In this recital McCawley presents works by composer-pianists Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin, and Franck. While the recital focuses on 19^th century composers, the programme begins and ends with a nod to J.S. Bach. Amongst Bach’s works that Franz Liszt revered were his six organ preludes and fugues. In transcribing them for piano, Liszt became a major influence on later arrangers. Heard here is the first in the set, Prelude and Fugue in A minor.

The Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 53, “The Waldstein,” by Beethoven—dedicated to his friend and patron, Count Ferdinand von Waldstein—comes from his aptly named “Heroic” period. It was written in 1804, two years after the watershed moment of his Heiligenstadt Testament, when he had contemplated suicide because of his encroaching deafness, but instead made the profound choice to channel his despair into a bold new musical style. The “Waldstein” Sonata is a vivid expression of this newfound path and of Beethoven’s ability to transcend personal adversity to create ground-breaking works of deep complexity.

One of the renowned “out-takes” of musical history is Beethoven’s Andante favori. He originally intended it as the slow movement of his “Waldstein” Sonata, but he substituted it with a shorter adagio labelled “Introduzione.” He had formed an attachment to the piece, though, and he published it as a stand-alone work, including it frequently in subsequent recitals. In an engaging piece of programming, Leon McCawley pairs it here with the “Waldstein” Sonata.

Leon’s recital encompasses over 125 years of music history, embracing everything from Haydn’s delightful Piano Sonata in E flat of c.1790 to Prokofiev’s C minor Sonata, written during Russia’s revolutionary year of 1917. The acclaimed British pianist, hailed by Gramophone for his ‘sensuous virtuosity, compelling charm and musical probity’, also offers works that evoke potent, visual and poetic images.

Read the full reviews here: Nottingham and York

‘This scintillatingly varied recital combines sensuous virtuosity, compelling charm and musical probity. Highly recommended.’ Gramophone

‘a recital of enormous pictorial charm’ Pianist Magazine

‘The fluidity and freedom of his playing benefits from excellent sound’ Diapason

‘The main element that unites this series of 21 small piano pieces by ten composers is that they are all miniature paintings with its emphasis on clever and attractive programming. McCawley is a sensitive interpreter.’  BBC Music Magazine

‘The pieces were clearly chosen for their individual charms but also their complementary attributes and stylistic connections. The result is an uplifting, joyful celebration of the wonders of the natural world, exquisitely performed by Leon McCawley.’ Interlude 

Read them all in full HERE 

‘Until I heard Leon McCawley play, I’d never have considered so dry a virtue as ‘respect’ to feature in my reasons for my being so utterly captivated by a musician’s performance. But mulling it over with fellow audience members, it became clear that this was the overriding quality that linked his extraordinarily varied but always enthralling approach to such diverse composers as Haydn and Brahms. His credentials and interpretation together demonstrate a unique talent. But respect? I believe it is in the way he honours the deepest truths in every composer he undertakes to play and manages to communicate that to an audience so that they, in an instant, can understand and share his reverence. This is a pianist who finds the humanity in the music, and embodies it. 

He was greeted with deafening applause and a standing ovation reflecting, I believe, his intuitive connection with aficionados and first-timers alike. Having led us into fierce and wonderful terrain, the master guided us safely back home. We were drained; he looked ready to do it all over again. It felt unrepeatable. It was certainly unforgettable’. Julia Meredith