Paul Lewis – Solo Recital

To conclude his residency with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the master pianist Paul Lewis presents a solo recital of music by Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms. The programme is part of a larger project by Lewis, to present the works of these masters in major concert halls around the world. Lewis himself writes about this project: “I've wanted to explore the piano sonatas of Haydn in detail for some time. There aren't many composers whose music can raise a laugh from an audience, but Haydn certainly tops that short list. His outrageous ability to surprise, shock, and poke fun at the listener still feels remarkably fresh in an age when ever-increasing extremes have become the norm. 

Brahms is a composer I've come to love more recently. Few composers manage to fuse wild passion and high drama with such supreme perfection of the craft of composition - a perfection that, for me, felt untouchable for many years.

Many of the miniatures in Beethoven's three sets of Bagatelles have much in common with the quirkish humour of Haydn, while some others look forward unmistakably to the heartfelt romanticism of Brahms. The Diabelli Variations - arguably Beethoven's greatest piano work - goes even further in both directions and, in the context of this series, serves as a summing up of the whole."