Pianist Kirill Gerstein will bring his transcendental technique to Princeton on Monday at 7:30 p.m., when he returns to McCarter Theatre Center with a recital that will include a selection of Franz Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes.”

“They are showpieces, but in a much broader sense,” Gerstein says. “One could really say that Liszt, despite his enormous popularity, in some way is very much still an underrated composer. I think a lot of listeners and even some colleagues are distracted and partly disturbed by the flamboyance of some of the writing. But it is just one aspect, and a relatively small aspect, when you look at his entire, prodigious output. He was a serious composer and a fundamental musical force that really affected the course of music history. Of course he has his moments of being a superstar and tossing off glitter, which is also fine and part of life, but I don’t think that he was superficial.”

Gerstein has been touring the Etudes, with stops this month in Brussels, Liverpool and Vienna. He has recorded the entire cycle for the myrios classics label.

His McCarter program will also include sonatas by Beethoven (including the “Moonlight”) and Brahms (the Sonata No. 2) and four duets by Bach. Princeton Emeritus Professor Scott Burnham will deliver a pre-concert lecture at 6:30.

Gerstein will arrive at McCarter hot off a run of concerts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on Friday at 8 p.m., at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Saturday at 8 p.m., and at Mayo Performing Arts Center – MPAC in Morristown on Sunday at 3 p.m.

On March 1, he’ll join the Hagen Quartett for Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor at Carnegie Hall. The Hagen Quartet will appear at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium on March 2 at 8:00 p.m., as part of the Princeton University Concerts series.

Read more of Gerstein’s thoughts on Liszt’s ‘Transcendental Etudes’ in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/02/classical_music_kirill_gerstei.html