SONATAS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO, VOLUME II

This represents the second in a three-album set that features Beethoven’s Complete Violin Sonatas (ten in total). The brilliant performance put in by this exceptional duo of musicians, Carlos Damas (violin) and Rubén Lorenzo (piano), results from their extensive collaboration that took place in Spain, where both performed four recitals of the Complete Violin Sonatas. Their choice for this particular album falls on: Violin Sonata No. 5 in F, Op. 24 ‘Spring’ (1800-1801); Violin Sonata No. 8 in G, Op. 30 No. 3 (1801-1802); and Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’ (1802-1803). These three Violin Sonatas correspond to that considered the first stage in the musical production of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) which, for reasons of convenience in organizing his music, lasted until 1802. In this period, Beethoven assimilated the musical language of his time based on the Viennese Classical tradition inherited from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Nevertheless, while, on the one hand, Beethoven reveals a dependency and relationship with the classical tradition, on the other hand, he seeks to extend the classical tradition as he strives to establish his own path. This emerges most clearly in the renowned Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 ‘Kreutzer’, which is a transitional work straddling Beethoven’s first and second stages. This is a moment when the composer is already displaying his independence and, perhaps for this reason, this is considered one of his most difficult Violin Sonatas, both technically and emotionally, in addition to attaining a length unusual for a conventional sonata, lasting for 40’.