Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata with Rita Dove

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove joins violinist Jesse Mills and pianist Rieko Aizawa for Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9, the “Kreutzer.” A work of unusual scale and intensity, the sonata stands among Beethoven’s most ambitious chamber compositions, with a dramatic sweep and a strikingly equal partnership between violin and piano. Dove reads excerpts from Sonata Mulattica, her poetry collection on the violinist George Bridgetower, to whom the work was originally dedicated. Mills, a two-time Grammy-nominated violinist, and Aizawa, an internationally active soloist and chamber musician, bring long experience to this landmark score.