Spivey Hall: Leif Ove Andsnes, piano (on-demand until 2/23/2021)
$15
Edvard Grieg — Lyric Pieces Op. 54
Antonín Dvořák — Poetic Tone Pictures Op. 85
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”
Edvard Grieg – Selections from Lyric Pieces, Op. 54
Antonín Dvořák – Selections from Poetic Tone Pictures, Op. 85
Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall presents a virtual recital by celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight” (The New York Times), in a special program of Beethoven, Grieg, and Dvořák on Sunday, February 21.
“Leif Ove Andsnes has recorded an exceptionally beautiful recital video for Spivey Hall to stream that is a delight to the eye and the ear,” said Dixon. “It allows viewers to experience his outstanding artistry in a wonderfully personal way, with close-ups of his hands and face that complement his excellent and engaging performances.” Mr. Andsnes recorded the concert at the concert at the Edvard Grieg Museum recital hall located at Troldhaugen, the home of Nina and Edvard Grieg, in Bergen, Norway, where Mr. Andsnes and his family also live.
The Washington Post calls Mr. Andsnes “one of the finest musicians working today.” He is the recipient of eleven Grammy nominations and six Gramophone Awards. “When he sits in front of the keyboard… extraordinary things happen,” explains The New York Times.
During the February 21 recital, Mr. Andsnes performs four of Edvard Grieg’s Lyric Pieces only steps away from Grieg’s own composing cottage on the edge of Lake Nordås. The program also includes eight of the Dvořák Poetic Tone Pictures; Mr. Andsnes will soon record the entire cycle on Sony Classical.
Mr. Andsnes is admired for his unaffected and engaging personality onstage and off. Throughout his Spivey Hall recital he delivers thoughtful remarks about the repertoire and the people behind it. He reveals Spivey Hall is one of his favorite U.S. venues, praising its intimate nature and spacious acoustics, and acknowledges his appreciation for the audiences he has encountered there. Indeed, Mr. Andsnes has a wonderful and storied history of performances at the Atlanta hall. In 2012, he gave “Clara” – Spivey Hall’s then-new Hamburg Steinway Model D-274 concert grand piano – her performance debut, just one day after the instrument had arrived and was uncrated following its transatlantic journey from the Steinway factory in Germany. (More details about this story are here.)
Mr. Andsnes is praised for his poetic interpretations and powerful technique, and each composer on the February 21 program holds significant and meaning. The pianist has said that Beethoven's music “is for me the most human and deeply spiritual music there is.” He made the composer his primary focus during “The Beethoven Journey,” a multi-season collaborative project of recording and performing the cycle of all five of Beethoven's Piano Concerti and his Choral Fantasy with The Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In his spoken comments, he notes how Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (“Pathétique”) signifies the point when the 27-year-old Beethoven began establishing himself as the greatest composer and performer in Vienna.
Mr. Andsnes then takes his audience on a “journey of increasing subtlety and introspection" (Gramophone) as he performs four of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, Op. 54. In 2002, Mr. Andsnes released an album of his personal selection of Grieg's Lyric Pieces recorded on the composer’s own 1892 Steinway grand piano in the villa at Troldhaugen. During the past two years, Mr. Andsnes has returned to Grieg’s Piano Concerto, a work which he had frequently performed at the beginning of his career. His recent performances include those with the Oslo Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons. He also played the Grieg in June 2020 with Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic as part of Norway’s first public concert after lockdown.
His recital program concludes with eight of Dvořák’s 13 Poetic Tone Pictures, each expressing a simple and folk song-like musical idea, which Dvořák transforms and elevates to highly expressive effect. Describing them as “prime-time Dvořák,” Mr. Andsnes shares his puzzlement over why they are not more well-known outside the Czech Republic; he has loved these works since listening to them on his parents’ LP as a boy. Mr. Andsnes will continue to champion these works through his upcoming Sony Classical recording of the complete Dvořák cycle.
The broadcast will take place at 3pm Eastern / 12pm Pacific.
Virtual Event purchase includes the initial stream plus convenient on-demand access to the recorded performance for 48 hours.
Link to donate: https://www.clayton.edu/giving-to-spivey-hall