Johannes Brahms - Sonata no. 1 for violin and piano in G major, op. 78, Regensonate

Описание: Johannes Brahms - Sonata no. 1 for violin and piano in G major, op. 78, Regensonate

Sorin Alexandru Horlea - violin
Vicky Stylianou - piano
Live recording by HOOK Recording Art Studio, 22nd of June 2016, Casteliotissa, Nicosia

00:17 Vivace ma non troppo
11:03 Adagio
17:55 Allegro molto moderato

Brahms’ three violin sonatas are all extraordinary masterpieces that occupy their own rarefied world of elegant construction, romantic sweep and exquisite beauty. Brahms published his first sonata for piano and violin in 1879 at the relatively advanced age of 46, though, typical of his history, it seems that he may have consigned at least three previous sonatas to the fire of unremitting self-criticism. It is a romantic sonata in the truest sense: there are literary and musical allusions to rain throughout and the prevailing serenity often gives rise to poignant reflection and nostalgia. The title “Regensonate” (“Rain Sonata”) refers to the fact that Brahms reused one his own songs titled “Regenlied” (“Rain Song”). First movement begins like spring with a lilting song. So gently, the violin is waltzing with the piano. As the ranging melody spreads faster and faster it crests and falls, and softly, it starts raining. The central adagio is a deep, tender song that rises like a hymn in the piano with the simple nobility of open chords in basic cadences with smooth part-writing in thirds and sixths creating that signature Brahms grandeur. As in more than one of Brahms’ great works, the end recalls the beginning, nearly wrapping around in a full circle to start the whole work again. Like the Regenlied’s backward-looking nostalgia for youth, the finale recalls musical elements from both the first and second movements in a masterful use of subtle suggestion with a miraculous effect. Inspired and mirrored by the finale, the beginning only makes full sense at the end. The song text by Klaus Groth traces the path from rain to childhood dreams as nature and reverie turn inward towards a longing for the simplicity and magic of youth:
Pour, rain, pour down,
Awaken again in me those dreams
That I dreamt in childhood,
When the wetness foamed in the sand!