BaL 2.04.16 - Brahms: Violin Sonata no. 1 in G

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

0930
Building a Library: Brahms's Violin Sonata in G Major, Op. 78
Brahms composed this sonata, one of the most popular in the violin repertoire, soon after the tragic early death of his young godson, Felix Schumann. It is pervaded with lyrical tenderness as well as a melancholy, autumnal sadness. Clara Schumann said "I could not help bursting into tears of joy over it. I wish the last movement could accompany me to the next world." Katy Hamilton recommends a recording from the available versions.


Available versions:

David Abel, Julie Steinberg (download)
Pierre Amoyal, Pascal Rogé (download)
Sihana Badivuku, Jouni Somero (download)
Kristof Barati, Klara Wurtz
Bruce Berg, Wolfgang Watzinger
Ida Bieler, James Maddox
Ben Breen, Milton Kaye
Alexandre Brussilovsky, Inger Södergren (download)
Adolf Busch, Rudof Serkin
Daniela Cammarano, Alessandro Deljavan
Renaud Capuçon, Nicholas Angelich
Jonathan Carney, Ronan O'Hora (download)
Fabio Di Casola (clarinet), Alena Cherny (download)
Kyung-Wha Chung, Peter Frankl
Roberto Díaz (viola), Jeremy Denk
Augustin Dumay, Maria João Pires
Augustin Dumay, Louis Lortie
Mischa Elman, Joseph Seiger
Per Enoksson, Maria Nyberg
Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov
Carlo Feige, Stefania Redaelli
Christian Ferras, Pierre Barbizet
Mark Fewer, Peter Longworth (download)
Sadie Fields, Jeremy Young
Zino Francescatti, Robert Casadesus
Pamela Frank, Peter Serkin (download)
Daniel Gaede, Xuesu Liu
Sunao Goko (violin) & Haruko Ueda
Szymon Goldberg, Artur Balsam
Boris Goldstein, Julia Goldstein (download)
Arthur Grumiaux, István Hajdu
Arthur Grumiaux (violin), György Sebök (download)
Ida Haendel, Ronald Turini
Andrew Hardy, Uriel Tsachor
Jascha Heifetz, Emanuel Bay (download)
Simca Heled (cello), Jonathan Zak
Yuki Hori, Hans Ryckelynck
Vladislav Igolinsky, Margarita Kravchenko
Peter Hörr (violoncello), Cora Irsen
Thomas Albertus Irnberger, Evgueni Sinaiski
Danwen Jiang, Walter Cosand
Oleg Kagan, Sviatoslav Richter
Ilya Kaler, Alexander Peskanov
Byol Kang, Boris Kusnezow
Leonidas Kavakos, Yuja Wang
Barnabás Kelemen, Tamás Vásáry (download)
Sergey Khachatryan, Lusine Khachatryan
Leonid Kogan, Andrei Mytnik
Ilia Korol, Natalia Grigorieva
Gidon Kremer, Valery Afanassiev
Georg Kulenkampff, Sir Georg Solti
Jaime Laredo, Jean-Bernard Pommier (download)
Genevieve Laurenceau, Johan Farjot
Jack Liebeck, Katya Apekisheva (download)
Curtis Macomber, Derek Han
Mischa Maisky, Pavel Gililov
Catherine Manoukian, Gunilla Süssmann
Johanna Martzy, Jean Antonietti
Anthony Marwood, Aleksandar Madžar
Yehudi Menuhin, Hephzibah Menuhin
Shlomo Mintz, Itamar Golan
Lydia Mordkovitch, Gerhard Oppitz (download)
Elzbieta Mrozek-Loska (viola), Zbigniew Raubo
Viktoria Mullova, Piotr Anderszewski
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alexis Weissenberg
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin) & Lambert Orkis
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lambert Orkis (DVD/Blu-ray)
David Oistrakh, Frida Bauer
Igor Oistrakh, Natalia Zertsalova (download)
Elmar Oliveira, Jorge Federico Osorio (download)
Krysia Osostowicz, Susan Tomes
Tedi Papavrami, Philippe Bianconi (download)
Ji Hae Park, Simon Lepper
Gyorgy Pauk, Roger Vignoles
Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim
Itzhak Perlman, Samuel Sanders
Jennifer Pike, Tom Poster
Ruggiero Ricci, Cordelia Hofer (download)
Aaron Rosand, Hugh Sung
Linus Roth, José Gallardo
Jerrold Rubinstein, Dalia Ouziel
Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, James Winn (download)
Stephan Schardt, Philipp Vogler
Zina Schiff, Cameron Grant (download)
Rainer Schmidt, Saiko Sasaki
Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Carl Seemann (download)
Lenny Schranze (viola), John David Peterson
Oscar Shumsky, Leonid Hambro
Nils-Erik Sparf, Elisabeth Westenholz
Arabella Steinbacher, Robert Kulek
Miklos Szenthelyi, Andras Schiff (download)
Sayaka Shoji, Menahem Pressler
Vladimir Spivakov, Alexander Ghindin
Isaac Stern, Yefim Bronfman
Isaac Stern, Alexander Zakin
Aida Stucki, Walter Frey
Josef Suk, Josef Hála
Josef Suk, Julius Katchen
Arnaud Sussmann, Orion Weiss (download)
Henryk Szeryng, Gary Graffman
Henry Szerynk, Hans Richter-Haaser (download)
Henryk Szeryng, Arthur Rubinstein
Joseph Szigeti, Artur Schnabel
Gerhard Taschner, Martin Krause
Gerhard Taschner, Walter Gieseking
Emil Telmányi, Georg Vásárhelyi (download)
Gioconda de Vito, Edwin Fischer
Jana Vonášková-Nováková, Irina Kondratenko
Antje Weithaas, Silke Avenhaus
Barbara Westphal (viola), Christian Ruvolo
Pieter Wispelwey (cello), Paolo Giacometti
Ryoko Yano, Sergey Kuznetsov
Nikolaj Znaider, Yefim Bronfman (download)

[BBMmk2]

This be one BaL, I hope to listen oo! I haven't this work in my collection, yet. Any boarders here have their recommendations?

[rauschwerk]

I have Busch/Serkin, the Menuhins and Suk/Katchen and find them all deeply satisfying.

[kea]

This be one BaL, I hope to listen oo! I haven't this work in my collection, yet. Any boarders here have their recommendations?

I find the first movement of this sonata to be the most beautiful piece of music ever composed, and one of the most moving.

Among recordings I rate Faust/Melnikov closest to perfect, but Grumiaux/Sebök is not far behind (only the vibrato and occasional bad intonation keeps it from being #1). (I am also quite fond of the arrangement for cello and piano, though it was probably not made by Brahms himself.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I find the first movement of this sonata to be the most beautiful piece of music ever composed, and one of the most moving.

YES!

[Keraulophone]

Seconded.
Suk/Katchen a long-time favourite.

[Barbirollians]

Great work - Chung/Frankl , Perlman/Ashkenazy my favourites .

[CallMePaul]

Faust and Melnikov's HIPP performance is very much my favourite. I also have Chung and Frankl, which I have not played for a long time, and an old LP of Grumiaux and Sebok. At some time I will get round to buying Faust/ Melnikov in the other 2 sonatas - op 78 is coupled with the Horn Trio as Brahms envisaged it with the horn part played on a natural horn, and the op 116 piano pieces on an instrument similar to those Brahms himself played. Faust uses gut strings on her Strad. Isabelle Faust is my favourite violinist in classical and romantic repertoire, certainly of those currently active.

[vinteuil]

Faust/Melnikov here (... and CallMePaul : yes, you must get the other vol! )

- I also like Ilia Korol/Natalia Grogorieva. Ms Grigorieva plays an 1870 Streicher

[gradus]

I too love the first movt of this piece and have to thank HMV in Oxford Street who were playing a recording whilst I was in the store, for introducing me to it.

[Don Petter]

This be one BaL, I hope to listen oo! I haven't this work in my collection, yet. Any boarders here have their recommendations?

Oistrakh/Bauer from Moscow in 1972.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Brahms-Oistrakh-Melodia-1002147/dp/B00J587K4M?ie=UTF8&keywords=oistrakh%20bauer%20brahms%20and&qid=1458898200&ref_=sr_1_2&sr=8-2

I presume this Melodia CD has the same performance as was on the EMI LP ASD3425. It has also been available on a Chant du Monde CD, LDC 278881. (The contemporary issues of the third sonata, with Richter, used different performances on the EMI LP and the Chant du Monde CD, though they were only a few days apart, and musically very similar.)

[mikealdren]

I'm surprised how many of the versions I have are not on the list but I haven't checked availability some probably never made it from LP to CD. However on CD I also have the youthful Lisa Batiashvili with Milana Chernyavska and Toscha Seidel with Arthur Loesser.

[Don Petter]

Amazon UK are still offering one copy of the Oistrakh/Oborin recording on Russian Revelation:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oistrakh-Plays-Brahms-Shostakovich-IMPORT/dp/B000006B96?ie=UTF8&keywords=oistrakh%20oborin%20brahms&qid=1458899505&ref_=sr_1_7&s=music&sr=1-7

[Nick Armstrong]

I hope to listen oo!

Gosh you do sound enthusiastic, Bbm!

I only have the Josef Suk / Julius Katchen recording on Decca Legends, so may well be up for a more recent version. Faust/Melnikov sounds like the one to go for, though, even without listening to this BAL.....

[gurnemanz]

Last year I got the excellent and good value Rubinstein/Brahms box. His 1960 recording of the First Sonata with fellow Pole, Henryk Szeryng, has become a favourite.