Franz Schubert
Fantasie C-Dur, D 760 »Wanderer-Fantasie«

Robert Schumann
Waldszenen, op. 82

INTERMISSION

Franz Liszt
Waldesrauschen
Gnomenreigen
Nuages gris

Alexander Skrjabin
Vers la flamme, op. 72
Deux Danses, op. 73
Cinq Préludes, op. 74
Klaviersonate Nr. 9, op. 68 »Schwarze Messe«

Was the world a better place in the Romantic era? Alexander Melnikov explores this question through his piano recital – following the theme of our Biennale entitled Paradise lost? On the threat to nature. With Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, Melnikov leads you through idyllic landscapes and man-made chasms, reveals the poetry of Schumann’s Waldszenen, and shows atmospheric images of nature in Franz Liszt’s piano works.

The forest appears here as a place of retreat – from the self and from encroaching industrialisation. By contrast, Alexander Scriabin prophesies the destruction of the world in the grand conflagration of Vers la flamme.