A new generation has made the piano popular again: pianists with a passion for virtuosity and a willingness to expand their repertoire. In addition to the usual classics they perform formerly scorned works or they discover neglected composers.
"LEGATO" is a series dedicated to presenting some of this new movement's most fascinating pianists – their individual approaches, their fresh ideas and their music. Every episode portrays an artist and shows an aspect of the world of the piano. Viewers meet the artists, get to know their styles, their methods of working their personal idiosyncrasies. The sum of these portraits provides viewers with an overall picture of the art of the pianist.
The series opens with Boris Berezovsky. Intelligent, curious and strong-minded, he has established a remarkable reputation, both as the most powerful of virtuoso pianists and as a musician of unique insight and sensitivity. In a stunning recital recorded live at the newly-built Philharmonie Essen in 2006, he balances virtuosity with an unfaltering musical integrity, playing works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Nikolai Medtner, Dafydd Llywelyn, Leopold Godowsky and Anatoly Liadov.
