Richard Goode

Wednesday, March 15, 2017 8 PM Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

The works of Bach and Chopin are touchstones for pianists and repertoire for which audiences have clamored for centuries. Their music requires a pianist to have both sensitivity of touch and soul, an inquisitive mind that can embark on daring harmonic journeys, and an innate sense of melody to make the piano sing. Richard Goode is a pianist who has all of this and expertly interprets the works of these masters.

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Performers

Richard Goode, Piano

Program

BACH Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, BWV 883

BACH Prelude and Fugue in G Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, BWV 884

BACH Prelude and Fugue in A Minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, BWV 889

BACH Prelude and Fugue in B Major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, BWV 892

BACH Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830

CHOPIN Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 55, No. 2

CHOPIN Nocturne in C Minor, Op. 48, No. 1

CHOPIN Mazurka in C Major, Op. 24, No. 2

CHOPIN Mazurka in A-flat Major, Op. 59, No. 2

CHOPIN Mazurka in F Minor, Op. 7, No. 3

CHOPIN Mazurka in B-flat Minor, Op. 24, No. 4

CHOPIN Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47

CHOPIN Nocturne in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27, No. 1

CHOPIN Nocturne in E Major, Op. 62, No. 2

CHOPIN Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60

Encore:

BACH Sarabande from Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828

Event Duration

The printed program will last approximately two and one-half hours, including one 20-minute intermission.

View Program Notes

At a Glance

It’s hard to believe that less than a century separated the deaths of Bach and Chopin. Each in his own way, these two titans of the keyboard left an indelible mark both on the music they wrote for their respective instruments and on the way those instruments were played. Bach’s six suite-like partitas for harpsichord and the 48 paired preludes and fugues of The Well-Tempered Clavier have long been cornerstones of the keyboard repertoire. A master improviser, he developed an innovative system of fingering that enabled him not only to range with ease across the full spectrum of keys—some of which had traditionally been held to lie awkwardly under the fingers—but also to invest the inner lines of his music with greater complexity and textural interest.

What the prelude, fugue, and partita were for Bach, the nocturne, ballade, mazurka, and barcarolle were for Chopin—ready-made bottles into which each composer could decant the fruits of his revolutionary genius. Bach was a continual source of inspiration for the Polish composer, who reinterpreted the Baroque master’s linear contrapuntal textures and intricate melodic figurations in his own Romantic idiom. Like Bach, Chopin was renowned for the exceptional range of his keyboard technique. One observer wrote that “his delicate and slender hands cover wide stretches and skips with a fabulous lightness, and his finger agility is so marvelous that I am ready to believe the amusing story that he has been seen to put his foot around his neck!”

Bios

Richard Goode

Richard Goode has been hailed for music making of tremendous emotional power, depth, and expressiveness, and has been acknowledged worldwide as one of today's leading interpreters of Classical and Romantic music. Through his regular performances with the major orchestras, recitals in the world's music capitals, and extensive and acclaimed recordings with Nonesuch Records, he has won a large and devoted following.

Mr. Goode opened his 2016-2017 season in New York as a soloist with Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in a program that was filmed as part of a documentary to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the country's most popular summer music events. Mr. Goode is also featured in numerous European festivals this season-including the Edinburgh International Festival-and makes appearances in London, Budapest, Madrid, Stockholm, Antwerp, and Helsinki.

Additional highlights of Mr. Goode's 2016-2017 season are concerts in Hungary and on tour in the US with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer, with whom he recorded Beethoven's five piano concertos. Mr. Goode performs concertos No. 2 and No. 4 on tour, including appearances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Celebrity Series of Boston, as well as with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan's University Musical Society. Mr. Goode also performs recitals at major university and concert series throughout North America this season.

Richard Goode

Performers

Program

Event Duration

At a Glance

Bios

Richard Goode

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