ESTER LECHA, piano

F. Chopin: Nocturne Op. 27 No. 1 / L. van Beethoven: Sonata No. 30, Op. 109 / F. Liszt: "Sonetto 104 del Petrarca" from Années de Pèlerinage II, S. 161 / R. Schumann: Novellette Op. 21 No. 8

The piano was the Romantic instrument par excellence, largely due to the substantial technical progress contributed by builders such as Johann Andreas Stein and Sébastien Érard, who transformed it into a very versatile solo instrument and the favourite of composers, most of whom were also great pianists. Ester Lecha presents four of these composer pianists: Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt, with a compilation of works that offer a taste of the two great ambitions of the Romantic piano, the grand form, with the sonata which they now endow with new means of expression, and the exploration of intimacy with the petit forms.