Tales of Two Cities: Paris and Madrid

There is nothing more sparkling than two harpsichords, and Four Nations is thrilled to invite the brilliant harpsichordist Frederick Haas to join director Andrew Appel in a program that runs the exquisite to the savage, from the tender gavotte to the screaming joy of the Fandango.

Concert and reception: $100

Won Dharma Center
Claverack, NY

Frederick Haas, harpsichord
Andrew Appel, harpsichord

François Couperin
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Pieces for two harpsichords
Sonatas, Musettes & Chaconnes

Domenico Scarlatti
Sonatas

Luigi Boccherini
Fandango for two harpsichords

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Spain has been a tempest of inspiration and horrors for French artists over the centuries.  Manet, Debussy, and Bizet all flourished with Spanish sights and sounds, yet the greatest 18th-century Spanish composers (Scarlatti and Boccherini) were expatriates from Italy.  The Spanish kings were insane, and their courts and societies reflected their extreme behaviors and delusions.  These same abnormalities created thrilling music.

Frederick Haas, one of my most revered colleagues, will fly to our fields and farms from France and join me in a program of music for two keyboards.  He is a most elegant player of French music, and we will play the works for two instruments by Couperin and Rameau.  In my mind, his Scarlatti is unsurpassed, and in Spanish mode, he will delight you with solo sonatas.  Together we end the program with Boccherini’s fiery Fandango.

The season's final concert will take place at the Won Dharma meditation hall, with perfect sound and views over the Catskills and 400 acres of conserved fields and forests.