SKU: BR.EB-9441
ISBN 9790004189184. 9 x 12 inches.
The two sonatas of Johannes Brahms's op. 120 are widely hailed as crowning points of the repertoire for clarinet and piano. Moreover, in the version for viola and piano arranged by Brahms himself, they rank among the most frequently played viola works of the 19th century. They far surpass in compositional substance the relatively few original sonatas written for these instrumentations during the same period.Of the two fellow works, the Sonata No. 2 in E flat major is the more accessible. Diverging from the classical-romantic tradition, Brahms used the key of E flat major here not to express the heroic or monumental, but to obtain lyrical, chiefly restrained characterizations. The serenade-like beauty of the principal theme, which opens the sonata, has always been particularly admired. In his review of the world premiere, the renowned Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, a friend of Brahms's, raves with the words it was as if it had fallen from the Heavens. The closing set of variations also follows with gentle gracefulness this lyrical character. However, the middle movement, with its tempestuous outer sections in E flat minor and the hymnic trio in B major provides a passionate and serious contrast, which allows the flanking idyll to unfold its beauties all the more insistently.
SKU: BR.EB-9440
ISBN 9790004189177. 9 x 12 inches.
SKU: HH.HH443-FSP
ISBN 9790708146490.
The Andante opening Sonata 5 in D major, with its delicately chiselled, ever-changing rhythms in the flute line, exemplifies to perfection the galant style. The light-footed Allegro assai that follows looks back to Quantz and even Vivaldi. Balicourt concludes the sonata with his most original movement in terms of structure. This consists of two Presto sections enclosing a Grazioso ‘core’ in D minor. Unexpectedly, the second Presto, starting as if a simple da capo repeat of the first, quickly diverges; its throwaway, staccato ending is a real audience-pleaser. | Sonata 6, in E major, opens with a lyrical Andante that almost breathes the air of the Classical style. The second movement, in contrast, is a typically baroque Siciliana, moving to E minor and displaying a rich harmonic palette. The finale is a variation rondo (rondeau varié) in which both repeats of the refrain are ornamented in different ways. As Balicourt’s description, Alla Polonese, conveys, the rhythm is that of a Polonaise, a stately but slightly exotic dance that had become popular throughout Europe after the electors of Saxony, starting with Friedrich August I, assumed the Polish crown.
SKU: AP.12-057153970X
ISBN 9780571539703. English.
In his Kongsgaard Variations (2006), Swedish composer Anders Hillborg takes the Arietta theme from Beethoven's last piano-sonata, No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 as the basis for an evocative 16-minute string quartet. Beethoven's sublime music drifts strangely through the centuries and is warped, vaporised, and refashioned as if, in the words of Hillborg, the Arietta is dreaming yet another variation on itself.
