Vadym Kholodenko

Beethoven Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, Op. 22
Beethoven Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a, ‘Les adieux’
Beethoven Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106, ‘Hammerklavier’

Vadym Kholodenko piano

Technically, philosophically and interpretatively, Beethoven’s piano Sonata Op. 106 is surely the most challenging of them all. The ‘utterly charming’ (New York Classical Review) Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko comes to the Holywell Music Room for this recital culminating in the sonata that Beethoven assured friends and pupils would be his greatest. Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ is best understood in the context of what went before it and Kholodenko provides that context, bringing us the sonata that formed the culmination of its early keyboard works, No. 11, and the only sonata by the composer with an explicit narrative, No. 26.