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Of his all-Romantic recital, pianist Kirill Gerstein says, "For me, it's a radical program in the sense that I almost always include something from living composers or modern music,"
For many concert pianists, Romantic composers represent the bread and butter of their repertoire, so a recital consisting solely of music from this era wouldn’t be unusual. But for a self-described “omnivorous” pianist like Kirill Gerstein, the all-Liszt and Brahms program that he will perform in an SCP Piano recital on Jan. 25 at Orchestra Hall is a rarity.
“It’s almost, for me, a radical program in the sense that I almost always include something from living composers or modern music, and show threads that connect more distant eras,” the Russian-born pianist said in a recent interview. “So, in some ways, this is a departure for me, but it’s fun to play a ‘traditional’ program.”
A frequent collaborator with British composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Adès, Gerstein has a new suite written for him and violinist Christian Tetzlaff, based on Adès’ 2004 opera, The Tempest, on his latest album. Throughout his career, Gerstein has also commissioned and premiered new works by Timo Andres, Chick Corea, Alexander Goehr, Oliver Knussen and Brad Mehldau.
Why focus on Romantic music for his upcoming recital? Ultimately, the answer is simple: “I think all the pieces are strikingly and unusually beautiful,” which Gerstein noted is an “important, if not the primary consideration for putting together a program.”
However, he also finds “interesting tensions and connections” between the four pieces he will perform: Liszt’s Three Petrarch Sonnets and Dante Sonata, followed by Brahms’ Scherzo in E-flat Minor (Op. 4) and Sonata No. 3 in F Minor (Op. 5).
The two Liszt works exemplify the 19th-century concept of “programmatic music” (a term that Liszt is credited with coining), which draws inspiration from nonmusical sources to portray a specific scene or narrative. In these cases, Liszt based his music on Italian poetry from the 14th century: Petrarch’s love sonnets and Dante’s Divine Comedy. In contrast to Liszt’s programmatic focus, Brahms was known — especially in his later years — as a composer of “absolute music,” a more abstract, non-representational style.
Gerstein’s recital repertoire blurs the boundaries of this binary. Brahms’ Scherzo and Sonata No. 3 were written during the composer’s early career, a period when he was “not that abstract yet,” said Gerstein. The latter piece even includes some poetic inspiration; in reference to the second movement, Brahms points to a quotation about two hearts intertwined in love. Meanwhile, Liszt, “as programmatic as he is, has a lot to do with absolute music,” Gerstein said, “and there’s a lot of traces of Beethoven, particularly in the Dante Sonata.”
While he regularly performs as a concerto soloist and in chamber-music settings, collaborations that are often “wonderfully inspiring,” solo recitals offer a particularly “concentrated” and “stimulating” challenge for Gerstein. “Playing alone allows the pianist to at least attempt to have complete control over all the musical elements,” he said. “Essentially, you have your 10 fingers and head and heart, and this is the orchestra in front of you.”
“I think there’s something dramatic and heroic about this beautiful, open, modern concert grand, and one person playing it and having a communal experience with the audience,” he said. “And I think this idea of the communal experience is something that we have to treasure and protect more than ever, because I think there’s such a loss of the communal feeling, of coming together, and even of the sense of reality.”
Gerstein feels that live performances have taken on added significance in a time when AI-generated content seems ubiquitous. At a recital, especially one featuring acoustic music, “whatever is happening is done by that person, in real time, for the people that have gathered to listen,” he said. “I think this listening together makes us listen differently and makes us come together in a way that seems very essentially human, and I think it was emphasized even more during COVID, when we couldn’t do it. As great as the streaming and recordings are, this is a particular experience that’s irreplaceable.”
