Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 07/23/2014, uploaded on 02/09/2015

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op. 108, is a dramatic work; its demeanor is at times audacious and spectacular, and at other times somber and heart-wrenching. The violin bursts in at the top of the first movement Allegro, almost as if we are joining a work already in progress. What we hear in the opening is the material out of which the entire movement is meticulously crafted. The Adagio that follows is testament to the violin’s music-making abilities and its almost human ability to sing. The curious third movement (Un poco presto e con sentiment, meaning “Upbeat, and with feeling”) is mercurial; Brahms’ good friend Clara Schumann said this movement was “like a beautiful girl toying with her lover.” The last movement begins with the violinist boldly playing double stops (two notes at once), followed by a sweeter second theme. The music that follows is best summed up by Walter Frisch, who wrote in the Compleat Brahms that “the pent up energies of the preceding movements seem to be fully unleashed.”      Notes by Dave Kopplin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.