Auf dem Hügel sitz ich spähend: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Songs
An evening with Lenia Safiropoulou and Zoe Zeniodi
FRIENDS OF MUSIC SOCIETY – EVENTS AT MEGARON
Straddling the border between the Age of Enlightenment and the dark 19th century, Beethoven stands on the peak of classical form. He frequently looks back, upon the optimistic, philosophical Age of Reason, and the floral garlands of the Rococo; but he sometimes also gazes far beyond, at the northern forests and the solitude of the individualist Romantic Age.
A double-headed eagle and a pioneer, Beethoven explored the tender pathways of the Art Song alongside the highways of the symphony and the sonata. Ironical and playful, profound and transcendental, explosive in his love, and firm in his isolation, a trailblazer, and, above all, a humanist even in his less known and most private compositions, he achieves a masterly balance between the jubilant Classical brilliance and the sensuous Romantic half-light.
Beside the famous An die ferne Geliebte song cycle, Lenia Safiropoulou and George Petrou present a selection of both short and long Beethoven songs on an authentic 1820 Stodart fortepiano. The programme is complemented by the 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126, for solo piano.
Lenia Safiropoulou soprano
Zoe Zeniodi piano