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.

Program Repertoire:
Olivier Messiaen “La colombe” from Preludes
Claude Debussy “Des pas sur la neige” from Preludes Book I
Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 851
Karol Szymanowski Mazurka Op. 50, No. 1,2
Frédéric Chopin Mazurka in A Minor Op. 17 No. 4
Mazurka Op. 24 No. 2 in C Major
Gražyna Bacewicz Sonata No. 2

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 C-Sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2
Gražyna Bacewicz Waltz from Children’s Suite
Phillip Glass Etude No. 6
Nurit Tille 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