Auckland Philharmonia | NZ Herald Premier Series: Beethoven's Piano No.4

Conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens

Piano Sophia Liu

With musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM)

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4

Bartók The Wooden Prince (complete ballet)

The brilliant 17-year-old Canadian pianist Sophia Liu makes her Australasian debut with Beethoven’s concerto. It begins with the piano ruminating alone but soon broadens out into one of his most genial works.

A fairy enchants a stream so a prince cannot cross it to see his princess; he wins her with a wooden model of himself. When composing this sumptuous ballet, Bartók was having a passionate love affair, which left more than slight traces in the music.

Notes Fund - Music for this concert has been supported in Memory of Lyn and Doug Gillanders