Building Bridges: András Schiff presenteert Itai Navon

András Schiff became impressed by the Israeli pianist Itai Navon during a series of masterclasses. You can see some of them on YouTube. We see Itai Navon, who was just sixteen-years old at the time, performing Bach entirely without the use of pedals – to the obvious approval of Schiff. Navon will actually begin his recital with Bach; followed by the Opus 101, one of the last five sonatas in the more abstract, polyphonic style of the late, inward-looking Beethoven. Introspection is also central to Brahms’ late Intermezzi and Rhapsodies. Here, head and heart are in perfect balance. Which can in turn be said of Bartók’s Improvisations on Hungarian peasant songs. Bartók does more than simply provide them with new harmonies. They are decorated, transposed and varied in Bartók’s modern idiom.