Artek Recordings - Classical The three Brahms sonatas for violin and piano are among the most important the FAE Sonata and dedicating it to their mutual friend joseph Joachim, http://www.artekrecordings.com/artek/CD8contents.htm
Extractions: Contents of CD8 Booklet Click to Order Recording The three Brahms sonatas for violin and piano are among the most important works in the repertoire for those instruments. The writing for both instruments is quite equally distributed in terms of importance. The result when they are presented in their entirety is a vision of the total lyrical, emotional and intellectual complexity of the artistic development of Johannes Brahms. The three sonatas were written between 1878 and 1886. An early attempt in 1853 to publish a Sonata in A minor was suppressed by his publisher and, as a result, Brahms ended up destroying that manuscript. There were at least two other attempts made to publish further sonatas, however they were also refused. Were it not for the collaboration of Brahms, Schumann, and Albert Dietrich in 1853 writing the F-A-E Sonata and dedicating it to their mutual friend Joseph Joachim, no example of Brahms youthful approach to this compositional form would exist. The Sonata in A major sonata (Op.100) was written in 1886 and is also full of lyrical content. It was composed on Lake Thun in Switzerland at a summer resort. Brahms had just finished his Fourth Symphony and had decided to devote himself to writing chamber music. The work is full of sunshine and optimism. Again we find quotes from his Lieder in both the first and second themes of the opening movement. The middle movement, andante tranquillo, opens with a long and beautiful melodic line introduced by the violin and continued in the piano. The middle section, vivace, is a gentle scherzo followed by the return of the theme and the movement closes with yet another vivace. The last movement is a rondo with the repeated theme in the violin and the sonata ends with quotes again looking back to the first movement.
Extractions: James DePreist As a guest conductor he has appeared with every major North American orchestra, and internationally he has conducted in Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Manchester, Melbourne, Munich, Prague, Rome, Rotterdam, Seoul, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Vienna. He will make his London debut with the London Symphony at the Barbican in April 2005. James DePreist appears regularly at the Aspen Music Festival, with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Music Center, and the Juilliard orchestras at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
