BEETHOVEN'S SONATAS for VIOLIN and PIANOFORTE
Played by ERNEST WHITFIELD and KENDAT TAYLOR
No. 8 (Third Movement), and No. 1 (First Movement)
THE Finale of the Eighth Sonata dances along fleet-footed, innocently joyous, full of the delight of graceful motion.
It is interesting to trace the musical growth of composers, and, with most of them, it is often remarked how early in life their exceptional talents become apparent. There is special interest. therefore, in noting at what a late hour Beethoven's genius attained maturity. His first three Violin Sonatas (Op. 12) seem to have been written when he was about twenty-eight years old.
They contain mostly pleasant, cheerful music, with little in them of tho forceful, compelling, mature Beethoven.
The First Movement of the First Sonata is a Quick, vigorous, run-about piece. It has two Main Tunes. The first is the jerky strutting up and down the chord of D major at the opening, with the tags which Violin, and then Piano, attach. The Second Main Tune is a sort of slow four-finger exercise, firstly introduced unobtrusively, high up on the Piano.