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Jean Rondeau

Gradus ad Parnassum: solo recital by harpsichord genius
  • Thu 23 Nov ’23
    doors open
    19:00
    start
    20:15
    end
    21:30
    Jurriaanse Zaal
    past

Jean Rondeau is member of a new generation of Frenchmen who employ their free attitude to bring something unexpectedly cool to baroque music. This cockiness is evident in this recital as well: Rondeau pushes the harpsichord just beyond its boundaries.

In the late 18th century, the pianoforte (predecessor to the piano) offered so many new possibilities to composers, that the harpsichord started to slide into obscurity. Nonetheless, Beethoven’s Fantasie, composed for harpsichord, demonstrates that the instrument was still attractive. In that sense, this recital is a statement against our constant renewal and modernization. What if we kept the old stuff around just a little longer?

 

His Quatuor Nevermind has made a name for itself, but Jean Rondeau is also phenomenal as a soloist. The Washington Post: “Rondeau is a master of his instrument with the sort of communicative gifts normally encountered in musicians twice his age. He internalizes the music he plays so completely that any interpretive ambivalence or miscalculation is unthinkable. The sincerity and modesty of his delivery are the keys to its power.” 

 

programme

Fux Harpeggio | Haydn Pianosonate nr.31 | Clementi nr.45 - Preludio Andante malinconico in C minor Gradus ad Parassum, op.44 | Beethoven Prelude nr.2 voor piano en orgel, op.39 | Mozart Pianosonate nr.16 | Beethoven Prelude in f | Mozart Fantasie in d | Mozart Rondo in a

 

credits

Jean Rondeau Harpsichord