Debussy’s Romantic Piano by Candlelight – ‘Clair de Lune’

Chopin’s scandalous elopement with the French author George Sand; Brahms’ secret affair with his best friend’s wife; Scottish widows and the masked balls of Venice meet for a romantic tour of the piano as acclaimed concert pianist and master storyteller Matthew Shiel exposes the hidden trysts, scandals and love affairs of the great composer’s hearts that have shaped the history of classical music from the 18th Century to the modern day. Tonight’s musical programme includes several of the most romantic piano pieces ever composed: Liszt’s Liebestraum, Schubert’s Serenade, Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude and Debussy’s Clair de Lune – performed by intimate candlelight. This concert will also feature a new romance composed specially for tonight's artist by Matthew's Italian friend and composer Dr Alfredo Caponnetto – Notturno VI alongside a digital art exhibition and lightshow designed by acclaimed Chinese artist and Disney illustrator Emma Yitong Shen – to create an immersive musical experience designed to wind you down, find romantic inspiration and open your heart to live and to love.

"Matthew Shiel has ‘composed’ a most enchanting concert, relating amusing, enlightening stories to introduce each piece; his eloquent performance expresses a dramatic, emotional mood from sad and sorrowful to light-hearted and lyrical, oozing a joyful sense of romantic love." 

(⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Edinburgh Guide)

PROGRAMME

Liebestraum No.3 – Franz Liszt

Serenade – Schubert (arranged for piano by Franz Liszt)

Novelette in E minor (after El amor brujo of Manuel de Falla) – Francis Poulenc

Minuet in G (from Anna Magdalena Notebook of 1725)  – Johann Sebastian Bach

Barcarolle (from The Seasons Op. 37b) – Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Intermezzo in A (Op.118, No. 2) – Johannes Brahms

Lea-Rigg – Robert Burns (arranged for piano by Alexander Reinagle)

Notturno VI  – Alfredo Caponnetto

‘Raindrop’ Prelude in D-flat major (Op.28 No.15) – Frédéric Chopin

Nocturne in F minor (Op.55 No.1) – Frédéric Chopin

Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque) – Claude Debussy

Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann (Op. 20) – Clara Schumann