The programme includes:
Alexander Scriabin
Sonata No 2 in G Sharp Minor, Op. 19
Frantz Liszt
Sonata in B Minor, S. 178
Frédéric Chopin
24 Preludes, Op. 28
Although Franz Liszt's Sonata in B Minor is dedicated to Robert Schumann, its closest musical “relative” would be Wagner’s musical dramas and Liszt’s own symphonic poems. Hearing the sonata for the first time, Wagner was ecstatic, and there was much to rejoice at. Piano works on such a scale had not been written since Beethoven’s time. Moreover, Liszt’s grandiose sonata is in one section; without interruption it lasts over half an hour and the piano sounds at times like the orchestra and at times like the organ.
Liszt did not give the sonata a programme title, but there is no doubt that it does not belong to the world of “pure music”. The uninterrupted development of the three themes that are subjected to various metamorphoses, even transforming into the reverse of what they began as, bears witness to the fact that there is a “plot” and there are “characters” in the sonata. Most of all, Liszt was interested in two great subjects – The Divine Comedy and Faust, which formed the basis for two of his symphonies.
Liszt completed this Sonata in B Minor in February 1853, but the public at large heard it only in 1857 when it was performed by Hans von Bülow. In the 19th century this work was rarely performed and only came to be appreciated in the 20th century.
Frédéric Chopin’s Twenty-Four Preludes, Op. 28 appeared in 1838–1839, at the same time as such monumental works as the Second Sonata, ballades, scherzos and études. The composer concluded the cycle of preludes on Majorca, where he had taken Bach’s two-volume Well-Tempered Clavier, which he had known from his childhood years. Chopin responded to Bach’s grandiose idea – to compose a series of preludes and fugues in all extant major and minor tonalities – in terms that were the exact opposite. His works include preludes, very short ones, such as the Prelude in A Major (No 7) which lasts just sixteen bars. And if Bach arranged his preludes and fugues across the chromatic scale, Chopin arranged his preludes according to the circle of fifths, underlining the relationship between the neighbouring tonalities as much as possible. This means that the twenty-four preludes should preferably be performed together and not individually.
The cycle of twenty-four preludes forms a condensed encyclopaedia of Chopin’s style. Here there are brilliant examples of cantilena (for example, Preludes No 4 in E Minor, No 6 in B Minor, No 15 in D Flat Major), there is a piece close to Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words, a chorale and even a funeral march. Almost half are dazzling virtuoso pieces in which the extremely complex piano figurations do not destroy the lightness and elegance inherent in miniature works.
Anna Bulycheva