Ava Bahari

with Nathanaël Gouin

When Swedish violinist Ava Bahari and French pianist Nathanaël Gouin visit Troldhaugen, they will perform Scandinavian gems and a sonata that has sparked arguments for 200 years. 

Rodolphe Kreutzer hated the ‘Kreutzer Sonata’. Beethoven had originally dedicated his Violin Sonata No. 9 to George Bridgetower, but changed his mind after the two had a drunken argument. Kreutzer, for his part, considered the work ‘unintelligible’ and refused to play it. The sonata has divided audiences since it was written in 1803: too long, some argue; lacking coherence, say others. Yet it remains an audience favourite. The violin launches into its confident opening gesture and receives an immediate response from the piano. The two embark on a vigorous dialogue, as heated as Beethoven’s dispute with Bridgetower and as explosive as the ‘Eroica Symphony’ from the same year. 

The mood is more lyrical in Grieg’s well-known piano pieces, arranged here for violin and piano by Joseph Achron, and in Elfrida Andrée’s romances from 1884. Andrée stood up to the old guard of the musical establishment, helped change the law and became Sweden’s first female organist and orchestral conductor. She composed symphonies, the opera Fritiofs saga, church music and chamber music. In her violin romances, the melodies flow as effortlessly as those of Mendelssohn, but with a distinctive character and elegance that make them well worth hearing. 

The Guardian has described Ava Bahari as ‘an enthralling storyteller’. Bahari is an ECHO Rising Star for 2026/27 and was Artist in Residence with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra from 2024 to 2026. At the piano is Nathanaël Gouin, an award-winning pianist who performs regularly around the world. 

Ava Bahari. Photo: Sylvain Barrès

Contributors

• Ava Bahari violin

• Nathanaël Gouin piano

Works

• Edvard Grieg (1843–1907)
  From Lyric Pieces, third book, op. 43
  3. I hjemmet. In my native country
  From Lyric Pieces, tenth book, op. 71
  3. Småtrold. Puck
  From Lyric Pieces, third book, op. 43
  2. Ensom vandrer. Solitary traveller
  From Lyric Pieces, ninth book, op. 68
  3. Bedstemors Menuet. Grandmother’s Minuet
  From Stemninger, op. 73. Moods
  2. Scherzo-Impromptu
  All arr. Joseph Achron

• Elfrida Andrée (1841–1929)
  Two Romances for violin and piano
  1. Larghetto
  2. Allegro

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
  Violin Sonata no.9 in A major «Kreutzer», op. 47
  1. Adagio sostenuto – Presto
  2. Andante con variazoni
  3. Presto

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