Paul Lewis

Mozart Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major K331
Scriabin Five Preludes Op. 74
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

One of the world’s great pianists guides us through three epochs of classical music. From the joyful grace of Mozart’s classicism via the full-blooded Romanticism of Mussorgsky to the last works of Scriabin, poised on the threshold of 20th-century atonality, this recital harnesses the verve and versatility that have made Paul Lewis one of the leading artists of our time.

The Piano Sonata K331 ranks among Mozart’s best-loved pieces; the virtuosic third movement, the Rondo ‘alla Turca’, is one of his most toe-tappingly recognisable melodies. Scriabin’s Five Preludes are profound works that depict, in the composer’s own words, grief, exhaustion and a shout in the night. Pictures at an Exhibition is familiar in its orchestral version, but was written as a piano suite dense with mood and melody.

Overflowing with lyricism, emotion and profound insight, these works are a sublime showcase for Lewis’s astonishing artistry.

‘Lewis brought his customary intelligence and intensity… with endless shifts in colour and weight. The fearsome technical demands…were met with unshowy dexterity.’ The Guardian