Eindhoven, Netherlands – Recital

Mitsuko Uchida, piano

PROGRAMME
Joseph Haydn: Variations in F minor, Hob. XVII:6
Arnold Schönberg: 6 kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Rondo in A minor, KV 511
György Kurtág: from Játékok: Márta ligaturája
Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D 959

VENUE NOTE:
Mitsuko Uchida can certainly be called an acclaimed master pianist. She is a regular guest at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, the last time being in 2024. NRC wrote about her performance at the time: ‘the sensitive to sound […] leaves no accent underexposed.’ This says a lot about the meticulousness of her playing. The pianist is known for her refined interpretations of Mozart and Schubert, and she plays these composers tonight. In addition, she is a fervent advocate of the Second Viennese School, something her interpretation of Schönberg’s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke clearly demonstrates; the pieces balance on the edge of Romanticism.

Uchida begins with Haydn’s Variations in F minor. It proves once again that this composer deserves to appear on many a pianist’s music stand a little more often. Mozart is also on the program. We know the composer for cheerful, lively, sparkling music, but here he suddenly reveals his romantic side with Rondo in A minor. A touch of the Hungarian György Kurtág, who turned 100 this year, could not be missing. Finally, it is time for music that, after Kurtág’s minimalism, reaches for the grand, the expansive; a lyrical song without end: Schubert’s Late Sonata in A, D959.