Ilya Kaler & Rasa Vitkauskaite: Bridgetower Project: Beethoven, Florence Price & Paquito D'Rivera
Ongaku Records

A classical release featuring violin and piano performances of Beethoven and Florence Price works isn't out of the ordinary; one that augments them with a chamber piece written by and featuring renowned clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera as well as readings of poems by Rita Dove, on the other hand, is. The thread connecting such seemingly disparate parts is George Polgreen Bridgetower (1780–1860), the long overlooked Afro-European violin virtuoso for whom the Bridgetower Project is named. This multidisciplinary artistic initiative unites the talents of D'Rivera, Dove, violinist Ilya Kaler, and pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite, and also features on D'Rivera's piece fellow clarinetist Jonathan Cohler, cellist Dave Eggar, and double bassist Gregg August. To say the participants are distinguished is an understatement: Dove's a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate; Kaler's the only violinist to have won gold medals at the Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Paganini competitions; D'Rivera's a multiple Grammy Award recipient; and Vitkauskaite's a Steinway Artist and acclaimed Beethoven interpreter.

Bridgetower was the original dedicatee and inspiration for Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, which the violinist premiered with the composer in 1803. It's believed that the two had a falling-out over a woman following the work's premiere, which led the composer to re-dedicate it to French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer as the "Kreutzer Sonata” and thereby help banish the original dedicatee to obscurity. Though the sonata has held the Kreutzer name for over two hundred years (he never, in fact, performed it), the Bridgetower Project constitutes an attempt to reassociate the work with the violinist for whom it was written. Drawing for inspiration from it and Bridgetower's sole surviving composition, Henry, is D'Rivera's Bridgetower Reimagined, a newly commissioned work by the Cuban artist and a world premiere recording to boot. The poems Dove reads come from her poetry book Sonata Mulattica, a work that has also been integral to Bridgetower's rediscovery.

Extending across thirty-six minutes and thus accounting for more than half of the release's fifty-seven-minute total, Beethoven's three-part sonata is treated to a dynamic reading by Kaler and Vitkauskaite. After Dove formally introduces the work, the duo delivers a passionate performance of its “Adagio sostenuto – Presto” movement. Easing into the music with patience and confidence, the two show themselves in complete command of the material, the violinist and pianist both resplendent in their respective roles. In its uptempo passages, the work calls on their virtuosity but, in its slower episodes, sensitivity too. The mood turns rhapsodic for the central “Andante con variazioni,” patience again demonstrated in the recitalists' exquisite presentation. Lightness of touch is required here, and, ever poised and playful, Kaler and Vitkauskaite are well up to the task. The effervescent concluding part, “Presto,” flows like the freshest of breezes, the duo again handling the material with authority.

Price's Adoration has become a popular choice of late, and it's easy to understand why when its plaintive themes are so affecting. The arrangement for violin and piano by Elaine Fine amplifies the bittersweetness of the work, as does the heartfelt performance by the recitalists. Like the three-minute Price setting, D'Rivera's Bridgetower Reimagined: Contradanza Mulattica is concise at seven minutes. The clarinetist sounds right at home alongside Kaler and Vitkauskaite in this spirited jazz-classical hybrid, D'Rivera effortlessly swinging in his solo and Kaler showing himself capable of swinging too. With Eggar and August joining in, the performance feels even more expansive and jazzy.

Needless to say, it's unusual for a classical recording to conclude with poem recitations, but the readings by Dove are in no way objectionable; if anything, the idea of ending the album in such manner is refreshing. Four poems from Sonata Mulattica: A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play (2009) appear and consider the biracial violinist from a poetic as opposed to musical standpoint. In “The Bridgetower,” Dove reflects on various “what if” scenarios to imagine how history might have unfolded differently, with one imagining “rafts of black kids scratching out scales on their matchbox violins.” “Vienna Spring” contemplates Beethoven meeting the violinist for the first time (“How I love my handsome, brash new friend!––this twilit stranger who has given me myself again.”). As per its title, “Polgreen, Sight-Reading” imagines the violinist's inner musings when reviewing the challenging score for the first time, while “The Performer” presents Bridgetower's reflections as the piece is premiered and rapturously received.

September 2026