Brahms - Violin Sonata 2 [Amoyal/Roge]
Another disc of Brahms's Violin Sonatas, i must have a dozen versions now, but my love of these works can keep a dozen versions on rotation fairly easily, and this one has not been played much, a fairly recent acquisition [2005, yeah that's recent for me!], and so it's good to hear what Amoyal has to say, all of these three Sonatas were so very good, but the Second just pips the First, it used to be my favourite, but now the other two are so close that they're probably all equally loved.
Pierre Amoyal is French, he's now 63, and he made this recording in 1990, the front cover shows a black & white shot [by Mary Robert], the background of the shot has some nasty clutter, and the blue coloured theme is nice enough i guess, overall it's well composed.
On this listen it was the last two movements i enjoyed the most, and my favourite has always been the second movement, it rocks back and forth between slow and fast [Andante Tranquillo / Vivace / Andante / Vivace Di Piu / Andante / Vivace], as the movement lasts roughly 6 minutes, it would be very symmetrical for each section to last one minute, and in a way it is at least symmetrical, if you consider that the last Vivace is only a 10 second last hurrah, then all the other sections do indeed last roughly 1 minute, except the middle Andante which last 2, and i guess it's this central section that has more weight to it than the others, here's a rundown of the timings, it gives an idea of the building blocks of the movement,
Pierre Amoyal is French, he's now 63, and he made this recording in 1990, the front cover shows a black & white shot [by Mary Robert], the background of the shot has some nasty clutter, and the blue coloured theme is nice enough i guess, overall it's well composed.
On this listen it was the last two movements i enjoyed the most, and my favourite has always been the second movement, it rocks back and forth between slow and fast [Andante Tranquillo / Vivace / Andante / Vivace Di Piu / Andante / Vivace], as the movement lasts roughly 6 minutes, it would be very symmetrical for each section to last one minute, and in a way it is at least symmetrical, if you consider that the last Vivace is only a 10 second last hurrah, then all the other sections do indeed last roughly 1 minute, except the middle Andante which last 2, and i guess it's this central section that has more weight to it than the others, here's a rundown of the timings, it gives an idea of the building blocks of the movement,
Andante Tranquillo = 0:00-1:13 [1:13]
Vivace = 1:13-2:12 [0:59]
Andante = 2:13-4:13 [2:00]
Vivace Di Piu = 4:14-5:09 [0:55]
Andante = 5:10-6:15 [1:05]
Vivace = 6:15-6:25 [0:10]
and with this in mind i would like to comment on these sections,
Andante Tranquillo - introducing us to the beautiful theme of the movement, i think Amoyal plays it a touch too fast, it's something that should be savoured, but it's gorgeous.
Vivace - of course in contrast a faster section, and the slow / fast nicely play against each other, the piano is more up front, it's certainly a nice rhythm.
Andante - but of course it gives way to the opening again, and right away you can see this rocking back and forth is a tremendous device, this middle section is different however, in that it lasts twice as long as the first, there's a sort of 'coda' if you like [3:22+], where the violin goes into extra raptures, probably the most heartfelt moment of the movement.
Vivace Di Piu - and again in contrast there's an equally impressive virtuoso section, this time the violin is pizzicato, it makes a wonderful contrast, and even the violin rocks back and forth between pizzicato and bowing, tremendous.
Andante - and back to the slower Andante, this time it has a sense of finality to it, and it 'sort' of ends on this slow note, but...
Vivace - a short Vivace finale, only lasting 10 seconds, but it puts a final cap on such a wonderful movement of Chamber Music.
Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter playing the second movement on YouTube.
