Description
Nikola Meeuwsen triumphed at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2025, where he won the first prize. He impressed the audience and jury with his passionate and poetic playing, which reveals an unmistakable personal vision.On his debut album, he performs three masterpieces from the early years of Romanticism, a golden age of music in which composers opened themselves up to multifaceted sources of inspiration, reaching for the stars. Felix Mendelssohn entered into dialogue with his predecessor Beethoven for his Variations Serieuses, a virtuoso piece in which the theme undergoes ingenious transformations. Robert Schumann entered into dialogue with the depths of his soul for his Fantasia, a monument to his love for Clara. Franz Liszt entered into dialogue with world literature for his Dante Sonata. With orchestral timbres, he painted the descent into Dante's hell, a titanic struggle between good and evil that demands the utmost from the pianist. As a prelude, Nikola plays Bach's chorale prelude Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, in Ferruccio Busoni's piano arrangement. An imaginative programme, a composition in itself.
