Violinist Bella Hristova and pianist continue their magical partnership with a recital in Auckland to celebrate the release of their new CD of the complete violin sonatas by Brahms.
Michael Houstoun and Bella Hristova Photo: Monika Hill
RAVEL: Sonate posthume
This is the lesser-heard Violin Sonata by Maurice Ravel – the 'Posthumous Sonata', published after his death but written as a student when he was in Gabriel Fauré’s composition class at the Paris Conservatory.
It’s a shortish work in one movement. Actually it’s believed that Ravel intended it to be the first of a multi-movement sonata but he never completed that.
FAURE: Violin Sonata No 1 in A Op 13
This work has remained one of Fauré’s most loved pieces and it made an immediate impact when it was first heard in 1876. It marked a turning point in his career.
The older composer Camille Saint-Saëns was full of praise: “This sonata has everything that will seduce the gourmet: novel forms, exquisite modulations, uncommon tone colours, the use of the most unexpected rhythms. And hovering above all this is a magic which envelops the work and brings the masses of ordinary listeners to accept the wildest audacities as something perfectly natural.”
The work has four movements.
BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No 3 in D minor Op 108
Brahms wrote this sonata (the third of his three) between 1886 and 1888 – it’s one of his later works – all of his symphonies and concertos are behind him and there are only a few works still to come. He’s at the height of his compositional powers and this work is tight and muscular, but also – especially in the Adagio second movement – lyrical and tender. He dedicated it to his friend and colleague Hans von Bülow.
Recorded by RNZ Concert in Auckland Concert Chamber, 4 September 2023
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Adrian Hollay
