Pianist Joel Schoenhals

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If Schoenhals is this good live, his concert ought to be a jaw-dropping experience. For this recital, he's selected a truly fantastic repertoire: Schumann's perfervid Fantasy, Chopin's patrician Polonaise-Fantasy, Scriabin's passionate Sonata-Fantasy and Beethoven's immortal Moonlight Sonata. Each work has tremendously difficult pages--Schumann's colossal central March and Beethoven's demonic closing Presto--as well as transcendently beautiful pages--Chopin's luminous closing coda and Beethoven's sublime opening Adagio sostenuto. If Schoenhals can roar though the difficult pages, soar through the transcendent pages, and, most importantly, unite the two into a seamless aesthetic whole, his recital will be one of the events of the season.   

[Originally published in September, 2009.]