Louis Lortie is praised as one of Canada’s most electrifying pianists. He makes a welcome return to Vancouver on February 21 & 23 performing Liszt’s Totentanz and Fantasy of Motives from Beethoven’s Ruins of Athens. Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducts this concert which also features Beethoven’s The Ruins of Athens: Overture and Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra.
“Charm and dazzle... (Louis Lortie’s) elegant touch turned the music nearly weightless, even at high volume and high speed.” - Journal Sentinel
Born in Montreal, Louis Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony at the age of thirteen and the Toronto Symphony three years later. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992 he was named Officer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from Laval University. As his schedule permits, he teaches at Italy’s renowned piano institute at Imola. Mr. Lortie has lived in Berlin since 1997 and also has a home in Canada. Mr. Lortie performs the magnificent music of Franz Liszt, he perhaps the greatest pianist who ever lived.
The late-Romantic composer Richard Strauss followed in the footsteps of Liszt. Though he was a prolific composer of opera, Strauss’s greatest works were his tone poems, Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) being prominent among them. The work is based on Nietzsche’s prose poem, a deep and dramatic treatise featuring the teachings and sayings of Zarathustra, the ancient Iranian prophet and religious poet credited with the founding of Zoroastrianism. Strauss’s tone poem has become one of the most recognized pieces of music ever written – or at least, the first few minutes have, being prominently features in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The work, in Strauss’s own words, describes the evolution of humankind: “I meant to convey in music an idea of the evolution of the human race from its origin, through the various phases of development, religious as well as scientific, up to Nietzsche’s idea of the ‘Superman.’” Strauss’s extraordinary and unique orchestration speaks for itself, creating a mystic landscape that speaks of high mythology and profound truths. A fascinating musical construct that figures throughout the work is the conflict between the keys of B Major and C Major, the former representing humanity, the latter the universe. Strauss purposefully leaves this conflict unresolved at the end, with neither key dominant – the classic debate between free will and determinism continues in Strauss’s world, a riddle unsolved and unsolvable. -- www.vancouversymphony.ca
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