Lugansky . Repin - Beethoven “Kreutzer“ Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 9

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Sonata for violin & piano No. 9 in A major (“Kreutzer“), Op. 47 (1803) Nikolai Lugansky, piano Vadim Repin, violin, 2017 I. Adagio sostenuto - Presto [0:00] II. Andante con Variazioni [14:25] III. Finale. Presto [28:16] “As soon as he completed this Sonata, Beethoven set to work on the “Eroica“ Symphony, which would occupy him for the next six months. While the “Kreutzer“ Sonata does not engage the heroic issues of the first movement of that symphony, it has something of the Eroica’s slashing power and vast scope. Beethoven was well aware of this and warned performers that the Sonata was “written in a very concertante style, quasi-concerto-like.“ From the first instant, one senses that this is music conceived on a grand scale. The Sonata opens with a slow introduction (the only one in Beethoven’s ten violin sonatas), a cadenza-like entrance for the violin alone. The piano makes a similarly dramati