The Chamber Cycle of Auditorio de Tenerife presents a concert by the renowned Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky.

Virtuosity, temperament and solemnity go hand in hand in this programme that features great works from the piano repertoire of the last centuries. Four ascending notes open this recital. They come from the Sonata Op. 31 No. 2, named by Beethoven himself ‘The Tempest’ as a reference to Shakespeare’s play. Composed in 1802, he wrote this work when his progressive and incurable deafness was unavoidably leading him to despair. From the very first chords the composer displays his agitation, depth, thematic and formal mastery. 

The programme continues with the ‘Prélude, Choral et Fugue’ by César Frank, the Belgian master based in Paris. This work shows a great motivic and harmonic coherence and reflects his deep respect for Bach. The author does so by composing initially a Prelude and Fugue to which he later added the Choral. This brings continuity and mysticism to the whole work. His tribute to the Leipzig master continues with an arrangement by the Russian master Serguéi Rachmaninov of Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 3 in E major. This piece closes this recital by one of the great heirs of this school. 

Lugansky has made a selection of piano pieces that require great technical and melodic demands. The repertoire has been created as a compendium of images. According to the musician, “let the pieces paint for themselves what they suggest the most.”