Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 05/12/2010, uploaded on 08/28/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 18          Richard Strauss

I. Allegro, ma non troppo; II.  Improvisation: Andante cantabile; III. Finale: Andante - Allegro           

Chamber works were not of particular interest to Richard Strauss, once he reached musical maturity as a master of large-scale orchestral work. The Sonata for Violin and Piano in E Flat Major, Op. 18 is the last original chamber piece written by him in his early 20s.

The piano announces the beginning of the Allegro ma non troppo first movement with a gentle yet heroic idea whose basic contours will ultimately generate most musical ideas throughout the movement. A beautiful, flowing melody emerges, which is itself based on the opening idea. Another gorgeous melody, marked "espressivo e appassionato", serves as the second theme.

Strauss calls the second movement Improvisation, although it is a very carefully drafted instrumental song with a rhapsodic middle section.  The Finale begins with a calm Andante introduction for the piano alone.  After only a couple measures, one can already hear the emerging emotion that leads into the Allegro that shows Strauss's orchestral ambitions. Shortly after the main theme, he introduces a slower tune in C Major, which foreshadows one of his later orchestra suites, "Alpine Symphony". The movement concludes in an ebullient coda.     Korbinian Altenberger

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.