Schubert: Sonatina in D major, D384 (Op. posth. 137 No. 1)

Schubert was a competent violinist and violist and his four violin sonatas pose no problems for skilled players. It is strange, then, that so few really recommendable recordings of them have been made. Apart from these beautiful interpretations by Martzy and Antonietti, which have become legendary, one can find individual works by Fritz Kreisler and Sergei Rachmaninov, or Josef Suk and Jan Panenka, but few others that catch the essential simplicity of the pieces. The Rondo brillant and the Fantasy on Schubert’s song Sei mir gegrüsst, on the other hand, are among the most difficult works in the violin-and piano repertoire, written for the shortlived Bohemian virtuoso Josef Slavík. Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin were famous for playing them but such big names as Jascha Heifetz and David Oistrakh have fallen flat on their faces, trying to unravel the secrets of the Fantasy. Martzy and Antonietti bring beautiful, meticulously prepared playing to all half dozen pieces. Their interpretations, which are well balanced and clearly recorded for the time, have an inherent strength but also pliancy, transparency and unsentimental sweetness where required.

From the booklet note Tully Potter, 2011

This anniversary collection by Jeunesses Musicales marks 60 years of service to the young: 60 years of excellence. The compilation presents some of the best recordings made at ANALEKTA by artists who toured under the aegis of JMC or have been associated with the Montreal International Musical Competition, founded in 2002. Discover some of the great performers of the Canadian music scene.

This album together with volume 2 completes the collaboration between Julia Fischer and Pentatone. Since all works which Schubert wrote for Violin and Piano are insufficiënt to fill 2 CDs, Volume 2 will show Julia Fischer as pianist as well (in the 4-hands piece: Fantasie in F minor D 940/op. 103).

The second Volume will be released not later than April 2010 All Julia Fischer albums on Pentatone have been bestsellers. Martin Helmchen’s last 2 albums were both Music Choice of the month and the “Trout”album got a 10/10 review from David Hurwitz on ClassicsToday.com (plus excellent reviews in many other publications).

The luminous partnership of Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien returns to Hyperion for this double album containing Schubert’s complete music for violin and piano. Their intelligence and technical prowess, their seamless and intimate connection as performers and their profound understanding of the music combine in magical performances.

While still in his teens, Schubert wrote four works for violin and piano that could have been given the label ‘sonata’, yet none of the four was published with that title. The first three, completed in 1816, bear instead the designation of ‘Sonatina’, perhaps to appeal to the amateur market. But these are highly accomplished works by the teenage composer and there is little ‘domestic’ feeling in the extended, mysterious unravellings of D385 which hint at compositions yet to come.

The later Violin Sonata in A major, D574 (now described as a ‘Duo’), urges the violinist on to greater virtuosic feats, and the Rondo in B minor even more so, with the piano sometimes treated as a surrogate orchestra. The extensive Fantasy in C major, written in the last year of Schubert’s life, is a masterpiece: the composer’s greatest achievement in this genre, which combines poignancy with sheer joy in life itself.

This CD includes all of Schubert’s early works for violin and piano.

Süßmuth and Zichner have been performing together for more than ten years in the Aperto Quartet.

They are renowned chamber musicians and also perform with the Vogler Quartett and Petersen Quartett.

Schubert composed these three charming violin and piano sonatas (also called ‘sonatinas’) when he was nineteen, and like much of his early work they are suffused with the spirit of Mozart. When they were published eight years after his death, they were advertised as ‘sonatinas’, doubtless as a lure to the lucrative amateur market, but the term is misleading.

The three-movement D major has something of the miniature about it, but the more substantial four-movement A minor and G minor sonatas are certainly not light-weight. The graceful and melodious D major sonata is very Mozartian in derivation. The Sonata in A minor, Schubert’s favourite key for expressions of pathos, has a more individual flavour, and like the Sonata in G minor, hints at the poignancy and passion of the composer’s maturity.

The soloists on this recording are the outstanding Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and Russian-Austrian pianist Oleg Maisenberg. They have been regular recital partners for many years, and give stylish and insightful performances of these works.