performed by Mikkel Futtrup, violin; Tim Frederiksen, viola; and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra under Hannu Koivula, available on Spotify (cover image by Eberhard Grossgasteiger) We have a special guest in today’s episode. This isn’t quite how I expected to … Continue reading Holmboe Chamber Concerto no. 9 for violin and viola, op. 39
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 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 Isaac Stern and Charles Rosen, or below by Kyung Wha Chung and Kevin Kenner It is always over before it starts… Webern’s father, about op. 7 (cover image by Glen Carrie) He wasn’t wrong. One of Webern’s early works, … Continue reading Webern: 4 Stücke für Geige und Klavier, op. 7
performed by Mikkel Futtrup, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Hannu Koivula (Again, no YouTube for today, but get used to it. Buy your music or at the very least support your artists and record labels through Spotify. You can find … Continue reading Holmboe Chamber Concerto no. 6 for violin and chamber orchestra, op. 33
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
performed by Johannes Søe Hansen, violin; Christina Bjørkøe, piano (cover image by Jack Anstey) As I said at the beginning of the year, we’ve got a new series on the blog, an ongoing one, and Holmboe was one of the first … Continue reading Holmboe Violin Sonata no. 1, op. 2a
performed by Gidon Kremer and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, with cadenzas by Alfred Schnittke (cover image by Steven Wang) This is one of only a few violin concertos we’ve discussed on the … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Concerto in D, op. 61
performed by Gidon Kremer and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, or below with Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim (cover image by Andrea Sonda) Well, I’ll try not to repeat myself too much, but … Continue reading Beethoven Romance for Violin and Orchestra no. 1 in G, op. 40
performed by Gidon Kremer and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, or below by Itzhak Perlman and the Berlin Philharmonic under Daniel Barenboim (cover image by Steven Wang) As we saw and (I think) discussed at the beginning of … Continue reading Beethoven Romance for Violin and Orchestra no. 2 in F, op. 50
performed by Isaac Stern and the English Chamber Orchestra under Alexander Schneider, or below by David Oistrakh and The Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy (cover image by Colin Maynard) Bach’s violin concerto in E major is sometimes labeled as No. 2, … Continue reading Bach Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042
performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Today’s work is the third and final installment in the op. 12 piano sonatas, completed in 1798 and dedicated to Antonio Salieri, with whom Beethoven studied for a … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 3 in E-flat, op. 12 no. 3
performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich (cover image by Annie Spratt) As discussed in Monday’s post, these three violin sonatas are Beethoven’s first, dating from 1798, and dedicated to Antonio Salieri, the supposed antagonist of that Mozart film. These … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 2 in A, op. 12 no. 2
performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich (cover image by Annie Spratt) Do you think there could be anything challenging about this work? Well, you’d probably not have agreed with the critics of Beethoven’s time. As this is the first … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 1 in D, op. 12 no. 1
performed by Shlomo Mintz and Yefim Bronfman, or below by Oistrakh and Oborin (cover photo by Jace Grandinetti) Confusingly, Prokofiev’s violin sonata no. 1 was completed two years after his violin sonata no. 2, which originates from his flute sonata … Continue reading Prokofiev Violin Sonata no. 1 In F minor, op. 80
performed by Linus Roth and Jose Gallardo, or below by Yuri Kalnits, violin and Michael Csányi-Wills, piano (cover image by Thomas Cigolla) I used to record a podcast. And one of the people on my radar I’d intended to interview before … Continue reading Weinberg Violin Sonata no. 1
performed by the late Fredell Lack and Timothy Hester, or below by Markéta Janoušková, violin; Václav Mácha, piano (Before we begin this article, I’d like to take a moment to discuss Fredell Lack. This article had been scheduled for months, … Continue reading Martinů Violin Sonata no. 1, H. 182
performed by Oleg Kagan & Sviatoslav Richter, or below by David Oistrakh and Vladimir Yampolski (cover image by Sergei Akulich) As you may have read from this past weekend’s article on Hindemith’s early first (posthumously published) string quartet, its composition straddled … Continue reading Hindemith Violin Sonata in E flat, op. 11, no. 1
performed by Augustin Dumay and Maria João Pires, or below by Julia Fischer and Milana Chernyavska (cover image by Ravi Roshan) Today we discuss the first (and I think only) work of this little stretch of sonatas that isn’t a “no. 1” … Continue reading Grieg Violin Sonata no. 3 in Cm, op. 45
performed by Pinchas Zukerman & Daniel Barenboim (cover image by Ian Baldwin) Maybe I shouldn’t be discussing the first sonata before I address the violin concerto. The op. 78 sonata is only Brahms’ second work for the violin as a solo … Continue reading Brahms Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78, ‘Regensonate’
featuring Yu-Chien Benny Tseng (曾宇謙), violin After a very hot day in Taipei and a train ride back down to the new(ish) opera house, which I haven’t visited for almost exactly four months, I find myself yet again in one of … Continue reading Esa-Pekka Salonen & Philharmonia Orchestra
Fugue for Thought 