CONTENT COURTESY SARAH GRUNSTEIN
Internationally acclaimed Australian pianist Sarah Grunstein will premiere at the Melbourne Recital Centre in March, followed by an eagerly anticipated return to the Sydney Opera House in April 2024. While Grunstein is distinguished for her interpretation of Bach’s works, the praise she has received is not limited to her performances of Bach. Grunstein’s playing recalls the intimate and poetic performance styles of the early 20th-Century English piano giants Harold Samuel and Dame Myra Hess.
Both of her Sydney and Melbourne recitals feature a program titled Beethoven’s Last Sonatas. The program comprises the final three of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas: his Sonata in E major, Op.109, Sonata in A-flat major, Op.110, and his Sonata in C minor, Op.111.
Grunstein remarks: “In his piano sonatas, Beethoven takes us on a journey. His intent was always to arouse his listeners’ emotions. Beethoven’s late sonatas are a profound journey into the expressiveness of his late style, his inventiveness with structure and the artist’s sound palette, and his demands on the performer and the instrument. The works are at once dramatic and spiritual, harking back to early 18th-Century styles, and looking ahead to poetic Romanticism. Each sonata is distinct, yet the three together become a journey. For the music-lover’s soul, this journey is one of transcendence.”
Internationally acclaimed Australian pianist Sarah Grunstein plays Beethoven’s Last Sonatas
Melbourne Recital Centre, Primrose Potter Salon: Wednesday 27 March 2024 at 7.30pm
Sydney Opera House, Utzon Room: Thursday 4 April 2024 at 7.30pm
Image supplied. Credit Peter Schaaf.
