Richard Tognetti and Alexander Gavrylyuk

Visionary musicians and collaborators Alexander Gavrylyuk and Richard Tognetti join forces for a recital of chamber music in its most conversational, confiding form: the piano and violin duo. Their first half lingers in a mythic, fairytale world. Polish composer Karol Szymanowski employs an innovative array of techniques to evoke three familiar Greek myths – the Fountain of Arethusa, Narcissus, and Pan and the Dryads – while Sergei Prokofiev’s second violin sonata gestures to the soundscapes of his ballet Cinderella. The sonata’s light-hearted, neoclassical first movement belies the tumult that materialises later in the work, in true fairytale fashion.

Gavrylyuk and Tognetti then turn to one of the great contributions to the duo repertoire, Brahms’ third and final sonata for piano and violin. By the time of the sonata’s composition, Brahms had completed all his symphonies and concertos, as well as many of his major chamber works. The D minor sonata showcases the composer’s masterful grasp of these instruments’ capabilities and is almost orchestral in scope. Full of tense urgency and high drama, the work demands everything of its two protagonists.

Richard Tognetti | Violin
Alexander Gavrylyuk | Piano

Karol Szymanowski (1882–1937)
Mythes, Op. 30

I. La fontaine d'Arethuse
II. Narcisse
III. Dryades et Pan

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14

I. Preludio
II. Corrente
III. Adagio
IV. Giga

INTERVAL

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108

I. Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
IV. Presto agitato