Alexandre Kantorow, Piano
Performers
Alexandre Kantorow, Piano
Program
BRAHMS Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1
J. S. BACH Chaconne in D Minor from Violin Partita No. 2, BWV 1004 (arr. for piano left hand by Johannes Brahms)
LISZT "Der Wanderer" from 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert
LISZT "Der Müller und der Bach" from Müllerlieder von Franz Schubert
LISZT "Frühlingsglaube" from 12 Lieder von Franz Schubert
LISZT "Die Stadt" from Lieder aus Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang
LISZT "Am Meer" from Lieder aus Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang
SCHUBERT Fantasy in C Major, D. 760, "Wanderer Fantasy"
Encores:
SAINT-SAËNS "Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix" from Samson et Dalila (transcr. Nina Simone)
STRAVINSKY Finale from The Firebird (transcr. Guido Agosti)
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Listen to Selected Works
At a Glance
BRAHMS Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1
The C-Major Sonata is one of three piano sonatas that Brahms wrote at the outset of his career in the early 1850s. Upon hearing him play his Op. 1, Robert Schumann declared that it was as if the young composer had sprung forth “like Minerva fully armed from the head of Jove.” Clara Schumann described Brahms’s piano music as “rich in fantasy, depth of feeling, and mastery of form.”
J. S. BACH Chaconne in D Minor from Violin Partita No. 2, BWV 1004
Originally conceived for unaccompanied violin, J. S. Bach’s monumental D-Minor Chaconne has been adapted for a wide range of instruments and ensembles. In arranging it for piano left hand, Brahms marveled that “on one stave, for a small instrument” Bach had inscribed “a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings.”
LISZT Transcriptions of Schubert Lieder
Starting in the early 1830s, Liszt lovingly transcribed nearly five dozen of Schubert’s songs to perform on his solo recitals. His reverence for the Viennese master shines through in a letter he wrote to a friend: “O tender, ever-welling genius! ... From your soul’s depths and heights pour forth melody, freshness, power, grace, reverie, passion, soothings, tears, and flowers—and such is the enchantment of your world of emotions that we almost forget the greatness of your craftsmanship!”
SCHUBERT Fantasy in C Major, D. 760, “Wanderer Fantasy”
Based in part on Schubert’s song “The Wanderer,” the C-Major Fantasy resembles his late piano sonatas in its expansive scale, formal integration, and technical demands. The four-movement work is a tour de force worthy of Liszt, who acknowledged his debt to the Viennese master by transcribing the “Wanderer Fantasy” as a piano concerto.