Piano Recital with Leif Ove Andsnes

Leif Ove Andsnes (photo: Gregor Hohenberg)

Chamber Music

Leif Ove Andsnes feels a special bond with Ludwig van Beethoven: “He speaks to people from heart to heart,” says the pianist. In his Piano Sonata No. 31, Beethoven moves the listener with a multitude of emotions, from meditative intimacy to exultant ecstasy. The other items on the programme are also heartfelt: Antonín Dvořák describes romantic images of nature in his Poetic Moods, Leoš Janáček the tragic death of a worker at a demonstration in the First Piano Sonata, Alexander Wustin the song of a bird during a funeral in his Lamento and Valentin Silvestrov's Bagatelle is melancholic and consoling.

Leif Ove Andsnes piano

Alexander Wustin

Lamento

Leoš Janáček

Piano Sonata “1.X.1905 (From the street)”

Valentin Silvestrov

Bagatelle, op. 1 No. 3

Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, op. 110

Antonín Dvořák

Poetic Tone Pictures, op. 85

Dates and Tickets

Biographies

Leif Ove Andsnes

When pianist of “masterful elegance” Leif Ove Andsnes takes his seat at the keyboard, “extraordinary things happen” (New York Times). As one of the “most gifted musicians of his generation” (Wall Street Journal), he delights audiences worldwide in orchestral concerts and recitals with his masterful technique and straightforward interpretations, which are supported by clear, structured, highly poetic and immensely colourful playing: “I play on an instrument where hammers strike the strings. If you look at it objectively, the piano is a kind of percussion instrument – but a wonderful one that you can use in so many different ways.” The Norwegian pianist makes guest appearances with the leading orchestras and gives solo recitals in the world’s great concert halls such as New York, London, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. He is also a keen chamber musician and founding director of the Norwegian Rosendal Chamber Music Festival. In his piano recitals, he says, he is always interested in “a good mix” of the familiar and the exotic: “My teacher Jiří Hlinka very much encouraged me to explore the unknown realms of the repertoire.  I am always amazed at how many masterpieces there are still to discover.” Of his 30 CD recordings, covering the repertoire from the time of Bach to the present, more than a third have been nominated for Grammy awards.

A short piano lexicon

Etudes, Nocturne, Impromptu, Sonatas and Co.