Brahms - Violin Sonata 2 [Mullova/ Anderszewski]
I must easily have a dozen complete Brahms Violin Sonatas in my collection, and on the whole each one is another 'revealing' of these endlessly fascinating creations, Mullova is probably a midway point in my favourites, and i must admit i haven't listened to this disc since 2012 [8th June 2012], but it was so good to give this a spin today.
Viktoria Mullova is Russian, she's now 55, the front cover of the booklet is nice, two separate shots [by Brigitte Lacombe] and fused together i guess, Anderszeski wearing dark / black, and Mullova wearing white / light, is there a musical theme here?.
I would say the Second Sonata to only just be my favourite of the three, it's the first one i heard, and of course loved the structure of the piece, especially the middle movement, consisting of slow and fast episodes, it's also the shortest of the three, i also find that Mullova / Anderszewski are pretty swift, they don't hang about, and looking at the timings for my favourite half a dozen interpretations, with the timing for the whole Sonata, and then the timing for the second movement, from fastest to slowest, this is what i get,
what i 'feel' i can now 'see' in the stats, Mullova is almost two minutes faster than Perlman, and a minute faster in the second movement than Frank, i also find that there's a tendency for Anderszewski to be cast into the background / shade, while Mullova is in the foreground / spotlight [another manifestation of the black & white theory?], also Anderszewski can be warm / passionate, while Mullova can be icy / precise, that's not to say she doesn't have warmth / passion in her playing, the part i like the best is the middle fast / slow coupling [2:05-4:35], the last part of the Andante gets so beautifully passionate and intense [3:02-3:33], Mullova finds a powerful sweetness here, the following Vivace Di Piu becomes a pizzicato masterclass, juxtaposing between bowing and plucking [3:43+], after an Andante / Coda of sorts, there's a final pizzicato bravura flourish to end on [5:34-5:44].
Here's Mutter / Orkis playing the second movement on YouTube.
Viktoria Mullova is Russian, she's now 55, the front cover of the booklet is nice, two separate shots [by Brigitte Lacombe] and fused together i guess, Anderszeski wearing dark / black, and Mullova wearing white / light, is there a musical theme here?.
I would say the Second Sonata to only just be my favourite of the three, it's the first one i heard, and of course loved the structure of the piece, especially the middle movement, consisting of slow and fast episodes, it's also the shortest of the three, i also find that Mullova / Anderszewski are pretty swift, they don't hang about, and looking at the timings for my favourite half a dozen interpretations, with the timing for the whole Sonata, and then the timing for the second movement, from fastest to slowest, this is what i get,
Mullova / Anderszwski - 18:27 / 5:45
Chung / Frankl - 19:43 / 6:07
Chung / Frankl - 19:43 / 6:07
Belkin / Dalberto - 20:16 / 6:22
Znaider / Bronfman - 19:57 / 6:35
Perlman / Ashkenazy - 20:23 / 6:42
Frank / Serkin - 19:37 / 6:45
what i 'feel' i can now 'see' in the stats, Mullova is almost two minutes faster than Perlman, and a minute faster in the second movement than Frank, i also find that there's a tendency for Anderszewski to be cast into the background / shade, while Mullova is in the foreground / spotlight [another manifestation of the black & white theory?], also Anderszewski can be warm / passionate, while Mullova can be icy / precise, that's not to say she doesn't have warmth / passion in her playing, the part i like the best is the middle fast / slow coupling [2:05-4:35], the last part of the Andante gets so beautifully passionate and intense [3:02-3:33], Mullova finds a powerful sweetness here, the following Vivace Di Piu becomes a pizzicato masterclass, juxtaposing between bowing and plucking [3:43+], after an Andante / Coda of sorts, there's a final pizzicato bravura flourish to end on [5:34-5:44].
Here's Mutter / Orkis playing the second movement on YouTube.
