MISS WINIFRED BURY is a. gifted mezzo-soprano who is, in addition, a solo pianist and a composer of some distinction. She has frequently broadcast as a pianist and as a singer, and is often associated in recital work with Mr. Arthur Catterall, a prominent broadcast and concert violinist.
A LL the three Movements in this work (it is the Composer's hundredth ' Opus ') have something of the reflective cast 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 ' figure-hero 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 also. The melody can be distinguished by the left hand's three-notes-to-a-beat on the 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.