Beethoven’s virtuosic Sonata No. 9- now famously known as the ‘Kreutzer Sonata’. Beethoven originally composed the work for the African-English violinist George Bridgetower, whose playing made a big impression on Beethoven. The 1st performance was at 8 am on May 24th, 1803, with Bridgetower sight-reading the barely finished score over Beethoven’s shoulder! However, the two men soon had a falling out after Bridgetower insulted a woman who Beethoven considered a friend. Beethoven rescinded the ded

The last movement of Beethoven’s Kreutzer sonata is so exciting! Here is a video of a performance I played in February 2021 with Orion Weiss (in the middle of the pandemic), with my friend Orion Weiss. Orion will join me on Tuesday at 7:30 PM to play the Kreutzer sonata again (as well as works by Amy Beach, Prokofiev and Ysaÿe) on my Yale School of Music faculty recital. If you are too far away from Connecticut, be sure to tune in to the stream on The Violin Channel! We will also play this progr