Rondo Espressivo

The Anacrouse collection offers pianists, beginners and advanced alike, a wide choice of classical works from the Renaissance to the present day. It brings together major works of the repertoire as well as rarer pieces, and also offers transcriptions for piano solo or four hands, selected for their musical and educational interest. Each score, available individually, benefits from careful editorial work: a rigorously established musical text, clear and legible engraving, accompanied by a short biography of the composer and a note on the work.

The “Rondo Espressivo” (in B minor) is a demanding work that rests on subtlety of touch. For the pianist, the technical work focuses on the ornamentation — extremely precise and abundant — which must never weigh down the melodic line but on the contrary make it more vibrant. The handling of silences and dynamic contrasts is essential to convey the “speaking” character of this piece. It is a high-precision exercise for developing sensitivity at the fingertips and mastery of the so-called “sensitive” (empfindsam) phrasing.

Taken from the third collection of Sonatas, Rondos and Fantasias for Connoisseurs and Amateurs (1781), this Rondo is a manifesto of the style of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788). Unlike the rigour of his father Johann Sebastian, C.P.E. Bach here seeks to move through sudden breaks, bold modulations and a deep melancholy, typical of the Sturm und Drang movement. The choice of B minor, a dark, introspective key, reinforces this quest for pure expression that already heralds the great pages of Beethoven’s maturity.