Beethoven Op.110 - Brahms Sonata No. 3 Kate Liu

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110:
• 1 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110: Moderato cantabile molto espressivo 08:12
• 2 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110: Allegro molto 02:26
• 3 Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.31 in A-flat major, Op.110: Adagio ma non troppo - Fuga. Allegro ma non troppo 12:50
• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5:
• 4 Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5: Allegro maestoso 13:44
• 5 Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5: Andante espressivo 14:17
• 6 Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5: Scherzo. Allegro energico – Trio 05:28
• 7 Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5: Intermezzo. Andante molto 04:05
• 8 Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5: Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato 09:00
• Total Runtime 01:10:02

Info for Beethoven Op.110 - Brahms Sonata No. 3

Pianist Kate Liu rose to international prominence after winning the Bronze Medal and Best Mazurka Prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, along with the audience prize from the Polish public. Since then, Liu has performed on prestigious stages worldwide including Carnegie's Weill Hall and the Kennedy Center, collaborating with renowned orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal. Born in Singapore, Kate Liu began her piano studies at the age of four and moved to the U.S. at eight, eventually earning degrees from the Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School. Her latest recording spans two pianistic masterpieces, Beethoven's Sonata No. 31, and the 3rd Sonata of Brahms. You may also like...

Perhaps the most intriguing movement in the Sonata is the fourth – a ‘Rückblick’ (roughly translatable as ‘Looking back’, or ‘Remembrance’). Over the course of just two pages, Brahms seems to recall shapes and fragments of previous movements without ever referring to them directly. It’s a striking device, and this movement’s sparse texture, occasionally angular harmonies and unusual title seem particularly reminiscent of Robert Schumann’s character pieces. It also turns this big-boned Romantic sonata into a five-movement work, bursting beyond the confines of the traditional four in an imaginative bringing together of ‘abstract’ and ‘poetic’ musical types. Beethoven, still a crucial model to the young Brahms, would surely have approved: and we have already heard him, in fact, knocking out the famous rhythm of his Fifth Symphony, in the Sonata’s first movement. It would be some years before Brahms found a way of fully absorbing the older composer’s influence and developing his own highly distinctive musical idiom. And by that time, he had ceased altogether to write piano sonatas.

Kate Liu, piano

Kate Liu
has garnered international recognition, notably winning the Third Prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland. In addition to this, she received the Best Mazurka Prize and Audience Favorite Prize, awarded by the Polish public through Polish National Radio.

Most recently in the summer of 2024, Kate was honored with the Olivier Berggruen Award at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.

As a distinguished soloist, Kate has performed in numerous prestigious venues worldwide, including the Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Warsaw National Philharmonic, La Maison Symphonique de Montréal, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Shanghai Concert Hall, Osaka Symphony Hall, and the Phillips Collection. She has collaborated with esteemed orchestras such as the Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, and Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. She is a regular invitee to the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw, and in 2016, she released her debut album of Chopin works on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute label.

Born in Singapore, Kate began her piano studies at the age of four and relocated to the United States at age eight. She studied at the Music Institute of Chicago under Emilio del Rosario, Micah Yui, and Alan Chow. Kate holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, as well as a Master’s and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

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