James Rhodes: Piano Man
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Bach French Suite - James plays Bach's French Suite No 5 in G which he sees as a love letter to Bach's second wife, a singer seventeen years his junior who bore him thirteen children. This is one of Bach's most accessible works and reveals a joyful, romantic side to the composer who is more often seen as an austere, God-fe...
Episodes 2013
James plays Piano Sonata 30 in E Major - written at the end of Beethoven's life when he was profoundly deaf and very isolated. James describes the first movement as "like something out of a Hitchcock movie" and the last movement as being of "such unimaginable beauty, that it takes your breath away". (From the UK) (Masterpi...
Mad, Bad and Sad - James plays his favourite pieces from three composers with whom he identifies due to their obsessive, depressive and insular qualities. They were all extraordinary pianists and each composition sets a different challenge for James. The pieces include: Rachmaninov's Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Ravel's Tocca...
Bach/Busoni - With childhood abuse, drug addiction and suicide attempts behind him, James Rhodes is not your typical concert pianist. In this episode, James plays the magnificent and fiendishly difficult Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, written for the organ by JS Bach and transcribed for the piano 200 years later by vi...
Chopin - With childhood abuse, drug addiction and suicide attempts behind him, James Rhodes is not your typical concert pianist. In this episode, James plays three pieces by the composer he has the most affinity with: Frédéric Chopin. He performs the monstrously difficult Etude Opus 25 No. 12, and the sublimely beautiful P...
Uppers and Downers - With a troubled life behind him, James Rhodes is not your typical concert pianist. This week James plays his favourite mood-enhancing pieces, including 'In the Hall of the Mountain King', transcribed for the piano by Ginzburg from the original Grieg, and the exquisite Bach/Marcello 'Adagio in D minor',...
Beethoven: Waldstein - With a very troubled life behind him, James Rhodes is not your typical concert pianist. In this seven-part series, James plays the music of his favourite composers. In the first episode, James plays Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’, written soon after the composer had emerged from depression after realising h...