Concerts: Concertos de Reis by Pedro Burmester

Program:

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)
In the Mists
I. Andante
II. Molto adagio
III. Andantino
IV. Presto

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)

Nocturne in C-sharp minor, KK IVa/16

Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27 No. 2

Ballade No. 4, Op. 52

Nocturne in F major, Op. 15 No. 1

Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55 No. 2

Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9 No. 2

Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61

The opening of the year takes place to the sound of Pedro Burmester’s piano, venturing through the mist and mysteries of the night. In this intimate concert, melancholy intersects with traces of folk music in a program of intense color. The Czech composer Leoš Janáček wrote the cycle In the Mists in 1912, a period when the thorns of life justified an introspective work with somber tones. The suggestive power of its four movements is enormous, bridging impressionism and the folk influence of Janáček’s native Moravia. The Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, an eternal exile, also crafted pieces of great expressive dimension, such as the celebrated Nocturnes, like an intimate diary, drawing inspiration from the musical tradition of his country, as revealed in the Polonaise-Fantaisie, “a kind of musical patchwork longing for Poland.” In Burmester’s interpretation, this program moves us towards contemplation, so necessary in times of frenzy.