Friedrich Kalkbrenner - Grande Fantaisie “Effusio Musica“,

Grande Fantaisie “Effusio Musica“, , published 1823. Kalkbrenner’s polish was nowhere more evident than when he performed his trademark “Effusio Musica“, op. 68, a stylish fantasy that stunned cosmopolitan audiences in the late 1820s. Written in the stule of Hummel’s celebrated op. 18, Fantasy in E-flat Major, the “Effusio“ was well known to Mendelssohn. The music critic of the Athenaeum, Henry F. Chorley, recalled how the young Felix and Fanny used to vie “with each other which could best execute a certain difficult left-hand passage“ in a prestissimo section toward the end. By 1829 the twenty-minute fantasy was used to judge “la rectitude de la pose de la main“ for women pianists undergoing their final exam at the Paris Conservatoire. (The men, significantly, played Kalkbrenner too: his First Concerto in D Minor, op. 61). The “Effusio“, to be sure, showcased a scintillating variety of style types and affective idioms, modulating rapidly between keys in order to explore the gamut of topical regions within a bold fast-slow-fast arch. As the authour of a long analysis of the work appearing in the ’Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review’ put it, “Every difficulty is introduced which is possible for the hands to execute“. (The review just mentioned is pinned in a comment below due to length) 00:00 - “Sostenuto“ Introduction exploring the tonal ambiguity of diminished chords/harmony and with intricate voicings. 03:17 - “Poco più allegro“ Wraps up the introduction with a series of modulations. 04:08 - “Allegro Agitato“ First movement, frequent use of chromatic mediant ’surprise chords’ like the A-Bb-Eb-A (4:29), E-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Bb7-E7 (6:35), C major instead of expected A major at (6:50) etc. 8:01 - “Con fuoco“ Cascading canonic octave section. Mostly circle of fifths, E-Am-A7-Dm-D7-G... Settles on A dominant phrygian major mode. At (9:14) there’s a clever use of tritone relationship, F#7-C7, which wraps up the first movement and sets up the mood for next movement. 09:32 - “Molto Adagio ed Espressivo“ The second movement starts very formulaic; 4 bars presents the melody which is then repeated an interval of a second higher in the following 4 bars, a brief modulation to the chromatic mediant D major then back to the tonic F major. At (10:52) I believe Kalkbrenner is showing off the Pleyel’s (and his own) ability to play fast repeated notes, two years prior Erard patented double escapement action (fast repeated notes without lifting the key all the way up) 11:06 - Interesting “call and response“ interaction between the soloist and imaginary orchestra. 13:57 - The initial theme of the 2nd movement has returned with an intensified, swelling accompaniment. The theme is much more ornamented, presented as an “improvisation“, transforming into a few written-out cadenzas, and eventually fading out over a calm pedal point of the tonic F. 16:30 - “Risoluto“ A drastic change of pace fires off the 3rd movement in the related key of D minor. At (17:29) begins a fugato which collapses into a joyful wave of E major (18:25), resolving into the tritone key of Bb major which sets up the next part. 19:05 - “Prestissimo“ Rapid triplet octaves that trades between the hands which eventually joins up (19:42) in 8th notes. 20:00 - “Allegro non tanto“ A calm melody in canon echoed a fifth below, accompanied by a “wavy“ texture in LH (might be the part the Mendelssohn siblings competed over). At (20:27) left hand swiftly changes into staccato while the right hand continues it’s legato two part counterpoint. At (21:10) Kalkbrenner brings out the fireworks with more chromatic mediant chords appearing (21:21) and after a series of intense secondary dominants finally lands on F major. The ending is rather unconventional, marking it with a rapid scale from the lowest to highest register of the keyboard (kind of like how blues/rock pianists like to end with a glissando, but inverted).