The Rational Argumentator

A Journal for Western Man

A Review of Christopher Schlegel's 

Piano Concertos 1 & 2

In his two piano concertos, Objectivist composer Christopher Aaron Schlegel provides a panorama of music of truly high culture, in its past, present, and future. The first concerto, in its succession of Classical, Romantic, and Modern movements, presents the best elements of time periods ranging from the era of Beethoven to that potential musical Renaissance that could be achieved through a rational (as opposed to dissonant and chaotic) use of the rhythmic and harmonic innovations discovered in the twentieth century. The second concerto takes the listener into absolutely new territory; it is a welcoming, benevolent exposition of Mr. Schlegel’s unique compositional style of Futuristic Romanticism. These piano concertos, by virtue of the instrument types used, are able to integrate Mr. Schlegel’s skills in symfonic creation with his ability to extract the maximum possible variety, expression, and grandeur from the piano.

Piano Concerto 1: Movement 1 

This movement is composed in the Late Classical style, and exhibits a melody that, written in a minor key, is remarkably dynamic. In a whirlwind of an introduction, Mr. Schlegel introduces the piano, string, percussion, and wind instruments that will interact with each other throughout the piece. This introduction features a consistent rise in volume and complexity of melody, yet, after its end, a slower, more introspective theme for the piano follows. As this section progresses, string and wind voices are added to it, and the parts for these instruments continuously become swifter and more ornate, until, at one minute, twenty seconds, the melody transitions into a segment where the piano is played at a rapid fire pace, and the presence of percussion in the background serves to magnify the effect of this tempo as well. The listener is urged onward, to follow the melody with his entire faculties, and can anticipate the acceleration that frequently occurs in this section. The melody has a Tchaikovskian flavor, and also features rapid piano movements up and down scales near transitions, a technique which has precedent in the works of Beethoven and Chopin. During the middle of the fourth minute, the pace is reduced once more, and the wind instruments are given greatest prominence, with their melody subsequently echoed by the piano. Afterward, string and percussion parts are added and gradually developed once more until the middle of the sixth minute, when this buildup culminates in a second rapid segment, in which string and piano passages constantly alternate and echo each other. The background piano chords in this part change rapidly, and rise in each measure; this bestows upon the melody a fundamental framework that seems to necessitate its overall ascension until its last moments, when a brief but conclusive descent signifies the end of the movement.

Like certain of Mr. Schlegel’s symfonic compositions, this movement features extensive contrasts in tempo, mood, and instrumental interactions. Its escalations and sense of purpose will appeal to those listeners who enjoy dynamism, pattern, and progress in their lives and art tastes.

Piano Concerto 1: Movement 2

This is a movement of the Romantic style, and is generally paced substantially slower than its predecessor. Its introduction is a melody for the winds that is subsequently developed by the strings, and, after a further elaboration, echoed by the piano. Then, the piano and string parts begin to be employed in unison, followed by another string passage and a melody for piano and winds. Finally, in the fourth minute, after all combinations of one or two types of instruments have been explored, all three are integrated together, with occasional bursts of percussion as well. The entire movement is a development of the introductory theme through a variety of arrangements and ornamentation, with accompaniment and note length being used in a diversity of ways as well. It is quite a fitting composition for the listener to sit back and ponder; the up-and-down movements of the piano parts especially may create the impression of knowledge and truth unfolding themselves before him.

Piano Concerto 1: Movement 3

Mr. Schlegel describes this movement as “modern,” with the caveat that “it is not ‘modern’ in the sense of what most modern classical music sounds like.  It is more on the lines of, ‘This is how modern classical music should be as opposed to the way most of it is’.” Indeed, this movement has none of the overwhelming sense of chaos and dissonance found in the music of Stravinsky and Schoenberg. It is an intense movement, and features, in places, sudden melodic bursts immediately after a pause or a passage in a somewhat different tempo. Yet even these cannot be conceived of as discordant with the melody, since they do not interrupt any development, but rather logically connect various passages in this work. The “modernism” of this movement can best be likened to the more rational works of Prokofiev or Khachaturian, where certain modern innovations in harmony and rhythmic structure are used, not to erase, demolish, or deconstruct structure, but to establish new varieties thereof. Interesting devices of this sort include extremely wide leaps between notes on the piano, as well as the left-hand part for the piano occasionally keeping just slightly behind the melody in the right hand, so that a high note of the melody is immediately after reverberated by an analogous low note. There is also at times established a one-to-one correspondence between the notes in the string voices and in the piano voice, in the midst of which there come about measures where the piano part departs from this correspondence and enters a brief, rapid passage, only to return again to the correspondence several measures later.

Piano Concerto 2: Movement 1: “Birth”

This movement’s title could refer to the birth of a new musical form through Mr. Schlegel’s experimentation, namely, Futuristic Romanticism, which employs the full use of his extensive and complex harmonic innovations. It incorporates into itself sweeping, wavelike passages for the piano as well as original chords which are constructed by use of the overtone series of the fundamental notes in that chord (the overtone series includes notes, called harmonics, which are present in a given pitch in addition to the fundamental note, which is the note on which the given chord, and the overtone series, are based). Sometimes the overtones are so substantially higher than the fundamental notes, that the melody presents the impression of reaching upward, into new territory, in an attempt to discover and establish a new system of composition. The ambitious piano passages are occasionally preceded by those for the winds, which, in their nimble lightness, herald the birth that this movement describes, and proclaim to the listener its joy, purity, and potential for development. Moreover, in this movement, Mr. Schlegel employs the full possibilities available on the piano as an instrument; expositions of his original “tall chords” are followed by rapid flows of individual notes, and, sometimes, the two types of devices occur simultaneously or in rapid alternation.

Piano Concerto 2: Movement 2: “Ascension”

The beginning of the movement is a contemplative, benevolent welcome of the listener onto the path of ascension; the melody unfolds in a gradual tempo, within an introspective and non-menacing key. From the third to the fifth minute, a series of calm but purposeful piano passages provide a structural backbone on which the remainder of the melody relies for its effect; the string and wind parts in this section are subordinate to the piano and at times spring in various directions off of the main melody, but always return to converge with the main thread of the movement. But for most of those two minutes, the piano voice is by itself, perhaps to symbolize the highly individual analysis and deliberation that must be performed to bring about any intellectual ascension. During the sixth minute, as strings are given a more prominent role, the melody begins to obtain the characteristic of unfettered progress toward a sublime insight. If this work could be compared to climbing a mountain, this section would be analogous to the point where one has exceeded the clouds in elevation, and has entered an area of perpetual and radiant sunlight. The slope of this metaforical mountain is gentle, however, and the terrain hospitable. One receives the impression of having entered a benevolent world, where intellectual ascension is natural and safe. During the first quarter of the ninth minute, the melody accomplishes a monumental rise in a passage for the strings, yet even this is but a prelude to an even more colossal escalation, where original piano chords of unfettered major unfold at an impressive rate during the movement’s last two and a half minutes. This section is analogous not merely to an upward climb, but an upward sprint up to the apex of the melody, right near the conclusion. The movement ends on a brisk downward roll, as if to tell the listener, “There it was; you had reached it. And you can always climb it again whenever you like.”

Christopher Schlegel is a musician and composer of Objectivist convictions. He is additionally a writer of short fiction and essays, and a contributor to The Rational Argumentator and its store. You can also visit his website (http://www.truthagainsttheworld.com) and contact him by e-mail.

If you are interested in purchasing a CD of Piano Concertos 1 & 2, send a check or money order for $10.00 to:

Schlegel Entertainment
1995 Old State Route 76
 McKenzie, TN 38201

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