Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sonata No. for violin and piano Op. 80 (1938-46)
Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano Op 94bis (1943-4)
Five Melodies for violin and piano Op 35bis (1920-5)
Bruno Monteiro (violin)
João Paulo Santos (piano)
rec. 2025, Auditório Caixa Geral de Depósitos, ISEG Lisbon, Portugal
Et’cetera KTC1864 [67]

Prokofiev did not write much chamber music, but what he did is of high quality. Next to the two string quartets, these two violin sonatas stand out, with the F minor work being arguably the finest of all his chamber pieces.

It had a troubled gestation. After years in the West, in 1936 Prokofiev finally settled back in the Soviet Union, having been wooed with promises of artistic freedom. But in only the following year, Stalin’s Great Terror began. Numerous friends and colleagues of Prokofiev were arrested, never to be seen again. This was the background when Prokofiev started work on the sonata in 1938. He interrupted his work several times for other projects, taking it up again in 1943 but not finally completing it until 1946. It was dedicated to the great violinist David Oistrakh, who seems to have encouraged the composer to complete it and who gave the premiere with the pianist Lev Oborin. In the list of his compositions which he drew up in the last year of his life, Prokofiev described this work as ‘an abandoned graveyard,’ which suggests it was, in part, a memorial to the friends he had lost. Rather paradoxically, he was awarded the Stalin prize in 1947 for it.

There are four movements. The first movement is slow and sombre, with a melancholy theme on the violin and crunching chords on the piano. The second movement, marked Allegro brusco, is fierce and percussive and very different from the normal Prokofiev scherzo. The third movement is slow, with the violin often in its low register. The finale is fast and sardonic and includes references back to the opening themes.

The D major sonata is a very different work. It was composed in 1943 originally for flute and piano. Prokofiev adapted it for violin at the suggestions of Oistrakh, who premiered it in 1944, so before the F minor sonata. Prokofiev wrote it when he was evacuated to the Ural mountains and it is a clear contrast to the other work in being cheerful and full of good tunes. The opening Moderato is lyrical and is followed by a characteristic Prokofiev scherzo. The Andante is calm but also has some jazz-like elements. The finale is exuberant and dance-like. Although it is a key work for flautists, the violin version seem to be the more popular and the more often recorded.

Finally, we have the Five Melodies, which are a much earlier work, dating from 1920. This was originally written for wordless voice and piano, but a few years later adapted for violin and piano. These are attractive vignettes, which show Prokofiev moving away from his aggressive modernist works to a more accessible and attractive style.

The performers here are a Portuguese team, Bruno Monteiro and João Paulo Santos, who have already given us a number of successful recitals, including Schumann, Lekeu, Stravinsky, Szymanowski and Schulhoff, among others. These have all been well received and this disc is another feather in their cap. Monteiro digs deep into the dark heart of the F minor work and is light-hearted in the D major one. Santos is fully in command of Prokofiev’s often quirky piano writing. The recording is very good: one can imagine the players in the room with the listener.

There are, of course many other recordings of these works. Oistrakh recorded both sonatas, the F minor one at least several times, though I don’t think you can currently get them coupled together. The version by Gidon Kremer with Martha Argerich (DG) is perhaps too idiosyncratic for a general recommendation. I have a particular affection for Alina Ibragimova with Steven Osborne (Hyperion – with a particularly attractive cover picture) but listeners can choose their own favourite violinists. I can say that this version is as good as any and could easily be a first choice.

Stephen Barber

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