Christian Blackshaw

Mozart Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, K. 397/385g
Mozart Adagio in B minor, K. 540
Schubert Four Impromptus, D. 899
Chopin Four Mazurkas, Op. 24
Franck Prélude, Choral et Fugue, FWV 21

British pianist Christian Blackshaw brings his ‘elegance, inwardness, delicacy of touch and poetry of feeling’ (Financial Times) to this opening recital of the Oxford Piano Festival at the Holywell Music Room. His recital journeys from the grace of Mozart to the intimacy of Schubert and the pure charm of Chopin’s Op. 24 Mazurkas, its iconic fourth installment beloved of the great pianists. To finish, Blackshaw negotiates the compelling rarity that is César Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue – a grand homage to Bach, Beethoven and Schumann in which fervent rapture and restrained discipline tussle for supremacy.