Seeking violin and piano duets

December 8, 2005 1:30 PM

Seeking violin and piano duets, preferably old recordings.

I was at a gig a while ago and before the band came on stage they were playing a crackly, scratchy old record of violin and piano duets. It was simple, beautiful, and incredibly poignant, rendered even more wonderful by the poor quality of the vinyl. Various circumstances kept me from finding out what it was.

Now, obviously, I don't expect anyone to tell me exactly what I was listening to, because for a start I might not even know if I heard it again, but what would make me very happy is to be pointed in the direction of any other good violin and piano duets. I have very little knowledge of classical music, and have no vocabulary for describing exactly what I'm after other than that. But I don't really want slick modern tastefully-reverbed digital recordings, and I don't want uptempo gypsy dances or honky-tonk, Cajun etc. Just simple, elegant, spare duets. Thank you all.

posted by nylon to media & arts (6 comments total)

Find a junkshop that sells old LPs - if you don't have a record player, find one that sells those too - and have a look around for classical albums with 'violin sonata' or suchlike on the cover: quite often a violin sonata is actually for violin & piano. One good example to look for would be Franck's Sonata in A. I found a 1970s French LP recording of this in a junkshop (for the equivalent of about £2) that turned out to be quite beautiful, poignant, and slightly crackly. I picked it up on a whim, and knew nothing about the piece before that. Obviously you'd be more likely to get an even cracklier, tinnier sound on a '50s vintage mono recording, say, than a '70s stereo one.
posted by misteraitch at 1:55 PM on December 8, 2005

(First, on behalf of under-recognised pianists everywhere, thank you for describing them as duets rather than 'violin accompanied by piano'.)

The Franck that misteraitch mentioned is absolutely the quintessential romantic violin and piano sonata.

The Brahms violin sonatas (he wrote three of them) contain some truly exquisite music. If I had to pick one, the Sonata No. 1 in G major is nearest overall to what you're looking for in feeling.

The third in D minor is my personal fave, but a lot of that is big and syncopated, whereas you're looking for something a bit more delicate. Having said that, the second movement of this sonata, the Adagio, is a great example of beautiful, moving music achieved through simplciity.

Very generally speaking, the middle movement of any Mozart or Beethoven violin sonata will probably also fit your criteria of elegant and spare. That's the general pattern for sontas that stick to the classical form: slow middle movement, while the first and last movements are more upbeat and energetic.
posted by chrismear at 2:52 PM on December 8, 2005

Prokoffief's violin sonatas. Particularly the first one in f minor.
posted by ilsa at 4:41 PM on December 8, 2005

I've heard a few versions of Rachmaninov's Vocalise recorded as a piano/violen duet that wer quite nice, and sounded like what you're looking for.
posted by saladin at 4:58 PM on December 8, 2005

I am very fond of the Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, which I first heard on this soundtrack.
posted by JanetLand at 5:39 AM on December 9, 2005

A standing ovation to all of you. Thanks.
posted by nylon at 6:50 AM on December 9, 2005