Illuminated Forms

Details

Catherine Grimball full profile / Concert Pianist and Chamber Musician / 1 musician

Full program notes

This recital explores the evolving architecture of solo piano music—from the prelude and fugue, dance forms like the waltz and mazurka, to the sonata and minimalist etude—through the work of both well-known and historically underrepresented composers.

This is a program about structure and transformation—about the evolution of musical form and the artists who continue to redefine it.

Olivier Messiaen – “La colombe” from Preludes

Karol Szymanowski – Mazurka Op. 50, Nos. 1 and 2

Frédéric Chopin – Mazurka in A Minor Op. 17, No. 4 and Mazurka Op. 24, No. 2 in C Major

Grażyna Bacewicz – Sonata No. 2

Intermission

Dmitri Shostakovich – Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in G Major, Op. 87

Dmitri Shostakovich – Prelude and Fugue No. 7 in A Major, Op. 87

Johannes Brahms – Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2

Frédéric Chopin – Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2

Philip Glass – Etude No. 6

Nurit Tilles – Raw Silk (a rag)

Historical context

In styles ranging from Baroque to Romantic to ragtime, this program centers on a curiosity about the forms that shape what we hear—and what happens when composers stretch, reinvent, or subvert them. It also shines a light on underrepresented voices, especially women composers like Grażyna Bacewicz and Nurit Tilles, whose works boldly reimagine traditional structures.

Videos from this player