Albert Dietrich

This release by Norwegian cellist Jonathan Aasgaard (the principal cellist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) and British pianist Martin Roscoe purports to be a complete recording of Brahms' music for cello and piano. In fact it's padded with quite a few other things that have little or nothing to do with Brahms other than the fact that he composed the original music.

Asked the question ‘How many sonatas for violin and piano did Johannes Brahms compose?’, many lovers of chamber music would probably answer three, and maybe also add their respective keys and opus numbers. When pressed, a number of them would also remember the so-called F.A.E. Sonata, a collaborative effort by the young Brahms, Albert Dietrich and their mentor Robert Schumann. But very few would probably think of the two Opus 120 sonatas, composed in 1894 for clarinet (or viola) and piano, but a year later published in the composer’s own versions for the violin.

Although he waited until late in his career to turn to the genre, when Robert Schumann set his mind to compose sonatas for violin, he did so with an incredible flourish of activity. 1851 saw the composition of the Opp. 105 and 121 sonatas (the former being completed in barely a week). Both are models of chamber music collaboration, not virtuosic show pieces for either performer. Rather, Schumann's focus is on delicate melodies, serene interplay between violin and piano, and masterful elaboration of musical gestures. The third sonata is Schumann's completion of the so-called "FAE Sonata," a collaboration with Brahms and Albert Dietrich. This final sonata, only published in 1956, lacks the same cohesiveness and introspection that distinguish the first two sonatas. Still, it offers insight into the flights of musical fancy that characterized Schumann's declining mental health. Performing these three sonatas are violinist Ilya Gringolts and pianist Peter Laul. Gringolts has proven himself to be a master technician many times before, but here – as in his Bach recordings – sensitivity of interpretation is what really draws listeners in here. The seamless interplay he achieves with Laul produces a true sense of dialogue rather than competition. Well-balanced, technically polished, and musically enriching, this album is ideal for those looking for a complete set of these sonatas.

Robert Schumann's three Sonatas for violin and piano were all composed between 1851 and 1853, and have suffered from neglect like other works from this period in the composer's life. Here the performers are Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen: a team who recorded their first disc for BIS in 1991, and whose partnership has been described as 'masterfully cultivated ensemble playing'

Asked the question ‘How many sonatas for violin and piano did Johannes Brahms compose?’, many lovers of chamber music would probably answer three, and maybe also add their respective keys and opus numbers. When pressed, a number of them would also remember the so-called F.A.E. Sonata, a collaborative effort by the young Brahms, Albert Dietrich and their mentor Robert Schumann. But very few would probably think of the two Opus 120 sonatas, composed in 1894 for clarinet (or viola) and piano, but a year later published in the composer’s own version for the violin. As the range of the B flat clarinet goes a fourth lower than that of the violin, Brahms had been forced to make considerable revisions to the clarinet part – which in turned entailed changes in the piano part, and consequently the printing of a new piano score. The seasoned team of violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen have now decided to record all the Brahms sonatas, and the results are being released on two albums, the first one including the first of the ‘official’ sonatas, No. 1 in G major, Op. 78, the F minor Sonata from Op. 120 and Brahms’s Scherzo from the F.A.E. Sonata. Wallin and Pöntinen round off the programme with transcriptions of two of Brahms’s more lyrical songs.