# Two-movement works with great contrast



## MJongo (Aug 6, 2011)

Can anyone point me toward some two-movement works where there is a great contrast between the movements? The contrast can be of anything: for example, tempo, instrumentation, mood/emotions, or any mix of those all qualify. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32 is a good example.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Here's an obscure one: W.F. Bach's Adagio and Fugue or Sinfonia in D minor. 



 I like it a lot, the first section is so sparse and then it jumps into a really tangly bouncy fugue.


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

Darn it, I was _just_ going to suggest the Op. 111, but you beat me to it!

The Op. 90 sonata is another good example-in the first movement, contained sorrow, in the second, simple joy.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Prokofiev's 2nd symphony. First movement is an energetic, tocatta-like hammering movement. The other is a eerie variations movement where the variations get more and more turbulent.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Ah! Scriabin's 4th piano sonata is a lovely example. The first part is so dark and creepy, and then the 2nd part has a really quirky skip to it and a faster pace.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Mahler's 8th Symphony is in two parts, a predominantly contrapuntal Part One on a Latin sacred text, and a more melodically driven (but still very much polyphonic) Part Two on a secular German text. Both are centered on the key of E-flat major, although the second begins in E-flat minor.

Webern's Symphony, Op. 21, is in two movements, a binary form first movement (AABB) of a mostly languid character, and a more tense and energetic theme and variations second movement.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Well, there is the Schubert Unfinished. Elgar's Introduction and Allegro.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Bartok's* _Two Portraits _and _Two Pictures _come to mind.

Two Portraits consists of a lyrical first part, _Ideal_ and a more turbulent second part, _Distorted. _The influence of Richard Strauss is discernible in this piece.

_Two Pictures_ is more or less mature Bartok, its got a lyrical first movement called In Full Flower and a folkish Village Dance as the second movement.

Another that comes to mind is Elegie and Polka by *Shostakovich*.

Also, *Copland's* Clarinet Concerto, the two contrasting movements linked by a cadenza for the soloist. Quite a fun piece, with influences ranging from Mahler to Neo-Classicism and of course jazz, but the musical voice of Copland is there without a doubt.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Rodrigo's _Dos Preludios_. I've really taken to these pieces recently and they feature a nice contrast in tempo and mood.

edit - in the one youtube video I can find of these pieces the performer plays the adagio as though its an allegro, lessening the contrast between the two movements.

Unfortunately, few can play these pieces well, they are very difficult.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

Gottschalk, A Night in the Tropics


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Fantasia op. 145


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Schumann, Introduction and Allegro Appassionato in G minor 
Chopin, Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante
Berlioz, Rêverie et Caprice
Szymanowski, Nocturne and Tarantella

Also, the sharp contrast is to be found in arias following the Italian aria-stretta model. If opera arias won't do because you need stand-alone pieces, there are always concert arias written in this form, like those of Mozart:


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## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

Ligeti's Cello Concerto and Double Concerto for flute and oboe
Lutoslawski's string quartet
Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 2


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

clavichorder said:


> Ah! Scriabin's 4th piano sonata is a lovely example. The first part is so dark and creepy, and then the 2nd part has a really quirky skip to it and a faster pace.


The second sonata also has contrasting movements.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Check out Copland's Piano Concerto (1926) or his Clarinet Concerto (1948?). Both have the contrast you want. The Piano Concerto is bluesy and snappy; the Clarinet Concerto is lyrical and jazzy.


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## Whistler Fred (Feb 6, 2014)

Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5." The first movement Aria is a kid of Greatest Hits tune and is often performed and recorded separately. But the second movement Dance (which was actually written seven years later) is a lively contrast and is equally as fetching.


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