For many years now, I have loved the violin and piano sonatas by Johannes Brahms. I hear in them the way the composer experienced the Austrian country side, where Brahms vacationed every year.
Rain or shine, I can experience the lakes, the meadows, and the mountains there, in the region close to Salzburg.
On this recording we get to enjoy the following, as played by Oistrakh:
- Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78, with Frida Bauer (piano)
- Sonatensatz with Svjatoslav Richter (piano)
- Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100, with Svjatoslav Richter (piano)
- Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108, with Frida Bauer (piano)
Each of these three sonatas has its own sentimental mood. The first, using the theme from the ‘Regenlied’, has obviously been modelled on Beethoven’s last sonata for violin and piano, opus 96. The second creates a warmer intimacy a sort of tribute written “in the wait of a girlfriend”, the young soprano Hermine Spies. The third is written with a much stronger concertante style, which attempts to compete with the Kreutzer Sonata.
Here is David Oistrakh, performing the Sonata number 3 by Johannes Brahms:
