Tim Horton, piano

Programme

• Franz Schubert: Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 no 1
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 3 in C major, op. 2, no. 3 (Allegro con brio; Adagio; Scherzo: Allegro; Allegro assai)

Interval

• Frédéric François Chopin: Polonaise in F sharp minor, op. 44
• Frédéric François Chopin: Waltz in A flat major, op. 42
• Frédéric François Chopin: Three Mazurkas, op. 56
• Frédéric François Chopin: Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise, op. 22

Tim Horton

Tim Horton is one of the UK’s leading pianists. He is usually to be found at major festivals and series across the country, and has performed with orchestras such as the RLPO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. So we are very lucky to have him play for us in Curry Rivel!

If you enjoy classical piano music, want to find out more, or simply love music, you really couldn’t do better. And you don’t need to travel to London for it!

A recent reviewer said “Horton places a huge amount of emphasis on intensive preparation for a concert and it showed. Without the score in front of him, Horton gave an air of playing instinctively, as if coming to the Scherzos for the first time. A terrific performance! He received an ovation.”

Here he is playing Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A major:

The music

Franz Schubert: Impromptu in F minor

Franz Schubert’s Impromptus are a series of eight pieces for solo piano composed in 1827. They are considered to be among the most important examples of this popular early 19th-century genre.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 3 in C major

Beethoven’s piano sonatas have been called “one of the most important collections of works in the history of music“. This sonata is referred to as one of Beethoven’s earliest “grand and virtuosic” piano sonatas.

There are four movements: Allegro con brio, Adagio, Scherzo: Allegro, and Allegro assai. At around 25 minutes long, it seems that Beethoven Beethoven was aspiring towards composing a symphony.

Chopin

The second half of the concert is dedicated to the music of Frédéric François Chopin. Tim Horton is undertaking a six-concert cycle of Chopin, which started in 2024 and ends this June. He says of Chopin: “His appeal is based, fundamentally, on complexity of emotion. As with all great art, his music exists in ambiguity – there is never just one way for a phrase or piece to be interpreted or “felt.””. You can read an interesting interview with him at https://tashmina.co.uk/review/a-terrific-performance/.

You can read about Frederic Chopin in our April Newsletter.