Kasparas Uinskas, Franz Liszt Sonata in B-minor

Live 2024.
Video production: Andrius Seliuta
Audio production: Laurynas Gaidys
Sponsored by: Gariūnų verslo ir kultūros parkas
http://gariunai.lt

Pianist Kasparas Uinskas:
"After three years of working on Liszt masterpiece, his Sonata in B minor, one of the cornerstones of of the romantic music, I want to share the result with you!
Although this sonata poses enormous technical challenges, the most important aspect for me was to understand the meaning behind this overwhelming musical text. We know that Liszt, unlike Chopin, wrote a lot of programing music based on works of literature by Dante, Petrarca, Goethe etc., and yet in his central piece, arguably the most important of the composer’s life, he didn’t use any official programing. Absent any explanation from Liszt himself regarding the meaning behind the Sonata, it provoked many speculations and hypotheses by musicologist, musicians, music lovers. Some have suggested that the work is loosely based on Goethe’s Faust, the others even went as far as suggesting the Bible as source of inspiration. Personally, I came to a conclusion, that it’s List’s deep dive in to himself, an attempt to face his most intimate, dramatic even tragic contradictions, a confession of sorts. Inevitably the quote from Goethe’s Faust comes to mind “Two souls live in me, alas, Irreconcilable with one another.” To some degree it is a universal human dilemma of dualism present to a different degree in of all of us. Working on such masterpiece is an open ended process of perfecting, crystalizing and connecting to an idea, then connecting through that idea to your self, and ultimately connecting with it to others.

Have I succeeded? You be the judge!"