The musical season has begun. The Friends of Chamber Music opening concert was a piano recital by Canadian pianist, Anton Kuerti. The program was all Beethoven, beginning with the late Beethoven, 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126, and the last piano sonata, No. 32, Op. 111. Traditionally, Beethoven programs have the later works after intermission. It was enlightening to hear works from Beethoven’s transition to the middle period , Sonata Op. 26 in A Flat, and from his early sonatas, Op. 10, No 2 in F Major, on the 2nd half. It presented Beethoven’s culmination, and then his beginning. What a distance from when just a few years before Op. 10, Beethoven presented Op. 2 sonatas to Haydn. Pianist Anton Kuerti is a master, in the tradition of Brendel and Serkin. The venue, the Coral Gables Congregational Church, was perfect. The church, which faces the Biltmore Hotel, was designed by architect Richard Kiehnel in 1923. In 1978 it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The recital was in the small hall to the rear, which has wood beamed ceilings, stucco work and details in the European tradition. Friends of Chamber Music is the best ticket in town. www.MiamiChamberMusic.org
