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BRUCE LIU
Haydn, Chopin, Rameau
Canadian Bruce Liu has been a celebrated Chopin interpreter since winning the 2021 Chopin Piano Competition. Here he complements the Second Piano Sonata and ‘Là ci darem la Mano’ variations with works by Rameau and Handel.
Programme
JOSEPH HAYDN (1732-1809)
Piano Sonata in B minor Hob. XVI:32
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor Op. 35
Interval
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764)
Les Tendres Plaintes
Les Cyclopes
Menuets I and II
Les Sauvages
La Poule
Gavotte et six doubles
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni Op. 2
Distribution
- Bruce Liu piano
Published in 1776, Haydn’s Keyboard Sonata No. 47 in B minor rarely slips away from anxious, clipped phrasing and minor tonality; even its central B major Menuet has a more troubled central trio. Jagged turbulence is also a defining feature of the first two technically-ferocious movements of Chopin’s 1839 Piano Sonata No. 2, albeit punctuated by warmer, nocturne-like sections. Next comes the famous Marche funèbre, which began life in 1837 as a stand-alone piece, before a brief, étude-like presto Finale takes the virtuosity up a further notch, with a swirling bleakness that’s entirely different to the sunny cantabile lyricism heard in the early (1827) theme and variations on ‘Là Cidarem la Mano’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Equally awash with lyric poeticism, sophisticatedly embellished melodic lines and high virtuosity is Rameau’s keyboard music, penned across the first half of the 1720s.