Pilgrimage Opus 111 Southernhay Church Friday 31 May 2019 Press Release from Stephen Beville

PILGRIMAGE OPUS 111 – A PIANO RECITAL WITH STEPHEN BEVILLE

The climactic last trill on G in the high register of the piano; the culmination of the Arietta, Beethoven's last piano sonata, Op 111 and the peak of all music?

But what a traverse and climb before we reach that plateau(!). This piano recital is designed to reflect that mountainous trek, that journey. It is for this reason that I have chosen to precede Op 111 with Liszt's Années De Pelerinage (Years Of Pilgrimage), Book I -'Swiss', and Arvo Part's Fur Alina.

Another (less obvious) leitmotiv running through the programme is the depiction (and symbolism) of bells...It links Liszt's exquisite Nocturne; The Bells from Geneva to the radically pared down tintinnabuli composition technique (derived from overtones) of Arvo Pärt - of which Fur Alina (1976) was his first acknowledged, published example. Finally, the shimmering, celestial triple-trills over a repeated, intoned pedel note (before somewhat dissolving into the ether!) at the very heart of the Arietta may also be likened to a panoply of tolling bells.

S.B.

Stephen Beville

Internationally acclaimed pianist Stephen Beville

will be performing the whole programme

on Friday 31st May, 7:30 pm

at the Southernhay United and Reformed Church,

Exeter EX1 1QA.

Tickets £12

available from Exeter Tourist Information Centre (01392 665885),

online at TicketSource

or at the door.

Quintessenz Music, Munich: "Super Beethoven, radical and intelligent, Bravissimo!"

Classical Journey: "Great imagination and technical skill – a spectacular concert!" 

Frankfurt Neue Press: "One of the most talented young musicians to emerge from the UK"

For further information about Stephen Beville,

please visit his website at satyahoo.com