In Monday’s (11/16) Wall Street Journal, Barbara Jepson writes about Bridge to Beethoven, violinist Jennifer Koh’s and pianist Shai Wosner’s “intriguing four-part series being presented this season in New York and San Francisco, and elsewhere in smaller segments…. ‘Bridge to Beethoven’ journeys beyond the coupling of old and new for which both performers are known. Ms. Koh commissioned three noteworthy American composers—Vijay Iyer, Andrew Norman and Anthony Cheung—to write companion pieces for specific violin sonatas by Beethoven she selected. Mr. Wosner recommended a suitable existing work by the admirable German composer Jörg Widmann. Each concert will contain one contemporary piece and two or three Beethoven violin sonatas…. The heart of the program: Mr. Iyer’s Bridgetower Fantasy, followed by Beethoven’s monumental Kreutzer Sonata…. Bridgetower Fantasy for violin and piano is an extended riff on the mercurial character traits ascribed by Beethoven to the Afro-European violinist George Bridgetower, the sonata’s originally intended dedicatee…. The first movement of Mr. Widmann’s Sommersonate … explores the sonata tradition.… It will be interesting to see if these fine musicians continue to program the contemporary works chosen for Bridge to Beethoven in future seasons.”
Posted November 19, 2015
