Sulki Yu & Laurence Matheson

Following the resounding success of Musica Viva Australia’s inaugural Viva Edge concert, violinist Sulki Yu and pianist Laurence Matheson will present a pair of works characterised by their formal inventiveness and restless energy.

Yu, the current Concertmaster of Orchestra Victoria, is a noted chamber musician, founding member of the Fournier Trio, and soloist of renown. She previously held the role of Principal Violin with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Matheson is one of Australia’s rising stars, fast making a name for himself as a pianist of great sensitivity and imagination.

They’ll kick things off with Beethoven’s Sonata No 1 in D Major, a work with a dance-like, winsome quality. Breaking with the tradition of the time as established by Mozart and Haydn, here the violin attains a more equal footing with the piano. Both instruments contribute to the vigorous nature of the sonata, yet another quality that serves to distinguish Beethoven from his contemporaries ⁠– the work has an elemental energy that stimulates and challenges. The sonata signals the revolutionary progressions in melody, musical development, and texture that would bloom in Beethoven’s following work.

Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major follows, a piece characterised by its mood of spontaneity, melodic invention, and ingenious harmonic colour. The sonata was written by a 63-year-old Franck as a wedding present for the violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe. Presented to him on the morning of his wedding, Ysaÿe performed it at the wedding itself, with the first public performance taking place later that year, after which it quickly entered the violin repertoire. Preceded by moments of stirring passion, the final movement bears the hint of wedding bells.

Event partner: Fed Square