Schubert. Brahms. Franck

Franz Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano (1824) was one of the first works ever written for the instrument invented by the Viennese craftsman Johann Stauffer in 1823. This instrument combines elements of both the cello and the guitar. In the 1820s the arpeggione was highly popular, though just ten years later it was forgotten, only to be remembered at the close of the 20^th century in connection with growing interest in authentic performance. Schubert’s sonata is traditionally performed on the cello or the viola, the word “arpeggione” often appearing as part of the work’s title. One particular feature that makes the work stand apart is its direct link with the everyday romance. Principles of song, so typical for Schubert’s music, are expressed not just in the emphasis on the corresponding circle of intonations but in the style of performing and developing the musical material too. For example, the initial introduction of the theme in the first movement is a typical introduction to a romance; its paraphrase for solo viola accompanied by the piano is also a typical example of vocal composition. In the second movement (Adagio) there is a more profound image, the dramatic re-examination of which results in a mournful afterword (such “summing up” melodious finales are frequently to be met with in Schubert’s later songs). The finale of the sonata is based on dance music, and in its concept one can pick out the idea of “the liberation of emotions” which is especially clear in the episode constructed on the elated intonations of yodelling.
Nadezhda Kulygina

The Two Rhapsodies for Piano, Op. 79, were written by the composer in the summer of 1879 in the village of Pörtschach in Carinthia where Brahms regularly holidayed for a period of three years. Brahms delighted in the nature that surrounded Pörtschach, finding it even more beautiful than Italy, and summer holidays there never failed to produce a rich artistic harvest. In addition to the Rhapsodies, he composed many other works there, among them his Violin Concerto and the Second Symphony.
The Rhapsodies are dedicated to his pupil Elisabeth von Herzogenberg. It was at her suggestion that the composer renamed these refined Klavierstücke (pieces for piano) as rhapsodies.
The Vier Ernsten Gesänge (Four Serious Songs) were one of Johannes Brahms’ last works. They were written for bass and piano to Biblical texts.
The work was completed in 1896 when the composer had less than eleven months to live. It was born from contemplations about his impending death as well as the illness and death of the composer’s closest friend Clara Schumann. Formally, the Gesänge are dedicated to the artist Max Klinger who illustrated Brahms’ works, though in actual fact, when composing the music, Brahms wished to pay tribute to the memory of his dear friend. In a letter to Clara Schumann’s children, he wrote “Despite not writing your names at the start in line with good old tradition as in such cases, these Songs are all meant specially for you... Every time that you play these Songs regard them as a tribute to the memory of your beloved mother.”

César Franck’s Violin Sonata was composed in 1886 when the composer was sixty-three and it was dedicated to his friend, the world-famous violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.
Franck gave the manuscript of the sonata to Ysaÿe as a wedding present. The first performance of the sonata took place on Ysaÿe’s wedding day on 26 September 1886 after just one rehearsal. “Nothing on this earth could be a greater honour to me or give me greater pleasure. It is a present not just to me, but to the entire world; to perform it as it should be performed I will do everything in my power as an artiste and a passionate admirer of the genius of ‘papa Franck,’ as yet un-acclaimed... I will play you this sonata the way I understand it, and I will try to convey what my heart tells me,” Ysaÿe said of the sonata before performing it. Later this work would go on to form not just part of the chamber repertoires of violinists but of cellists and clarinettists as well.
The first movement of the sonata – light and idyllic – is laid out laconically; it is only in the second theme that Franck’s typical feeling of passionate languor bursts through. The second movement is rich in diverse shades of emotions, though it is dominated by an anxious and restless mood. The third movement – Recitative-Fantasia – forms the dramatic core of the sonata. Initially we can hear pastoral calls from the first movement, but in terms of character they are more tense and improvisational; then come two new themes: the first is tenderly poetic and the second “sweeping” and powerfully single-minded. The music of the finale, written in the form of a rondo, exudes spiritual peace and heartfelt warmth.