César Cui - Nocturne, Op.95/3

This piece is from 5 Morceaux, Op.95 and composed 1914, right at the beginning of WWI. As a nocturne it starts as conservative as possible in D flat major with a soothing 12/8 measure, but at least it's not the left hand playing a spreaded chord. What I like about this composition is the unexpected way of harmonic modulation, composed very pianistically by the way, as can be seen by the very dense voicing/score in this segment and the typical Cui middle part which has similarities to the structure of the middle part of his Caprice-Impromptu. Symmetrically it ends with a reiteration of the first theme, but as a little "retardation moment" we get the minor middle theme in a tension provoking chromatic shift which finally finds its way (left hand down, right hand up) to the final d flat major cascade, a heroic ending. (And not really a piece to fall asleep to I guess? I mean nocturne...It's like saying: Look! I am done with the piece now! Wake up! ... Ok now sleep again.)

Видео César Cui - Nocturne, Op.95/3 канала Gamma1734