Violin: Ririko Takagi
Instrument used: Stradivarius "Lord Borwick" (1702)
Piano: Kaoruko Igarashi

0:00 1st movement
11:30 2nd movement
24:12 3rd movement

From Ririko Takagi Violin Recital
March 21, 2022 (Mon/holiday)
Akasaka Civic Hall Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Beethoven's best violin sonata. This sonata is nicknamed the "Kreutzer Sonata" because it was dedicated to the violinist "Rodlov Kreutzer" who was active at the time. Before Beethoven, most of the violin sonatas were piano sonatas with violin introductions, and had an air of elegance written for a musicloving aristocrat. However, Beethoven himself wrote that this piece is "almost like a concerto, a piano sonata with a violin accompaniment that is played in competition". It is a grandscale work that combines both, and the piano and violin compete with each other on an equal footing with their intensity.
Russian writer Tolstoy was inspired by this song to write his novel The Kreutzer Sonata. In this novel, the story progresses in the form of a monologue about himself killing his wife out of jealousy towards the male violinist who is cheating on him. Among them, his wife, who was a pianist, performed this "Kreutzer Sonata" with a male violinist and fell in love. After a series of fights, he stabbed her wife to death. And the main character says about the first movement of this song, "This should not be played in front of a lady." I wanted to say that it is a frightening song that can provoke even the heart of a chaste lady.
Czech composer Janáček composed the string quartet "Kreutzer Sonata" after reading Tolstoy's novel. This is also a wonderful masterpiece, and it is a mysterious masterpiece with a Japanese taste. This string quartet No. 1 "Kreutzer Sonata" composed by Janacek is composed as a musical depiction of a man and a woman who meet, fall in forbidden love, and meet the worst end... increase.

Ririko Takagi Official Site
https://www.ririkotakagi.com/

Instagram
  / ririkotakagi