Composer: Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 -- 4 September 1907)
Performers: Uto Ughi (violin), Bruno Canino (piano)

Sonata for Violin and Piano in c minor, op. 45, written in 1886-87

00:00 - I. Allegro molto ed appassionato
09:50 - II. Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza - Allegro molto - Tempo I.
15:54 - III. Allegro animato

In January 1900, Grieg performed his three violin sonatas with Wilma Neruda-Hallé in Copenhagen. Afterward, he wrote to his friend the Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson that his violin sonata trilogy was closely related to his own life's experiences. "They characterize the three periods of my own evolution," he explained. "The first, ingenious and full of new ideas; the second, nationalistic, and the third, turned toward vaster horizons." Indeed, in the series of violin sonatas we do sense a logical, natural progression that may well seem autobiographical.
The set of three culminates with the massive C minor sonata, Op. 45, written in 1887. Whereas each of the previous sonatas had been set down in a matter of just a few weeks, Op. 45 was begun in the autumn of 1886 and was finished, according to the composer's journal, on January 21 of the following year. The work was dedicated to the painter Franz von Lehnbach, and had its premiere at the Neues Gewandhaus in Leipzig on December 10, 1887, in a performance by the Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky with Grieg himself at the piano. The work was enthusiastically hailed by critics and public alike. Within a very short time, it had entered the repertories of other leading violinists of the day, among them Wieniawski, Ysaÿe, and Kreisler.
Although Grieg characterized the piece as the product of newfound inspiration found during a time of personal happiness, such origins are hardly reflected by the terse urgency of the thematic material -- nor by the choice of key, a defiantly Beethovenian C minor. The dimensions are expansive, and the work takes about 25 minutes to perform. The opening movement (Allegretto molto ed appassionato) offers a tense first-subject motif, with the second group altogether more relaxed and consoling in mood. The darkly somber development section is based entirely upon the first theme, which also makes a further appearance after the recapitulation just prior to the very dramatic coda. There follows a slow movement (Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza) in the serene tonality of E major. Interestingly, piano and violin assume quite independent roles here; though each is heard in the noble main theme (some 44 measures in length), there is little sense of dialogue or equitable exchange between the two. The individuality of the two instruments is heightened to a surprising extent here, and even in the final section the two are never fully reconciled. The finale (Allegro animato) has a sonata structure (ABAB-Coda) without a development section, the lack of which is compensated for in a series of daring modulations that involve digressions into A flat major and F major. In the words of Rune J. Andersen, the piece contains "universal and national elements fused into something deeply personal and specifically Griegian."
[allmusic.com]

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