TOMASZ KAMIENIAK PIANO CONCERT

This recital brings together two major figures of nineteenth‑century piano literature, Franz Liszt and Charles‑Valentin Alkan, in a program that highlights both sacred reflection and extreme pianistic innovation. The church setting provides an appropriate backdrop for the first half, which focuses on works Liszt composed during his years in Rome. In 1863, Liszt sought refuge at the Madonna del Rosario monastery, writing, “My life is becoming simplified … the Catholic piety of my childhood has become a regular feeling.” His time there produced music marked by clarity, restraint, and religious focus rather than virtuoso display.

The selections from Liszt’s Roman period include Ave Maria d’Arcadelt and Sancta Dorothea, pieces characterized in the program notes as emphasizing “mystical stillness” and “unearthly lightness.” The Deux Légendes, composed directly at the monastery, depict scenes of faith and nature: St. Francis preaching to birds on Monte Mario and St. Francis of Paola walking across the waves. The first half concludes with Liszt’s transcription of Isoldens Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, a work connected to the turbulent family circumstances surrounding Liszt’s daughter Cosima and Wagner during the 1860s.

The second half features Alkan’s Concerto for Solo Piano, Op. 39, one of the most demanding and rarely performed works in the piano repertoire. The program describes it as “an uncompromising work,” with a first movement that is “a colossal marathon lasting nearly half an hour.” Alkan translates orchestral sonorities to the keyboard through trumpet‑like chords, quasi‑tutti writing, and extended drum‑like repetitions that push the performer to physical limits. The Adagio moves between lyrical writing and darker funeral‑march episodes, while the finale incorporates Hungarian, Polish, Middle Eastern, and Parisian elements in a rapid, nine‑minute sequence of shifting colors.

The recital is performed by Polish pianist and composer Tomasz Kamieniak, whose work combines performance with extensive research on nineteenth‑century repertoire. Kamieniak is known for bringing neglected Romantic‑era works to modern audiences through recordings and publications with labels such as Acte Préalable and DUX. His background as both performer and scholar makes him well suited to presenting Liszt’s Roman-period works and Alkan’s monumental concerto, offering listeners a clear, historically grounded perspective on two composers who expanded the expressive and technical possibilities of the piano.