Programme:

BEETHOVEN: Moonlight Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2

LISZT: Sonata in B Minor Op. 178

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LISZT: The Fountains of the Villa D’Este S. 163 No. 4

MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition

The sonata composed in 1801 was associated with the “moonlight” by Beethoven’s friend Ludwig Rellstab. Originally, the first movement, which also provided a name to the composition, was more likely meant as a deep prayer. Concerning the 2nd allegretto movement, Franz Liszt said it was like a small flower blooming between two precipices. The closing movement is one of Beethoven’s most wonderful “storm music” pieces. Composed in 1852-1853, Sonata in B Minor can be considered the greatest piano piece not only in Liszt’s lifework but also of all times. Sonata in B Minor unites all of the ideals of the Romantic artist: the quest of the hero to discover himself, his consummation in love as well as his fight for freedom and for the spiritual rise of humankind.

Franz Liszt spent quite a few years living in Villa d’Este located in the Italy-based town of Tivoli. He was charmed by the park and its thousands of fountains created by Renaissance master builders. In the middle of the piece composed in 1877, a new and gentle theme is developed, and at that place the score features Franz Liszt’s handwriting quoting Jesus Christ’s eternal words. Mussorgsky’s only large-scale piano piece entitled Pictures at an Exhibition was composed in 1874. The careful listener will be offered exciting, oftentimes stunning and great-scale but, at the same time, mystic musical compositions and images inspired by painter Viktor Hartmann’s artworks.

Organiser: Stúdió Liszt Kft.