Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”

Nikolai Karlovich Medtner
Forgotten Melodies, Op. 39

Claude Debussy
Préludes (selection)

Franz Schubert
Impromptus, Op. 90 (D 899), Nos. 2 and 3

Sergei Rachmaninov
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 36

Roman Borisov – piano

Russian pianist Roman Borisov ranks among the most distinctive performers of the youngest generation. His recital opens with Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, “Pathétique,” published in Vienna at the end of the 18th century and dedicated to the composer’s patron Prince Karl Lichnowsky, whom Beethoven visited several times in Hradec nad Moravicí near Opava. In this work, Beethoven’s early style reaches its peak while simultaneously pointing toward a Romantic, heroic expression. To this day, the sonata fascinates with its passion and dramatic power.

From the Russian piano repertoire comes the cycle Forgotten Melodies, Op. 39 by Nikolai Karlovich Medtner, composed between 1918 and 1920 during the Russian Civil War, before the composer’s emigration. Musical poetry, subtle colors, and vivid imagery characterize the two books of Préludes by Claude Debussy (1910 and 1913), whose evocative titles stimulate the listener’s imagination. In Franz Schubert’s Impromptus of 1827, the lyrical character of song is transformed into the piano medium in four masterful miniatures.

The evening concludes with Sergei Rachmaninov’s monumental Piano Sonata No. 2, composed in 1913 and inspired by the sound of Russian bells, which the composer regarded as a symbol of the human journey through life.