Baeva & Kholodenko: Violin and Piano

An evening of violin and piano music performed by Alena Baeva and Vadym Kholodenko.

Programme:
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 1 in D major, op. 12
Thomas Adés: Märchentänze
Benjamin Britten: Three Pieces from Suite for Violin and Piano, op. 6
Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, op. 94bis

Performers:
Alena Baeva - violin
Vadym Kholodenko - piano

Beethoven published his cycle of three violin sonatas, op. 12, in early 1799 and dedicated them to Antonio Salieri, then Vienna's most influential musician and the composer's future teacher of composition. The D major sonata still bears traces of Mozartian style while opening toward a more romantic expression.

British composer Thomas Adés ranks among the most distinctive voices in contemporary music. His Märchentänze from 2020 - four "fairy-tale dances" - draws from English folk tradition and alternates exuberant expression with lyrical and mysterious poetry inspired by landscape and ancient legends.

Benjamin Britten's early work Three Pieces from Suite for Violin and Piano, op. 6 (1934-1935), reflects the interwar avant-garde world - from the Paris Six through Stravinsky to Schoenberg. A grotesque march, a poetic lullaby, and a humorous waltz finale rank among virtuosic concert pieces.

The evening concludes with Prokofiev's Sonata No. 2 in D major, op. 94bis, composed during World War II as an arrangement of the original flute sonata at the request of violinist David Oistrakh. The work is marked by classical balance and an almost pastoral character.