Your Top 10 Favorite Violin Sonatas

Started by Mirror Image, August 27, 2016, 07:10:16 PM

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TheGSMoeller

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 29, 2016, 07:16:26 AM
Cool list, Greg. 8) I really should listen to that Schoenberg. The Poulenc is a good one indeed. It's not talked about much (for whatever reason), but it's certainly a fine work. Ives' VS3 is, of course, a favorite.

Thanks, John.
The final Adagio cantabile of Ives' 3rd Sonata is gorgeous. That easily seals the deal for me.

zamyrabyrd

I concur with most of the aforementioned.
The Schubert Violin Sonata in A major, D 574, or "Duo" is pure delight.
The two G major sonatas, No. 10 Op. 96 by Beethoven is a favorite along with the lovely Brahms Op. 78, No. 1. I played the piano parts for all three and wish I can do them again and again!
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Jaakko Keskinen

Brahms: sonatas 1-3
Beethoven: Sonatas 5 & 9
Schubert: D574
Debussy
Mozart: K547
Franck
Faure: Sonata 1



"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

mszczuj

Beethoven 5, 7, 9
Prokofiev 1
Magnard
Franck
and some Mozart to complete to ten

SymphonicAddict

Beethoven's Kreutzer
Franck
Brahms' 3rd
Shostakovich
Saint-Saëns' 1st
Roussel's 1st
Grieg (any of them)
Schubert's Fantasy for violin and piano (it isn't a sonata, I know, but is gorgeous)
Enescu's 3rd
Busoni's 2nd

springrite

Let me give this a shot. Some of my choices may be a bit unusual:

Ives (any of them)
Busoni 2
Elgar
Respighi
Delius 1
Brahms 2
Medtner 2
Lekeu
Janacek 1
Prokofiev 2
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

71 dB

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springrite

Quote from: 71 dB on December 13, 2016, 06:36:04 PM
I can't sleep it's 5:35 so tired can't sleep!

You need a violin sonata.

Listen to the Delius 1 and call me tomorrow morning.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

BasilValentine

Alphabetically:

Bartok 1
Brahms 1
Brahms 3
Debussy
Franck
Prokofiev 1
Prokofiev 2
Schumann A minor
Shostakovich
Weinberg 5

Ken B

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 29, 2016, 05:59:00 AM
Well, I meant the violin sonatas, but....you don't know them? ??? Oh boy, that's got to change ASAP!
I have never heard the Ives either. Never heard any of his chamber music at all.

The Mendelssohn deserves a mention on this thread. I doubt I can get up to 10, it doesn't stand out for me as a genre the way quartets do, but both by Prokkers would make the list, Respighi, a few by Mozart. There's a lovely one by Schubert.

Jo498

The greatest violin+piano piece by Schubert is the C major "Fantasy" D934 (this would make my top ten but strictly speaking it is not a sonata). There are 4 considerably earlier sonatas, not quite on that level but pretty good and rather overlooked, the best one is probably D 574, and a somewhat odd "Rondo Brillante" which is late D 895 but not very convincing to me. Of better known fiddlers, both Kremer and Laredo did all of them, the latter on Dorian (or a cheap Brilliant twofer), the former scattered over 3? DG discs.
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kyjo

I'll give it a go:

Alkan (Grand duo concertant, effectively a sonata)
Beethoven no. 7 (C minor)
Fauré no. 1
Franck
Grieg no. 3 (although I love all 3 just about equally)
Medtner no. 3 Epica
Monasypov (ultra-obscure, I happened across it on YouTube - gorgeous!)
Lekeu
Strauss
Vaughan Williams

Runner-ups:
Janáček
Prokofiev no. 1 (or no. 2)
Schumann no. 2

I have yet to listen to the Shostakovich violin sonata in full, but what I have heard of it sounds very promising.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Mirror Image

Quote from: kyjo on January 09, 2019, 11:33:31 AM
I'll give it a go:

Alkan (Grand duo concertant, effectively a sonata)
Beethoven no. 7 (C minor)
Fauré no. 1
Franck
Grieg no. 3 (although I love all 3 just about equally)
Medtner no. 3 Epica
Monasypov (ultra-obscure, I happened across it on YouTube - gorgeous!)
Lekeu
Strauss
Vaughan Williams

Runner-ups:
Janáček
Prokofiev no. 1 (or no. 2)
Schumann no. 2

I have yet to listen to the Shostakovich violin sonata in full, but what I have heard of it sounds very promising.

Nice list, Kyle. 8) I'd say the Shostakovich Violin Sonata is worth hearing, but it is a rather gloomy piece and I can usually tolerate this kind of atmosphere, but I'm not sure why I don't enjoy it as much as his Cello Sonata for example. But you definitely should hear the whole piece. Would love to know your thoughts on it.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Mirror Image on August 27, 2016, 07:10:16 PM
A difficult poll for me as there's so many of them that I love, but here goes nothing (in no particular order):

Ives (all four of the them)
Ravel
Debussy
Prokofiev 1
Janacek
Elgar
F. Martin 1

I'm still rather content with this particular list of mine, although I would probably substitute the Frank Martin with Schumann's Violin Sonata No. 2. That's become a favorite of mine since I made this post.

kyjo

#34
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 12, 2019, 06:06:53 AM
Nice list, Kyle. 8) I'd say the Shostakovich Violin Sonata is worth hearing, but it is a rather gloomy piece and I can usually tolerate this kind of atmosphere, but I'm not sure why I don't enjoy it as much as his Cello Sonata for example. But you definitely should hear the whole piece. Would love to know your thoughts on it.

Yeah, from what I've heard, the Shostakovich Violin Sonata does seem quite gloomy - I'll report back once I've listened to it. His much earlier Cello Sonata (which I've played recently) is a real favorite of mine - it has moments of gloom, for sure (particularly in the slow movement), but it also possesses a radiant lyricism and a sense of wit that is really appealing to me. I find it to be one of his most multifaceted works, actually.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

amw

Bach - C major sonata BWV 1005
Mozart - E minor sonata K304
Mozart - G major sonata K379
Beethoven - G major sonata Op.96
Schumann - D minor sonata Op.121
Brahms - G major sonata Op.78
Medtner - G major sonata Op.44
Nielsen - sonata Op.35
Ravel - G major sonata
Enescu - A minor sonata Op.25
Bartók - C# minor sonata Sz.75

Mirror Image

Quote from: kyjo on January 12, 2019, 07:51:54 PM
Yeah, from what I've heard, the Shostakovich Violin Sonata does seem quite gloomy - I'll report back once I've listened to it. His much earlier Cello Sonata (which I've played recently) is a real favorite of mine - it has moments of gloom, for sure (particularly in the slow movement), but it also possesses a radiant lyricism and a sense of wit that is really appealing to me. I find it to be one of his most multifaceted works, actually.

Indeed. Love his Cello Sonata. One performance of this piece that I've really taken quite a shine to lately has been Gerhardt/Osborne on Hyperion. Have you heard it?

Jaakko Keskinen

Btw, John, Debussy died in 1918, not 1917.
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

Ras

I would venture to say that
Quotequite gloomy
as a description of Shostakovich's Violin Sonata is "quite an understatement".  ::)

I like the recording from 1968 with Shostakovich himself on piano and David Oistrakh on violin.
If anyone can tell me where I can find that recording on cd I would be very interested!
One of my favorites. The best part is the second movement.

But so far I just listen to Oistrakh/Shostakovich on youtube:

https://youtu.be/SlehysdSvKE?list=PLXaMYeLi3yw3vy8-ZYlevaiZzk2DKPESw

(The recording that got me into Shostakovich's opus 134 was Daniel Hope's Nimbus recording from I think the early 90's - one of Daniel Hope's first recordings - before he became famous). (Simon Mulligan plays piano on it)

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"Music is life and, like it, inextinguishable." - Carl Nielsen

amw

There are a few releases but this one may be the most accessible