Swindon Recital Series: Liszt sonata and Brahms Fantasies – solo piano

Every now and then, a composition that you might think would come in several discrete sections is presented as one movement. Jamie Cochran’s solo piano programme showcases two such compositions.

Brahms wrote seven Fantasies, miniatures of variety and contrast, displaying passion, lyricism, longing and sweetness but performed as one piece. Clara Schumann wrote to Brahms ‘I like the deeply passionate ones as much as the dreamy ones, in which such exquisite sounds are conjured out of the piano.’

A sonata usually has four movements but Liszt’s sonata is also played as one piece, by turns quiet, defiant, lyrical, sinister and reflective. There are some powerfully explosive and energetic passages, which seems quite appropriate for Guy Fawkes Day….