February 26, 2021 - Virtual Concert Series Newsletter

This week we feature the brilliant performer Andrew Tyson. First we have two selections from Messiaen’s monumental piano cycle, Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (Twenty visions of the infant Jesus), which has a playing time of about two hours. Messiaen began to compose the cycle in 1944 and it was premiered in 1945 by Messiaen’s piano student and future wife, Yvonne Loriod. We first hear Andrew play the 13th movement, Noël (Christmas) which evokes the clamor of bells on Christmas Eve. Following it comes the 15th “Regard”, “Le Baiser de l’enfant-Jésus” ("The kiss of the infant Jesus"). Next Andrew performs Beethoven’s “Les Adieux”, the 26th piano sonata. The recital concludes with a short piece, “Autrefois,” by Cecile Chaminade, before bringing the virtual recital to a brilliant close with Liszt’s staggeringly difficult “Vallée d’Obermann.”