UKH

Great opportunity to hear for £10 an hour of music by Beethoven and Chopin played by Martino Tirimo, who has played all over the world with all the great modern orchestras and conductors. He is the classical pianist’s pianist, with a sublime touch and utterly modest and self-deprecating demeanour. He will be playing for the Kendal Midday Concert Club on their superb Steinway Grand in the Town Hall at 1 pm on Wednesday this week, Feb 21. All welcome, just turn up with a tenner in your pocket (no cards).

Not seen him at the proms!

:-}

Thanks so much for posting Rog! I've been to one a couple of years back but I normally work Wednesdays so have been out of the loop. 

I don't listen to Chopin's sonatas much (given how obsessed I am with much of the rest) so it was the perfect programme for just the right time. That finale! I got confused and expected the one with the final movement that makes absolutely no sense, so it was a great surprise for me...

Really enjoyed it, how about that for a tenner.

That’s great, so glad you enjoyed it. Where did you sit? We’ve taken to sitting on the balcony where you get a much better, if more distant view, because the seats are raked.

Debbie and I were a bit disappointed. The playing was magnificent, both technically and artistically, but we weren’t hugely excited by the programme. The Beethoven was rather “sins of my youth” stuff, or the deservedly neglected fantasia, and I’m afraid Chopin never really touches me emotionally. I would have revelled in some late Schubert played by such a musician. 
Still good value for a tenner, though. I still find it wonderful to see a pianist playing for over an hour from memory.

Right hand side, near the front. Great view and sound.

I agree there's not a lot to say about the first piece, but I enjoyed the fantasy a lot, never heard it before.

Wow. The Ballades run the emotional gamut like a bipolar patient on acid. Some of the nocturnes have me bawling my eyes out even if I've just found a tenner down the side of the sofa. For me, Chopin is where virtuosity and imagination come together to make use of the piano as the perfect technology for expressing the content of the human soul. Not kidding!

But for me the sonatas aren't really where he shines, so if you're not a big fan anyway, I can see where you're coming from. 

Me too. Where Chopin is emotionally exuberant and a bit flashy, Schubert is elegant and deeply sincere. If I had to choose, it would have to be Schubert's final works.

I'd have paid a tenner for the Walz in C#m but I'm a sucker for Chopin. The Walzes are a lot like Mozart - orderly perfection, humour, sadness and joy. Cracking!

Thanks for the prompt  just streaming late Schubert piano sonatas (Murray Perahia) with my bed time Laphroaig after enjoying Leonard Cohen’s Thanks for the Dance. Late convert to streaming after putting my CDs in the attic

Another very happy late reader of your post here, Rog. Had no idea this existed, and it was a total joy to sit in the presence of such skill for an hour away from the desk. Cheers for the heads up! Still reeling from the resonance of that Steinway…

So glad you enjoyed it. Did you mean you were not aware of the midday concerts? Worth checking out their website and making sure you get a season programme for next autumn. Only two more events left before the summer break. 
Other things of similar ilk include LDSM in August and Yewfield concerts. Both these are more expensive than Kendal midday series.

Are you new to these?

Yes

The last three are all phenomenal, especially as the composer probably knew he was dying. He left an amazing body of work despite dying at 31.

As I get older my tastes seem to have drifted from big symphonies Mahler and Bruckner (although I still enjoy them) through chamber music like Beethoven’s late quartets towards sonatas; less is more. I guess the same went for composers

I’ve gone on a similar journey myself. Mind you, I started exploring the string quartet repertoire back in the late 60s when we lived in Leek and the Lindsey Quartet were in residence at Keele Uni, and gave regular recitals at Stoke theatre in the round. Very sadly, the great Peter Cropper who led the Lindseys died 9 years back, and he was younger than me :0((

Check out the G major too. Plus both sets of impromtus, the moments musicaux and the fantasy for piano 4 hands. 

This is my favourite recording of the latter. Impossibly beautiful.

https://youtu.be/nzOtB6fJhiw?si=-GzVexHgKjEwoQSn