Peter Hanson violin, Andrew Arthur fortepiano
resonus RES10383
62:38
The three op. 137 violin sonatas (D384, 385 and 408) were composed in 1816 and embody many elements of the Lieder Schubert was composing at the time. Playing a copy of an early 19th-century Walther & Sohn fortepiano, Andrew Arthur’s delicate touch matches perfectly Peter Hanson’s lyrical playing of a copy by Dominik Wik of a 19th-century violin. The duo present all three sonatas as a continuous musical arc, as they might have been performed at one of the famous Schubertiade. It is easy to imagine this gently tuneful and inventive music interspersed with Lieder being enjoyed by the composer’s friends as they clustered round his piano for an informal evening concert. They were published in 1836 by Diabelli after the composer’s death under the diminutive title of “Three Sonatinas”, a description which perhaps may have served to diminish their status in the minds of violinists, who nowadays rarely include them in recitals. This is a shame, as these present performances amply demonstrate that they are works of subtlety, with hidden musical depths – the enigmatic opening of the A-minor sonata being a good case in point. The three works together with their imaginative interplay of the two instrumental textures, one in a major key and two in a minor, take us on a rewarding musical journey, and this talented duo have done us a good turn in drawing these works to wider attention.
D. James Ross