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The Virtual
Concert Hall
CONCERT 1
PROGRAMME
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano
Sonata op. 110
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Piano
Sonata op. 2 n. 3
Robert SCHUMANN Humoreske op. 20
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The three works of this programme are
linked by a subtle relation. In some of their pages the composers seem to
look at crucial passages of their life, towards past or future, and this
meditation give rise to contrasting feelings. |
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It is not difficult to understand that
in reference to Beethoven’s Sonata op. 110. The genial alternance of Adagio
and Fugue in the final “macromovement” reflects the titanic spirit thanks to which
the composer overcomes his sufferings through the redeeming force of his art.
The Fugue is one more time an instrument of intellectual and spiritual
elevation, that brings his spirit from the darkness to the light, firstly
with the ascending tension of the fourth intervals, then with the impressive,
dynamic and rhythmic crescendo of the section “poi e poi di nuovo vivente” |
Piano
Sonata op. 110 Moderato cantabile molto espressivo Fabio Grasso, piano |
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Many years before this masterpiece, the second
movement of the Sonata op. 2 n. 3 seems to be a prophetic vision of the
exhausting walk that his life was going to represent, an extraordinary
intuition, by a 25-years old man, of the immense pain and of the unique way
of consolation, not only for his own life, but In his philanthropic impulse,
for the universal pain of the humanity. |
Piano
Sonata op. 2 n. 3 1. Allegro con brio – 2. Adagio 3. Scherzo – 4. Allegro assai Letizia
Michielon, piano |
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“I
never wrote a piece so sad”: a curious Schumann’s definition for a piece
entitled Humoreske, a significant example of Romentic irony – the taste for the
alternance.of opposite feelings, that he represented so often and so well.. The
Humoreske, written in a turning point of his life, marks, consequently, also
a turning point in his production. The ardour of the fierce “riding”
movements of Carnaval or Kreisleriana seems to be here a vivid reminiscence,
that punctuates pages of deep contemplation or unquiet meditation, in a style
that will be typical of his Lieder. It’s no wonder that the technic of the
self-quotation is used here very frequently, not only as memory of past works
(Kinderszenen, Carnaval, Kreisleriana, Symphonic Etudes, Phantasy op. 17),
but also as “herald” of future masterpieces, like Dichterliebe. Maybe
Schumann decided to recall in a meeting the most genial inventions of his
early piano works, and to try to take his leave of them, feeling the imminent
beginning of a new phase of his life. But in the last piece, not casually
“Zum Abschluss”, the moving
melancholic repetitions of the main theme seem to want to delay with all
means the farewell, like in sorrowful questions, until the surprising final,
with refined “humour”, comes ttiumphally to dissipate their sweet sadness. |
Humoreske op. 20 Einfach – Sehr
rasch und leicht Sehr lebhaft –
Mit einigem Pomp – Zum Abschluss Fabio Grasso, piano |
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