Soloabend Mit Claire Huangci by Scarlatti, D., Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Gershwin, от (2023/2023), Richard-Wagner-Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, Germany

It would take about 35 hours to play all 555 harpsichord sonatas that have come down to us from Scarlatti. Claire Huangci has selected four particularly thrilling ones for the audience at the Piano Days. Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is one of the most famous works in the classical repertoire and one of the most frequently performed piano works in music history. The composer created a musical monument for eternity to his friend Viktor Hartmann and his paintings. "I'm only slightly satisfied with my previous work. From today on I want to take a new path" Beethoven said in 1802, radically changing his style, which he proved shortly afterwards with the three sonatas op. 31. A vibrant, torn work whose instructions, according to Beethoven, can be found in Shakepeare's The Tempest. With "Rhapsody in Blue", composed in just three weeks and premiered in 1924, George Gershwin gave the Americans their first symphony and thus established his world fame.