One of the great privileges of the chamber music festival is the opportunity to hear so many great musicians in such intimate proximity, musicians like the storytelling Norwegian violinist, Henning Kraggerud, and the great Hungarian pianist, Dénes Várjon. Our series of concerts from the 2019 Festival continues with a programme based on the magical coincidence that Brahms and Grieg each wrote a magnificent violin sonata in 1886, each sonata in turn a love story.

Find out more, and listen to the recording, here.

Brahms A major Sonata has been wonderfully described as one caress and the music overflows with the song melodies that he had just written for his then favourite singer, Hermine Spies. Brahms regularly fell in love with his singers and this Sonata tells the story of her visit to Brahms’ famous Swiss lakeside hideaway, where he went every summer to compose. Henning takes up the story before he and Dénes give us the music. If you want to skip the story-telling, the music begins just after 3’50”.

They continued the recital with Grieg’s Third Sonata, one of the most passionate violin sonatas ever written. The dizzying onslaught of such dark, almost brutal music tells a tale   that our bardic violinist has unravelled to match this great romantic outburst, which he relates before launching the music. The telling lasts a full five minutes and explains the secret messages composers leave in their music.

Find out more, and listen to the recording, here.

You’ll find all our Music Archive releases here – keep coming back to see the new additions!