Richard Goode, Piano

Richard Goode has been universally acclaimed as a master interpreter of the classical piano repertoire for more than fifty years. "One of the greatest American pianists of his or any generation, Goode performs with deceptive ease," wrote the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He plays with complete mastery of his instrument and the score." He is also a true citizen of classical music, having run the legendary Marlboro Music School and Festival for fifteen years. He and Jeremy Denk, who will be performing at Baldwin Auditorium on December 10, are among the few classical pianists ever to be signed to Nonesuch Records.

More than two decades after he became the first American pianist to record the complete Beethoven sonatas, Goode brings five of these sublime works to Durham. He plays all three Opus 10 sonatas, the radical and impetuous pieces that marked the young Beethoven's breakthrough in the form. He contrasts these youthful sonatas with two mature ones: the thunderous but rarely-performed No. 22, and the poetic and heartfelt No. 28, the first of the composer's late-period masterpieces.