GQOQ57G9mf0
Impromptu D.899, Nº 3 youtu.be/DxRrMLnJq2M
Impromptu D.899, Nº 4 youtu.be/sIn6hM7t0Vw

Complete Impromptus: youtu.be/5yVZu05WZ9o

Complete Playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=5yVZu05WZ9o&index=9&list=PLF2ayhcb2yRWwjYotdsUNDiWyZbP79ZdA

"The Universal power of the greatest music - and some of the greatest music is Schubert's - comes from a prodigius coincidence: such music fits like a glove into the secret codes with which the body transmits its signals to the brain, and because body codes and music codes are the same, the brain treats the messages of such music as if they were coming from the heart, not the ear. Great music appropriates the transmission and enters the brain as both sound and pure feeling. And what is pure feeling? It is the reading of the very states of a living organism with which nature can compose any and all emotions, from the longing for the unattainable or the anguish of departure, to the resignation of the winter journey, the excitement that precedes adventure, the everpostponed visit to an otherwordly place. When the appropriation happens, the mind of the fortunate listener believes it is eavesdropping on the inner life of its being, connected to the source of existence and far, very far, from the mundane origin of the experience."
António R. Damásio, Neurocientist

Schubert must have loved the melody of the entr'acte from his incidental music to Rosamunde: he used it not only there but also as the slow movement of his A minor String Quartet and as the basis for this set of variations from his second set of Impromptus, Op. 142 (D. 899). As the third piece of the four impromptus, we hear a simple but heartfelt ternary melody in B flat major that moves through five variations. The first places the melody in the fourth and fifth fingers of the right hand above a rippling accompaniment in the other fingers and a gently syncopated left hand. The second variation embellishes the melody with playful twists and turns in the right hand. The third variation turns to the tonic minor, revealing tragic implications in the melody over an involved left-hand accompaniment. The fourth variation retains the key signature of the tonic minor but modulates to its relative major of G flat. The final variation returns the music to B flat major and embeds the melody in sweeping embellishments in the right hand that switch to the left hand halfway through. The piece closes with a ravishing coda marked più lento pianissimo, a simple choral setting of the melody.