Kerstrecital Regina Albrink met Chopin en Gershwin

Romance

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and the Romance from Chopin's First Piano Concerto are irresistible. 'More beautiful than beautiful', you might say? It is becoming increasingly clear that Regina Albrink represents something very special. A fan from the Balkans recently brought her to Croatia a few times for piano recitals. This year, 'brilliant concert', 'subtle and exquisitely delicate playing', and 'amazing finger acrobatics' could be read about her performances.

Jazz and world music

A bridge between Romanticism and Jazz? Certainly in Rhapsody in Blue —the title is by George's brother Ira—and for that reason alone it is a pity that Gershwin died so young. In Rhapsody in Blue (reportedly a rush job, for which Gershwin had to interrupt a game of billiards), one finds a great, not to say 'romantic', use of the sequence (many passages are built up step by step using previously used material). Gottschalk came from America and went to Paris as a little boy, with the music he had been raised with. Exciting, rousing—but different, not Beethoven or anything like that. And all of Europe roared to it.