Pianist Viniciu Moroianu will hold a recital on Wednesday, March 13^th, at 7:00 PM, on the main stage of the Romanian Athenaeum. On this occasion, the musician shares with us some thoughts related to the event, in a dialogue with Ioana Țintea.

Mr. Moroianu, scheduling a recital on the most important stage of the country is perhaps the highlight of an artist's season. What does returning to the main stage of the Romanian Athenaeum mean to you?

It means joy and, at the same time, a huge responsibility. Indeed, it is a pinnacle of concentration and artistic performance that I offer on my own, building huge acoustic structures to be convincing and attempting to convey the message of each composer as deeply as possible.

Therefore, it's a moment I submit myself to as often as I can and one that I eagerly await and prepare for with all my dedication.

The piece that will open the recital on March 13th is Sonata No. 8 by Alexander Scriabin, about which the composer himself mentioned that it is "the most tragic episode of my creative work." How would you describe the score by the Russian composer?

It is a masterpiece among his creations, an extremely dense polyphonic work in which this highly innovative harmonic system that he gifted to humanity is present with a very dense pianistic texture. And, at the same time, it's not only tragedy there, but everything oscillates between tragedy and ecstasy.Not a single chord is resolved. He is avoiding major and minor chords in favor of augmented and diminished ones. Each harmony flows into the next, like waves of the sea, but the discourse, which remains questioning and gives rise to all sorts of existential problems and questions in the listener's mind, remains unique. As such, I believe this sonata is a significant event in the repertoire.At least on our stages, it is extremely rarely performed, like Scriabin's late music in general, and that's why I hope it will be a cultural attraction for the Bucharest season to have this wonderful sonata present.

You will continue with the Sonata in D major, an expansive score written by Franz Schubert in 1825, during a stay in the spa resort of Badgastein in Austria, a work that reveals a hint of optimism right from its beginning. Why this choice?

It is also a pianistic masterpiece. Indeed, it is a sonata in four extremely expansive and innovative parts for its time. The presence of the Austrian landler and the entire sound of the fourth part with its lyricism, simplicity, and dancing spirit of this wonderful composer of Lieder and more, who was Franz Schubert... makes it an absolutely special sonata within the entirety of his oeuvre.And I would add here that the impression I had on the verge of becoming a student, in 1981, listening to Radu Lupu live in an Enescu festival with this sonata and the entire Schubert evening with which he enchanted us then, the image of that sonata remained imprinted on me as an initiatory fact of life until today, I would say.

So, I considered approaching this sonata as a special artistic experience, and once again, I measure myself against it in this recital. I will try to bring it to life as inspiringly and as well as I can in the performance at the Athenaeum.

At the end of the recital on Wednesday, March 13^th, you will remain in the same state of spring optimism with Robert Schumann's Fantasy in C major. Listening to this piece, the three parts make us thinkabout a sonata. From your point of view, in which category would you classify it?

Yes, there has been a talk about the idea of a monumental sonata, a fourth sonata by Schumann, an idea that has a counterpart in the score. It is an extraordinary poem of depth and eminently romantic through the breath, fervor, and passion of this music, alongside the heroic spirit of the second part or the deep, philosophical meditation of the third part.It is an extraordinarily inspired piece among those splendid acoustic monuments around it, which Schumann gifted us one after another in those years of his youth. It is both a pianistic challenge and a challenge of inner support, this Fantasy in C major, and completing the program at the Athenaeum with this music is also an extraordinary challenge for me and for any performer. I believe it is a romantic piece that has its place in the entirety of this recital at the Athenaeum.

I know that preparations for the recital at the Athenaeum are almost finished and that, at the same time, you are preparing another event. This time, dedicated to Dinu Lipatti's music. What is it about?

Nine days after the recital at the Athenaeum, I will step again into the sacred space of the "Dinu Lipatti" House of Arts, Lipatti's home in Bucharest. It's the annual "I Love Lipatti" festival, organized by this prestigious cultural institution of the capital. It will be a complete Lipatti recital, but not only with original music, but also novelties.There will be a monumental cadenza for Haydn's Concerto in D major and a transcription of a Bach pastoral for organ in four parts, I believe that it's in final version, revised by Lipatti in the year of his death, and it will be heard on our concert stage for the first time.

And other than that, there is original music still too little approached and performed here, led by the crown jewel that is the Fantasy Op. 8, a substantial work in five parts. I would even say it's a kind of reminiscence of the idea of a fantasy in multiple parts, as Schumann conceived it in that Op. 17 which I will present at the Athenaeum. These two works somehow have deep conceptual connections.

So, this is what awaits me in a few days as well. And I will be finishing that program with dedication and joy.