Conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens
Piano Sophia Liu
With musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM)
Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4
Bartók The Wooden Prince (complete ballet)
The brilliant 17-year-old Canadian pianist Sophia Liu makes her Australasian debut with Beethoven’s concerto. It begins with the piano ruminating alone but soon broadens out into one of his most genial works.
A fairy enchants a stream so a prince cannot cross it to see his princess; he wins her with a wooden model of himself. When composing this sumptuous ballet, Bartók was having a passionate love affair, which left more than slight traces in the music.