Australia is very proud of its local artists who shine abroad, then come back to gift us with performance. Sarah Grunstein is a pianist who has done just that. Graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she moved to Juilliard School in New York at the age of 20 to pursue her advanced studies. Since launching her career she has performed around Europe, UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Highlights have included personal invitation to perform for Prince Charles and performing the complete Well Tempered Clavier at the London Purcell Room.
October and November this year Grunstein returns home to Australia for 2 recitals in the Utzon room, Sydney Opera House. The first concert featured Beethoven’s Sonata no 15 op 28 (often called the Pastorale), Chopin’s Sonata no 2 op 35 which includes his famous Funeral March and Schumann’s Carnaval op 9.
The room was sold out, the piano set against the backdrop of the windows with the water twinkling in the moonlight and the occasional yacht lazily drifting by having a nosy around the edges of the harbour.
Before the performance, Grunstein gave some tidbits of musicology about each piece. For Beethoven’s sonata she suggested focusing on the base line, particularly in movements 1, 2 and 4 holding a “subdued pulsating calmness which later bursts into a passion”. For the Chopin, she mentioned the Funeral March was composed first, then the remaining movements were composed around it. Schumann had described this 4 movement sonata along the lines of being Chopin’s “four reckless children placed side by side because he had no where else to put them”. Indeed we did find them turbulent as she suggested.
Programming felt rather uneven with the two x 4 movement sonatas filling out the first half of the concert to a lengthy 1 hour 45 minutes. The Utzon room chairs didn’t seem designed for such length of concentration leaving a fair few fidgeting before the interval arrived. Unfortunately, perusing the long list of movements in the second half of the program may have discouraged some as we lost a portion of the audience at interval.
The Carnaval took around 30 minutes for a brief second half. For the movements, Schumann created them around a mix of real life and fantasy Commedia dell’Arte styled characters. The work features 21 short movements, many of which are easily recognisable.
Grunstein has her own unique style and tempi for music, pushed or held back on inspiration, in the moment. The Beethoven seemed very tense, taking a while to connect with the audience but by the second movement of the Chopin, the performance seemed to settle in and was better received. The audience were appreciative at the end with reserved seating giving a standing ovation, clearly pleased to have her performing back in Australia.
For more information on the 3 November 2019 recital, visit her website: http://
Sarah Grunstein is a long time Steinway artist.
Program :
Sonata no 15 in D major, op 28 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata no 2 in B flat minor op 35 by Frédéric Chopin
Carnaval op 9 by Robert Schumann