DÉNES VÁRJON PIANO RECITAL Presented by Liszt Academy

Dénes Várjon has put together a programme of works by masters all beginning with the letter B: after Bach comes Brahms, then Beethoven. The Partita in A minor is one of the few Bach creations that appeared in print during the master’s lifetime. It is a suite in seven movements, starting with a Fantasia, then after customary stylized dance movements – Allemande, Courante, Sarabande – there is a Burlesque and Scherzo, concluding with a virtuoso Gigue. The audience then can enjoy six Brahms compositions from his later life. The third movement in the series, collected together as opus 118, is titled Ballade, the fifth Romanze, while the other movements are each called Intermezzo. The second half of the concert is given over to Beethoven’s B-flat major sonata, opus 106. At the time it was written in 1819 it was rated as the most demanding work in piano literature. The opening movement has a grandiose sonata structure, the second movement is, like the 9th symphony, a scherzo, while the third is a slow movement in F-sharp minor that seems to predate the world of Chopin. The closing movement is a lengthy fugue with a remarkable introduction in which the composer did not even write bars for quite a while.