for Violin and Piano-Brahms had already announced his retirement from composition when in the spring of 1894 he played chamber music with the cellist Robert Hausmann and the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld. This encounter apparently renewed his enthusiasm for Mühlfeld s much admired playing and inspired him to write two Clarinet sonatas in the summer of the same year.Brahms conceived an alternate version of the works for Viola from the beginning and already before the publication of these two versions he intended to do another one for Violin a version which was to require changes and was to result in an independent edition. While the Clarinet and Viola versions havedeveloped a rich performance tradition the Violin version is almost unknown. Yet for the Violin version the composer revised the original Clarinet part much more extensively than he did for the Viola version and also rewrote the Piano part to achieve a thoroughly convincing Violin and Piano idiom. This Bärenreiter edition aims to bring the neglected Violin Sonatas Op. 120 back into players hands.An important part of this edition is the extensive preface. Firstly it informs about the sonatas origins their compositional process pre-publication performances their publication history as well as early reception. Truly remarkable is the unique Performance Practice Commentary. Here the editors start from the premise that already a few decades after Brahms' death a widening gulf developed between the composer's expectations and the performance practices of the early 20th century. On the basis of manifold sources which include memoirs by pupils and chamber music partners treatises and essays early instructive editions and historical recordings the editors deal with key issues in understanding Brahms' notation. By a section-by-section analysis of rhythm and timing dynamics and accentuation dots and strokes slurring and non legato Piano pedalling and overholding Piano arpeggiation and dislocation string instrument fingering string instrument harmonics and vibrato the editors provide an indispensable assistance for a historically informed interpretation of the works.At the same time the edition offers an exciting and
SKU: BR.EB-9441
ISBN 9790004189184. 9 x 12 inches.
The two sonatas of Johannes Brahms's op. 120 are widely hailed as crowning points of the repertoire for clarinet and piano. Moreover, in the version for viola and piano arranged by Brahms himself, they rank among the most frequently played viola works of the 19th century. They far surpass in compositional substance the relatively few original sonatas written for these instrumentations during the same period.Of the two fellow works, the Sonata No. 2 in E flat major is the more accessible. Diverging from the classical-romantic tradition, Brahms used the key of E flat major here not to express the heroic or monumental, but to obtain lyrical, chiefly restrained characterizations. The serenade-like beauty of the principal theme, which opens the sonata, has always been particularly admired. In his review of the world premiere, the renowned Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, a friend of Brahms's, raves with the words it was as if it had fallen from the Heavens. The closing set of variations also follows with gentle gracefulness this lyrical character. However, the middle movement, with its tempestuous outer sections in E flat minor and the hymnic trio in B major provides a passionate and serious contrast, which allows the flanking idyll to unfold its beauties all the more insistently.
SKU: BR.EB-9440
ISBN 9790004189177. 9 x 12 inches.
