Sophie Rowell and Kristian Chong play Sutherland and Beethoven

Violinist Sophie Rowell is newly appointed to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music as Associate Professor in Violin. Sophie and pianist Kristian Chong reunite for an iconic Sonata of Australian Margaret Sutherland along with Beethoven’s Kretuzer Sonata Op.47. The Sonata for Violin and Piano by prolific Australian composer Margaret Sutherland (1897-1984) is little known and, surprisingly, has been rarely performed since its 1925 premiere. It is a large-scale piece of half hour duration in three movements. The sonata is marked by striking individuality, rejecting the pastoral idiom prevalent in much Australian music at the time, and incorporates a wide range of moods. It is paired with perhaps the grandest of all of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin, the Kreutzer, which encompasses every gamut of human emotion possible in its sprawling and dramatic three movements.

MARGARET SUTHERLAND Sonata for Violin and Piano

LUDWIG BEETHOVEN Sonata for Piano and Violin Op47 (Kreutzer)