Janáček                In the Mists

Beethoven         Piano Sonata Op.31, No.2 (’Tempest’)

Debussy              Selections from Preludes, Book I

Stravinsky           Firebird

and music by Daquin, Couperin & Rameau

Yu Kosuge has become one of the world’s most noted young pianists. She appears at the most important venues around the world, with critics praising her “acutely poetic sensibility, wit, drama, and lyricism”. In 2017, she won the prestigious Suntory Music Award, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development of Western music in Japan.

In her ongoing ‘Four Elements’ project, Yu Kosuge explores how Water, Wind, Fire and Earth, in her words, “inspired composers’ imaginations to create not only images or impressions but also works with profound metaphoric messages”. The programme she has chosen for us combines two of the elements, Wind and Fire, the latter represented by Stravinsky’s own stunning piano version of his ever-popular ballet, ‘The Firebird’.

“Kosuge’s interpretation was equal parts emotional and cerebral. Fleeting moments of crystalline textures and pastoral hues gave way to bold, tempestuous waves.”  (Washington Post)