Nobuyuki Tsujii, Piano
Performers
Nobuyuki Tsujii, Piano
Program
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2, "Moonlight"
LISZT Consolation No. 2 in E Major
LISZT Venezia e Napoli
RAVEL Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn
RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte
RAVEL Jeux d'eau
KAPUSTIN Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40
Encores:
J. S. BACH "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (arr. Myra Hess)
GRIEG "March of the Trolls" from Lyric Pieces, Op. 54, No. 3
LISZT Etude No. 3 in G-sharp Minor, "La campanella" from Grandes études de Paganini
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Listen to Selected Works
At a Glance
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight”
A master improviser, Beethoven was equally at home in the disciplined tonal structures of classical sonata form and in the freer, fantasy-like idiom of the famous “Moonlight” Sonata. This early boundary-pushing work is designated “quasi una fantasia,” foregrounding the music’s quasi-improvisational character.
LISZT Consolation No. 2 in E Major
A seminal figure in the Romantic movement, Liszt is known for his brilliantly virtuosic and often richly poetic piano music. The tender lyricism of the Consolation in E Major illustrates the introspective side of his genius.
LISZT Venezia e Napoli
Liszt often brought back musical snapshots from his far-flung travels. Venezia e Napoli, with its zesty Italian-style “Tarantella,” is based on melodies he heard on a trip to Italy in the 1830s in the company of his lover, Marie d’Agoult.
RAVEL Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn
Although Ravel is frequently bracketed with Debussy, at heart he was more of a classicist than his elder. In 1909, both men were invited to contribute to a French music magazine dedicated to Haydn; Ravel responded to the commission with this short, sweet-tempered minuet.
RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte
Pavane for a Dead Princess is one of Ravel’s most enduringly popular works, both in its original version for solo piano and in the orchestral arrangement he made in 1909. Taking its cue from a stately Baroque dance, the music exudes a mood of ceremonial solemnity. In Ravel’s words, it evokes a pavane that “a young princess might once have danced at the court of Spain.”
RAVEL Jeux d’eau
A technical tour de force, Ravel’s dazzling evocation of the play of water was poorly received when pianist Ricardo Viñes premiered it in Paris in 1902 (on a concert with Pavane pour une infante défunte). As Ravel predicted, however, Jeux d’eau would soon come to be recognized as one of his most innovative and influential works.
KAPUSTIN Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 40
The late Nikolai Kapustin was virtually unknown in the West until pianists Steven Osborne and Marc-André Hamelin “discovered” him some two decades ago. Combining classical and jazz elements, the virtuosic Concert Etudes reveal Kapustin as an authentically Russian original, part Lisztian pyrotechnician, part musical visionary in the mold of Scriabin.