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Scarlatti Sonata in D minor, K. 1
Scarlatti Sonata in B flat major, K. 266
Scarlatti Sonata in G major, K. 124
Scarlatti Sonata in B minor, K. 87
Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op. 61
Chopin Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Moscheles Étude caractéristique, Op. 95 No. 7, ‘Zärtlichkeit’
Schumann Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 14

Kevin Chen piano

Generations of musicians have responded unusually yet fiercely to Domenico Scarlatti’s strangely enigmatic yet crystal-clear piano sonatas – micro-dramas in which musical motifs form the characters, from the villainous and heroic to the lonely and lost. Poulenc described them as ‘my favourite Brut Champagne’. A young colleague of the composer’s talked of Scarlatti’s ‘ingenious jesting with art’. Kevin Chen launches his recital at the University Church with a selection of these intriguing works in the fine company of repertoire staples by Chopin and Schumann, and the most affectionate of Ignaz Moscheles’s vivid set of Étude caractéristique.