Behzod Abduraimov's interpretations combine great musical depth with phenomenal technique: "He has a magical touch", wrote The Times. This recital is yet another impressive testament to his versatile abilities. It begins with variations by Carl Czerny, a student of Beethoven and teacher of Liszt. This is followed by the famous Après une lecture de Dante – whose title is drawn from a poem by Victor Hugo – which represents Liszt's Années de pèlerinage: Italie (1846-1849). Another era, another poetic inspiration (Verlaine): the Suite bergamasque, an allusion to the festivals of Lombard commedia dell'arte, which Debussy composed between 1890 and 1905. It continues with another celebration, this time in Saint Petersburg, with "the crowd, the market stalls and the little traditional theater, the figure of the sorcerer and the conjurer... and the animation of the puppets – Petrushka, his rival and the ballerina", as Stravinsky himself noted. In 1921 he made a piano transcription of his ballet Petrushka, which he had written ten years earlier. Brahms closes this infernal program with a peaceful intermezzo from the Piano Pieces op. 119.