The Three Bs in a bar: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms

In a restaurant and bar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the sound of “The Three Bs” resonates amid the clinking of wine glasses and low conversations. It is a piano recital in the KWest Brasserie Bar at the Amanjaya Pancam Hotel on riverside, and The Three Bs refers to the classical music of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.

Gerd Isselhardt, 26-year old student of instrumental music pedagogy at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Music in Mainz, Germany, is playing. He began playing the piano at eight years of age, and at the age of 16 he was a prize winner at “Jugend Musiziert” – the competition for youth. He has performed chamber music with the Palatinate State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dresdner Philharmonie.

Isselhardt commences in chronological order with The Three Bs: Prelude and Fuga No 20 a-minor BWV 889 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750); 32 variations on an original theme in c-minor, WoO.80 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827); and Intermezzo Op.116 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). After intermission, still amid the noise of people dining, he continues with Capricio Op.118 by Brahms.

And then he deviates from The Three Bs. Firstly, with Sergei Prokofieff (1891-1953) and Etude Op2 in c-minor before Sancta Dorothea by Franz Liszt (1811-1886). His penultimate piece is Prelude Anatolique, a theme from Arzu Gok, by Gerhard Fischer-Muenster (1952--). Isselhardt concludes with dance in Bulgarian rhythm (Mikrokosmos No.153) by Bela Bartok (1881-1945), the fourth and final B!

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