Richard Goode, superstar pianist, performs Friday with Keyboard Concerts. Plus: You can win a pair of tickets.
The Philip Lorenz International Keyboard Concerts series always boasts notable professional concert pianists throughout its season. But at least a couple of times a year, a name comes up that ranks as a superstar.
The next concert in the season (7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16) certainly falls into that category.
Richard Goode, a Grammy winner, will play an all-Beethoven program that includes a piece so difficult that it is rarely performed.
(I’m giving away two pairs of tickets to Friday’s performance. If you’re interested, leave a comment on this story telling me you’d like to attend. Enter by 10 p.m. Thursday; I’ll let the winners know by email.)
With a long list of recordings, a bevy of awards, and a sort of senior-statesman status among concert pianists, Goode has long been lauded for his expressiveness and emotional power.
The New York Times wrote: “It is virtually impossible to walk away from one of Richard Goode’s recitals without having gained some new insight, subtle or otherwise, into the works he played or about pianism itself.”
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Goode last played for the Keyboard series 10 years ago.
“I feel honored that he’s coming back to Fresno,” says Andreas Werz, artistic director of the series.
Goode, who was born in 1943, has a lifetime of experience at the keyboard. The three Beethoven works on his program, which include No. 6 through 11 from Bagatelles, Op.119, and the Sonata in E Major, Op.109, all represent the late and introspective phase of Beethoven’s life. In these works, known for their difficulty, the composer summed up musical history, Werz says, while at the same time pointing toward the future.
To pair Goode with these works is a phenomenal opportunity, he says.
“If someone with a lifelong experience of playing and researching such as Richard Goode now brings us this late repertoire of Beethoven, the match cannot be any better in a way.”
One piece on the program stands out for its rarity: Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op.120.
The tune by Diabelli is relatively simple. But then Beethoven offers a dizzying array of variations.
“He does everything possible compositionally,” Werz says. “It’s almost a dictionary of what one can do when varying a given theme.”
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No one has performed the piece during Werz’s long tenure at the series. In fact, Werz has only heard it performed one time before – in the early 1980s, not too long before he left Germany for Fresno to study with Philip Lorenz. (Interestingly, the performer was Rudolph Serkin, who like Goode was in his 80s as well.)
Werz is thrilled to hear it again, of course.
“Once you hear the work, you’re going to say you want to hear it again next week,” he says.
Janet Baker
I would love to attend this recital. Beethoven’s late piano music is exceptional and seeing the variations live would be such a joy.
Gloria Brough
I would love to go to Friday nights, piano concert! Thanks so much, Gloria
Julie Linxwiler
I would love to receive tickets to tomorrow evening’s piano concert by Richard Goode! His performance of Beethoven’s Opus 120 sounds thrilling.
Thank you,
Julie Linxwiler
Julie Linxwiler
I would love to go to tomorrow evening’s piano concert by Richard Goode! His performance of Beethoven’s Opus 120 sounds especially thrilling.
Many thanks,
Julie Linxwiler