Gugnin 2020

Postponed until September

Please note the new dates
and cross your fingers!

Andrey Gugnin, piano

Winner of 2014 Gina Bachauer Competition

Winner of 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition
Nominated BBC Classical Music CD of the Year

"Gugnin’s new disc is nothing short of disarming. This is some of the finest Liszt-playing one is likely to encounter these days..." — Gramophone Magazine

"An all-Shostakovich triumph from pianist Andrey Gugnin" Classical-music.com and recording of the month

"Gugnin's nervy, energised and involved playing... made him the clear winner." - Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald 24 July 2016

"What really impressed was Gugnin’s assurance – his absorbed, crystalline playing – so by the cadenza ... you were beguiled by a flawless technique." David Truslove, Classicalsource.com, commenting on the LPO performance, January 2018

Friday 4th Septmber, 6pm 

Scriabin: Mazurkas Complete

Comprising opuses 3, 25 and 40, the mazurkas trace the development of Scriabin from a Chopin acolyte to a composer with a unique language. The early mazurkas are easy listening, but far more original and inventive than merely regurgitated Chopin. Gradually we hear Scriabin's style develop until, by opus 40, Scriabin has shed the Chopin cocoon entirely and emerges metamorphasized.

Sunday 6th September, 5pm

Beethoven:  Piano Sonata No. 29 in B♭ major 'Hammerklavier'

This is grandest of the Beethoven's 32 Sonatas. Completed in 1818, it stretched the boundaries of the sonata form with four movements in classical form but on a monumental scale. The first known public performance was after Beethoven's death, by the 25 year-old Liszt, perhaps because the sonatas was generally regarded as so technically demanding as to be unplayable. I saw Andrey give a superb performance of the Hammerklavier at the Beethoven Competition in Vienna, 2013. It was so impressive that I invited him to come and visit us. I look forward to hearing Andrey's rendition of the Hammerklavier again, after seven years.

Chopin: 24 Preludes op. 28

Needs no introduction. One of the greatest collection of miniatures in the repertoire.

Andrey Gugnin has a special relationship with Eelswamp. He was the first musician whom I invited from overseas and he has visited us annually since then. This will be his seventh visit. During those years, we have seen Andrey's career skyrocket, winning two prestigious international competitions, releasing numerous CDs and most recently, gaining a management contract from one of the top management companies in the world (with a clause allowing continued visits to Eelswamp).

Reservations:  One concert for 1,200 baht or 2,000 baht for both. Email asiachart@hotmail.com or call 038 069681 office hours. Due to limited number of places payment must be received before the day.

Tickets: No tickets will be issued for concerts. Admission to the music room on the day of the concert will be in accordance with the sequence of receipt of payment (ie, who pays first goes in first and can select their desired seat).

Etiquette: No photos allowed during the main performance. But photos may be taken during encore. Please do not upload videos to Youtube.

Children: Children aged eight years and older may attend the concert depending on the suitability of the program. Smaller children may be left with the nanny on the premises. 

Cancellations and credits: Credit will be allowed for future concerts in the event of cancellation provided that the concert for which the original booking was made breaks even.

Directions to Eelswamp: search for 'Eelswamp' on google maps. Directions can be found at the bottom of this page: http://eelswamp.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-music-room-at-eelswamp.html

Taxi service to Eelswamp: Grabtaxi Just enter "Eelswamp" in the destination box.

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Ilya solo

Ilya Kondratiev, piano 

Saturday 15th
 and 
Sunday 16th February

Saturday February 16th, 5pm 

Mussorgsky and Schubert

Recently joined the faculty of the Royal College of Music, London.

Fourth visit to Eelswamp

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Картинки с выставки


One of the most popular works in the piano repertoire, Pictures at an Exhibition is a tour de force of imagery and drama. It is one of the most challenging works for the virtuoso and one of the most engaging for the audience. 

Written in 1874, Pictures has a genius structure which makes the work unique in the piano repertoire. It is a suite of ten short pieces woven together with recurring variations on the 'Promenade' theme. We can conceive of the work as a theme and variations, interspersed with programmatic miniatures. This double, intertwined structure, makes the work original and interesting.

The occasion for the composition was an exhibition of the paintings of the artist Viktor Hartmann, a friend of the composer. Hartmann died tragicly at the age of 39 from an aneurysm. The exhibition was held shortly after the artist's death to commemorate the short but prolific life of the artist. Mussorgsky then wrote his masterpiece in two inspired weeks.

Schubert: Piano Sonata no.16 in A minor, op.42, D.845

This is a wonderful sonata from the beginning of the late period, 1825, three years before Schubert's untimely death. 1825 was a period of respite from ill-health; symptoms of syphilis abated, giving the 28 year old composer more energy, exuberance and a sense of grandeur. The Symphony no. 9 in C Major, "The Great", with its triumphal opening march theme, was sketched out during this period. The A minor sonata contains some of the mood of the symphony albeit in the darker, relative minor key. It has a march theme in the first movement, sometimes triumphal, sometimes mysterious and ending on a dark, A minor, crescendo. Even the charming slow movement is infused with drama. 

Sunday February 16th, 5pm 

Beethoven and Liszt


Two of Beethoven's much loved sonatas from the middle period

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E♭ major, Op. 31, No. 3, The Hunt
and

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E♭ major, Op. 81a, Les Adieux

Liszt Sonata in B minor.  

Liszt wrote two piano sonatas. The Dante Sonata-Fantasy in 1849 and the B Minor Sonata in 1853. These one-movement works revolutionized the piano sonata. But Liszt's vision wasn't taken up until fifty years later, notably by Scriabin, whose fifth to tenth sonatas were all one movement. Although regarded with scorn at the time of publication, the Sonata in B minor is now recognized as one of the great works of genius of the nineteenth century and one of Liszt's greatest achievements.

Ilya Kondratiev is a graduate of Moscow Conservatory and the Royal College of Music, London. He has won numerous prizes in international competitions, notably the Weimar Liszt and the Budapest Liszt Competitions. Recently, Ilya was appointed to the position of Piano Professor at the Royal College of Music, in London.

Reservations: 1,200 baht for one concert. 2,000 baht for two
Email asiachart@hotmail.com or call 038 069681 office hours. Due to limited number of places payment must be received before the day.

Tickets: No tickets will be issued for concerts. Admission to the music room on the day of the concert will be in accordance with the sequence of receipt of payment (ie, who pays first goes in first and can select their desired seat).

Cancellations and credits: Credit will be allowed for future concerts in the event of cancellation provided that the concert for which the original booking was made breaks even.

Directions to Eelswamp: search for 'Eelswamp' on google maps. Directions can be found at the bottom of this page: http://eelswamp.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-music-room-at-eelswamp.html

Taxi service to Eelswamp: Grabtaxi Just enter "Eelswamp" in the destination box.

A member of 

Official media partner