Pianorama – Grand Finale

Welcome to a festival featuring piano in the lead role in all concerts. For three days, we will get to hear this instrument solo and together with others. Many of Sweden’s leading pianists will appear, including established musicians and emerging stars, as well as some of Sweden’s most prominent string musicians. Concert pianist Roland Pöntinen is artistic director of Pianorama. 

Piano prevails in a long line of key chamber music pieces. Not infrequently, it stands out as a solo instrument in ensembles such as piano quartets and quintets. Here, we will hear Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu’s heartfelt Piano Quartet No. 2, composed at the height of the war in 1943-44 and dedicated to his teacher, Gabriel Fauré.

Fauré left an enormous impression on the music of France. His music spans a broad range, from easy-going salon music to romance on the path to Modernism. He is best known for his meditative Requiem, but his chamber music is most comprehensive, with a series of radiant piano pieces, solo sonatas, songs and this Piano Quintet in C Minor.

Music by Claude Debussy will begin this French-inspired finale concert. His exploratory and at times highly temperamental Violin Sonata from 1917 would be his last major composition.