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Music Talks > 2015 Spring
Music Club: Wednesday 15 April 2015 (7 pm)
Title: Great Violin Sonatas
Sergei
Prokofiev
Violin Sonata
No 2 Op 94a (28 min - 1877)
Laurent Korcia
(violin) and Eric Le Sage (piano)
Gabriel Fauré
Violin Sonata
No 2 Op 94a (28 min - 1877)
Daishin Kashimoto
(violin) and Eric Le Sage (piano)
Camille
Saint-Saens
Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 75
(23 min - 1885)
Paul Huang
(violin) and Jessica Osborne (piano)
Facilitator: Akram Najjar
Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Sonata No 2 Op 94a
(28 min - 1942)
Laurent Korcia (violin)
and Eirc Le Sage (piano)
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor. As the creator of acknowledged
masterpieces across numerous musical genres, he is regarded as one of the major
composers of the 20th century.
The Second Violin Sonata,
however, was not originally composed as such. In 1942, Prokofiev composed his
Flute Sonata in D major. At the urging of his friend, the violinist David
Oistrakh, Prokofiev arranged the sonata for violin the following year. Both
share the same opus number, and while the origins as a flute sonata are still
present in the work’s inherent lyricism, it is the violin transcription that
has become the most popular. Oistrakh premiered the work on June 17, 1944 in
Moscow. Comprising four movements, the sonata embodies a typical Romantic form.
A lyrical and elegant opening sonata form is followed by a typical Prokofievian
scherzo full of wit and energy. The Andante third movement opens with an
arching tune for the violin, but later indulges in jazz-inspired inflections
during its middle section. Lastly, the Finale provides a joyous
conclusion.
The work is highly classical
in design: it opens with a sonata movement which is followed by a scherzo, a
slow movement, and a great finale. The violin part is replete with virtuosic
display but is also highly lyrical and elegant, evidence of the work's
inception as a sonata for flute.
Gabriel Fauré
Violin Sonata
No 2 Op 94a (28 min - 1877)
Fauré (1845 –1924) was a
French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost
French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many
20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Nocturnes
for piano and the Songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de
lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are
generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded
works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style.
The year 1877 was significant
for Fauré, both professionally and personally. In January his first violin
sonata was performed at a Société Nationale concert with great success, marking
a turning-point in his composing career at the age of 31. Nectoux counts the
work as the composer's first great masterpiece.
Camille Saint-Saens
Violin Sonata in D minor, Op. 75 (23 min - 1885)
Paul
Huang (violin) and Jessica Osborne (piano)
Originally
planned only as a little duo for violin and piano, the composition grew into a
sonata in autumn 1885. The first performances were more than disillusioning for
Saint-Saëns, as the violinists came to grief with its virtuosic demands, in
particular those of the finale. He told his publisher that it would be called
“the hippogriffsonata”, implying that the violin part could only be played by a
mystical figure. Since then the sonata has, by and large, lost its horrors and
is now one of the best loved chamber music works by the French master, despite,
or perhaps even because of its technical challenges. Our Urtext edition is the
first to take into account all surviving sources for the work.
