Violin and piano, Tetzlaff and Andsnes

January 11, 9:33 AMSF Classical Music ExaminerScott Foglesong

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We have a violin and piano recital coming up at the Herbst Theater on January 27. Christian Tetzlaff (violin) and Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), both well-known soloists in their own right, also perform and record together regularly. I would put this one in the absolutely mustn't miss category.

Leif Ove Andsnes, left and Christian Tetzlaff, right
Photo © Alexandra Vosding

The program is intriguing in that it touches down in four separate eras of the genre's history: Mozart for the Viennese Classical, Schubert for the Early Romantic, Brahms for the Late Romantic, and Janácek for the early 20th century.

(I know there's a diacritical mark over the "c" in Janácek, by the way, but the Examiner software objects to it. Better "Janácek" than "Janá?ek".)

Actually we can trace the violin + keyboard duo back a bit earlier, into the Baroque era. Of course the modern piano was not around in those days; it was invented during the mid-Baroque, to be sure, but didn't reach any market penetration (as they like to say in the advertising biz) until the later eighteenth century, the time of the Viennese Classical.

Furthermore, there was a bit of wrinkle regarding Baroque duos, in that they were usually performed not by two people, but by three. The accompanying instrument of the duo was the continuo, a combination of keyboard instrument (usually harpsichord) and a bass line instrument such as the cello. The bass line was notated; the keyboard player read figures (literally arabic numerals under the bass line notes) that indicated the proper harmonies to play.

Thus every music appreciation teacher's favorite question on a Baroque-era test: how many people do you need to play a Baroque trio? (Answer: four.)

There are exceptions to this, of course — think of Bach's wonderful duo sonatas with their elaborate harpsichord parts and no continuo. But for the most part, violin/keyboard duos of the Baroque featured the violin as solo and the continuo in a distinctly subordinate role as accompanist and harmony-filler-outer.

With the Viennese Classical, that situation flipflopped. The evolving piano was emerging as a solo instrument of choice, but it still needed some help in the legato/melodic department. String instruments were the obvious choices.

As a result, pieces that were conceptually solo piano sonatas were dressed up with violin, or even violin & cello together. Nowadays we refer to such works as "violin/piano sonatas" or "piano trios" but that isn't altogether correct. They're really accompanied piano sonatas.

This helps to explain why the title page on the young Mozart's first set of "violin sonatas" reads: Sonatas pour le clavecin, Qui peuvent se jouer avec l'Accompagnement de Violon. Sonatas for the "clavecin" (i.e., harpsichord or fortepiano), which can be played with violin accompaniment.

Haydn's earlier piano trios are similar, in that the violin acts to help buttress the melodic line, while the cello serves primarily as a continuo instrument.

However, as the Viennese Classical progressed, composers developed the potential of the keyboard/string partnership with ever-increasing subtlety and skill. By Mozart's later violin sonatas, and Haydn's mature piano trios, the works are no longer piano sonatas with instrumental helpers; they are full-on duos or trios with everybody chipping into the musical enterprise on an equal footing.

The next generations built on the piano's increasing sonority and ability to connect a legato line. Thus Beethoven's many violin/piano sonatas, his cello/piano sonatas, and the magnificent series of piano trios, all of which treat the instruments as full partners. Ditto Schubert; his output might have been smaller than his great Viennese contemporary, but it offers jewels and gems galore.

As far as chamber musicians were concerned, it might not have been a bad idea for the piano to go on a diet by about the mid nineteenth century. The piano had continued to grow, deepen, and gain in volume during the previous fifty years, swelling into a stage-buckling, iron-framed testament to the Industrial Revolution.

The pumped-up instrument's muscularity rendered it a soloist par excellence and also enabled it to hold its own against the burgeoning orchestras of the day, but it made hell for chamber performers who were increasingly overwhelmed by the sheer sonic might of the once-svelte instrument.

Every pianist who plays chamber music is only too well aware of the challenges of achieving a decent balance with other instruments. Some are tougher than others; the cello is particularly challenging, given that its most resonant registers happen to be precisely the same as the piano's.

Maintaining cordial sonic relations with the violin isn't as difficult, given that the brightness and penetrating quality of the violin balances beautifully with the duller, thicker sound of the piano. However, an insensitive pianist is still perfectly capable of blowing the violinist right off the stage.

The later Romantic repertoire tends to run thick, texture-wise, and therefore requires diligent care from both violinist and pianist to ensure that the violin isn't swamped, but that the piano is nonetheless allowed to sing freely. After all, a scaredy-cat pianist playing mezzo-piano throughout an entire Brahms sonata is just as unappealing as the sorry spectacle of some poor fiddler appearing to playing air violin while the piano thunders throughout the hall.

Of late Romantic violin/piano duos, none are more cornerstone than the three Brahms violin sonatas: always welcome, always worth studying and playing, and always effective in recital provided reasonable executive competence. Possibly the third, in D Minor, is the king of the bunch, vintage late Brahms in all his lyrical (and sometimes crusty) splendor.

The repertory isn't limited to sonatas, by the way; duos of all varieties abound.

The violin/piano duo has continued to thrive into our time, although perhaps not quite at the heat of the Beethoven era. We have superb works from a raft of composers, from Debussy through Stravinsky, Copland, Webern, Villa-Lobos, and many others, including the wonderful Czech Leos Janácek.

You might be interested in getting to know the Tetzlaff/Andsnes duo before the concert. Here are some suggestions for recordings — today I'm linking to the iTunes Store, in recognition of their having adopted a DRM-free, higher-bit-rate catalog across the board.

• Sonatas of Bartok, Weill, Janácek on Virgin Classics
   
• Sonatas of Debussy, Neilsen, Ravel, and Brahms on Virgin Classics
   
• Bartók Violin Sonatas, on Virgin Classics
   

Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes perform at Herbst Theater on Tuesday, January 27 at 8:00 pm. Here's the program:

JANÁCEK: Sonata
BRAHMS: Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
MOZART: Sonata in F Major, K. 377
SCHUBERT: Rondo in B minor, D895

Tickets are available via San Francisco Performances, and here's a link that will tell you all about it.