Program 6  

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BEETHOVEN THE VIRTUOSO

 

When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, he was one of the first virtuosos of the new pianoforte. In fact they had grown up together as it evolved from harpsichord to piano- with instruments almost doubling in their key span over his lifetime. His audiences were dazzled by his virtuosic technical facility, but also by his virtuosic music making. Czerny said of his playing “In rapidity, no one equaled him” but it was also Beethoven’s sense of singing legato, and his vast range of colors and ideas that impressed and shocked his early audiences. This radical transformation of instrumental playing didn’t only apply to the piano. Beethoven performed the premiere of this early cello sonata with the French virtuoso Duport. It was published as a sonata for pianoforte with cello obligato but the cello part is anything from a secondary voice and is stylistically more like a concerto. In Beethoven’s first published trio, he weaves together 3 independent voices, all requiring tremendous command. This brilliant violin sonata bears the title of Kreutzer, one of the founders of the French conservatory, but he found it too difficult to perform. Beethoven performed the premiere with the West Indian virtuoso Bridgetower who claimed that Beethoven pulled the dedication due to competition over a love interest.

 

 

Cello Sonata No.2, Op.5 No.2   (1796)

Adagio sostenuto ed espressivo

Allegro molto più tosto presto

Rondo. Allegro

 

Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op.1 No.1   (1795)

Allegro

Adagio cantabile

Scherzo- Trio

Finale; Presto

 

INTERMISSION

 

Violin Sonata No.9, Op.47 “Kreutzer”    (1804)

Adagio sostenuto- Presto

Andante con variazioni

Finale. Presto

 

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Özgür Baskın, keman

Indira Rahmatullah, cello

Çağdaş Özkan, piyano