The first half of the program features compositions by Chopin. The genre of the nocturne, or “night music,” interested the Polish composer throughout his life. At this matinee concert, three of the twenty-one nocturnes will be performed: the B-flat minor from his youth, the C-minor from the composer’s final decade, and the C-sharp minor, published after Chopin’s death. These somewhat shorter pieces are followed by the B-flat minor scherzo. Schumann compared this piece, which demands virtuosity yet poetic delicacy, to the poetry of Byron. In the second half of the concert, István Gulyás invites his listeners on a journey—in the footsteps of Liszt. We will hear works from the volumes ofAnnées de pèlerinagedepicting Italy and Switzerland. The Sposalizio, which opens the Italian journey, evokes Raphael’s painting, the engagement of Virgin Mary is represented by a bell-like motif. This is followed by Petrarch’s 123rd sonnet, and finally the last one takes us to Switzerland. TheObermann-valleyis based on an epistolary novel by the French Romantic Sénancour, in which a wanderer is searching for the meaning of life in the solitude of the Swiss mountains.

Chopin: Nocturne in B-flat minor, Op. 9/1

Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48/1

Chopin: Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. Posth.

Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31

Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie » 1. Sposalizio

Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie » 6. Sonetto 123 del Petrarca

Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse » 6. Vallée d’Obermann

István Gulyás (piano)

Presented byLiszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre