Xenia Pestova performs Hans Otte's monumental work for solo piano, ‘The Book of Sounds’.

Seductive, beguiling, scintillating and transformative: The ‘Book of Sounds’ by the neglected experimental German composer and pianist Hans Otte takes the listener on an immersive and meditative journey. Presented by the contemporary piano specialist Xenia Pestova and lasting over an hour, this major work is in twelve continuous movements, demanding unparalleled stamina and concentration from the performer. Ranging from sparse and abstract sections to virtuosic passagework and at times reminiscent of Satie, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, early John Cage, Keith Jarrett and even Scriabin, this unusual masterpiece defies classification and has to be experienced.

“This "Book of Sounds" rediscovers the listener as a partner of sound and silence, who in the best for his world, wishes for once to be totally at one with sound. The "Book of Sounds" rediscovers the piano as an instrument of timbre and tuneful sound with all its possibilities of dynamics, colour and resonance. This "Book of Sounds" rediscovers playing as the possibility of experiencing oneself in sound, of becoming at one in time and space with all the sounds around one. This "Book of Sounds" rediscovers a world of consonant experience which could only now be written because of a totally changed consciousness of sounds on earth.” – Hans Otte

Please note that the performance will start at 9pm sharp.