Details

Conway Hall
25 Red Lion Square
Camden
London
WC1R 4RL
England

Saturday 21st September 2024
6:30 PM

Programme

Johann Sebastian Bach – Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659 (arr. Busoni)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Ich habe Genug, BWV 82 (arr. Hemmerlé)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 906
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata no.32 in C minor, Op.111
Claude Debussy – Preludes, Book II: La Puerta del Vino
Claude Debussy – Preludes, Book I: La Sérénade Interrompue
Isaac Albéniz – Iberia, Book 3
Déodat de Séverac – Cerdaña: Les Muletiers devant le Christ Lilvia
Enrique Granados – El Pelele (The Straw Man)

Performers

Patrick Hemmerlé – piano

Other concerts in this Series ▼

Programme Note

The first half of pianist Patrick Hemmerlé‘s programme is a spiritual quest. The set of pieces by Bach explore feelings of anguish and a sense of yearning. The first movement of Beethoven’s final sonata is also concerned with the trials inherent in the human condition. In the second movement, however, we reach another plane, as if the conflicts are finally resolved, and one finds stillness and peace.

In the second half, we are invited into an exploration of Spanish music. The programme opens with 2 Préludes by Debussy, who, with his uncanny ability to capture an atmosphere, gives us the essence of Spain condensed in a few minutes of music. Albeniz’s Iberia is the masterpiece by a genius composer who gave Spanish music a voice, and made a colorful and exuberant use of the piano of which even Franz Liszt couldn’t dream. The work by Séverac is a melancholic interlude of great beauty, and Granados’ El Pelele, after Goya, closes the programme with unbridled joy.

“The pianist Patrick Hemmerlé impresses with his mastery of musical flow and seduces with his way of managing tonal sonorities.” — Diapason