Brahms (1833-1897)
Charles Woodhouse (Violin) Walter Price (2nd Violin) Ernest Yonqe (Viola)
Charles Crabbe (Violoncello)
Assisted by Mrs. Herbert Withers (Pianoforte)
Mark Raphael (Baritone)
Charles Woodhouse and Mrs. Herbert Withers
Second Sonata, for Violin and Pianoforte
All the three Movements in this work (it is the Composer's hundredth 'Opus') have something of the reflective east of thought that we often find in Brahms. There is vigour, but less of the sheer bursting forth of energy that most Sonatas display, especially in their First and Last Movements.
In the FIRST Movement the Piano has the First Main Tune (note that it contains the characteristic Brahms 'arpeggio' - a four-note motif that walks up the scalic stairs two or three steps at a time). The Violin repeats this melody and then comes the Second Main Tune, similar in feeling to the first-gentle and amiable. The Piano begins this a!so. The. melody can be distinguished by the left hand's three-notes-to-a-beat on tho first two beats of the bar, against the right hand's two notes - a 'cross-rhythmic ' effect, of which Brahms frequently made use. There is a subsidiary theme that begins with a brisk ' postman's knock ' rhythm of three notes. On these melodies the Movement is built.
The Second Movement contains both tranquil and lively sections, the two moods alternating. The slow portion comes twice, and the lively one three times, its last appearance consisting of a Variation on part of its graceful melody.
The Third Movement is an engagingly happy Rondo, wherein the opening Violin tune comes round several times, with intervening episodes of rather strongly contrasted moods.
Mark Raphael

To-day's Recital of Brahms' Songs :
Numbers 1. 2 and 4 of ' Four Serious Songs ' Ecclesiastes iii. and iv. ; Corinthians xiii.
In this set of songs, the last of Brahms' works that appeared during his lifetime, it is reasonable to find something of his outlook on life and the destiny of man.
In the first song, the words of which are from the Book of Ecclesiastes (iii. 19 22) the writer muses on the common fate of beasts and men.
In tho second song, the words are drawn from the same Book (iv. 1-3). The philosophy is gloomy. 'I ... considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun.... , Wherefore I praised the dead ... more than the living:
The third song (sung to-night title last of Brahms' set) to some extent answers the one just quoted. It is a setting of the famous passage upon love for one's fellows, from Corinthians siii. 1-3, 12 and 13. Quartet with Mrs, Herbert Withers
Quintet in F Minor for Pianoforte and Strings,
Op. 34
Not too quiet ; slow. ;°h and sustained ; scherzo
(quick) and Trio ; Finale-' somewhat sustained,' leading to ' not too quick