(soft piano music) (Piano Sonata No.12 in F Major, K332:I Allegro by Mozart) (Piano Sonata No.12 in F Major, K332:II Adagio by Mozart) (Piano Sonata No.12 in F Major, K332:III Allegro assai) (audience applauds) - Thank you very much for coming out today.

Numbers are few, but understandable.

So...

I just played for you a wonderful classical Sonata where Mozart has... shared with us his idea of the ideal human nature of all the best qualities in a human being, a balance in proportion, rationality.

Now I'm going to play the work of the... the irrational romantic movement, completely the polar opposite, where instead of human nature is explored, it is in fact mother nature itself and the mysteries and the beauties of the nature in the forest.

It's very likely that Schumann was inspired to compose this work because of his own connection to nature and his frequent visits to the forest with his daughter.

And in this past year, I'm sure many of us have had opportunities to explore nature in ways that we have never been able to explore in the past.

I certainly have discovered many things about my own neighborhood in South Miami, new kinds of wildlife, et cetera.

And Schumann brings us really to the forest and the kind of narrative, the structure of this work from the entry into the forest, to the beginning to the farewell at the end.

And it's not just about the flora and fauna that is being explored here, but also human interaction with nature.

In particular, the second and the eighth work refer to hunters.

And the sixth work, rather in the middle, almost metaphorically in the middle of the forest you have the Herberge, where humans would come together and eat and drink and perhaps sing.

And certainly in this small work you can almost hear them singing in a round canonically.

The fourth and seventh of these works are connected to a poem, which Schumann had quoted in the middle of the set by Friedrich Hebbel referring to a very strange, mysterious flower that lives on and feeds on human blood.

And certainly this attraction to the dark side of nature was very much an appeal to two romantic composers.

And The Bird as Prophet, which is another very strange work.

It is in many ways connected to the fourth movement which is called Forbidden Place.

This is also referenced in the same point.

So there we have it.

That's a wonderful journey to the forest.

I hope you enjoy it.

(Waldszenen, Op.82:1.Eintritt by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:2.Jager auf der Lauer by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:3.Einsame Blumen by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:4.Verrufene Stelle by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:5.Freundliche Landschaft by Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:6.Herberge by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:7.Vogel als Prophet by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:8.Jagdlied by Robert Schumann) (Waldszenen, Op.82:9.Abschied by Robert Schumann) (audience applauds) (audience applauds) Thank you very much.

The second half of this recital I've dedicated to the music of Frederic Chopin, who was actually born in the same year as Robert Schumann.

And there are some very interesting connections between these composers, even in the works which I will perform today.

And I decided to focus just on one part of Chopin's Opus, the works that he composed before he left his native Poland.

So these are all works to date, already when he was a seven year old, the first known work that he composed, the Polonaise in G minor.

All the way to 1830, where there's also the mazurka that he wrote in (indistinct) and all these pieces in between.

The variations of his to certainly a grand work in the what would be called the stil brillante, the brilliant style, which was sort of the going thing at that time.

You must recall Chopin's living in Poland at that time.

It wasn't easy to connect to all the movements going on in Europe.

He probably didn't even know the works of Beethoven until he was in his late teenage years.

So however, there were some great pianists like Hummel, who had traveled to Warsaw and performed.

And Hummel is one of the inspirations for a lot of the stylistic qualities that we see in Chopin's early style.

And of course the Polishness of his early works.

Chopin loved like Schumann to explore the countryside.

And he in the summers between school he would often spend the summers in villages where his schoolmates would live where he properly heard his first in the circus.

Right.

So I will now play with you this group of early works of Chopin, many which are less often performed.

And that was one reason I wanted to explore this side of his repertoire.

I forgot to mention that the variations, when they were published in Vienna, Friedrich Wieck, who was the teacher of Robert Schumann, got his hands on the score and was truly amazed at Chopin's genius.

And Robert Schumann himself, made an exclaim to this famous expression, "Hats off, gentlemen, a genius," that he recognized in Chopin, this greatness as a composer early on.

So the variation certainly catapulted Chopin's name into the beginnings of his very famous career.

(Nocturne No.19 in E Minor, Op.72 No.1 by Frederic Chopin) (Polonaise No.11 in G Minor, Op.posth by Frederic Chopin) (Polonaise No.10 in F Minor, Op.71 No.3 by Frederic Chopin) (Polonaise in B-Flat Major, Op.71 No.2 by Frederic Chopin) (audience applauds) (Mazurka in C Major, Op.

68, No.

1 by Frederic Chopin) (Mazurka in A Minor, Op.

68, No.

2 by Frederic Chopin) (Mazurka in F major, Op.

68, No.

3 by Frederic Chopin) (Rondo a la Mazur in F Major, Op.5 by Frederic Chopin) (audience applauds) (Variations on La ci darem la mano, Op.2 by Frederic Chopin) (audience applauds) (soft piano music)