So what's a fun modern violin sonata to play?

[Guido]

A great "GIG". 

Or, based on the initials, a KLM sonata (like the famous Soviet hockey team superstar line from the 1980's) 

L and M would be possible (La and Mi), but K, not so much.

[sul G]

You weren't paying attention on the mystery scores thread, were you, Guido!  There are ways and means.....how else do you think all those pieces 'sur le nom de Haydn' were composed?

In fact, IIRC (and I might not) Ropartz's piece in memory of Dukas finds a K, as it were.

[Maciek]

What a novel idea!!! I like it. 

There was also the Hexameron...

[Maciek]

I wanted to suggest Lutoslawski's Partita but it's a bit too long (15'?) and not tonal.

Then there's Szymanowski's Sonata, already mentioned, but that's not post-1950. The slightly later and more attractive Myths are, again, not tonal and, again, not late enough - they were written in 1915, so they predate Tzigane by almost 10 years.

[karlhenning]

There was also the Hexameron...

Say more on that, Maciek . . . I've got it on disc . . . .

[Guido]

Reading about Hexameron - I am astonished to learn that Chopin and Liszt were born just one year apart!

[Maciek]

But Liszt survived Chopin by almost 40!

Karl, I don't really know anything about the piece except for what it says in the Wikipedia article. I don't even have a full recording - just the Chopin variation from a complete works set.

[DFO]

But Liszt survived Chopin by almost 40!

Karl, I don't really know anything about the piece except for what it says in the Wikipedia article. I don't even have a full recording - just the Chopin variation from a complete works set.

To me, is a superficial and forgetable piece, brillant but nothing more. For a great recording see Raymond Lewenthal on RCA.

[Maciek]

Are you sure we are talking about the same piece? Or do you mean the whole set? I know (by heresay) that the other variations are rather ordinary examples of the style brillant. But the Chopin one (the closing one) is a short nocturnal meditation (the tempo marking is Largo - IMSLP has the full score, BTW). It uses only a short phrase from the theme and is generally very "modest" in terms of employed pianistic means - nothing about it strikes me as superficial, even if it isn't one of Chopin's greatest masterpieces (it is very short - I'm not talking about the embellishments added by Liszt at the end). I'm not sure if I've got this right but I think Chopin was the only person involved in the project who actually knew Bellini and could therefore react to the commission on a more intimate, personal level. The unexpected key change is sometimes interpreted as a sort of "silent cry".

[Dax]

Lou Harrison - Grand Duo (1988). A 5-movement work. Highly recommended!

Here are some clips

http://www.amazon.com/Lou-Harrison-Third-Symphony-Violin/dp/B001L2GJWE

[Brian]

Well just heard from my friend - she and her advisor have settled on a work by a composer at our university by the name of Karim Al-Zand. Also on the program: Wieniawski, Ravel, Beethoven and Bach...

[Guido]

Oh yeah, Walton's Sonata (1949, considerably revised 1950) is an absolute delight - of course it belongs to the music of the first half of the 20th century really, but it's great.