Adagietto | Franz Schubert - Impromptu D.935, Op. posth. 142 - No. 4 | 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. 142/4) | 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


Many writers have heard Hungarian influences in the first and the last impromptus in the second set of Schubert's impromptus. Although the Hungarian influences on the first are debatable, the fourth Impromptu does sing in a Hungarian accent. Although both movements are in F minor, the Allegro scherzando Op. 142, No. 4 (D. 935/4), has a melody whose accented grace-note embellishments and harmonic motions certainly echo the minatory music of Hungary, and the rushing passages growing out of trills for the right hand at the end of the opening sections threaten to unseat the music. While both trios begin much more peacefully, the first's A flat major often turns to darker minor keys with more fiery embellishments, and the second's tonic minor seems to exist only to build to the blazing return of the opening melody in F minor.