The “elegant, polished, and heartfelt” (The Boston Globe) pianist Benjamin Hochman begins a two-concert exploration of the influence of words on music with purely instrumental works which take their inspiration from, by turns, a folk ballad, a poem, and a novel.

Brahms’ early Ballades, the first of which is inspired by the Scottish ballad “Edward,” gives way to Thomas Adès’s Darknesse Visible, an “explosion” of John Dowland’s lute song “In Darknesse Let Me Dwell” from 1610. Finally, Robert Schumann—one of the most literary of composers—is represented by his meditation on E.T.A. Hoffman’s fantastical tales, Kreisleriana.

Program
Brahms Ballades
Thomas Ades Darkness Visible
Schumann Kreisleriana