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Sonatas for violin & piano
Johannes Brahms

Sonatas for violin & piano

Linus Roth & José Gallardo

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917238228
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Catalog number: CC 72382
Releasedate: 28-01-11
Linus Roth’s playing combines an exceptional cultivated sound with technical brilliance, accompanied by musical intuition and a knowledge of different styles. As a German newspaper stated: "Brahms emerges from a
creative emotional centre. Roth is fully aware of the artistic impact of this music, and therefore allows the typical Brahmsian melodic gestures speak for themselves." This CD recording is genuine and pure. Two musicians who are so well attuned to one another and can create the most beautiful unity. Intimate and magnificent!
  • Inspired performances by a duo that plays together for almost 10 year
  • Roth received the Echo Klassik Award for "Best Newcomer 2006" for his Debut CD with sonatas by Brahms, Debussy, Ysaye & Mendelssohn (EMI)
  • The Anne Sophie Mutter Foundation supported Linus Roth for five years
Like the Second Symphony the music of the First Violin Sonata clearly reflects the feelings of well-being and relaxation, with its lilting melodies and heartfelt middle movement. The premiere in Vienna on 29 November 1879 was an immediate success that lasts until this day. Like in all three sonatas the violinist makes his dominant appearance, but he frequently leaves the lower sonorities and harmonics to the piano accompaniment. In this perfectly balanced masterpiece there is plenty of virtuosity laid out for both players.
In the Second Sonata there is again the melodic mellowness, tenderness and expressive warmth which already dominated the First Sonata, but the thematic structure is more concise, with textural references to three songs Brahms composed during that same period: Komm bald, Wie Melodien zieht es mir and Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer.

The Third and last Violin Sonata was written in 1887 and again inspired by the breathtaking scenery surrounding Thun. Unlike the previous two sonatas it has four movements and was premiered in Budapest in 1888. This time the intimacy of the first two sonatas is surpassed by the grand symphonic scale of the music. (source: linernotes written by Aart van der Wal)

Roth and Gallardo, a duo for many years now give exquisite interpretations of these sonatas, with equally important roles. The result is utmost unity and beauty!