Clayton Piano Festival: A Night at the Theater

Matthew Harrison explores the dramatic impulses behind three unique sonatas spanning over a hundred year range. The journey begins with Beethoven’s enigmatic “Tempest” sonata, a work which has captivated audiences since its inception with its often violent contrasts between stormy intensity and lyrical introspection. Then we are treated to a look at another side of the quintessential American composer, Aaron Copland, with his evocative Piano Sonata. The program concludes with the rarely performed First Sonata by Rachmaninoff, a work perhaps inspired partly by Geothe's Faust.