Octo_Russ

Brahms - Violin Sonata 3 [Weithaas/Avenhaus]

One of the purposes of my Blog, is to examine some aspect of the music i'm writing about, overturn a musical rock and see what lies beneath, one of these things is examining what key the work is written in, in the case of this Sonata, it's written in D Minor, the only minor key of Brahms's three Violin Sonatas, it's interesting to note some other major works written in the same key, i would call these 'key cousins',

Mozart-Piano Concerto 20

Mozart-Requiem

Shostakovich-Symphony 5

Sibelius-Violin Concerto

Schumann-Violin Concerto

Brahms-Piano Concerto 1

Schubert-String Quartet 14

they give you a feel for what D Minor is trying to convey, i love all the works above, they have that dark quality about them, tragedy and death maybe, certainly profoundness.

The first movement opening starts with a very lyrical violin, but yet there's an underlying sadness there [0:00-0:42], the piano bounces along a rhythm in the background nicely, but the waters are often troubled in this Sonata, later the violin has a softer yet darker theme [2:29-3:45], while the piano is equally restless in the background, ticking away time like a metronome, there's a forceful and passionate passage for both violin and piano [4:31-5:24], where both become agitated and somewhat angry, a sad yet beautiful Violin Sonata movement.

Here's Akiko Suwanai playing the first movement on YouTube.