This current season is the 50th anniversary for the Concert Society behind what is recognised as a major part of Sidmouth’s cultural scene. The season has yielded its usual very high standard of performance from leading artists of home and abroad, but things move up a gear for the final two performances.
Stephen Kovacevich is widely recognised as one of the most revered artists of his generation. With an international career spanning more than six decades, he has long been recognised as one of the most searching interpreters of the piano repertoire. The Washington Post recently said of him “his interpretations always emanate directly from the heart: musical messages of wisdom, peace, resignation, and hope.” Stephen will perform in Sidmouth Parish Church on Saturday 9th April at 7pm with a programme of three works in which he has set the benchmark for others to follow.
He will open with Alban Berg’s piano sonata no 1; cast as a single movement, the sonata is one of the most accessible works for piano to come from the New Viennese School. It has a Romantic yet modern character in which its emotional impact, rather than technical accomplishment, is its most impressive achievement.
Stephen follows this with the first of Beethoven’s final three sonatas. Number 30 (op 109) has a more intimate structure than its predecessor, the mighty Hammerklavier, possessing an enigmatic beauty and warmth.
The closing work, after the interval, will be Schubert’s final sonata, D960. Written in the last few months of the composer’s life this is a piece of sublime heart-rending beauty.
The final concert is on 28th May and features a pianist at the beginning of a very promising career. Taking the bronze medal in last September’s Leeds International Piano Competition, Ariel Lanyi will play works by Schumann, Albeniz and Beethoven.
Tickets for the Kovacevich recital are now available at Paragon Books, or can be had online through the Sidmouth Music website at www.SidmouthMusic.org.uk where full details of both concerts are available. Any enquiries can be made to 01395 597454.
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