![Sul C and beyond, 1st movement [My composition] @DamonJHK](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BlmuTolk18M/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded December 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Sul C and beyond (...with some approximations) for 2 pianos, I - Prelude
Written in December 2019
+++Sorry for the bad sound quality and messy score
*** Please notice that I don't study composition, I compose only for fun.
Sul C and beyond (...with some approximations) for 2 pianos, I - Prelude
Written in December 2019
+++Sorry for the bad sound quality and messy score
*** Please notice that I don't study composition, I compose only for fun.
![Sul C and beyond, 1st movement [My composition]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BlmuTolk18M/mqdefault.jpg "Sul C and beyond, 1st movement [My composition]
Sul C and beyond (...with some approximations) for 2 pianos, I - Prelude
Written in December 2019
+++Sorry for the bad sound quality and messy score
*** Please notice that I dont study composition, I compose only for fun.")
![John Ireland - Phantasie for Piano Trio [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/C6Dqe-bCvP8/mqdefault.jpg "John Ireland - Phantasie for Piano Trio [With score]
Composer: John Ireland (13 August 1879 - 12 June 1962)
Performers: Holywell Ensemble [Kate Bailey (violin), Spike Wilson (cello), Margaret Ozanne (piano)]
Phantasie for Piano Trio [Piano Trio No. 1], written in 1906
John Ireland (1879-1962) was born in the English village of Bowdon near the city of Manchester. After studying at the Royal College of Music in London with Charles Villiers Stanford, he pursued a career as a composer and teacher eventually obtaining a position at the College. Among his students were Ernest Moeran and Benjamin Britten. Primarily a composer of songs, during the early part of his career, Ireland did write chamber music and won the first prize in the 1908 Cobbett Competition for chamber music with his First Violin Sonata.
His Phantasie for Piano Trio in a minor dates from 1906 and was composed for an earlier Cobbett Competition. The Cobbett Competitions were designed to encourage the younger generation of British composers to write chamber music. Its founder and benefactor was the chamber music aficionado William Wilson Cobbett. The rules of the competition provided an alternate format, the old English Fancy for Fantasia from the time of Purcell, to the traditional four movement work which had developed from Haydn onwards. There was to be only a single movement of around 15 minutes duration embracing a variety of moods, tone colors and tempi while at the same time retaining an inner unity.
Ireland’s Phantasie for Piano Trio, in keeping with the rules of the competition, is in one movement but has three sections. The trio begins in dramatic and full of passion, but there are also reflective and brooding interludes characterized by chromaticism as well as beautifully melodic and jovial episodes.
Original Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNSe4NRv-IU")
![Edvard Grieg - String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, EG 117 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CSJGXFm5y70/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, EG 117 [With score]
Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 4 September 1907)
Performers: Raphael Quartet [Ronald Hoogeveen (violin), Ramy Koch (violin), Zoltan Benyacz (viola), Henk Lambooij (cello)]
String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, EG 117, written in 1890(1)- [Fragment]
00:00 - I. Sostenuto – Allegro vivace e grazioso
09:26 - II. Allegro scherzando*
*Third and fourth movements are incomplete -only sketches left-, but there is a complete version with all movements by Julius Röntgen, Griegs friend. For Röntgens version, see below the description.
After leaving Copenhagen Grieg never again had the time or the peace necessary to finish this work, the String Quartet No 2 in F major. For the rest of his life we can see that his conscience was troubled by this unfinished music—‘that accursed string quartet which constantly lies there like an old Norwegian cheese’ (letter to Brodsky, 1895).
In 1903 Grieg wrote to the Leipzig publishers Peters: ‘You probably remember me mentioning an unfinished string quartet? I had intended to finish it, but these last years have brought so much, both physically and spiritually, that I wasn’t motivated to proceed with this cheerful work—quite the opposite of opus 27. But I hope to find the long-sought tranquility and inclination this summer.’ Then in 1906, just a year before his death, he wrote to Brodsky: ‘If only I could at least finish the string quartet for you!’ In 1907, at the time of his death, there were still only two movements and some sketches for the rest. The following year Grieg’s Dutch friend, Julius Röntgen, acquired the manuscripts from Grieg’s wife, Nina, and edited the first two movements for Peters.
Röntgen also arranged a special ‘premiere’ of the String Quartet in F major in his home. In a letter to Nina Grieg, dated November 1907, he wrote: ‘You should have been with us last evening! We played the quartet. It was strange to sit there and realize that now it was being heard for the first time, and that Edvard himself never got to hear it. But now you must hear who made up the quartet. It was unusual. Harold Bauer, the great pianist, played first violin and really did a fine job. Pablo Casals played second violin and held the violin between his legs just like a cello. I played the viola, and Mrs Casals played the cello in a remarkable way. All four of us were filled with the greatest excitement—with my wife as the only audience!’
[http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W8100_67117]
Original Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_VJfxec1fw")
![Edvard Grieg - Song Transcriptions (Volume I), op. 41 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DMoRfTWmv4A/mqdefault.jpg "Edvard Grieg - Song Transcriptions (Volume I), op. 41 [With score]
-Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)
-Performer: Gerhard Oppitz
Piano Transcriptions of Songs (Volume I), op. 41, written in 1884
00:00 - I. Vuggesang {Cradle Song} (From op. 9/2)
03:18 - II. Lille Haakon {Little Haakon} (From op. 15/1)
06:41 - III. Jeg elsker dig {I love thee} (From op. 5/3)
10:02 - IV. Hun er så hvid {She is so white} (From op. 18/2)
11:44 - V. Prinsessen {The Princess} (From EG 133)
16:59 - VI. Til våren {To Spring} (From op. 21/3)
Each of these six short pieces is a beautiful miniature exemplifying the composers unique late-Romantic style. The words of the original songs are written above the treble or below the bass, nearest whichever hand is currently playing the melody. The imagery of the texts is a great aid to interpretation as they reveal frequently unexpected meaning and narrative turns.
The Wiegenlied (Cradle Song) opens in the harmonically rich key of G sharp minor in an Allegretto doloroso tempo. The simple modal melody is in the left hand, while the harmonies that float above it gradually move from plaintive chords within the scale to chromatic modifications which create tensions that follow the revelations of the text: Sleep, my boy...laying so gently in your little bed; alas, she who once gave you life, lies peacefully in the cold, dark grave. She cannot now...cover you with love, sing to you in sweet calmness (translations by this writer). The repetition of the theme begins with a male chorus-like four-voice harmonization in the bass. This is followed by concerto-like declamations before diminishing to a gentle coda.
Klein Haakon (Little Haakon) is another tune about a child and his mother. Little Haakon had barely closed his eyes...then he saw...the most beautiful dream. A staircase rose to the vault of heaven on which Gods angels descended....They watch over his slumber faithful throughout the night...your mother also watches. The lovely melody, in ABA form, remains in the major with touching substitute harmonies for the lines surrounding the dream, but modulates into F minor for the sleep imagery. Grieg then lets loose with romantic pianisms: rolling basses, three-against-two and three-against-four rhythms, and a splendid coda of warm chromaticisms and a wash of sparkling harp-like arpeggios in the high register.
Ich liebe dich (I love you) is a ballad with surprisingly modern harmonies, especially the minor seconds in the introduction. A melody in the baritone range expresses the barely restrained passion of the work: ...You of my hearts first salvation! I love you like nothing else in this world, I love you in time and eternity! Similar to the other pieces, the melody is developed with fuller chords and emotional pulsations.
Wenn einst sie lag an meiner Brust (Sie ist so weiss) (When first she lay on my breast [she was so pure]) is the briefest work of this cycle. The text concerns a deceased lover, and the altered harmonies add a strange shadow to an almost waltzing melody.
Die Prinzessin (The Princess) is a small tone poem with many, moderately difficult coloristic effects about a princess who asks the boy in the valley who blows on the schawm to be quiet so that her thoughts may roam freely when the sun sinks.
Dem Lenz soll mein Lied erklingen (My song resounds to the springtime) contrasts a lyrical, pastoral melody with sprightly, dance figures (against a rhythmic drone).
[allmusic.com]")
![Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620 {Overture, Act I} [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Do-pI-7xq20/mqdefault.jpg "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), K. 620 {Overture, Act I} [With score]
-Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)
-Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder
-Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker
-Choir: RIAS Kammerchor
-Vocal Soloists: Fritz Wunderlich (Tamino), Evelyn Lear (Pamina), Dietrich Fischer-Diskau (Papageno), Lisa Otto (Papagena), Roberta Peters (Königin der Nacht), Friedrich Lenz (Monostatos), Franz Crass (Sarastro), Hildegard Hillebrecht (1. Dame), Cvetka Ahlin (2. Dame), Sieglinde Wagner (3. Dame), Rosl Schwaiger (1. Knabe), Antonia Fahberg (2. Knabe), Raili Kostia (3. Knabe), Hubert Hilten (1. Priester), Martin Vantin (2. Priester), Manfred Röhrl (3. Priester), Hans Hotter (Sprecher)
-Conductor: Karl Böhm
Die Zauberflöte [The Magic Flute], Opera, K. 620, written in 1791
00:00 – xxx. Overture
Act I
07:19 – I. Zu Hilfe! zu Hilfe!
14:22 – II. Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja
20:10 – III. Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön
25:32 – IV. O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn!
30:57 – V. Hm! Hm! Hm! Hm! Hm! [...]
37:24 – VI. Du feines Täubchen, nur herein!
40:34 – VII. Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen
43:51 – VIII. Finale : Zum Ziele führt dich diese Bahn
54:16 – Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton
57:35 – Schnelle Füße, rascher Mut
01:01:42 – Es lebe Sarastro, Sarastro soll leben!
Despite its whimsical libretto and obviously emblematic characters, Mozarts singspiel The Magic Flute is regarded as one of the greatest operas of the entire repertoire. In fact, as music historian Philip Downs has noted, many holds that The Magic Flute is among the greatest human documents, worthy to stand beside Bachs St. Matthews Passion. In this story about good and evil, Sarastro, the high priest of an enlightened brotherhood, abducts Pamina, whose mother is the evil Queen of the NIght. The Queen sends Prince Tamino to save Pamina. Tamino not only falls in love with Pamina, but also accepts Sarastro as the incarnation of truth and goodness. Taminos counterpart is Papageno, the Queens bird catcher, whose earthiness counterbalances Taminos idealism. Predictably, love and goodness triumph, Sarastro overcomes the Queen of the Night, Tamino and Pamina are united after many trials, and Papageno finds Papagena, a female version of himself. The possible sources of Emanuel Schikaneders libretto include Jakob August Libeskinds story Lulu or the Magic Flute, published in Wielands Dschinnistan, a collection of fairy tales.
The Magic Flute was written in 1791, the year of Mozarts death. Although overwhelmed by many adversities, Mozart found great joy in working on an opera for Schikaneders Theater auf der Wieden, in the suburbs of Vienna, which catered to unsophisticated audiences. The Magic Flute has been called a Masonic opera: both librettist and composer were Masons, and the opera abounds with Masonic symbolism, culminating in the triumph over light over darkness. Although the Masonic flavor of The Magic Flute is undeniable, what makes it a great work of art is Mozarts unique ability to translate his humanistic ideals into music of extraordinary beauty and evocativeness. The fundamental theme of this opera is love, a theme to which Mozart fully dedicates his entire genius. To the listener, Mozarts ode to love brings eighteenth century opera in its full splendor. Not only is the music, which includes sparkling arias, charming buffo scenes, and ensembles of transcendent beauty, enchanting and invigorating, but it also effectively coalesces with the story to create a powerful, convincing work of art.
[allmusic.com]")
![Hyunwoo Jung - Variational Fantasy on a Theme of Bartók (2017) [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EEXl8pu7wnM/mqdefault.jpg "Hyunwoo Jung - Variational Fantasy on a Theme of Bartók (2017) [With score]
Composer: Hyunwoo Jung (b. 2000~)
Performers: Wookyeong Lee (Clarinet), Dongsoo Kim (Piano)
Variational Fantasy on a Theme of Bartók {바르톡 주제에 의한 변주적 환상곡}, written in 2017")
![Igor Stravinsky - Symphony in 3 Movements [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FB-NzpYwC3Y/mqdefault.jpg "Igor Stravinsky - Symphony in 3 Movements [With score]
Composer: Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (17 June 1882 – 6 April 1971)
Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker
Conductor: Pierre Boulez
Recorded in: Berlin, 1996
Symphony in Three Movements, written between 1942 and 1945
00:00 - I. [♩=160]
09:54 - II. Andante [♪=76]
16:30 - III. Con moto [♩=108]
Igor Stravinsky completed his Symphony in Three Movements in 1945. The first movement was begun in April 1942, and the final work was completed a few months after the end of World War II. During this time the composer was engaged in contract negotiations to write film scores. Among the film moguls interested in commissioning Stravinsky was Louis B. Mayer, then president of MGM. Stravinsky had already written music before the projects were scrapped, and much of it found its way into Symphony in Three Movements. The outer movements involved wartime news footage, and the central movement was written for the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the film The Song of Bernadette, based on the Franz Werfel novel.
To integrate the different groups of material, Stravinsky chose to feature the piano and harp in separate, concertante roles in the first two movements, and then combined them in the third movement in an extended fugal arrangement. The symphony is a great balancing act, weaving together disparate musical ideas. The outer movements are explosive, indicative of the film score style common to American war footage. Ironic artifice, a signature sound in his music, is particularly understated in this symphony. Likewise, the middle movement, originally intended for the Virgin apparition, is suitably wrought with veneration, though perhaps not to the extent that would have please the films producers. Stravinsky was not the sort of composer who gushed excessively, if at all. His Symphonies of Wind Instruments was an elegy of Debussys passing, a composer and friend of enormous importance to Stravinsky, but any lamentations in the work are under total control. It was not in his character to express his feelings musically, and in fact, felt that musical was incapable of expressing anything. That being the case, for him to depict Bernadettes shock and amazement at encountering the Mother of Christ would have sounded unnatural. The central movement is not rhapsodic or indicative of a human soul overwhelmed in the presence of a divine being. It is contemplative music, subtle and understated, and free of amazement. The outer movements are somewhat more successful in capturing the intended spirit of war footage. They feature tumultuous blasts of brass and driving rhythms but again the composer seems removed from the excitement and concern the music is supposed to convey, instead sounding rather bizarre and exotic. The focused intensity of a believer in either war or religion was too singular a nuance for Stravinsky to sustain for an entire film score. Ultimately, the result of this forgivable failing was an excellent and memorable symphony.
[allmusic.com]")
![Paul Hindemith - Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G5EoRR3-YRc/mqdefault.jpg "Paul Hindemith - Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra [With score]
-Composer: Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963)
-Orchestra: Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt
-Conductor: Werner Andreas Albert
-Soloists: Walter Büchsel (Flute), Liviu Varcol (Oboe), Ulrich Mehlhart (Clarinet), Carsten Wilkening (Bassoon), Charlotte Cassedanne (Harp)
Concerto for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, harp and orchestra, written in 1949
00:00 - I. Moderately fast
07:50 - II. Grazioso
10:49 - III. Rondo. Rather fast
The Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Harp, and Strings is Hindemiths reflection upon the concerto grosso. As in Baroque examples, the soloists (concertino) and the accompanying body (ripieno) are generally cast as cooperative elements rather than as antagonists. The only exception in the present work appears in the first movement, where a cadenza, more characteristic of Classical and later concerti, appears: the soloists here unite as a single virtuosic body.
The now-American Hindemith was commissioned to write the Concerto for the fifth Festival of Contemporary American Music in 1949. As the festival was scheduled for May 9 - 15 of that year, Hindemith requested that his work be premiered on the 15th, the date of his silver wedding anniversary. Indeed, he surprised his wife, Gertrude, at the premiere by incorporating into the work quotations of the Wedding March from Mendelssohns music to A Midsummer Nights Dream.
[allmusic.com]")
![Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 1) [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G6Izpdkjrhk/mqdefault.jpg "Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux (Book 1) [With score]
Composer: Olivier Messiaen (10 December 1908 27 April 1992)
Pianist: Yvonne Loriod (Messiaens wife)
Olivier Messiaen - Catalogue doiseaux, written between 1956-1958, Book 1 (Premier livre)
00:15 - I. Le Chocard des Alpes (Alpine chough)
10:38 - II. Le Loriot (Eurasian golden oriole)
19:57 - III. Le Merle bleu (Blue rock thrush)
Catalogue doiseaux begins with Le chocard des alpes (the Alpine chough), not only depicting the bird, but also its mountainous surrounding, in several lengthy sections of colorfully dissonant chords. The call of the raven is juxtaposed with the chough, and long silences, a favorite tool of Messiaen, abound. Le loriot (the golden oriole) follows with a marked contrast to Le chocard; indeed, contrast characterizes the succession of movements throughout the work. The orioles repetitive song takes on virtuosic extremes, homage (along with the title pun) to the works premiere performer, Messiaens second wife, Yvonne Loriod. The homage is one of love as Messiaens harmonies recall harmonies from his earlier Cinq Rechants. The final piece of the book, Le merle bleu (the blue rock thrush), is a forceful and jubilant setting.
Original Audio: https://youtu.be/1qWhpSCHCxg")
![Felix Mendelssohn - Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G7uR9exPYo0/mqdefault.jpg "Felix Mendelssohn - Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 [With score]
-Composer: Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847)
-Performers: Antonio Meneses (Cello), Gérard Wyss (Piano)
Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 45, written in 1838
00:03 – I. Allegro vivace
11:28 – II. Andante
17:48 – III. Allegro assai
Felix Mendelssohns Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 45 was composed in October, 1838, during the composers tenure in Leipzig. Although its popularity is overshadowed by that of its sibling, the Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2, Op. 58, it readily exemplifies the composers fluid, elegant handling of string instruments, and his ability to wring interesting material from standard forms.
Written in a comfortable tessitura for the cellist and fully utilizing the sonorities of the lower strings, the first movement introduces a relaxed atmosphere in which Mendelssohns natural melodic facility at once comes to the fore. The piano provides more than mere accompaniment, assuming the role of an equal to the cello, while never overshadowing that instruments natural cantabile voice. The movement follows a classical sonata form, never straying from expected harmonic developments; still, the musics effectiveness confirms that, in hands as capable as Mendelssohns, predictability and logical development present their own expressive possibilities.
The second movement, an Andante, opens with the piano. The movements primary theme consists of punctuated phrases that suggest a playful, whimsically enigmatic, spirit. This mood eventually yields, without fundamentally changing the character of the theme, to a feeling of drama, enabling the piano to display a certain measure of virtuosity.
Although the principal theme of the final movement recalls elements from the first movement, the mood here is of breezy lightness. In accompanying the melodic line, the piano engages in a pleasant jocosity while never threatening to overpower the cello.
[Allmusic.com]")
![Alban Berg - Lyrische Suite [Lyric suite] [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GKAVN5ZUdbw/mqdefault.jpg "Alban Berg - Lyrische Suite [Lyric suite] [With score]
Composer: Alban Maria Johannes Berg (9 February 1885 24 December 1935)
Performers: Juilliard String Quartet - Robert Mann (violin), Earl Carlyss (violin), Samuel Rhodes (viola), Claus Adam (cello)
Year of recording: 1970 (live)
Lyrische Suite [Lyric suite], written between 1925-1926
00:00 - I. Allegretto gioviale
03:09 - II. Andante amoroso
09:26 - III. Allegro misterioso – Trio estatico
12:43 - IV. Adagio appassionato
19:05 - V. Presto delirando – Tenebroso
24:00 - VI. Largo desolato
Bergs Lyric Suite abounds in secret messages. In purely musical terms, Berg here for the first time employs Schoenbergs 12-tone system, basing some of the third and fifth movements on rows using all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. (And in one row, Berg proudly told Schoenberg, he used not only all available notes, but all available intervals.) Also, the fourth movement carries a quotation from the Lyric Symphony of Zemlinsky, to whom the suite is dedicated. In more personal terms, the music documents the course of Bergs extramarital affair with Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. Not only do the movement titles suggest an all-too-familiar sequence (from jovial through amorous and ecstatic to gloomy and sorrowful), but Berg incorporates his and Fuchs-Robettins initials into the melodies and ties the metronome markings to numerological associations with their names. The sixth movements quotation of Wagners Tristan und Isolde is a clear reference to illicit love.
The first movement, though freely atonal, lives up to its designation of Allegretto gioviale; its a short, perky piece. Things become quieter and more intimate with the sensuous Andante amoroso, although the mood is still sometimes rather capricious, despite an elegiac interlude at its center. Intensity builds with the Allegro misterioso, which opens with nocturnal insect music, liberally employing pizzicato and other effects. This is, effectively, the works scherzo movement, and at its center is a Trio estatico still keeping a fairly quick tempo, but now using mostly conventional bowing for longer-lined phrases. The scherzo music reappears, running in reverse to the movements end.
The fourth movement, Adagio appassionato, forms the quartets emotional center, with something tense and foreboding about much of the musics passion. A thrashing, dissonant climax gives way to a long passage of relative, but not quite settled, repose. The ensuing Presto delirando-Tenebroso alternates frantic music with quiet, dark, tense passages. The concluding Largo desolato maintains these moods at a much slower tempo, the music gradually dying away.
[www.allmusic.com]
Original Audio: https://youtu.be/uYIMRXkyJ10")
![Johannes Brahms - Double Concerto [With score]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GMurNzAAcLA/mqdefault.jpg "Johannes Brahms - Double Concerto [With score]
-Composer: Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897)
-Soloists: Itzhak Perlman (violin), Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)
-Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
-Conductor: Bernard Haitink
-Recorded in 1979
Double Concerto [Doppelkonzert] for violin, cello and orchestra, in a minor, op. 102, written in 1887
00:04 - I. Allegro
16:54 - II. Andante
24:41 - III. Vivace non troppo
Brahms wrote this work during the summer of 1887, and conducted the premiere himself on October 18 in Cologne, with Joseph Joachim and Robert Hausmann as, respectively, the violin and cello soloists. Brahms had just turned 20 when he met Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), already a celebrated violinist at 22 and destined to be acclaimed also as a composer, conductor, and educator. It was Joachim who commended his new friend to Robert and Clara Schumann, thereby assuring his celebrity. For 30 years the two were fast friends despite the distance usually separating their power bases: Joachims in Berlin, Brahms in Vienna finally. Jussuf, however, had a weakness obsessive jealousy of his wife Amalie, whom he accused of adultery in 1881 with his (and Brahms and Dvoráks) publisher, Fritz Simrock. Brahms disbelieved, and said so in a consolatory letter to Frau Joachim. During divorce hearings she produced this letter in court, and the judge agreed publicly with its contents.
As a result, Joachim cut off communications with Brahms for six years, although he continued to play the composers music. Finally, seeking to repair the damage, Brahms composed the Double Concerto as a peace offering; the effort was successful, although their camaraderie of former years was never fully restored. In addition to composing the Thun sonatas of 1886 for violin and cello, Brahms had been studying Baroque concerti grossi, so the sound of string instruments was in his ear. This concerto would be his last orchestral work.
From the Swiss vacation resort of Hofstetter on Lake Thun, he wrote to several persons about his strange flight of fancy...for fiddle and cello. But first he sent a postcard to Joachim, received on July 19, 1887, by which time Brahms had completed the work and was copying solo parts. When Joachim responded enthusiastically by return mail, Brahms asked him to arrange a play-through with Robert Hausmann, who had introduced the Op. 99 Cello Sonata a few months prior; Brahms himself would accompany on the piano. This took place at Clara Schumanns home in Baden-Baden in September (her diary notes that Brahms and Joachim have spoken to one another again after years of silence). Although neither the Cologne premiere nor the first Vienna performance was a success, the concerto finally entered the repertory, even if it never enjoyed the success of his violin concerto or the two for piano.
-The opening Allegro (A minor; 4/4) begins with the kernel of the main theme, then a cello recitative, and finally the kernel of a more lyrical second theme. Next, the violin has a turn, though the cello intrudes after five bars, following which the orchestra finally gets to play a 44-bar exposition of themes already previewed. Soloists perform the traditional second exposition, but there is not, in the development or recapitulation, a lot of unison playing. Throughout, the soloists are not stars with a supporting cast, but merely leading characters in a primarily orchestral drama. Unison passages appear in the A and A sections of the sweetly autumnal, folk-flavored, song-form Andante in D major (3/4 time). The solo instruments dovetail or briefly overlap in an F major middle section, until a magical enharmonic transition leads back to unison playing.
The lighthearted but not too lively rondo (vivace non troppo) has repeating A sections with a staccato-marcato rhythm that wrong-headed playing can accelerate and by so doing adulterate. The B section is broader, with chords on the cello that the violin echoes. The C section, in F major, is similarly broad but longer, before the A material returns one more time, with a jaunty tilt of the cap and a kind of jig all the more entertaining in light of Brahms short stature, bushy beard and, by then, Santa-like corpulence.
[allmusic.com]")
