Word: cadenza
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Andante Con Moto" (1992) began the evening. It is a series of 14 variations on the slow movement of Beethoven's "Appassionata" sonata, with an optional opportunity for an improvised cadenza before the final variation. The theme itself is not stated anywhere in the piece, and one catches only a few glimpses of it throughout--an occasional dominant seventh chord, or the five-note descending scale that concludes each half of the Beethoven movement. Rather than indulging in much direct quotation, Rzewski's variations preserve certain abstract qualities of the original. Beethoven's registral disjuncture, for example, is taken...
After 13 variations evoking in turn Bach, George Winston and Liszt, Rzewski plunged from a protracted Beethovenian trill into a truly staggering display of improvised fire-works for his cadenza. In a few minutes Rzewski demonstrated his command of Harlem stride bass, cartoonish sound effects, and Chopinesque fabric melody, while referring back to Beethoven just often enough to excuse his departures. The conclusion was a gradual rise from the lowest D-flat (tonic for the Beethoven) to the highest note on the keyboard, which was repeated more and more softly and less and less frequently until after a long rest...