Program
Beethoven, Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 "Spring"
Jeffrey Scott, Transparencia (2015)
Beethoven, Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 "Kreutzer"
Today's program worked much better than the one on Tuesday. I enjoyed it very much.
Much of that was undoubtedly due to my familiarity with the two Beethoven sonatas, which are "requirements" for violin students in their career. I haven't listened to either sonata for a while, and Murray certainly attacked them with a lot of gusto, and in an unorthodox manner in some instances. Not that the sound was very different, but the bowing was certainly not how I remembered it. Both pieces were performed very well, although I thought the pianist could have asserted herself more forcefully when she had the baton, so to speak.
The movements of the Beethoven sonatas are:
Sonata No. 5 (1801)
Allegro
Adagio molto espressivo
Scherzo: Allegro molto
Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
Sonata No. 9 (1803)
Adagio sostenuto - Presto
Andante con variazioni
Presto
Sandwiched between the two sonatas was a composition by Jeffrey Scott, a Queens, NY native who now teaches at Montclair State University in New Jersey. I didn't know what to expect, but overall I liked what I heard. It was supposed to capture all kinds of Brazilian music, but I frankly wouldn't know what Brazilian music should sound like. I couldn't find much about the music on the web, and vaguely recall its having four movements.
Murray is in her late 30s, and is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. She plays on a ca. 1765 Tomaso Balestrieri fecit Mantua. Well, I don't have a good audio setup at home, so couldn't tell how good the sound was.
Our grandchildren were listening to part of the program. Maisie (not quite 6) made the remark that the piano part looked so much more difficult than the violin part. I couldn't object. Wait till she sees a Mozart violin sonata.
No comments:
Post a Comment