GRIEG: Violin Sonatas nos. 1 - 3

Kjekshus, Helge, Kraggerud, Henning

8.553904

The Violin Sonata in F major, Op. 8, was composed in the summer of 1865 while Grieg was living in Copenhagen, and at the same time as the Humoresques, Op. 6. In the same year, the sonata was published by Peters in Leipzig, and in November it was performed for the first time in the Gewandhaus by the Swedish violinist Anders Petterson with Grieg himself at the piano. Grieg described the sonata as "simple" and "rich in ideas", and to a certain extent he was correct. However, what is striking about this and the two later sonatas, is how thoroughly "Grieg-ish" they all seem, despite considerable differences between them. It is also worth noting that, even in this first sonata, Grieg adapts well to the features of the violin, even though he had no experience as a string player. • It is cause for reflection that Grieg reaches his highest level in cyclic works where he uses musical material with no relationship or likeness to the instrumental musical language of Norwegian folk-music. Classic forms like the sonata are based on dynamic principles of development. These forms belong to a different world from the world of instrumental folk-music. The efforts of combining these two worlds had to result in different solutions from those which were passed on from Viennese classicism. But Grieg's efforts at synthesis as expressed in the first and especially in the second violin sonata, also demonstrate that music of great value could be created within traditional limits, even though Grieg's efforts above all show the need for new and radical formal thinking as regards source material originating from folk-music.

CD x 1

Naxos

23.06.97

730099490429