Young-Ah Tak BEETHOVEN PIANO SONATAS

In anticipation of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Steinway & Sons releases a recording of three of the composer’s piano sonatas performed by Young-Ah Tak in her debut recording for the Steinway label. The works span the short and cheery early Sonata No. 6 in F Major to the monumental Sonata No. 23 in F minor, “Appassionata.” Tak will perform from the album along with other works in a recital at Steinway Hall in New York City on November 14, 2019. The event is private but a select number of media tickets are available.

Like most pianists, Tak has had a long relationship with Beethoven, from her first public solo recital at age 9 which included several Beethoven variations on the program, to her audition for The Juilliard School with the Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, featured on this disc. Tak waited a long time to study and perform the “Appassionata,” given the hundreds of interpretations already out in the world, so as to ensure she could give the piece a convincing reading in her own voice.

“Getting to know Beethoven’s sonatas and studying them has given me a different layer of meaning and reason why I became a musician and why I do what I do,” says Tak on this project. “Beethoven put great emphasis on his solo piano works, particularly on his sonatas, and I think studying them, understanding them and living with them has had an important impact and influence on me as a musician and as a human being. It’s a lifetime project to study these sonatas, and I feel privileged and excited to be involved.”