MIC PIanist Matthew Hagle "Jesters and Gargoyles: Humor, Imagination, and Virtuosity in the Piano Repertoire"

What happens when a great composer’s imagination takes a strange turn? Each of the works on this program has a streak of humor, oddity, or capriciousness in its makeup, turning the structure and discipline of traditional classical forms and styles on its head. The wily and surprising humor of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 16 in G Major leads to a more chaotic picture in Bartok’s Suite Op. 14 and Alkan’s Le Festin d’Esope, finishing with Chopin’s intense and exciting Scherzi.