91: Perpetuum Mobile

 Throughout history, composers have long thought about how to translate “frantic” into music. Perhaps the most direct translation of that emotion into music has been the “moto perpetuo”—“perpetual motion.” According to physics, this is, of course, impossible, but in music, that is not so. A “moto perpetuo” generally has very little rhythmic variability, and is an intense, always-moving-forward, exhausting exploration of that emotion. I’ve played two of them in the Suzuki repertoire: one by Dr. Suzuki himself in Book 1 and another by Karl Bohm (who, in the course of writing this article, I discovered also composed under the entirely American-sounding pseudonym “Henry Cooper” despite the fact that he lived in Berlin the vast majority of his life; this is not, by the way, Karl Böhm the conductor linked for almost 50 years with the Vienna Philharmonic).

The lack of rest is the point; hardly ever is there a cadence, or any other time to reset. There is, deliberately, almost nothing “calm” about this genre. I played the Bohm in a recital attended by a family friend many years ago, and he remarked to me after I finished how I looked exhausted, almost to the point of hyperventilation. Surely, there was some stage fright in that reaction, but much more of that was that both: 1) I gave it everything I had and 2) it demanded I do so, taking everything I could possibly give. 

Here are a few recordings: 

1. Suzuki book 1 (note the second half is a variation in doubled sixteenths, of the first half in eighths): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvKV3eUasW0&list=RDwvKV3eUasW0&start_radio=1

2. The Bohm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSqG7L7UuWA&list=RDPSqG7L7UuWA&start_radio=1

3. Another quite famous one, by Paganini (of course—when given an opportunity to show off, he always took it): http://youtube.com/watch?v=D-TAO7U6rtg&list=RDD-TAO7U6rtg&start_radio=1 

4. Perhaps an unexpected addition, but here is one in a symphonic context—listening specifically to the A section, the scherzo (the B section, the trio, obviously isn’t one): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FepxYDp630Y&list=RDFepxYDp630Y&start_radio=1  


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