The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Rhapsody in Blue

This program highlights piano four-hands repertoire, a genre that was central to how audiences experienced music in the 18th and 19th centuries. Before recordings, large-scale works were often played at home in this form, making the piano a primary vehicle for sharing music. Composed in 1787, Mozart’s Sonata in C major, K. 521, is a defining work of the genre, notable for its scale, structural balance, and the dialogue it creates between the two players. Mendelssohn, who frequently performed four-hand repertoire with his sister Fanny, brings his characteristic lyricism and precision to the Andante and Variations and Andante and Allegro brillant. Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances draw on Czech folk traditions; they became an immediate success, widely played in homes and quickly circulated across Europe. The program concludes with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in a four-hand arrangement. Composed in 1924, the work blends elements of jazz with classical form, extending this tradition into a distinctly American sound.
ARTISTS
Michael Stephen Brown, piano
Orion Weiss, piano
Wu Han, piano
Wu Qian, piano
PROGRAM
Mozart Sonata in C major for Piano, Four Hands, K. 521 (1787)
Mendelssohn Andante and Variations for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 83a (1844)
Mendelssohn Andante and Allegro brillant for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 92 (1841)
--INTERMISSION--
Dvořák Slavonic Dances for Piano, Four Hands (1878, 1886)
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue for Piano, Four Hands (arr. Henry Levine) (1924)
SCHEDULE
6:30 PM | Doors Open
7:00 PM | Royce Auditorium Doors Open
7:30 PM | Concert Begins
9:00 PM | Post Concert Reception