Portrait of the pianist

© Julien Mignot

Piano fantasies through the centuries

Alexander Melnikov

Tickets

With Many Pianos , the Russian pianist invites us into the realm of fantasies and spans a musical arc of this unique musical form through the centuries to the present day. A stroll through the instru­mental park: five pianos pose on the Faust­Forum stage: a harp­si­chord and three fortepi­anos by Walter, Graf and Pleyel from the workshop of Christoph Kern, as well as the in-house Bechstein concert grand.

Contrib­u­tors

Alexander Melnikov
on five different instru­ments

Program

MANY PIANOS

Johann Sebastian Bach
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor BWV 903

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Free Fantasy in F sharp minor Wq 67

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Fantasy for piano in C minor K. 475

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Fantasy in F sharp minor op. 28 “Sonate écossaise”

***

Frédéric Chopin
Fantasy in F minor op. 49

Alexander Scriabin
Fantasy in B minor op. 28

Alfred Schnittke
Impro­vi­sa­tion and fugue

“… Listening to Melnikov is always worth­while — and sometimes I wish his playing would never stop.”