Louis Lortie continues his cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas at Bourgie Hall

From October 13 to 20, 2022, Bourgie Hall switches to Beethoven mode as Quebec pianist Louis Lortie pursues and concludes his complete cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas. After several postponements, the public is invited to reconnect with this colossal project begun at Bourgie Hall in 2020 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. After having presented the sonatas nos. 1, 3, 5, 8, 18, and nos. 2, 6, 7, 11, 17 during two previous concerts, Louis Lortie will perform the 22 remaining sonatas over the course of five concerts. The public is invited to an exceptional encounter, in the intimacy of this hall ideally suited to optimal listening of this repertoire.

Hailed internationally as one of the most accomplished pianists of his generation, Louis Lortie has enchanted audiences around the world with the elegance of his playing, his passion, his commitment as well as his abundant, fluid musicality. Possessing a flawless technique, applauded for the freshness and originality of his interpretations, superlatives abound to describe his performances: he is “living proof that you can maintain an individual and distinctive voice while remaining scrupulously true to the composer” (Gramophone). The magazine Die Welt affirms: “possibly the most beautiful Beethoven since Wilhelm Kempff.” Le Devoir, for its part, concludes: “this Beethoven […] is a deeply-matured jewel.”

These sonatas, composed over three decades between 1793 et 1822, cover a significant portion of Beethoven’s creative period. This body of work, unique in the history of music, constitutes a cornerstone of the piano repertoire, in which is synthesized the famed composer’s genius. Mr. Lortie, who has spent time with these works for over 50 years, offers the public very personal and profoundly thoughtful interpretations, bringing to light their lyricism without eschewing their impetuousness.

He has performed all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas at Wigmore Hall in London, the Ford Centre in Toronto, the Berliner Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. As Mr. Lortie has already performed this cycle in Montreal, the public will have a new opportunity to hear these works, which are imbued with emotion and teeming with innovative and surprising ideas.

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