Aidan Mikdad

Romantic Virtuosity

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Aidan Mikdad piano

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Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano sonata op2 no3 in C major

Alexander Scriabin: Piano sonata no6 op62;

Guirlandes op73 no1;

Vers la Flamme op72

Franz Liszt: ‘Petrarch Sonnet 123’ (from Années de Pèlerinage Book II Italie);

Transcendental Études nos 5, 10 and 12;

‘Les Cloches de Genève’ (from Années de Pèlerinage Book I Suisse);

Rhapsodie Espagnole

 

Programme Notes (also available free at concert)

Beethoven’s opus 2 set of three sonatas were early works, published in 1796. With four movements rather than the more usual (at the time) three, they’re written on a grand scale - the opening and closing movements of opus 2 no3 are concerto-like at times. In places extremely difficult to play, the work’s a real test of a pianist’s technique.

Scriabin wrote ten numbered sonatas but only the 6th is notorious - the composer refusing to play it in public because it was ‘nightmarish, murky, unclean and mischievous’ and reportedly fearing its effect not only on the audience but also on himself. It’s undoubtedly a hard work to grasp, lacking obvious form – mostly dreamlike, at times clangorous – and leading finally to what the score describes as a ‘delirious dance’. Smelling salts will be on hand.

Liszt’s overwhelming brilliance is everywhere in these pieces - from the heartfelt lover’s address to the angelic being he sees before him in Petrarch Sonnet 123, through the calm evocation of a city in Les Cloches de Genève to three of the most fiendishly difficult Transcendental Études. Rhapsodie Espagnole sums it all up - melody, playfulness, power, delicacy and, above all, the display of sheer pianistic skill and virtuosity.