Leon Fleisher plays Chopin
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
If the third (Andante) of the seven movements in Mozart’s Cassation in G seems familiar, it might be because it was Evening Music’s theme music for many years. Now you know!
You won’t want to miss Leon Fleisher’s performance from his most recent CD, “Two Hands,” his return to the two-handed pianistic world. We open with his exquisite rendering of Chopin’s Mazurka in C-sharp Minor, Op. 50/3. The etymology of the term “cassation” is in dispute, but in Mozart’s usage, it would seem to be a kind of serenade or divertimento. Whatever the meaning, the music is beautiful, and we will much enjoy violinist Jean-Jacques Kantorow as he serenades us, along with Leopold Hager leading the Orchestre d’Avergne.
Debussy reputed to have said to Ravel, re his String Quartet in F, “In the name of God, I implore you not to change a note of your quartet.” The sad thing about this work is that it is the only string quartet Ravel ever wrote, and it leaves us wanting at least one more. The Emerson String Quartet members play it to perfection during Evening Music’s second and final hour. Don’t miss it!
You won’t want to miss Leon Fleisher’s performance from his most recent CD, “Two Hands,” his return to the two-handed pianistic world. We open with his exquisite rendering of Chopin’s Mazurka in C-sharp Minor, Op. 50/3. The etymology of the term “cassation” is in dispute, but in Mozart’s usage, it would seem to be a kind of serenade or divertimento. Whatever the meaning, the music is beautiful, and we will much enjoy violinist Jean-Jacques Kantorow as he serenades us, along with Leopold Hager leading the Orchestre d’Avergne.
Debussy reputed to have said to Ravel, re his String Quartet in F, “In the name of God, I implore you not to change a note of your quartet.” The sad thing about this work is that it is the only string quartet Ravel ever wrote, and it leaves us wanting at least one more. The Emerson String Quartet members play it to perfection during Evening Music’s second and final hour. Don’t miss it!
