James Lisney: a musical offering

James Lisney: a musical offering

The British pianist James Lisney, a regular visitor to the Netherlands since 1991, has gained international acclaim for his Schubert and Beethoven cycles. In 2012, he chose to mark his fiftieth birthday with four recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, each devoted to the music of Franz Schubert and the Dutch composer Jan Vriend (b. 1938).

One hundred years earlier, the Concertgebouw had seen the debut of Dame Myra Hess, a pianist whose career subsequently grew to global significance and whose wartime concert series at London’s National Gallery proved music’s power to support the human spirit during the darkest of times.

Marking the sixtieth anniversary of Hess’ death, James Lisney presents Beethoven’s final sonatas – astonishing music that is particularly associated with Dame Myra – with preludes by Bach (the Ricercar a 3 from Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079), Chopin (opus 45), Shostakovich (opus 34), and Hess’ own beloved arrangement of Jesus bleibet meine Freude, BWV 147.