“Painter” – that is how Claude Debussy once answered the question of what profession he would have preferred to take up. His Préludes for piano, composed between 1909 and 1913, are like musical paintings whose impressive richness of tone colour invites the audience to let their imagination run free. French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet presents the complete cycle of these standard-setting compositions in an intimate concert in which the listener travels to snowy landscapes, the bottom of the ocean, a fairy ball, and much more. “A gourmet repast with refreshing contrasts of mood and texture.” (New York Classical Review). Programme: Claude Debussy: Préludes, Book I, L. 117 Préludes, Book II, L. 123 Edward Elgar: Salut d’Amour, Op. 12
Kit Armstrong – Bach’s Goldberg Variations and its predecessors
“Armstrong’s phenomenal recital was so exceptional that every attempt to describe it falls short” (NRC). When Kit Armstrong performed at Amsterdam’s hallowed Concertgebouw for the first time, he mesmerized his audience with Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations. By combining them with earlier polyphonic variation masterpieces by William Byrd, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and John Bull, in the present program he is shedding a new light on Bach’s masterpiece. When Kit Armstrong was only 14, the Los Angeles-born musical prodigy overcame his mentor Alfred Brendel’s reluctance to take on pupils. Brendel said: “He played so beautifully that I thought to myself, ‘I have to make time for him.’” Soon Armstrong was winning international prizes both as pianist and as composer and was appearing at some of the world’s foremost venues.