Miriam Teppich and Julian Broughton 27 May programme

Thursday 27 May 7pm, Miriam Teppich (violin) and Julian Broughton (piano)

Ysaye, Sonata for Solo Violin no. 4 op. 27 in E minor
Clara Schumann, Romance no. 1 op. 22
Broughton, Sonata for violin and piano
Elgar, Sonata op.82

Programme notes

Ysaye Sonata for solo violin in E minor op. 27 no.4

The Sonata No 4 in E minor is dedicated to Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962). Kreisler entered the Vienna Conservatory in 1882, then in 1885 moved to the Paris Conservatoire, gaining a unanimous Premier Prix in 1887. His most important commission was Elgar’s Violin Concerto which he premiered in 1910, but Elgar was as far as he ventured in the music of his time. As a composer he became famous for his short pieces in imitation of Baroque and Classical composers, to which he often appended their name rather than his own—1910 was also the year of the Praeludium and Allegro, supposedly by Pugnani, as well as the Caprice viennois Kreisler owned up to.

In writing three movements called Allemanda, Sarabande and Finale, Ysaÿe was clearly having a joke—‘if you can do spoof Baroque, so can I’. Throughout, the writing is tonal, with very little that would have discountenanced J S Bach. After a slow introduction, we hear a motif of four rising notes (E, F sharp, G, A) that undergoes various developments, ending in a fugue. The same four notes in reverse go right through the Sarabande, at first pizzicato (‘avec vibrations’), then bowed.

In the Finale the four notes are once more descending and may well be a tribute to Kreisler’s ‘Pugnani’ Allegro. Apart from a dotted central section, the movement also echoes the ‘Pugnani’ in its relentless semiquavers.

Clara Schumann Romance no.1 op 22 (from Three Romances) Andante molto

Having moved to Düsseldorf in 1853, Clara Schumann, who said that "Women are not born to compose," produced several works, including these three romances. Dedicated to the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim, Schumann and Joachim went on tour with them, even playing them before King George V of Hanover, who was "completely ecstatic" upon hearing them. A critic for the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung praised them, declaring: "All three pieces display an individual character conceived in a truly sincere manner and written in a delicate and fragrant hand."

Stephen Pettitt for The Times, wrote, "Lush and poignant, they make one regret that Clara's career as a composer became subordinate to her husband's." The first Romance begins with hints of gypsy pathos, before a brief central theme with energetic arpeggios ensues. This is followed by a final section similar to the first, in which Clara charmingly refers to the main theme from her husband Robert Schumann’s first violin sonata.

Sir Edward Elgar wrote his Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82, in 1918, at the same time as he wrote his String Quartet in E minor and his Piano Quintet in A minor. These three chamber music works were all written at "Brinkwells", the country house near Fittleworth in West Sussex that Lady Elgar had acquired for her husband to recuperate and compose in, and they mark his major contribution to the chamber music genre.[1] His Cello Concerto in E minor of 1919 completed the quartet of introspective and melancholy works that comprised Elgar's last major creative spurt before his death in 1934.

The Violin Sonata is scored for the usual combination of violin and piano, and has three movements: Allegro, Romance: Andante, Allegro non troppo

Elgar's wife noted that the slow movement seemed to be influenced by the 'wood magic' or genii loci of the Fittleworth woods.

When the sonata was close to completion, Elgar offered to dedicate it to a family friend, Marie Joshua, and wrote to her: "I fear it does not carry us any further but it is full of golden sounds and I like it, but you must not expect anything violently chromatic or cubist". Marie Joshua died four days after receiving the letter, before she had had an opportunity to reply. As a tribute to her memory, Elgar quoted the dolcissimo melody from the slow movement just before the coda of the final movement.[1][2]

The Violin Sonata in E minor was completed on 15 September 1918,[2] and first performed on 13 March 1919 at a semi-public meeting of the British Music Society by Elgar's friend W. H. Reed with Anthony Bernard on piano. With Elgar present, it received its first public performance on 21 March 1919.

 

Julian Broughton writes: “Written in 2014 for Ellie Blackshaw and Rachel Fryer, my Sonata for Violin and Piano is in three movements.

i) Presto. A kind of scherzo, this movement begins with playful dialogue which is contrasted with passages of sustained melody.

ii) Lento. In complete contrast to the first movement, this is a fugue which breaks out of itself into an expressive and richly harmonised middle section before returning to the rather austere mood of the opening.

iii) Allegro molto. Lively and fast, this returns to the mood of the opening movement. It briefly recalls the melancholy of the middle movement before ending with virtuoso energy.