Interpreting Schubert's Impromptu in A-flat Major D.935 for Piano - Piano Interpretation

Understanding and interpreting your piano music allows you to bring your own unique flair and personality to a piece. Here we explore the famous Ab Impromptu by Schubert, considering the key elements of interpretation. An overview is taken of the structure then focus is given to the opening A section. We explore the internal phrase structure, the rhythmic design, the melodic shape, the harmonic language, the changes in texture, and the expressive detail in order to discover what all this implies for choice of tempo, balancing of texture, shape and emphasis within the phrase, rubato, and colour of tone. The video is designed to flag up the key indicators that inform interpretation to assist pianists learning this piece but also in order to help musicians make good decisions about the interpretation of Romantic music.
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🕘 Timestamps
0:00 - Introduction to interpreting Schubert's Impromptu in A-flat major D.935 for piano
0:58 - Playing the piece
1:18 - Making the melodic line sing out
4:43 - Feeling the time signature
9:33 - Rhythmic features to draw attention to
11:17 - Playing around with ideas
11:38 - Structural design
13:34 - Shaping the phrases
15:52 - Painting the harmony
17:27 - Influences of interpretation
18:13 - Question and answering phrases
20:38 - Third phrase textural changes
21:59 - Fourth phrase changes
23:51 - What are the issues you need to think about?
25:03 - Solid chord drama
28:40 - Conclusion
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[@MusicMattersGB]

Learn Music Online - Check out our courses here!
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[@joyfulhuman]

Excellent analysis! Great video. This will help me improve.

[@MusicMattersGB]

That’s great. Much more at www.mmcourses.co.uk

[@michael_grigorowitsch]

I played this piece at my final exam in highschool! My favourite schubert Piano piece! Thanks for this guide.😊

[@MusicMattersGB]

Glad it’s nostalgic for you

[@fallowfieldoutwest]

Maestro Green lookin clean

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@bvmfilms8666]

Could you do an analysis of Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” sonata?

[@MusicMattersGB]

Ok

[@jacklee3998]

Love Schubert analysis. Hopefully you cover Schubert impromptu op. 142 one day too

[@MusicMattersGB]

😀

[@hueywallop2461]

Great video! Could explain what the ties in measures 1 and 16 (r.h.) call for? Thanks.

[@MusicMattersGB]

In this case they’re not ties but asking for the best legato that can be produced taken the repeated notes

[@ssenaratne]

I play this frequently for my friends. This video will help me to improve further

[@ssenaratne]

Thank you very educative and inspiring

[@MusicMattersGB]

A pleasure. It’s a lovely piece to play.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

19:30 The Inversion changes sure, but Schubert didn't know about inversions or write with them, he wrote with figured bass. So if analyzing in the way that he, himself, analyzed and composed the piece, using figured bass, how would the question-answer phrases have been constructed, or when reading the score, how could they be deconstructed?

[@MusicMattersGB]

The harmony and the phrase structure are two different elements of the piece. The question-answer construction was used in the Baroque but was certainly a strong feature of the Classical period so it was a convention Schubert knew well. Figured Bass is a Baroque technique which was not being used by the time of Schubert.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@MusicMattersGB I'm pretty sure that Schubert wrote by using figured bass techniques and this avenue needs more investigation. It is how Schubert was trained, along with all of his peers and those before him. Therefore it would only be appropriate to analyze all of his music using that method, and the same for the music of all his contemporaries and mentors as well. Analyzing such pieces using roots and inversion notation does not reveal the actual 'how' or 'why' of the music.

[@MusicMattersGB]

See comment above