Moonlight Sonata

PROGRAMME: Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata Chopin – Selected Works Liszt – Selected Works

ABOUT: At the heart of this one-hour programme is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, one of the most famous and haunting works ever written for piano. The work acquired its famous nickname after it was likened to moonlight shining on Lake Lucerne by a famous poet of the time. Unlike other piano sonatas, Beethoven begins with a hushed, almost hypnotic opening, built on a gently undulating accompaniment, before moving through a lighter middle movement and culminating in a turbulent, dramatic finale — a movement of extraordinary intensity and drive that pushes the piano to its limits.

The programme also includes music by Chopin and Liszt, two composers who expanded the expressive and technical possibilities of the piano in very different ways.