Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 03/17/2010, uploaded on 06/01/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano in D major, Op. 94bis        Sergei Prokofiev

     Moderato; Presto; Andante; Allegro con brio

Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Sonata No. 2 op. 94bis was transposed by the composer himself from his flute sonata for David Oistrakh in 1943.  Normally associated with the percussive effects and shocking dissonances of his piano compositions, Prokofiev distinguished this piece first of all by his selection of the flute, which demands a more lyrical, elegant, and airy compositional style, and secondly by the largely angelic accompanying harmonies. The first movement, Moderato is built upon a beautiful, floating melody and imaginative, dreamlike harmonies from the outset.  A slightly military allusion then spirals into an intense (both rhythmically and harmonically) whirlpool of embroidered motifs.  Finally, the listener is returned to the dream world of the beginning, but with a completely new perspective, having gone through the development. 

The rhythmically energetic Scherzo: Presto (the main theme could be interpreted as waltzing) remains light and joking, true to the original sense of a scherzo.  A reoccurring theme begins, as the second movement also contains a drastically differing middle section - a "childish" recitative.  The Andante remains comfortably sung from tempo (the sonata contains no real slow movement) with again an eerie contrasting second theme.  A heroic last movement, Allegro con brio, brings the listener back to Prokofiev's more real, although still emphatically optimistic world with the strong repeated eighth-note motif so characteristic of his writing for piano.  After the loving middle section, the return to the main theme is filled with even more joie de vivre and a real sense of pure enjoyment as the violin and the piano finally truly dialog to finish the piece in style.       Michael Cansfield

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.