GRADUS AD PARNASSUM
Programme
- Johann Joseph Fux: Harpeggio
- Joseph Haydn: Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major
- Muzio Clementi: Gradus ad Parnassum op. 44, No. 45 Prelude in C minor
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Prelude Op. 39 No. 2
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata No. 16 in C major KV 545
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Prelude in F minor WoO 55
- Muzio Clementi: Gradus ad Parnassum op. 44, No. 14 Adagio sostenuto
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Fantasia in D Minor KV 397
Performers
- Jean Rondeau - harpsichord
Jean Rondeau
The phenomenal harpsichordist Jean Rondeau arrives at the Prague Spring Festival for the first time to present his new program called Gradus ad Parnassum. The French musician whom The Washington Post described as “one of the most natural performers one is likely to hear on a classical music stage,” may be remembered by the festival audience as the finalist of the Prague Spring International Music Competition, where he won the 2nd prize in 2012 at the age of twenty-one. Today, Rondeau is one of the leading figures of historically informed performance while also performing as a soloist with “modern” symphonic orchestras. He has played with the Orchestre de Paris. During the current season, he will give an “artist portrait” concert in the Vienna Konzerthaus where he will be accompanied by the ORF Symphony Orchestra with conductor Marin Alsop, in addition to touring extensively the United States including a performance at the Carnegie Hall in New York.
We could translate the title of the Prague Spring recital as “Stairs to Mount Parnassus” or perhaps “Ascent of Mount Parnassus”. It refers to the collection of compositions by the Italian classicist composer Muzio Clementi and, above all, to the eponymous, extremely influential textbook on counterpoint by the Austrian Baroque master Johann Joseph Fux which was used as a teaching tool by much younger composers, including Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. It was the music by all these authors that Rondeau combined into an originally built programme full of colourful contrasts and surprising contexts. His recording will be released in the spring of 2023 by the French Erato Records label.
Listen the music performed by Jean Rondeau
