When the day closes its eyes, the ears are given free rein. The repertoire of the nocturne majestically reflects the splendour of darkness: a ledger of meandering melodies, atmospheric chords and gurgling arpeggios whispered by all that dwells between dusk and dawn.
The nocturne peaked with Fryderyk Chopin, but there are still pearls in the crown of the most sophisticated of all keyboard genres. In 1812, John Field was the first to refer to his lyrical miniatures as ‘nocturnes’; like Chopin, Field drew the cloak of night around himself to wander virtuosically along the keys of the most ravishing instruments of his time. ‘He opened the door to Lieder ohne Worte, impromptus, ballads and all other kinds of compositions portraying personal and deep emotions,’ Liszt wrote in the preface to Field’s first volume. These were prophetic words, because besides the illustrious maestro himself, quite a few other Romantic keyboard composers composed nocturnes along the lines of Field – not least a remarkable contingent of Russians, including Glinka, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Skrjabin, Balakirev and Rachmaninov. This is no coincidence: Fields’ collection was published in St Petersburg and enjoyed stormy success there before spreading further to Central and Western Europe. There, the craze was picked up by Chopin, who opened up new dimensions in terms of form, volume, complexity and harmonic undauntedness. Chopin’s graceful nocturnes – all of which will be reviewed during this four-day event! – are the epitome of melodic invention and pianistic refinement, topped off with sublime counterpoint and a narrative naturalness that gives even the most seasoned piano fans goosebumps. Propelled to cosmic heights, the nocturne continued its conquests both inside (Fauré, Debussy, Saint-Saëns) and outside (Wieck-Schumann, Mendelssohn-Hensel, Czerny, Thalberg, Grieg) the French borders. It produced a wondrous panorama of soundscapes, in which colour and cherishment deminished the lightless hours. But not everyone found security in the darkness. With Sibelius, the arctic coolness of a starless sky fails to quench unrest, and Samuel Barber drives Chopin’s harmonic excursions to extremes in his opus 33, but without pushing the music over the edge.
PIANONOCTURNESinPRIMETIME is stirred and rocked, enticed and surprised by an exquisite collection of nocturnal music, interpreted by a bevy of keyboard talent. Nocturnal music specialist Bart van Oort helped set up the festival and explores the cream of the repertoire not only at the keys, but also in a fascinating series of lectures; masterpieces meet living legends Jan Michiels, Olga Pashchenko and Abdel Rahman El Bacha; and with Laura Granero, Florent Albrecht and Naruhiko Kawaguchi we bring in experts on Wieck-Schumann, Field and Chopin. They tell their stories on a selection of sensational keyboards, lovingly collated by Chris Maene and curated by AMUZ.
Listen closely, dream deeply.
Tickets per concert below.
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