Nelson Goerner | piano 

Beethoven’s Opus 101 is one of the final sonatas in which the musician takes writing for the piano to whole new levels of perfection and difficulty. Schumann composed Carnaval in Leipzig in 1834, the year in which he launched The New Journal of Music. In this autobiographical work, the composer presents himself in various masks in the midst of dancing, as we would expect at a carnival. Nelson Goerner rounds off the evening by travelling to other southern climes with Albéniz. For him, the Iberia suite conjures up Andalusia and the working-class districts of Madrid, and forms part of his own personal pantheon: “I am Argentinian and this music moves me, it’s like being pierced by an arrow… From the sublime incantation Jerez, a summons to the mysteries of the night, through to Lavapiès, which is renowned for its difficult piano score as it has so many overlapping polyphonic elements and so much hand crossing, the music of Albéniz radiates panache and joie de vivre which have been a supremely important milestone for me”.

Production Piano****