In his long international career, he managed to stand out as a “purebred” virtuoso, capable of taming even the most demanding piano scores. With similar success and imagination, he moved into the parallel musical universe of jazz; his tenure in these two different stylistic worlds gave his jazz performances something of the clarity and well-intentioned cerebrality of classical music, while at the same time offering his classical interpretations something of the spontaneity and freshness of jazz.
This year’s recital includes important solo piano works by Mozart and Chopin and concludes with a reading of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s stirring Second Sonata, in its original 1913 version, which is rarely heard today due to its extreme virtuoso challenges, but always conveys the passion and pianistic brilliance of the great Russian composer’s writing.
