Alexandre Kantorow: Piano Recital

Alexandre Kantorow is a pianist that can’t be missed. The first French pianist to win first prize at the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, and performing with orchestras like the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Nationale de France, Kantorow is a rising star. In 2023, he gained worldwide popularity from his performance of “Jeux d’Eau” in the rain during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, after which he was deemed “heroic and unflappable” by France3. His performances of nearly every iconic work for piano have garnered him acclaim, with Gramophone magazine describing his playing as an “outstanding example of virtuosity and artistry, displaying both skill and sensitivity from start to finish”.

The program begins with Liszt’s variations on Bach’s BWV 12, a cantata titled Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen. These variations are based on the chromatic bass line from the cantata’s opening chorus, which eventually expands into thirty variations. Liszt composed this work at a crossroads in his life, allowing the translation of “weeping, plaints, sorrows, fears” to ring specifically true. One of Medtner’s first compositions follows: his Piano Sonata in F minor, a work that displays as much confidence as it does Romanticism. With nods to Bach’s structures, Liszt’s boisterousness, and Rachmaninoff’s grand writing, this sonata sits as a bridge between two very different and very compelling works.

Also featured is Frédéric Chopin’s dream-like Prelude in C-sharp Minor, with its color and improvisatory nature, followed by Scriabin’s Sonata No. 10, known as his “trill sonata” or “insect sonata”. Scriabin commented on this work “My Tenth Sonata is a sonata of insects. Insects are born from the sun… they are the sun’s.” Beethoven’s final piano sonata concludes the program; sitting with only two movements Beethoven toys with majestic, stormy, and dramatic themes throughout the work.