Programme

Hardy Rittner

Johannes Brahms: Seven Fantasies op. 116
Johannes Brahms: Three Intermezzi op. 117
Arnold Schönberg: Six Little Piano Pieces op. 19
Arnold Schönberg: Piano Pieces op. 23
Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Piano No. 1 in C major op. 1

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 8.00 p.m., Erholungshaus Leverkusen
Köln Ticket (Direct ticket order)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 8.00 p.m., Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal

Prices € 20 | 18

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Hardy Rittner

The pianist Hardy Rittner is one of the young artistes being sponsored by Bayer Arts & Culture as part of its stART project. He studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Berlin University of the Arts and was also taught by Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Paul Badura-Skoda, Christian Zacharias, Andrei Gavrilov, Dominique Merle and Ivo Pogorelich. Sylvain Cambreling described him as “one of the most interesting young artistes I have ever met”. Rittner’s recordings of Brahms’ early piano works on historic pianos from the workshops of Johann Baptist Streicher and Ignaz Bösendorfer – instruments which the composer himself valued – had the critics in raptures. His playing is characterized by a differentiated touch and close adherence to the composer’s instructions coupled with a remarkable artistic maturity and a deft use of rubati. These qualities will undoubtedly also be heard on his CD of piano compositions by Arnold Schönberg which is being sponsored by Bayer Arts & Culture and is due to be released on the MDG label in autumn 2009.

In our recital, Rittner focuses on the links between Schönberg and Brahms, of whom Schönberg was a great admirer. In the first part, he will perform Brahms’ highly concentrated Seven Fantasies (op. 116) and the Three Intermezzi (op. 117), which are among the composer’s late works, followed by Schönberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces op. 19. These will be played on an 1878 concert grand piano by Friedrich Ehrbar. After the interval, he will play Schönberg’s Piano Pieces op. 23 and the Sonata op. 1 by Johannes Brahms on a modern Steinway.

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