Chamber Music Series

A evening of chamber music with leading UAE based virtuosos. With pieces from Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

1 – Mozart Violin Sonata – G major K301

Allegro con spirit

Rondò: Allegro

Performers: Lavinia Soncini + Sanaz Sotoudeh

Having resigned his post in Salzburg, Mozart, accompanied by his mother, set out in search of new
employment. His journey, which started in September 1777 and lasted until January 1789, took him to
Mannheim, Paris and Munich. During this time, he composed six sonatas for piano and violin that were
later published in Paris in 1778.

Mozart wrote the Sonata in G major, K. 301- the first of a set of six sonatas written during the composer’s
journey to Mannheim and Paris-in February 1778. The violin states the principal theme and then
accompanies the keyboard in a second statement of the material.

2 – Ludwig van Beethoven Sonata op.12 no.1

Allegro con brio

Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto

Rondò: Allegro

Performers: Lavinia Soncini + Sanaz Sotoudeh

In 1797 and ’98 Beethoven composed his three Op. 12 sonatas for “piano and violin” (standard listing of such works at the time), dedicating them to Antonio Salieri. All three works reflect Beethoven’s absorption of the high classicism of both Mozart and Haydn with strong hints of his own increasingly assertive and heightened emotional style. The sonatas share certain features: they are all in three movements of which the first is typically the most exploratory and inventive, the second highly expressive and the finale scintillating and unfailingly upbeat. They also fall into that category termed ‘Hausmusik’, i.e., music composed for performance by skilled amateurs, unlike the remaining seven violin and piano sonatas, which were written for professional virtuosos. Despite the designation mentioned above as sonatas for “piano and violin,” Beethoven strove as ever for parity among the instrumentalists. Neither violin nor piano can boast of clear dominance, despite Beethoven’s primary performing career as a pianist.

3 – Schumann Sonata no.1 in A minor

1 mov. – Mit leideshaftlichen Ausdruck

2 mov. – Allegretto

3 mov. – Lebhaft

Performers: Nadine Artuhanava / Viktoriya Zaharieva

The violin sonata no. 1 in A minor, opus 105 of Robert Schumann was written the week of September 12– 16 September 1851. This Sonata for Violin and Piano (the present item and the Sonata, Op.121 in D minor) was composed during his tenure as a conductor in Düsseldorf in 1851, substantially later than his chamber works — Piano Quintet, Piano Quartet, and the three string quartets — which have achieved a more general renown. As such, this presents a different set of challenges and rewards than do those earlier works. Signs of Schumann’s impending collapse are certainly evident in the A minor Violin Sonata, but not through any deficiency of musical value; the work’s dramatic and psychological complexities speak for themselves.

4 – Dmitri Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G Minor, opus 57

I. Prelude

II. Fugue

III. Scherzo

IV. Intermezzo

V. Finale

Performers: Angela Nastase (Violin), Crosby Barrett (viola Miriam Buzhgulashvili (Violin), Magdalena Wajdzik (Piano), Ben Truchi (Cello)

The Piano Quintet in G Minor, opus 57, by Dmitri Shostakovich is one of his best-known chamber works.
Like most piano quintets, it is written for piano and string quartet (two violins, viola and cello).
Shostakovich began work on the piece in the summer of 1940 and completed it on September 14. It was
written for the Beethoven Quartet, as were most of his string quartets, and premiered by them with
Shostakovich himself at the piano on November 23, 1940 at the Moscow Conservatory, to great success.
In 1941, it was awarded the Stalin Prize.