Composer: Johannes Brahms
Performer: Leonidas Kavakos, Yuja Wang
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: 4786442
Release: 2014
Size: 304 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Scherzo in C Minor for Violin and Piano (from the F-A-E Sonata)
Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78
02. I. Vivace ma non troppo
03. II. Adagio
04. III. Allegro molto moderato
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
05. I. Allegro amabile
06. II. Andante tranquillo – Vivace – Andante – Vivace di più – Andante vivace
07. III. Allegretto grazioso. Quasi andante
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
08. I. Allegro
09. II. Adagio
10. III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
11. IV. Presto agitato
12. Wiegenlied, Op. 49 No. 4 (Lullaby)
Leonidas Kavakos, the “exceptional violinist” (Daily Mail) follows his spectacular Brahms Violin Concerto recording by teaming up with star pianist Yuja Wang – “a prodigious talent, with an astonishing technique” (The Guardian) for the great Brahms Violin Sonatas
Leonidas Kavakos’s third release for Decca makes a perfect supplement to his acclaimed Brahms Violin Concerto disc with Chailly.
‘It’s a long time since there was a new version of this concerto as good as this.’ Andrew Clements, The Guardian (October 2013).
‘There is a rapier-like cut-and-thrust about this performance that recalls the surging adrenaline-charge of Isaac Stern in full flight, with Kavakos emerging as the swashbuckling hero of the hour, taking all technical obstacles in his stride with soaring abandonment.‘ Julian Haylock, Sinfini (October 2013).
For the three sonatas Kavakos – an exclusive Decca artist – teams up with Wang, a former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year.
Their partnership at the 2013 Verbier Festival was much talked about (and broadcast on Medici) and they will be touring these works in April to major European cities.
The F-A-E Scherzo which Brahms contributed to a composite sonata (along with his friends Schumann and Dietrich) will be added as a bonus.
The three violin sonatas were written for Brahms’s muse in all matters violin, Joseph Joachim, who also gave the premiere of the Violin Concerto and contributed its cadenzas.