Les Adieux
Les Adieux takes its title from Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 81a, which opens the evening, and the programme unfolds as an arc around what comes after a departure: the suspension that follows a parting, the slow displacement of familiar ground, the question of what, if anything, returns. The distance between the two Beethoven sonatas that frame this arc is remarkable. Op. 81a, written in 1809 when Archduke Rudolph left Vienna, tells its story openly, in movements titled Farewell, Absence and Return. Beethoven completed Op. 110 twelve years later, deaf, ill and financially precarious. Here he speaks in an entirely different voice, inward and structurally radical. Its finale is one of the most searching in the piano repertoire: a fugue that collapses mid-course, falls silent, and rises again with its subject inverted, transformed by everything it has passed through. It arrives not as a conclusion so much as a discovery: that continuation is possible, and that it looks nothing like what came before.
Between the two sonatas stand four works: Brahms’s Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 1, Schumann’s „Gesänge der Frühe”, Janáček’s „In the Mists” and Weinberg’s Lullaby Op. 1. What connects them is less a shared style or period than a shared preoccupation with thresholds: between waking and sleep in two lullabies, one from the twilight of Brahms’s life and one from the very beginning of Weinberg’s, and between stability and collapse in Schumann’s last piano cycle. This is music that listens for something quieter and harder to locate.
About the Artist
Berlin-based pianist Mark Taratushkin has been praised by critics as an outstanding virtuoso whose attention to detail, intensity and technical brilliance captivate audiences worldwide. His repertoire focuses on piano music of the 20th century and German Romanticism, and includes some of the most demanding works in the piano literature, such as Béla Bartók’s Études, Sergei Prokofiev’s piano concertos and Johannes Brahms’s Paganini Variations.
Trained at the renowned Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (with Natalia Trull) and at the Berlin University of the Arts (with Klaus Hellwig), Mark Taratushkin is a frequent guest at music festivals including the Berliner Festspiele, the Santander Music Festival, Steirischer Herbst and the “Spielart” Festival in Munich.
Find out more:
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https://www.marktaratushkin.com
Programme
L. van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat major, Op. 81a, “Les Adieux”
Das Lebewohl
Abwesenheit
Das Wiedersehen
J. Brahms
Intermezzo Op. 117, No. 1
R. Schumann
“Gesänge der Frühe” (“Songs of Dawn”), Op. 133
Im ruhigen Tempo
Belebt, nicht zu rasch
Lebhaft
Bewegt
Im Anfange ruhiges, im Verlauf bewegtes Tempo
Interval
L. Janáček
“In the Mists”
Andante
Molto adagio
Andantino
Presto
M. Weinberg
Lullaby Op. 1
L. van Beethoven
Piano Sonata in A-flat major, Op. 110
Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
Allegro molto
Adagio ma non troppo
Arioso dolente
Fuga. Allegro ma non troppo
Concert starts at 8 PM.
Doors open at 7:30 PM.
Doors open: 7:30 PM
Concert begins: 8:00 PM
🎟️ Tickets As our concerts are strictly limited to 35 seats, we highly recommend booking your tickets in advance right here. (Note: We now offer discounted €10 U18 tickets for young music lovers).
🍷 The Piano Insel Experience As always, we will have a selection of fine wine, beer, and other refreshments ready for you before, during, and after the performance. You are warmly invited to stay after the concert to converse with the artist and other guests. Much like the historic musical salons, we gather for the music, but meeting other people and getting to know the musicians personally is just as much a part of the Piano Insel experience. Our doors will remain open until midnight!
PianoInsel • Martin-Luther-Straße 78, 10825 Berlin, Berlin, Germany
