The celebrated Turkish pianist Fazıl Say and the highly accomplished Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaya are to play a selection of works that includes their own compositions: Fazıl Say’s Kaybolan Çığlıklar Sonatı (‘Sonata of Lost Screams’) and Patricia Kopatchinskaya’s Unisolo. The programme notes inform us that the work by Fazıl Say features ‘harsh melodies and inner screams, reflecting the difficulties and anxieties experienced by the creative artists of our day’. This work, described as being ‘full of contrasts’, was written specifically for Patricia Kopatchinskaya in 2024. The recital will also include the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s 1915 Myths Suite, Opus 30, consisting of three miniature tone poems drawing on Greek mythology, and Beethoven’s celebrated Kreutzer Sonata, dating from 1803.
Myths, a work much admired in its day, is considered an important milestone in 20-century violin writing: it features heavy use of advanced violin techniques, and the third movement famously uses quarter tones (i.e., intervals of half a semitone).
Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 9 in A major, Opus 47, is noted for its technical difficulty, its unusual length (approx. 40 minutes) and its emotional scope. Its early history was fraught with contretemps. At the first performance, the violin part was played by George Bridgetower, a British musician of African and Polish descent who sightread the piece, not having practised it at all; after the premiere, Beethoven and Bridgetower fell out while drinking. As a result, Beethoven removed the work’s original dedication to Bridgetower and re-dedicated it to Rodolphe Kreutzer, a famous violinist of the day. Kreutzer, however, hated the piece, and refused to play it.
Having listened to a [YouTube recording](
) of the Fazıl Say/Patricia Kopatchinskaya duo giving a superb performance of the Beethoven sonata, I cannot recommend this concert highly enough.
Issue 67, December 2024
Beauty in the Wilderness
