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The key signatures of music are kind of like the signs of the zodiac. If you take all the music in a given key, you’ll discover certain characteristics —﻿ characteristics that can define your personality.

Visit CBC Music to learn more about the characteristics of all the key signatures covered so far. Which key are you? www.cbcmusic.ca/signatureseries

The Signature Series is produced in Vancouver, Canada for CBC Radio 2's In Concert by @paolopp with Denise Ball.

C-sharp minor: Woman of Mystery

This étude was written in 1887, when Scriabin was just 15 years old. It was the first of the Three Pieces, Op. 2, and was one of Scriabin's earliest successes.  The melody is poignant and heartfelt, showing many characteristics of Russian gypsy music.  The key of this etude is C-sharp minor, according to Christian Schubart the key reflecting lamentation, unmet friendship and love.
Horowitz played this piece many times as encore.  Moreover, he also played it as a very young pianist for the composer, who gave at the occasion some friendly advice to Horowitz’s parents: ‘to make a really great pianist out of him, you should give him a comprehensive cultural education’.

Alexander Scriabin - Etude Op. 2 No. 1 "Horowitz" (20130529)

Moonlight Sonata - 1st Movement

First published 26 years after the composer's death, the piece is sometimes also called "Reminiscence". It was famously played by Holocaust survivor Natalia Karp for the Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth, with Goeth being so impressed with the rendition, that he spared Karp's life...

In popular culture:

- The Nocturne is featured in the Roman Polanski film The Pianist. 
- It is also featured in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, in episode 7 of Season 1. 
- Classically trained R&B/Soul singer Alicia Keys samples the piece in "As I Am (Intro)" from her 2007 album "As I Am".
- A version played by violin is featured in the 2010 film The Karate Kid starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.
- It is also featured in the 1997 action thriller The Peacemaker (with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman).
- Nneka Lucia Egbuna, a Nigerian-German hip hop/soul singer, also uses a sample from this piece of work in her song "My Home".
- It is also featured in The Killing at the beginning of episode 4 of Season 4.
- It was also featured in the horror movie the innkeepers, played by a ghost in one of the movies dramatic scenes.

(from Wikipedia)

Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor, Op. Posth.

This étude was written in 1887, when Scriabin was just 15 years old. It was the first of the Three Pieces, Op. 2, and was one of Scriabin's earliest successes. The melody is poignant and heartfelt, showing many characteristics of Russian Gypsy music. It is accompanied by repeated chords in both hands, featuring rich harmonies, inner voices, and large spreads in the left hand. The dynamics of the piece are varied constantly to display emotion and passion and to add interest. The piece features many key changes but finally concludes in the original key. Although it is a slow and somber piece, like many other études, it is considerably difficult to perfect.

Rarities and Masterpieces

Alexander Scriabin: Étude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (Live)

  Demo songs regorded by me from internal memory of my Yamaha Arius YDP-S31 digital piano. Plus "Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Movement" hand played MIDI (from opensource), uploaded to the piano.
   "YAMAHA" and "Arius" are registered trademarks of Yamaha Corporation.

7 - Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia", Op. 27, No. 2, Movement 3

One of my favourite Chopin's Masterpiece.

Fryderyk Chopin - Nocturne No. 20 in C# Minor Op. Posthume

Waltzes, Op. 64: No. 2 in C-Sharp Minor, Tempo giusto

Frederic Chopin: Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2

SHOGUN SONATA

SHOGUN SONATA (PROD. BEETHOVEN)

https://www.aleksandramikulska.com​

https://bio.to/aleksandra​

Chopin: Balladen

Fantaisie-Impromtu in C Sharp Minor, Op. 66

Chopin - Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor op. 66

Newspaper critics are unanimous in their praise of Vadim's interpretations deeming them as «sensitive and expressive», «intelligent and powerful». With record-breaking 235 million views, his interpretation of the «Nocturne in E-flat Major» by Frederic Chopin is among the most popular classical music recordings on YouTube.

Welcome to the Signature Series.

The key signatures of music are kind of like the signs of the zodiac.

If you take all the music in a given key, you’ll discover certain characteristics —﻿ characteristics that can define your personality.

Which key are you? http://bit.ly/whichkeyareyou

The Signature Series was originally produced for CBC Radio 2's In Concert by http://www.soundcloud.com/paolopp with Denise Ball.

While all these statements describe Aleksandra Mikulska’s playing, her art is perhaps best encapsulated by the phrase: sincerity and intimacy. In her concerts, the charismatic pianist lifts the curtain on new and unfamiliar worlds and aims to move her listeners – whether with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Franz Liszt or her compatriot Frédéric Chopin, with whom she feels a particularly strong connection – through her utter absorption in the music.

Growing up in Warsaw, Chopin’s home city, Aleksandra Mikulska developed an intense love of the composer’s piano music while still a child. Having, in her early years, followed the International Chopin Piano Competition on television, with scarcely room for a piano in the family’s tenth-floor apartment in a prefabricated block, she went on to win the “Best Polish Pianist” prize in the 2005 contest. 

Seeking freedom and new interpretative stimuli, Aleksandra Mikulska was drawn for her musical training initially to Mannheim and from there to Karlsruhe (where she studied for her degree under Peter Eicher), Imola in Italy (Lazar Berman, Michel Dalberto) and back to Hanover in Germany (Arie Vardi). She also drew significant inspiration from masterclasses with Diane Andersen, Kevin Kenner, Andrzej Jasinski and Lev Natochenny. Aleksandra Mikulska describes giving concerts as her passion. She has appeared with renowned orchestras under the batons of Michael Sanderling, Pawel Przytocki, Kaspar Zehnder, Johannes Schlaefli, Stefan Fraas, Philippe Bach and other well-known conductors – notably at the Musikverein in Vienna, the Brucknerhaus in Linz and the Tonhalle in Zurich. She is also a regular guest at international festivals such as the MDR Musiksommer, the Liszt Festival Raiding, the Bodenseefestival, the Usedom Music Festival and the Styriarte.

An issue particularly close to Aleksandra Mikulska’s heart is German-Polish cooperation. As President of the Chopin Society in Darmstadt, she is committed to fostering the up-and-coming generation of musicians and to promoting the rediscovery of less-well-known composers from her home country. She also brings her polish roots to bear by performing the music of composers such as Julian Fontana, Miłosz Magin, Artur Malawski and Karol Szymanowski, which is rarely played in Germany.

In addition to the solo repertoire to which she is first and foremost devoted, Aleksandra Mikulska also, at a young age, discovered an interest in chamber music – including Johannes Brahms’s violin and cellos sonatas and the piano concertos of Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, which she enjoys approaching in experimental arrangements for smaller ensembles. She also has a strong interest in Polish and German Romantic lieder. 

On her latest album, Reflections, released by GENUIN classics, Aleksandra Mikulska brings together two key works of the Romantic repertoire for piano: the B minor sonatas of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. During the 2020/21 season, she will be giving a wide range of concerts with personally presented programmes featuring works by Scarlatti, Haydn, Schumann, Beethoven, Fontana and Szymanowski.

Music and playing it enable me to connect to parts new and deeper in myself.  It can be pure magic.  It is breathing in a whole different way.  In all these ways it catalyzes daily personal and professional renewal.  It enriches the father and grows the son.


Erlköning:

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

"Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?" –
"Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?" –
"Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif."

"Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel' ich mit dir;
Manch' bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand." –

"Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?" –
"Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind;
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind." –

"Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn,
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein." –

"Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?" –
"Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. –"

"Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt." –
"Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!" –

Dem Vater grauset's, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Müh' und Not;
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

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