Constantine Finehouse

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia and educated at the New England Conservatory, Juilliard, and Yale, Finehouse has performed extensively in the US and abroad. He has been praised by Rhein Main Presse Allgemeine Zeitung for his “interpretations of depth and maturity.” Recent recordings include Backwards Glance, which interweaves the music of Johannes Brahms and Richard Beaudoin, and The Bolcom Project, made in collaboration with his American Double partner, violinist Philip Ficsor. Finehouse is currently recording Bolcom’s complete piano solo works for Naxos Records.

Frédéric Chopin’s Sonata No. 3 in b minor, Op. 58, composed in 1844, was his last piano sonata and the first large-scale, multi-movement piano work written in the key of b minor. In this work is demonstrated convincingly the extraordinary maturity the composer had attained during his last years of life. The first movement unfolds with such logic and developmental instinct that it inexorably defines its own structure: though some critics have viewed the absence of the first theme’s return following the development as an apparent weakness in Chopin’s mastery of sonata form, the opening theme is in fact manipulated so definitively and comprehensively prior to the recapitulation that its further statement would seem redundant. The Scherzo, as if to balance the exceptionally emotional content of the surrounding movements, is a surprisingly lighthearted caprice. The Largo exhibits a fascinating dichotomy: the A section offers the broadly poetic bel canto lines of a nocturne, while the B section revels in an hypnotically-extended otherworldliness. The sonata-rondo Finale utilizes an increasingly animated accompaniment to underscore the uninterrupted momentum which defines this brilliant movement of formal clarity and harmonic inventiveness.

The magnificent Fantasie in C major, Op. 17, of Robert Schumann is structured in three large movements. Bursting forth at the outset with rhapsodic, passionate energy, the section then melts into a wonderful tenderness. The work next becomes a grandiose march characterized by angular rhythmic propulsion; though at times settling into contemplative moods, it eventually erupts into a wildly temperamental conclusion. The final segment is a langorous, meditative yet exceptionally emotional utterance, culminating in utter peacefulness. Of the Fantasie, Schumann wrote to his beloved Clara, his future wife, “The first movement may well be the most passionate I have ever composed – a deep lament for you.” Unfortunately, they still had many tribulations to suffer before they finally married four years later.