Hélène Grimaud: The Last Testament

These two master composers took the possibilities of the piano sonata to unprecedented heights. Schubert’s last sonata was composed in the extraordinarily prolific last few months of his life. An outpouring of creativity and consummate skill in the face of his advancing illness, its turbulent emotions are perhaps a reflection of his own. Beethoven’s pairs a dramatic first movement with a visionary set of variations, a theme of almost ecstatic calm transformed with ever-increasing intensity.

Every pianist adds their own layer of insight and experience to these pillars of the piano repertoire. Hélène Grimaud – a devoted conservationist and human rights advocate as well as a passionate and thoughtful musician – has described them as ‘like sacred texts that you barely have enough of a lifetime to truly explore.’






Presented by the Barbican.

Barbican Classical Music Programme receives major support from Marcus Margulies and additional support In Memory of John Murray.





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