Frank Braley (piano)

In 1991, Frank Braley won the Queen Elisabeth Competition for piano with a disarming naturalness and special poetic qualities. On December 2 he will present a program that is tailor-made for him. We are writing at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. Enlightenment ideas permeate the music and Joseph Haydn introduces an innovative, subjective expression. The 'Variations in F' show the essence of Haydn's art: fluid alternation between melancholic seriousness and simple humor. Beethoven continues this line and delivers his most emotionally driven work with the 'Appassionata'. Schubert also no longer emphasizes pure virtuosity, but rather on the lyrical. A generation later, however, the form of the sonata becomes too rigid for the evolving spirit of the times and offers little room for freedom. Liszt succeeds in reconciling these apparent contradictions. In his work he pushes piano technique to unprecedented heights, while the poetry remains undiminished.