Schubert’s compositions for violin and piano consist of only six opus numbers, even though he was well able to play this instrument, having learned it during his childhood and regularly playing it in chamber music events with his friends.
The three sonatas in this recording date from the spring of 1816. Their modest dimensions, “for pianoforte with accompaniment of violin” – an old-fashioned formulation evoking the eighteenth century –led to their being published as ‘sonatinas’, even though their facility is only apparent and in no way reflects their nature, nor Schubert’s intentions.
These works correspond to a fertile period for the composer and are contemporary with his Fourth Symphony, his Stabat Mater, the composition of his opera Die Bürgschaft, much chamber music and, of course, lieder –the final draft of Marguerite at the Spinning Wheel and the Erlkönig date from March 1816.
These sonatas are the work of a composer aged 19 who, in admiration of Mozart, drew close to the worlds of Weber and Beethoven.
Two musicians got together to play these magnificent pieces: the excellent violinist Stéphanie Paulet and the pianist Daniel Isoir, who for the occasion plays an outstandingly beautiful Schott piano of 1835.
Here is a video of the Sonata number 1, Opus 137 by Schubert:
