Will the real Kreutzer please stand up? Festival Series II presents one of the towering masterpieces for violin and piano, the Sonata in A Major, Op. 47, by Beethoven, a work more familiarly known by its nickname, the Kreutzer Sonata.

Rudolphe Kreutzer was a preeminent violinist in Paris in the early ninteenth century, and this work has almost nothing to do with him. Today, Kreutzer is known to violinists and Jack Benny as the author of a set of 42 studies designed to improve technique. To wider audiences, he is known only as the namesake for this incredible piece by Beethoven. Though Beethoven sent a copy to Kreutzer, the violinist never played the piece and declared it to be unintelligible.

Augmenting the legacy of this sonata are works by Tolstoy and Leos Janacek, both bearing the same title. You will find these Slavic spin-offs elsewhere during the 2013 Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival (namely, at jimgermanbar on June 25! See the Special Event listing for more information). Tonight, violinist Andrew Jennings and pianist Oksana Ezhokina bring Beethoven’s heroic score to life.

Also on the program is the debut of vocal chamber music at WWCMF. Soprano Jennifer Goltz-Taylor joins WWCMF for the first time in the brooding Seven Songs, Op. 127, by Dmitri Shostakovich. This work, originally commissioned by Mstislav Rostropovich, represents a Who’s Who of twentieth century Soviet music. It was conceived as a vehicle for the power quartet of soprano Galina Vishnevskaya (wife of Rostropovich), Rostropovich, violinist David Oistrakh, and Shostokovich himself. Shostakovich, to ill to perform at the premiere, was replaced by his close associate, Mieczyslaw Weinberg. The music is as deeply personal a statement as we have from this prolific composer. Rounding out the evening is a very charming work by German-American composer Charles Martin Loeffler. 

Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935)

String Quintet in One Movement for 3 violins, viola, and cello

Allegro commodo

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Seven Songs on Poems by Aleksandr Blok, Op. 127 for piano, violin, cello, and soprano

I. Song of Ophelia

II. Gamayun, the Bird of Prophecy

III. We Were Together

IV. The City Sleeps

V. The Storm

VI. Secret Signs

VII. Music

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer” for violin and piano

I. Adagio sostenuto - Presto - Adagio

II. Andante con variazioni

III. Finale. Presto

Artists: Timothy Christie, Oksana Ezhokina, Jennifer Goltz-Taylor, Carolyn Heubi, Andrew Jennings, Norbert Lewandowski, Christina McGann, Stephen Miahky, Maria Sampen, and Felix Wang