St Petersburg, Concert Hall

Yu-Chien Benny Tseng (violin) and Sergei Redkin (piano)


Prize-winners of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition

PROGRAMME:
Giuseppe Tartini
Violin Sonata in G minor Devil’s Trill

Johannes Brahms
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108

Johann Sebastian Bach
Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

Henryk Wieniawski
Theme original varié, Op. 15


Performed by Yu-Chien (Benny) Tseng (violin)
Piano: Sergei Redkin

About the Concert

Johannes Brahms began to compose his Sonata No 3 in D Minor in 1886, the same year that he wrote his Second Sonata, though it was only completed two years later and it was entirely different to its “elder sister.” It is like a four-movement symphony in miniature. Every single note has weight and it is as if each has a free will of its own. In the dramatic first movement Brahms uses very low notes from the piano together with incredibly high notes from the violin, expanding as much as possible the range of the ensemble. In the second movement, it is only twice – in the culminations – that the violin is permitted to depart from the lower register. Correspondingly, the piano sounds muffled and restrained. The third movement is a carefree scherzo. Were it not for the composer’s remark “con sentimento,” this capricious music could have been considered fantastical.
The sonata’s powerful finale goes far beyond the realms of chamber music, and this can be sensed in the very scale of its principal theme. The secondary theme is a chorale and it is led by the piano. The peaceful flow does not last long. The Third Sonata is one of strong passions, and even its chorale is filled with lyrical emotions by the time it reaches the tenth bar.
Anna Bulycheva

Age category 6+

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