Freddy Kempf plays Beethoven and Liszt.
This recital begins with Beethoven in his heroic and monumental character. The Opus 35 Variations are almost like a trial run for the finale of his Eroica Symphony the following year, using the same theme and the same richly inventive strategies. The Waldstein is one of Beethoven’s most exhilarating sonatas – two movements of unrelenting drive surround an island of calm.
From Beethoven, the monarch of the piano, the program shifts to Liszt, the prince of virtuosos. In Liszt the piano sings with Romantic ardour, regardless of how many notes go whizzing by, and among his most effective and appealing works are his paraphrases on popular operas. For this recital, Freddy Kempf offers Liszt’s personal take on themes from Lucia di Lammermoor and Don Giovanni – bravura music that proves the piano can be a diva too!
“Kempf captures the essence of Liszt in playing of wistful nostalgia, yearning passion, with arpeggios and cadenzas that shimmer and scintillate…”
(International Piano)
BEETHOVEN
Eroica Variations, Op.35
Waldstein Sonata, Op.53
ROSSINI arr. Liszt La danza (from Soirées musicales)
LISZT Petrarch Sonnet No.104
LISZT after Donizetti Réminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor
LISZT after Mozart Réminiscences de Don Giovanni
Hear Freddy Kempf perform Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (27, 29, 30 July).