Alexandre Tharaud, Piano
Performers
Alexandre Tharaud, Piano
Program
G. MAHLER Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor (transcr. Alexandre Tharaud)
SCHUBERT Four Impromptus, D. 899
RAMEAU Selections from Suite in A Minor from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin
·· I. Allemande
·· III. Sarabande
·· V. Fanfarinette
·· VII. Gavotte
RAVEL Miroirs
Encores:
D. SCARLATTI Sonata in D Minor, K. 141
RAMEAU "Les Sauvages" from Suite in G Major from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.At a Glance
MAHLER Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor
Thanks in part to its association with Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice, the slow movement from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony has become one of the Austrian composer’s most beloved works. Alexandre Tharaud’s is one of several keyboard transcriptions of the achingly tender Adagietto for strings and harp.
SCHUBERT Four Impromptus, D. 899
As their name implies, the Four Impromptus share a spontaneous, improvisatory quality. Yet so deliberately did Schubert lay the set out that it has often been likened to a four-movement sonata. The bewitching slow third movement (in G-flat major) illustrates the intimate, singing tone that contemporaries admired in the composer’s piano playing.
RAMEAU Selections from Suite in A Minor from Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin
Rameau’s harpsichord music epitomizes the combination of elegance and virtuosity that characterizes the French Baroque style. Tharaud acknowledges that “you can’t play Rameau on a piano the same way you play him on the harpsichord,” but argues that “nowadays it’s essential for a pianist to immerse himself in Baroque music.”
RAVEL Miroirs
Roughly contemporary with Debussy’s Images, Ravel’s Miroirs are similarly adventurous in their approach to harmony, form, and keyboard technique. Although the titles of the pieces evoke pictorial imagery, Ravel is less concerned with traditional tone painting than he is with capturing the flickering reflections of pianistic sonorities and textures in his musical mirror.