Denis Zhdanov, piano

Elina Akselrud, piano

The program offers a review of musical form and the development of the Romantic tradition.  The 3rd Piano Sonata by Australian composer Carl Vine represents a larger musical form of a sonata and demonstrates the composer's ability to masterfully portray the post-Romantic aesthetic through the prism of contemporary compositional devices.

Chopin's famous Ballade in F minor Op.52 continues the line of dark romantic beauty and features what he calls a middle form.

The 24 Preludes Op.28 by Chopin represent the smallest possible form in romantic music and are gems that have amazed people with their perfection and completion for almost two centuries.