it is therefore in a sonata form.
One can easily feel the effort Schubert gave to following the structure of motive development in the footsteps of Beethoven. The work was written at the same period of the known Fantasie in F minor and the Rondo in A major, both intended as additional movements for the sonata.
The storm strikes instantly from the very first three repetitive chords, outlining the short motive Schubert intends to develop. The entire work is electrifying both in temperament and harmonic complexity. Schubert creates a perfect symphonic texture that is frequently interrupted by delicate modulating passages of somewhat prophetic quality. Moving into a choral like second theme, Schubert deceives the usual harmonic approach and descends a half tone to A flat, then eventually arrives at the more common relative major.
The few closing measures are heavenly peaceful but the last two chords break the tranquility with a forceful reminder of the initial thunder.

The French poet Stéphane Mallarmé wrote several poems that had the honor of being reworked by Debussy. Perhaps the most famous of all was the “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” from 1867. The poem is recited by the faune (a hideous forest creature) and tells of his seduction by nymphs in the forest and his desire for them. However, he does not manage to get close to them and his longings are left to be intensified by his imagination and dreams.
It is the dream and the charm of the nymphs which Debussy captures in his music, when he starts with a long and slow solo by the flute, as stated in the poem. This very theme descends chromatically by a triton, which then goes back up towards a second motive of more diatonic quality. Although the music remains tonal, we can never really tell what tone center we are in.
Besides minor changes, Ravel attempted to stay loyal to the original score when he transcribed the "Prélude" for piano in 4 hands. Such dreamy and fantast sound is perfectly suitable for production by orchestra and Debussy, with the use of cymbals at the end of the

work, manages to bring the best out of the symphonic poem. A formidable composer himself, Ravel could have transcribed the work to suit better to pianistic demands, however, his main concern must have been the integrity of the original score.

Chopin's C sharp minor nocturne (op. post) is one of the musical works I have grown with and known ever since I was a child. When I played it at a young age I must have seen it through very similar eyes to Chopin's younger sister. Chopin dedicated the piece to Louise and wrote her in the dedication that it should serve as a warm up to her playing his second piano concerto. The Nocturne is most certainly much more than a simple excercise, it is, in my humble opinion, one of his best Nocturnes. The melancholic line that stretches lengthly over it is heart breaking and by itself perectly balanced. These intense and genuine emotions, put in a quiet and tormented voice, cannot be any other result then the silent recognition of inevitable pain caused by the artist's inner stragles.

In my Paraphrase on Chopin's Nocturne, feeling a great responsibility to perserve the honest nature of this music, I confined myself to intensifying the emotional tension in Chopin's writing with my own manner of "scratching the wound open".
Passing from an emotional stragle to a depictive "character piece", my own Red July, 2006 is a small sum up of the events that took place in Israel during that time. Without wanting to go into political contemplations, Red July is both an account of fights that happened and the great fight that will still come.

Schumann's own Variations on a Theme in E flat major, later known as the "Ghost Variations" were composed in February of 1854, a few weeks prior to his internment in the insane asylum in Endenich. The theme appears in variant forms in the song Frühlingsankunft ("Nach diesen trüben Tagen, wie ist so hell das Feld!"), as well as in the second movement of the Violin Concerto.

At that period in his life Schumann felt himself surrounded by ghosts, who according to Clara presented him with music either 'wonderful' or 'hideous'. Those angels promised him the 'most magnificent revelations' but also threatened, as his wife, Clara Schumann wrote, to 'cast him into Hell'.
During the night of February 17 Schumann claimed that he heard angels' voices that offered him with the chorale-like E flat major theme which he wrote down on the spot. On February 27 he worked on the fair copy of the score. In the middle of this activity he left the house and threw himself into the icy waters of the Rhine, from which he was rescued and taken home. The next day he finished the work and sent the manuscript to his wife.
Clara Schumann wrote Johannes Brahms on May 5, 1886: "You know, the Variations are our sad, but sacred legacy - I gave them to you on the condition (to which you gave your promise), that you would never make any use of them.
A letter from Schumann to Clara from Endenich, dated seven months after composition, is proof that the Variations were important to the composer: “Was it just a dream, that we

were in Holland last winter, and that you were so brilliantly received, especially in Rotterdam, and they had a torch parade for us, and how you played Beethoven's Concerto in E flat, Sonatas in C major and F minor, Chopin Etudes, Songs without Words by Mendelssohn, and my new Konzertstück in D major so splendidly in the concerts? Can you remember a theme in E flat, that I heard once in the night and to which I wrote the Variations; could you send them to me and perhaps also some of your own compositions?"
It is quite probable that Robert Schumann made his final corrections on the Variations while in Endenich. Brahms, a close friend to Robert and Clara Schumann was the first to publish Schumann's variations, despite Clara's wishes, and the first to compose after Schumann had passed away a set of variations of his own on the same theme. He dedicated this work to Schumann's daughter Julie. Brahms' variations are dark and morbid in nature and depict perfectly the impression of ghostly music. They are written in the honor of Schumann and in a sense serve as a requiem to Schumann himself.

Brahms's Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 dynamic and characteristic works that were originally written for piano in 4 hands (a form of composition often used by Brahms prior to transcribing for the orchestra) and later on transcribed (the 10 first dances) for piano solo. Brahms wrote them following his meeting with the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi, who introduced him to the music of the Hungarian Roma (Gypsies) in 1850.
The first dance together with the third and the tenth were orchestrated by Brahms himself, and other composers, such as Antonin Dvorak, orchestrated the other dances as well. The first five dances are certainly the most successful of all but the most famous is the fifth in F-sharp, which had been interpreted by Charlie Chaplin in his film "The Great Dictator".