LDV67

18 BRAHMS • THE VIOLIN SONATAS It was Joachim who first played through the Sonata in G major op.78. The work appeared in the late spring and early summer of 1879 as a celebration of the felicitous harmony between the two men, an offering to their unique friendship. It radiates calm and serenity; here Brahms inaugurated a new conception of the combination of violin and piano, with a sentiment of emotional complicity. Far from opposing each other – as in Beethoven’s sonatas – the two instruments create a confiding universe of pronounced mutual fondness. The whole sonata takes its material from Regenlied op.59 no.3, presented to Clara in 1873. This setting of a poem by Klaus Groth sings with nostalgia of summer rain and runs through the first and third movements. The opening theme of the Vivace ma non troppo, the longest movement in the three sonatas, assigned to the violin, seems to emerge from a dream, with its swaying, bewitching, barcarolle-like gait; with it we set off on a long, serene pastoral stroll. The second theme, full of affectionate élan, does not disrupt the tranquillity of the movement, which flows smoothly, in perfect harmony between the two instruments. The animation of the central section quickly fades away before the reprise of the melody, warmer than ever in its almost hymn-like affirmation.