Elisabeth Leonskaja - Kultur.Sommer.Semmering
Alban Berg:
Piano Sonata, op. 1
Johannes Brahms:
Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, op. 1
Arnold Schönberg:
Suite for Piano, op. 25
Johannes Brahms:
Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Minor, op. 2
“Why do we give concerts? So that people can forget for a while, so they can immerse themselves in a completely different sphere and purify themselves, so to speak. I wish that the listeners leave the concert with the feeling of having recognized something as a spiritual idea, something that occupies us in life, which we normally do not recognize.” - Elisabeth Leonskaja
For decades, Elisabeth Leonskaja has belonged to the greatest pianists of our time. When she steps on stage, the audience immediately feels the musical power that arises from her virtuosic playing. Although Leonskaja has chosen the metropolitan Vienna as her home and is a renowned musician through numerous celebrated concerts around the world, she enjoys returning to the idyllic, tranquil world of Semmering time and again. Far from the noisy hustle and bustle of the big city, the world-famous pianist this year navigates the unique musical landscapes of the great romantic Brahms with the selected piano sonatas in C Major, op. 1 and F-sharp Minor, op. 2, accompanied by musical pearls of the turn of the century from the pens of Alban Berg and Arnold Schönberg. Leonskaja takes the audience into the joyfully dancing, whisperingly contemplative, and dramatic realms of the classical cosmos, which subtly reveal the truth of human existence.
“The path of Elisabeth Leonskaja is a path of summits. By continually surpassing herself - through her high standards, her passion, and intelligence, she places herself among the greatest, not only of today but of the entire era: alongside a Clara Haskil, a Lipatti, with modernity added.” - Andre Boucourechliev, music magazine “Diapason”