Program
Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, Op. 12, No. 1.
Bridgetower Fantasy by Vijay Iyer (b. 1971).
Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 47, "Kreutzer."
Beethoven's violin sonatas are standard pieces violin students learn. They range in degrees of difficulty, with No. 1 being on the easy side, and No. 9 a rather difficult one to master. I enjoyed both pieces. I forget if the music contains actual repeat markings, but Koh and Sauer seemed to do all the repeats, which make for rather long performances. The concert started a few minutes late, but didn't end until 9:45 pm, with one intermission.
A notable mistake violin students were taught to avoid was these screeching sounds from not doing your bowing properly. Another would be playing unintentionally close to the bridge. Both seem to be staple techniques in the piece by Iyer. To make those sounds consistently would require a lot of practice - of course I do not know if the sounds were made consistently, or did the violinist do the best she could, and whatever came out, came out.
Per the Program Notes, the Bridgetower Fantasy was "a meditation on the enigmatic African European violinist George Bridgetower, who gave the first performance of the "Kruetzer" with the composer at the piano." The Program Notes continues to describe the Fantasy, starting with the "lonely violin harmonics" to "a characteristic hesitate-and-rush coda that seems to outdo the master at his own game." Quite a statement there, as the "master" in this case is THE master Beethoven. Unfortunately I didn't hear most of what the Notes was describing. The role Bridgetower played in the Kreutzer Sonata is interesting, though.
Jennifer Koh dyed her hair purple, with nail polish to match. With a large black mask on, she was not recognizable. She did the pieces with enthusiasm, and many hairs on the bow broke as a result. She supposedly performs on a Strad, but the sound was not as smooth and clear as I expected.
Sauer matched Koh musically, I feel sorry for these "accompanists" who faced equal challenges but gets secondary billing in the program.
There were paper copies of the "Program Notes" available, and contains rather insightful observations by David Wright. But it also contains some "gibberish" with out-of-order words such as "violin leading Rodolphe violinist Kreutzer and and Louis pianist, Adam, who respectively, Beethoven in Paris." In any case, many violinist will disagree with his view that this sonata "as if to say goodbye forever to the old 'accompanied sonata'."
The tickets were bought at a 50% off sale during Thanksgiving. Both the main auditorium and the balcony had lots of empty seats. A bit discouraging.
Taken a few minutes before the concert began. Not too many additonal people showed up afterwards.
No comments:
Post a Comment