Znaider and Bronfman in Brahms
Available at Amazon: Brahms, Complete Works for Violin and Piano, N. Znaider, Y. Bronfman (April 24, 2007) Online Scores: Sonata No. 1 (G major, op. 78, "Regen") Sonata No. 2 (A major, op. 100, "Thun") Sonata No. 3 (D minor, op. 108) |
The Znaider-Bronfman recording hooked me with its first track, which opens with the most lilting, urbane, understated reading of the main theme of no. 1's first movement. Although initially hardly Vivace, even with the ma non troppo appended, it perfectly captures the bittersweet melancholy of the score. This sonata is named the "Regen" or Rain sonata, because the rondo theme of the last movement is related to Brahms's own song Regenlied (the third in the op. 59 set of Acht Lieder und Gesänge, from 1873). Klaus Groth's poem in sing-songy octosyllabic lines in paired rhymes evokes a powerful memory, half delight and half sadness, of the narrator's childhood love of dancing in the rain. Reading the poem, thanks to Emily Ezust's edition and translation, helps one understand the nostalgic self-containment of this performance.

This reading of the third sonata has a luscious Adagio second movement and a percolating third movement, one of the most concise and pleasing scherzos. Again, reading the Groth poem helps illuminate much of what Brahms was trying to capture, the sense of an image in the mind that disappears or fades like a half-forgotten melody. As lagniappe, there is an excellent reading of the scherzo movement that Brahms contributed to the Sonata "F-A-E" (conceived with Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich as a tribute to Joseph Joachim), here a driving five minutes of rhythmic delight. We last heard it live earlier this year, as a vivid encore from Leila Josefowicz.
RCA Red Seal (Sony BMG) 88697-06106-2
No comments:
Post a Comment