J.S. Bach Partita No 1 in B flat major
A.Shor/M. Pletnev Piano Sonata
César Franck Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

British pianist and Director of the Yehudi Menuhin School, Ashley Wass, opens our series of lunchtime concerts with a typically varied programme – a calling card of this wonderful musician. 

Belgian born César Frank’s overly ambitious parents drove the young prodigy away from the piano and concert stage. He returned to the instrument in his sixties, writing the Prelude, Chorale and Fugue in 1884. Despite the obvious homage to Bach, whose Partita No 1 opens the programme, many influences can be heard including Beethoven, Schumann and Liszt, the latter occupying a special place in Franck’s heart for having befriended him at the beginning of his career. 

The centrepiece of the concert is Alexey Shor’s arrangement of Mikhail Pletnev’s Piano Sonata, an expertly crafted work, highly communicative and deeply moving. 

Generously supported by CambridgeBID 

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