Avie Records have released
a new double CD set of Brahms’s complete
sonatas for violin and viola.
The soloist is the eminent prize-winning
Russian-born violinist and conductor
Shlomo Mintz who partners Lithuanian
pianist Itamar Golan. Incidentally Avie
operate their label for and on behalf
of the musicians who retain ownership
of their recordings.
Violin Sonata No.
1 in G major ‘Rain’, Op. 78 (1878-79)
Brahms composed his
First Violin Sonata at the summit of
his creative maturity shortly after
the completion of his First and Second
symphonies and the heroic and virtuosic
D major Violin Concerto. The Violin
Sonata No. 1 was originally conceived
as a sonatina for Brahms’s godson Felix
Schumann, the last of Robert and Clara
Schumann’s children. Felix was a talented
violinist but unfortunately died at
the age of twenty-five.
The expansive three
movement First Sonata is a gloriously
lyrical work with long-breathed melodies.
It is acknowledged as one of Brahms's
most tightly structured and cogently
argued works, with a degree of formal
integration rare in his works. There
are two reasons why the work is sometimes
referred to as the ‘Rain’ Sonata. Firstly
Brahms quoted it in one of his own lieder,
the ‘Regenlied’ or ‘Rain Song’, Op.
59/3, a melancholy song in a minor key
that recalls the long-lost days of youth.
Secondly in the finale there is a running
figure of sixteen notes for the piano
that could be said to sound like gentle
drops of rainfall.
The Violin Sonata No.
1 is a tender and intimate idyll with
a strong song-like aspect to the whole
work. For me Mintz rather over-emphasises
an atmosphere of melancholy and contemplation
especially in first two movements. The
opening movement vivace non troppo
is played as slow as I have ever
heard it although my ears eventually
became accustomed to the pace. In the
adagio the violinist’s measured
approach seems to meander along and
comes close to losing its way at times.
I did however like the way Mintz picks
out the plaintive motif and frames it
so well. The playing in the finale comes
across as fairly disciplined and well
judged with characterful and forthright
playing from Golan. The partnership
bring the work to a lovely tranquil
conclusion.
Violin Sonata No.
2 in A major ‘Thun’, Op. 100 (1886)
While on vacation at
Hofstetten, close to the Swiss holiday
resort of Lake Thun during August 1886,
Brahms found himself so refreshed and
musically invigorated that he proclaimed
the resort to be "so full of melodies
that one has to be careful not to step
on any." In fact during his time there
Brahms composed most of three of his
best loved chamber works in just a matter
of days; the Second Cello Sonata Op.99,
the ‘Thun’ Violin sonata No. 2 and the
great C minor Piano Trio Op. 101. The
‘Thun’ Sonata is sometimes described
as the ‘Prize Song’ Sonata, as a result
of the first movement’s main theme resembling
a brief few notes from the ‘Prize Song’
from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg.
The three movement
sonata is both the shortest and the
most immediately appealing of the three.
Not for a single moment is the radiant,
joyful mood ever put in real jeopardy
and the melodies are of the long-spun,
heart-warming variety that are particularly
memorable and pleasing on the ear. Violinist
Shlomo Mintz displays some masterly
playing and controls the idyllic nature
of the score expertly without any sign
of self-indulgence. In the compact and
straightforward opening allegro amabile
Mintz’s playing is polished and
unsentimental with Golan’s impressive
keyboard colour. The second movement
andante tranquillo - vivace is
a fusion of a slow movement and a scherzo
and the performers offer appropriate
tenderness with considerable poetry
in their interpretation. I especially
enjoyed the persuasive lyric quality
to Mintz’s playing in the final rondo
movement marked allegretto grazioso.
Violin Sonata No.
3 in D minor, Op. 108 (1886-88)
Almost immediately
after completing the Violin Sonata No.
2 Brahms composed a great deal of his
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor during
a vacation at Hofstetten in the summer
of 1886. Brahms set the work aside for
two years and completed the four movement
score only when he returned to Lake
Thun in 1888. The two violin sonatas
are very different from one another;
the Thun sonata is easygoing and radiates
a warm lyricism from start to finish.
In contrast the Violin Sonata No. 3
is a muscular, tough, and at times nervous
work that offers more intense drama.
Brahms usually reserved
the key of D minor for his most deeply
felt and passionate moods. Both Mintz
and Golan are in fine form throughout
the intense and darkly coloured atmosphere
of the D minor score. The opening movement
allegro dominated by a fiery
main theme has an agitated and unsettled
mood throughout that Shlomo Mintz performs
with considerable emotional concentration.
In the adagio a simple baroque nobility
is combined with a deep romantic feeling
to which the violin soloist is able
to offer the appropriate meditative
intensity. The short and sharply contrasted
scherzo is an ingenious piece of workmanship,
elegantly scored and flawlessly balanced
but of a somewhat mysterious character.
Clara Schumann described it as "like
a lovely girl playing with her lover,"
while others have heard melancholy or
even bitterness in the score. The playing
of pianist Itamar Golan is particularly
distinguished in the scherzo that flits
past in a humorous but ghost-like fashion.
The feverish mood of the opening movement
returns to the hard driven and stormy
finale in which the partnership of Mintz
and Golan are impressive with concentrated
playing that is never distracting.
Sonata for Viola
and Piano in F minor, Op. 120 No. 1
(1894)
Sonata for Viola
and Piano in E flat Major, Op. 120 No.
2 (1894)
In an Indian summer
of creativity near the end of his career,
Brahms wrote the two Clarinet (Viola)
Sonatas, Op. 120 (1894), the Trio for
clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114 (1891)
and the Quintet for clarinet and strings,
Op. 115 (1891). All the scores were
especially composed for Richard Mühlfeld
the popular virtuoso clarinettist whose
playing had been an inspiration to the
ageing Brahms. After completing the
Third Sonata in 1888, Brahms returned
to the duo sonata form just once more;
in 1894. In quick succession, he composed
the pair of sonatas for clarinet and
piano that were published together the
following year as Op. 120. The dedicatee
of these two works was the clarinettist
Mühlfeld whom Brahms much admired.
The composer transcribed the scores
for viola and piano and the versions
are virtually identical. It is with
these chamber works that Brahms bids
a permanent farewell to chamber music.
He was to write no further works in
the genre.
The Viola Sonata in
F minor, Op. 120 No. 1 opens pessimistically
but the spirit gathers strength and
hope as the music progresses to end
in triumph. In spite of certain reservations
over the third and fourth movements,
Mintz and Golan capture the main permeating
elements of storminess and melancholy.
In the opening movement one cannot help
being impressed with their partnership
for their expressive and characterful
playing. The second movement is pensive
with a unsettled rhapsodic feeling of
introspection and searching. The viola
playing is captivating, taken extremely
slow but in a way that is most natural
and unaffected. However, Mintz seems
to perform with an excessively lugubrious
approach in the light, graceful and
restrained allegro grazioso where
the mood alternates between grace and
peasant-like earthiness. The closing
movement vivace is intended to
be particularly high-spirited. Mintz
and Golan could have adopted a more
vigorous approach to make a more determined
journey to the score’s joyous conclusion.
The Viola Sonata in
E flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2 has an unusual
structure and ends in a slow movement
that bids farewell to chamber music.
Throughout the score the lyricism of
violist Mintz is consistently appealing
and Golan’s piano playing is especially
resilient. The opening allegro amabile
has been called a masterpiece of
seamless construction and has a gentle
feminine quality that the duo reveal
impressively. The central scherzo is
brusque and impetuous. Mintz’s highly
infectious playing is appropriately
exuberant in an approach that brings
out the passionate and unyielding nature
of the movement with a fiery intensity.
The slow concluding movement andante
con moto takes the form of a theme
and variations, in which, only one variation
is in a quicker tempo. High-spirited,
passionate and ebullient to the end
Mintz’s wide range of expression, with
phrasing never less than intelligent,
is a highlight of the score.
Scherzo, third movement
for Violin and Piano in C minor, from
F.A.E. Sonata, WoO posth. 2 (1853)
This Scherzo movement
was written as part of the F.A.E. Sonata
and is part of a collaborative work
between Brahms, Robert Schumann and
Albert Dietrich to celebrate the great
Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim’s
visit to Düsseldorf; the home city
of Schumann. The F.A.E. stands for frei
aber einsam (free but alone) which
was Joachim’s motto. He was given the
test of guessing which composer wrote
which movement. Schumann wrote the second
and fourth movements, and Dietrich the
first. Brahms's contribution is rhythmically
exciting and original in conception,
and it is still part of the violin repertoire.
Only last year at the Bridgewater Hall
in Manchester I heard the great Maxim
Vengerov play the Scherzo movement as
the opening work in a Brahms recital
where he played all three violin sonatas.
In this exciting Avie recording there
is a clear meeting of minds with the
splendid partnership of Mintz and Golan
in an exciting and committed performance.
All of these interpretations
have a natural flow and flexibility
and sound spontaneous. The sweet string
tone of Mintz is impressive and Golan
is sharp and taut in the frequently
rich-textured piano writing. The partnership
have cultivated a fine rapport and complement
each other splendidly. Their involvement
with the music is particularly striking,
and they have exceedingly distinctive
ideas about how every movement, every
section, should be interpreted.
There is considerable
competition in the violin sonatas. This
Avie recording would not be my first
choice although it is very fine in its
own right. In the violin sonatas I can
highly recommend the masterly and greatly
admired accounts by Josef Suk (violin)
and Julius Katchen (piano) on Decca
421 092-2. Alternatively the far lesser
known but equally impressive interpretations
by Nils-Erik Sparf (violin) and Elisabeth
Westenholz (piano) on BIS-CD-212 have
delighted its group of admirers. For
those wanting alternatives to all the
works presented on this Avie release
my suggestion would be the sweet and
romantic accounts from the dream-team
partnership of Pinchas Zukerman (violin
and viola) and Daniel Barenboim (piano)
available on the Deutsche Grammophon
double set DG 289 453 121-2.
An enjoyable and well
recorded release that many will consider
worthy of inclusion in their Brahms
collection.
Michael Cookson
Shlomo Mintz (violin; viola) 
for
details
