Event is Live
Carnegie Hall Presents

Mao Fujita, Piano

Sunday, November 10, 2024 2 PM Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Mao Fujita by Dovile Sermokas / Sony Music Entertainment
Pianist Mao Fujita returns to our most iconic stage for a Sunday matinee recital. Following his impressive 2023 debut, the international rising star brings a generous and wide-ranging program of preludes, variations, fantasies, and sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Scriabin, and Yashiro. Experience an exceptional afternoon of music with one of the piano world's newest stars.

Performers

Mao Fujita, Piano

Program

A. YASHIRO Selections from Twenty-Four Preludes

SCRIABIN Fantasy in B Minor, Op. 28

LISZT "Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104" from Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année: Italie, No. 5

LISZT "Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata" from Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année: Italie

MOZART Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, maman," K. 265

BEETHOVEN Thirty-Two Variations on an Original Theme in C Minor, WoO 80

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, "Appassionata"


Encores:

SCRIABIN Prelude in B-flat Major, Op. 11, No. 21

FELIX MENDELSSOHN Song Without Words in F-sharp Minor, Op. 67, No. 2

GLAZUNOV Etude in E Minor, Op. 31, No. 2

Event Duration

The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission. 

At a Glance

YASHIRO  Selections from Twenty-Four Preludes

One of Akio Yashiro’s earliest works, the Twenty-Four Preludes showcase the young composer’s wide-ranging knowledge of repertoire and a healthy dose of humor.

 

SCRIABIN  Fantasy in B Minor, Op. 28

Although called a “fantasy,” Scriabin wrote a single-movement sonata form with what initially sounds like a relatively conventional reprise that escapes into a lengthy coda that synthesizes both thematic groups.

 

LISZT  “Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104” from Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année: Italie, No. 5; “Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata” from Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année: Italie, No. 7

A well-traveled virtuoso, Liszt wrote the collected volumes Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) as a form of travel writing. His treatment of the primary lyric theme “Sonetto del Petrarca No. 104” recalls song transcriptions, alternated with keyboard theatrics. Liszt’s demanding score for “Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata” reads more like an impressionistic response to selected passages from the poet, especially the descent into Inferno.

 

MOZART  Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, maman,” K. 265

Although more recent poems set to the original tune include “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” in Mozart’s milieu “Ah vous dirai-je” was popular music, featuring bawdy though conventional lyrics. His variations steadily increase in difficulty, rewarding careful listeners as each variation’s gimmick informs at least one other variation.

 

BEETHOVEN  Thirty-Two Variations on an Original Theme in C Minor, WoO 80; Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, “Appassionata”

Despite the slight proportions of the Thirty-Two Variations, Beethoven wrings plenty of material from his unusual theme, which itself seems to resemble a variation on a simpler theme. The name “Appassionata” was added to Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57, likely as an attempt to render the work more accessible to audiences—the outer two movements featuring some of his most difficult writing.

Bios

Mao Fujita

With an innate musical sensitivity and naturalness to his artistry, pianist Mao Fujita has already impressed many leading musicians as one of those special talents who come along only rarely, equally at home with Mozart as the major Romantic repertoire. After his US debut at Carnegie Hall in ...

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