When it comes to Ludwig van Beethoven, on one can dispute his influence. Yet in his time, a violinist, Rodolphe Kreutzer, refused to play the great musician’s sonata dedicated to him.

Despite this, the sonata was still named as Kreutzer Sonata, or the Violin Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47.

Composed for a piano and a violin, the sonata is mostly known for its technical difficulty and unusual length (about 40 minutes).

Elizabeth Chang, a professor of violin at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the violin and viola faculties of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School, played the sonata with pianist Sun Jiayan at the Fornia Theatre in Shunyi district in Beijing on April 13.

Echoing the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and France, the duo featured two French musicians, Charles Camille Saint-Saëns and Franck Monbaylet.