Consolation Grace Francis

• Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 5:
• 1 I. Allegro maestoso 10:48
• 2 II. Andante espressivo 12:26
• 3 III. Scherzo. Allegro energico 05:06
• 4 IV. Intermezzo (Ruckblick). Andante molto 03:49
• 5 V. Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato 07:11
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Consolations, S. 172 "6 Pensées poétiques":
• 6 No. 3 in D-Flat Major. Lento placido 04:34
• 7 I. Lento assai - Allegro energico - Grandioso - 12:37
• 8 II. Andante sostenuto - 07:49
• 9 III. Allegro energico - Andante sostenuto - Lento assai 11:10
• Total Runtime 01:15:30

Info for Consolation

This album contains the two most greatly significant solo piano sonatas of the mid-nineteenth century, coincidentally composed at the same time by two of the greatest composers of the era who, in aesthetic development and individual character, could hardly have been more different from one another, although their mutual respect is one of the least appreciated aspects of their later relationship. Brahmss Third Piano Sonata Opus 5 is a remarkably original work already, in its five movements, seeking to burst the bounds of the customary four-movement structure, which the first two Sonatas had essayed. Indeed, the Third Sonata is Brahmss largest work for solo piano and already exhibits a profound unification of the emergent Romantic movement within classical forms an extraordinary achievement for the young composer. Liszts Sonata is arguably his masterpiece for the piano a work of such newness of utterance, so original, such a creative achievement as this work represents must have crystallised those contemporaneous divergent schools of thought which was to lead to a virtual war of words between what one might call the traditionalists and those who epitomised the new music.

Grace Francis, piano

Grace Francis
was born in London and attended the Yehudi Menuhin School before studying with Irina Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music. There she won the Chappell Gold Medal, the highest award for a pianist. She continued her studies with a Wingate Scholarship, also receiving the Hattori Foundation Award and winning in international competition the Negrada Piano House Award at Zagreb.

Grace has given many concerts in the UK: Barbican; Reform Club, Pall Mall; Purcell Room; Wigmore Hall (for the Kirckman Society); St John’s, Smith Square; Rosehill Theatre, Cumbria; Warwick University; the City Music Society (where she performed Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’).

Broadcasts include Liszt’s ‘Hungarian Rhapsody’ with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and a BBC Radio 3 programme of works by Chopin, John Field and Viteslav Novak. Grace’s repertoire is wide-ranging: from Haydn to Chopin, Brahms, Liszt and Bartok.

Leading performers such as Mitsuko Uchida and Stephen Hough have praised Grace’s outstanding talent and the leading critic, David Cairns, revealed her to the world in the Sunday Times as a ‘phenomenon… of uncommon fire and energy.’

Grace’s new CD, Brahms & Liszt, released by Quartz, features Brahms’ Variations on a theme of Paganini, Book II, Brahms Sonata No I, Liszt Funerailles, Ave Maria, Sonetto del Petrarca 104 and Tarantella from Venezia e Napoli.

Booklet for Consolation