Personally nominated to the Classeek Ambassador Programme by Sir András Schiff, pianist Avery Gagliano joins us with a recital spanning nearly 200 years and encompassing a broad range of musical styles and influences. She opens with one of the more delicate of Bach’s ‘French’ Suites, which first appeared in a music book he compiled for his second wife, possibly as a wedding present. Written in B minor, a key often reserved for some of Bach’s most impressive – and melancholic – works, the suite brings together musical influences from across Europe, making the ‘French’ moniker somewhat misleading. Following the form of a Baroque dance suite, these were designed to challenge Bach’s students as he was developing his reputation as one of Europe’s leading music teachers. 

Chopin sits at the heart of this programme, with a set of three grand, rhythmic mazurkas, thick with melodic invention and expressive range. Written during one of his summers in Nohant in France with the writer George Sand, the three mazurkas showcase the very best of Chopin’s contrapuntal writing, with contrasting lines interwoven to create a vibrant range of textures.

This gives way to Chopin’s Barcarolle in F sharp major, a piece written a few years later towards the end of the composer’s life. Although it is a lyrical work, full of sweeping romantic phrases, it’s also incredibly demanding of the pianist, requiring large interval reaches in the left hand and balanced, even passages in the right. There is a childlike simplicity and dreaminess to the playfulness of each phrase, while still being peppered with the folk-inspired harmonic language you’d expect of a barcarolle, a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers. 

Szymanowski brings us into the 20th century with his set of 10 Variations in B flat minor, dedicated to his friend and one of the world’s greatest ever pianists, Arthur Rubinstein. They follow on from Chopin’s Barcarolle with a similarly romantic style, in a hat tip to the 19th-century ideals of form construction. However, there’s a uniquely modern flavour added throughout, with moments of heavy chromaticism and dissonance thanks to Szymanowski’s bold harmonic language. 

Programme notes by Freya Parr