LUKAS STERNATH piano
SCHUBERT Sonata in A major, D. 959
LISZT After a reading of Dante, Fantasia quasi sonata (Years of Pilgrimage, Italy)
Schubert's second to last sonata burst forth like a shaft of light two months before his death: expansive in form and with a stark beauty, an Andantino of heartrending melancholy, a playful Scherzo and a final Rondo evoking the freshness of springtime. Liszt's powerful poem, title borrowed from Victor Hugo and with plentiful inspiration drawn from The Divine Comedy's Inferno, is embodied by an epic piano piece, equally demanding for its performer. These two giants of literature for piano do not intimidate the twenty-five-year-old Austrian pianist Lukas Sternath, winner of eight prizes at the International ARD Music Competition in Munich in 2022, named an ECHO Rising Star of the 2024-2025 season, and already much sought-after around the globe.
