performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy Photo by Navi on Unsplash After the dark, almost narcotic air of the sixth sonata, we now have its brighter twin. That said, it’s still full of Scriabin’s characteristic mystery and programmatic-interpretive notes. There was a … Continue reading Scriabin Piano Sonata 7, op. 64
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy Photo by Alexandr Rusnac on Unsplash I didn’t realize when I resurrected my writing over here and started making lists of things to write about that we were already past the halfway point in Scriabin’s sonatas, … Continue reading Scriabin Piano Sonata no. 6, op. 62
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet Photo by Giggle Jutsu on Unsplash The last actual music article I wrote was exactly 7 years ago to the day, and it was the first of this opus 14 set. What have I been up … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 10 in G, op. 14 no. 2
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Alfred Brendel (cover image by Lex Sirikiat) We have now moved on to the two piano sonatas of Beethoven’s op. 14. This first of the two sonatas that make up this opus number … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 9 in E, op. 14 no. 1
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Krystian Zimerman (cover image by Eleni Afiontzi) And back to Beethoven! The Pathetique sonata is one of Beethoven’s most famous compositions, and with good reason. While it’s still an early piece in the composer’s output, … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 8 in Cm, op. 13, ‘Pathetique’
performed by Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements (cover image by Lex Sirikiat) You like forensics, don’t you, dear reader? After shows like CSI and others, as well as what seems (at least to me) to be the growing fad of … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 13 in B flat, K. 333
performed by Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Vincent Giersch) This is a piece that has captivated me, and although it may not be, like the finale of the previous sonata, one of those immediately recognizable, iconic passages, it exudes such … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 12 in F, K. 332
performed by Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements (cover image by Joanna Kosinska) Mozart’s eleventh piano sonata was composed somewhere, at some point. It’s not often that we don’t have all the juicy details about the composition of Mozart’s efforts … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 11 in A, K. 331
performed by Mitsuko Uchida, or below by Krystian Zimerman (cover image by Tim Mossholder) As if we didn’t have enough Mozart last year, with week after week of his music, we’re going to see his name yet a few more … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 10 in C, K. 330
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Aaron Burden) We jump ahead a few years, around where we were last week, in 1777, although this work wasn’t published until 1782. The ninth sonata was composed in Augsburg and Mannheim … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 9 in D, K. 311
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements One gets the feeling, listening to the Sonata in A minor, that Mozart had been stocking up on minor mode drama for some time when he wrote it. Its stormy music is a … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 8 in Am, K. 310
performed by Fazıl Say, or below by Dame Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Chris Barbalis) Mozart’s seventh piano sonata dates from 1777, a full two and a half years after the sixth. It was composed during a trip to Mannheim and … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 7 in C, K. 309
performed by Dmitry Yablonsky, cello and Hsin-Ni Liu, piano, or as below by Michal Kaňka, cello; Miguel Borges Coelho, piano (cover image by Mathieu Stern) Well, here’s our next Editor’s Choice composer. We’ve seen him on the blog now three previous times, all … Continue reading Weinberg Cello Sonata no. 2 op. 63
performed by Carolyn Huebl, violin; Mark Wait, piano (You can find this recording on Spotify, or with different performers on SoundCloud, but probably only if you’re in the U.S.) (cover image by Jez Timms) Alfred Schnittke published four violin concertos … Continue reading Schnittke Violin Sonata (1955)
performed by János Starker, cello; Rudolf Firkušný, piano, or below by Jan Páleníček, cello; Jitka Čechová, piano The third cello sonata occupies ground somewhere between that of the concerto and the symphony. Its form is fluid… The looser process of constant evolution, … Continue reading Martinů Cello Sonata no. 3, H. 340
performed by Dumas and Pires (cover image by Joshua Torres) In typical subtitle fashion, the Spring label was given to this work after the composer’s death, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s inaccurate or unwarranted. Beethoven’s fifth violin sonata was completed … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 5 in F, op. 24, ‘Spring’
performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich, or below by Maria João Pires and Augustin Dumay (cover image by Jez Timms) Beethoven’s fourth violin sonata dates from 1801 and is dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries, an Austrian nobleman, banker, and … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 4 in Am, op. 23
performed by Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter, or below with Maisky and Argerich (cover image by Eddie Garcia) I told you we weren’t done with Beethoven. The young composer’s first cello sonatas are not only his first, but sort of… the first of their kind. … Continue reading Beethoven Cello Sonata no. 1 in F, op. 5 no. 1
performed by Rudolf Buchbinder, or below by Alfred Brendel (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Each performer has the freedom here to create something different… Sir Andras Schiff (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) As discussed in the article from earlier this … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 20 in G, op. 49 no. 2
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Alfred Brendel (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) If you were to listen to the piano sonatas of Beethoven based on the order of their opus numbers, after a dozen and a half increasingly … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 19 in Gm, op. 49 no. 1
performed by Johannes Søe Hansen, violin; Christina Bjørkøe, piano (cover image by Maciej Rusek) In her review of the album on which this recording appears, Catherine Nelson describes the work as “nimble and lovely” with “fluid, folk-inspired phrases.” If you read … Continue reading Holmboe Violin Sonata no. 2, op. 16