Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 04/16/2014, uploaded on 09/24/2014

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev was born in 1891. He studied piano and composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He wrote his Sonata in D major originally for flute and piano, completing it in the fall of 1943. Soon after its premiere, legendary violinist David Oistrakh asked Prokofiev to adapt it for violin and it remains a staple of both flute and violin repertoire. The piano part stayed the same; most of the changes have to do with bowing, harmonics, double stops and pizzicato (plucking the strings). The first movement follows a classical sonata form.  It begins with a lyrical section, has a fast, march-like middle, and then returns to the opening material. The second movement (marked Allegretto scherzando in the flute version and Presto for the violin) is a mischievous scherzo with a simple second theme set against a drone. This movement ends with a chase to the finish between the violin and piano. The third movement is lyrical and intimate, with jazz-like harmonies in the ruminative middle section. The last movement, in sonata-rondo form, pairs a rather somber second theme with a brilliant, celebratory march whose surprising harmonies and accents contribute to a playful, joyous spirit.     Heather Wittels

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Violin Sonata No. 2 in D major, op. 94bis      Sergei Prokofiev

When the war engulfing the rest of the European continent came to the Soviet Union with Nazi Germany’s brutal hammer stroke in 1941, Sergei Prokofiev, along with many other artists, were evacuated away from the major cities and the Nazi’s ruthless advance. In August of that year, Prokofiev was taken to Nalchik, the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic in the North Caucasus, some nine hundred miles south of Moscow. Late, he was in Perm in the Ural Mountains. While Stalin and the Soviets were forced to focus their attention on the threat from the Nazis, they temporary relaxed the restrictions that they had placed on their artists, leaving composers such as Prokofiev to indulge their true creative impulses. Many of the works that flowed from the composer’s pen during this time may have perhaps been the expression of anti-Stalin sentiments. Yet, flying in the face of the tragedy of Stalin’s regime and a world engulfed in war, is the blithe and lyrical Second Violin Sonata.

The Second Violin Sonata, however, was not originally composed as such. In 1942, Prokofiev composed his Flute Sonata in D major. At the urging of his friend, the violinist David Oistrakh, Prokofiev arranged the sonata for violin the following year. Both share the same opus number, and while the origins as a flute sonata are still present in the work’s inherent lyricism, it is the violin transcription that has become the most popular. Oistrakh premiered the work on June 17, 1944 in Moscow. Comprising four movements, the sonata embodies a typical Romantic form. A lyrical and elegant opening sonata form is followed by a typical Prokofievian scherzo full of wit and energy. The Andante third movement opens with an arching tune for the violin, but later indulges in jazz-inspired inflections during its middle section. Lastly, the Finale provides a joyous conclusion.       Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.