Two of the top recitalists in town, violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen have performed and recorded together for over a decade. They’ll play music by Beethoven, Prokofiev, Janáček and Ross Lee Finney at The Lounge at HVG on Sunday October 29 at 5 pm.
The program expresses these composers’ response to war and wartime, including two very different and personal reactions in the aftermath of World War II: Sergei Prokofiev’s haunting Violin Sonata No. 1 is juxtaposed with Ross Lee Finney’s tender suite of folk tunes, “Fiddle-Doodle-Ad”. Also on the program, Beethoven’s sunny and rambunctious Violin Sonata No. 8, published just before Napoleon brazenly declared himself Austrian Emperor; and Leoš Janáček’s optimistic 1914 Violin Sonata, infused with Moravian folk music.
About the Artists
Violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen’s musical partnership spans well over a decade. As a duo, they have played many recitals of music both old and new, and they have given numerous world-premiere performances. A 2016 ECM release of music by Béla Bartók, Witold Lutoslawski, and Alfred Schnittke, was highly critically-acclaimed. Cuckson and McMillen have also recorded recent violin-piano music by Michael Hersch, Jason Eckardt, Donald Martino, Ralph Shapey, and Harold Meltzer. They are each active performers and pedagogues, and both are on faculty at Mannes School of Music at the New School.
