Martin Helmchen piano

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the above concert has been cancelled. There will be no replacement concert.

Performers

Martin Helmchen

piano

Programme

Bach

Partita No. 5 in G BWV829

Liszt

• Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen ‘Präludium nach Johann Sebastian Bach’ S179
• Au bord d’une source from Années de pèlerinage S160
• Nuages gris S199
• Bagatelle sans tonalité S216a
• Transcendental Study No. 2 in A minor S139

Beethoven

Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat Op. 106 ‘Hammerklavier’

About this concert

Following the death of his son Daniel in 1859, Liszt turned to Bach for solace. He extracted a theme from the lachrymose opening movement of Bach’s Cantata Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen as the basis for a set of keyboard variations.

Martin Helmchen weaves Liszt’s work of mourning together with the saturnine Nuages gris and another late masterpiece, the Bagatelle sans tonalité, a transcendent tone poem for piano. The inexorable force of Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ adds to the magnetic attraction of Helmchen’s programme.