ALEXEI VOLODIN in Winnipeg!

World renowned pianist Alexei Volodin performs approximately 80 concerts a year in the world’s most prestigious venues, and this year the Winnipeg Musical Club of Winnipeg is honoured to be among his presenters. 

While appearing with highly acclaimed orchestras and conductors, for Volodin "the most important thing is to bring a piece of music to life under my hands and to reach listeners’ hearts, to touch and to thrill them.” He is also adamant that his career is still a work in progress. “I was, and I am,” he explains, “trying to learn from the great musicians by listening to them. I think everyone should do that.” (Interlude: Live the Music)

Volodin studied at Moscow’s Gnessin Academy and later at the Moscow Conservatoire. He continued his studies at the International Piano Academy Lake Como and gained international recognition following his victory at the International Géza Anda Competition in Zürich in 2003.

Tickets at Alexei Volodin, piano virtuoso | Wmcwpg.  (Students pay only $10!)

This concert is presented in partnership with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Virtuosi Concerts.

Program:

Lyric Pieces - Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) Nocturne, op. 54-4

Home Sickness, op. 57-6

Brooklet, op. 62-4

To Spring, op. 43-6

Melody, op. 47-3

Secret, op. 57-4

Elegy, op. 47-7

Homewards, op. 62-6

Sonetto di Petrarca no. 123 - Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Funérailles - Franz Liszt

Intermission

Das Wandern - Schubert–Liszt

Sonata “Les Adieux” op. 81a - Ludwig van Beethoven (1750-1827)

Das Lebewohl (The Departure)

Abwesenheit (Absence)

Das Wiedersehen (The Return)

Wanderer - Fantasie op. 15 - Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Program Notes:

Lyric Pieces:  Composed between 1867 and 1901, this collection of short pieces for solo piano was published in 10 volumes that Grieg himself called “an intimate slice of my life”. Each is an individual, self-contained work, expressing a specific mood or idea suggested by its title. The blend of romantic harmony with folk-inspired tonality creates a sound that is instantly recognizable as Grieg’s.

Sonetto di Petrarca no. 123: Liszt's piano settings of three sonnets by poet Francis Petrarch (1304-1373) beautifully capture the atmosphere and sentiment of the text.  Sonnet 123 (“I beheld on earth angelic grace”) is an ardent love poem in which Petrarch describes the perfect beauty of his beloved and its effect on all of heaven and nature.  So supreme is the poet's object of desire that mountains are moved, rivers are stilled; even the sun is jealous of her eyes.  At the conclusion of the poem (and of the music), all of nature is so stilled by her presence that not even a leaf stirs upon the trees.           

Funérailles is the 7th and one of the most famous pieces in Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, a collection of piano pieces by Liszt in response to the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by the Habsburgs.  It was meant as a tribute to three of his friends who suffered, two who lost their lives. Composed in four distinct sections, its three main themes repeat throughout.

Das Wandern: A piano transcription of Schubert’s composition for voice and piano, the wandering evokes the running of a stream as a metaphor for physical and spiritual excursions. It is said that the tunefulness and emotional immediacy of Schubert's songs would have been slow to reach the wider public's attention outside of Vienna if Liszt had not performed his wordless versions throughout his constant touring. "Lisztomania," a phrase attributed to the poet and critic Heine, was rampant. His popularity was mythic.

The Les Adieux Sonata, composed during Beethoven’s middle period, reflects a time of personal and political tumult. Vienna was a city under siege; the Napoleonic wars loomed large, affecting national borders and personal lives. Beethoven found himself caught in these historical crosswinds. The catalyst for this composition was the forced departure of his patron, Archduke Rudolph, who fled Vienna due to Napoleon’s attacks. The interaction between Beethoven and the Archduke was more than that of artist and patron; it was a deep friendship cultivated over years of shared artistic pursuit.

The four movements of Wanderer - Fantasie are all built around the same motif, each movement transitioning into the next instead of ending with a final definitive cadence, and each starts with a variation of the opening phrase of Schubert’s lied Der Wanderer.