Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Time and Again

“From childhood, I’ve had a hunger to make music,” Menahem Pressler said in a 2009 interview with San Francisco Classical Voice. That voraciousness has had a long time to wear off, but the 86-year-old pianist — “a man for whom age has no meaning,” writes Salt Lake City’s Desert News — adds to his musical legacy even now. The German-born chamber-music giant got off to a strong start by earning 1st prize at the 1946 Debussy International Piano Competition, and went on to play in the revered Beaux Arts Trio for, oh, 53 years. These days, snubbing retirement, Pressler continues to uncover new depths in the classical repertoire — no mean feat with countless artists interpreting the same works. Tune in at Barre Opera House for Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 31 in A-flat Major, op. 110; Debussy’s Estampes; and Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960.