Poets at the Piano

Tonight’s program is filled with mystery, longing, and virtuosity. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in B-flat minor opens with a tense and melancholic prelude that gives way to a masterful fugue in five voices (one of only two fugues of this character in the entire Well-Tempered Klavier). Mozart’s Fantasie, left unfinished at the time of the composer’s death, is a temperamental and moody work in seven distinct sections. Two intimate Nocturnes by Chopin grace the core of the evening; the latter was published posthumously and the formed the composer played in Leipzig upon meeting Mendelssohn and Schumann for the first time. Mendelssohn later wrote about the Nocturne in D♭ Major that Chopin had “such a lovely new notturno, a considerable part of which I learnt by ear....”. Debussy’s famous Clair de Lune gives way to Gershwin’s delightful “It Ain’t Necessarily So”. The evening concludes with Schumann’s rich and colorful Piano Quintet, written over just five days in a fit of inspiration for his pianist/composer wife, who premiered the work for its first public performance.

Generously sponsored by Dr. Jonathan & Harriet Rubins.