Franz Lists’s monumental Sonata in B minor for piano was reviewed as “eine Herausforderung zurn Zischen und Pochen” or, an invitation to hissing and stomping, by the German newspaper ‘Nationalzeitung’ after its premiere.
The work, written in February 1853, is now considered by many to be one of Franz Liszt’s most extraordinary.
On Tuesday, November 16 at 2 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island, audience members will have an opportunity to decide for themselves (although actual hissing and stomping will be discouraged) during a concert of piano music by Geoffrey Dorfman.
The List B Minor Sonata was composed during the composer’s Weimar years (1848-1861), when he also completed many of his most impressive large-scale works including his two piano concertos, both the Faust and Dante symphonies, the Totentanz for piano and orchestra, and his symphonic poems.
Dorfman’s program will also include the Sarabande from Pour le Piano by Claude Debussy, and the Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Admission is free and open to the public. The concert is sponsored by the Department of Performing and Creative Arts of the College of Staten Island. For more information please contact David Keberle at (718) 982-2523.
BACKGROUND:
Geoffrey Dorfman is a painter, writer, and musician. He has given several solo concerts in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, as well as at Columbia University, Westminster Choir College, Stevens Institute of Technology, and the Cooper Union. His full-length recital opened Great Britain’s Marlborough Summer Festival in 1997. Fanfare magazine critic Peter Rabinowitz commented on Dorfman by saying “this is authoritative playing, both technically assured, (nothing on this program seemed to challenge his fingers) and interpretively individual.”
Paul J. Pelkonnen, Classical Editor on Newyorkcitysearch.com wrote, “an impressive recording from a pianist worth investigating.”
Geoffrey Dorfman is currently writing the liner notes for forthcoming compact discs, The Complete Josef Hofmann, Vol. 8 (Marston label), Vladimir Horowitz in Leningrad, and Natan Brand: the Legacy (Palexa label.)
Dorfman’s paintings show at the Painting Center in New York with his most recent exhibition of monotypes called “a gem of a show.” He has authored several articles on painting for Artforum and on music for Stagebill magazine. His new book, “Out Of the Picture; Milton Resnick and the New York School,” received terrific reviews in the College Art Association Art Journal and on artcritical.com. It was begun in 1978 with an NEA Individual Fellowship Grant.
