ALEXANDRA DOVGAN
At 19, Alexandra Dovgan is already a piano sensation. Encouraged by Grigory Sokolov, showered with superlatives since her debut as a child prodigy at 5, the new star of the Russian piano school astonishes with her intellectual maturity. This morning, Dovgan takes on Beethoven’s monumental ‘Hammerklavier’ (50 minutes of supreme difficulty), to which (for good measure) she adds two of Chopin’s most beautiful nocturnes and Rachmaninoff’s impressive Sonata No. 2. Gripping!
Programme
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major Op. 106 “Hammerklavier”
Interval
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
2 Nocturnes Op. 27
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor Op. 36
Alexandra Dovgan plays Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-Flat Major, Op. 81a “Les adieux”
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For some, it is the Himalaya of the piano, the challenge every musician takes up after long preparation. Through its emotional power, its technical difficulty and its vast length, the Sonata No. 29 surpasses every keyboard work that came before it. Beethoven himself was under no illusion when he declared: ‘Here is a sonata that will give pianists plenty to do, when it is played fifty years hence!’. In this ‘Hammerklavier’ (literally ‘hammer keyboard’, distinguishing the struck strings of the modern piano from the plucked strings of the harpsichord, and the German word for the piano), the slow movement stands out in particular, twenty weightless minutes of extraordinary inwardness. Although he also conceived large-scale sonatas, Chopin’s genius lies rather in miniatures, such as the Two Nocturnes Op. 27 of which No. 2 has remained famous for its undulating left-hand accompaniment. Concluding a programme of extraordinary ambition, Alexandra Dovgan finally performs Rachmaninoff’s intense Sonata No. 2 in which the Russian composer follows in the footsteps of his Polish elder. A daring recital.
