Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov - Brahms: Violin Sonatas, Opp. 100 & 108; Schumann: Three Romances, Op.94 (2015)

Posted By: Designol

Date: Nov. 13, 2024

A 19th-century ‘trio sonata’. Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov have already given us an acclaimed version Brahms’s First Violin Sonata, in 2007. They now complete the cycle with the other two sonatas of 1886 and 1888, and add a fascinating rarity dating from 35 years earlier: the ‘F-A-E’ Sonata, a collaborative effort by three composers in honour of the great violinist Joachim, who had to guess who had written which movement! He did so with ease, for the Scherzo is as eminently Brahmsian as the Intermezzo and Finale are Schumannesque. Alexander Melnikov will be contributing his take on a score his mother gave him that belonged to Sviatoslav Richter in September BBC Music Magazine.

There are plenty of recordings of Brahms' second and third violin sonatas, cornerstones of the violin chamber repertoire that demand much from the players in terms of keeping melody and motivic intricacy balanced. This one, from the violin-and-piano duo of Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov, has several features that make it stand out. One is the presence of a third sonata that's rarely recorded (along with three Romances by Robert Schumann that are not exactly common items themselves). This is the so-called F-A-E Sonata, a collaborative work by the young Brahms (who wrote the Scherzo), Schumann (who wrote the slow movement and the exuberant finale), and Schumann's student Albert Dietrich. The work's dedicatee was Joseph Joachim, who had adopted the motto "Frei aber einsam" (free but lonesome) that gave the work its name. Joachim was challenged to identify the composer of each movement and did so without difficulty; you may well do the same, but the work, unified by the F-A-E pitches used in the thematic material, is more than the gimmick it might seem. The otherwise unknown Dietrich was pushed to what are probably his greatest heights by his two talented co-composers, and the opening sonata-form movement at least inhabits the same world as Schumann and Brahms. The other novelty here is Melnikov's period piano, an 1875 Bösendorfer that strips away a good deal of the warm Steinway haze the sonatas have in most performances and leaves in its place a rather spare performance that even in the songful Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 100, shifts the listener's attention to the motivic structure, perhaps in recognition of the fact that Brahms designated the Violin Sonata No. 2 a sonata "for piano and violin." The performance has the clarity that characterizes Melnikov's solo recordings of Romantic repertory, even if the case for period instruments is a good deal less clear here than it is in earlier music. At the very least, however, this is an intriguing Brahms recording, and the Teldex Studio sound is superb.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

Isabelle Faust at Allmusic ~ Alexander Melnikov at Allmusic
Isabelle Faust at Wiki ~ Alexander Melnikov at Wiki

Isabelle Faust: Stradivarius violin "Sleeping Beauty" (1704)
Alexander Melnikov: Bösendorfer piano (1875)

Tracklist:

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Violin Sonata No.3, Op.108
01. I. Allegro (08:07)
02. II. Adagio (04:27)
03. III. Un poco presto e con sentimento (02:54)
04. IV. Presto agitato (05:39)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Three Romances, Op.94
05. I. Nicht schnell (03:13)
06. II. Einfach, innig (03:56)
07. III. Nicht schnell (04:09)

Johannes Brahms
Violin Sonata No.2, Op.100
08. I. Allegro amabile (07:43)
09. II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace (05:49)
10. III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante) (05:28)

Dietrich, Schumann, Brahms: F.A.E. Sonata
11. I. Allegro (Dietrich) (11:51)
12. II. Intermezzo (Schumann) (02:24)
13. III. Allegro (Brahms) (04:43)
14. IV. Finale (Schumann) (07:19)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 28. September 2016, 23:02

Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov / Brahms - Violin Sonatas

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DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-10-01 20:52:08

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov / Brahms - Violin Sonatas
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR16 -0.44 dB -23.96 dB 8:07 01-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3, Op.108 - I. Allegro
DR15 -5.49 dB -29.53 dB 4:27 02-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3, Op.108 - II. Adagio
DR14 -2.60 dB -25.14 dB 2:54 03-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3, Op.108 - III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
DR14 -0.91 dB -20.63 dB 5:40 04-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3, Op.108 - IV. Presto agitato
DR15 -7.24 dB -28.58 dB 3:14 05-Schumann: Three Romances, Op.94 - I. Nicht schnell
DR13 -7.14 dB -27.01 dB 3:57 06-Schumann: Three Romances, Op.94 - II. Einfach, innig
DR15 -6.88 dB -28.46 dB 4:09 07-Schumann: Three Romances, Op.94 - III. Nicht schnell
DR14 -3.29 dB -23.10 dB 7:43 08-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.2, Op.100 - I. Allegro amabile
DR17 -1.08 dB -29.03 dB 5:50 09-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.2, Op.100 - II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace
DR14 -4.04 dB -26.14 dB 5:28 10-Brahms: Violin Sonata No.2, Op.100 - III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante)
DR14 -2.56 dB -21.45 dB 11:52 11-Dietrich, Schumann, Brahms: F.A.E. Sonata - I. Allegro (Dietrich)
DR13 -11.94 dB -30.66 dB 2:25 12-Dietrich, Schumann, Brahms: F.A.E. Sonata - II. Intermezzo (Schumann)
DR13 -1.14 dB -19.33 dB 4:44 13-Dietrich, Schumann, Brahms: F.A.E. Sonata - III. Allegro (Brahms)
DR15 -2.73 dB -22.45 dB 7:20 14-Dietrich, Schumann, Brahms: F.A.E. Sonata - IV. Finale (Schumann)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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Official DR value: DR14

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Channels: 2
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