This album is included in the following sets:
This set contains the following albums:
- Producer's Note
- Full Track Listing
- Cover Art
"America's greatest native-born violinist" brilliant in Brahms
These legendary recordings, featuring America's greatest native-born violinist and the famous Hungarian composer/conductor/pianist, have not been generally available since the demise of the Remington label over half a century ago. Multiple copies of each of the two LPs containing the sonatas were assembled for transfer. The First Sonata came from one of Remington's later, black-and-gold label vinyl pressings, featuring quieter surfaces than the original, red label issues, which seemed to have been pressed on a noisier hard plastic-like material. (The odd noise during the slow movement appears to be the banging of a radiator in the studio. There is also a momentary pitch fluctuation in the original master during this movement.)
Although I had two copies of the disc with the Second and Third Sonatas available on the later pressings, I found that both had a noticeable pitch wobble, even when the discs were perfectly centered. This was probably due to either the master tape or the disc cutting table turning at an uneven speed. Since the red label pressings did not exhibit this flaw, they were used for those works, despite their greater surface imperfections.
Mark Obert-Thorn
SPALDING & DOHNÁNYI The Brahms Violin Sonatas (1951)
BRAHMS Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78
1. I. Vivace ma non troppo (9:51)
2. II. Adagio (8:15)
3. III. Allegro molto moderato (8:25)
Recorded in 1951 in New York City
First issued on Remington R-199-84
BRAHMS Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
4. I. Allegro amabile (7:55)
5. II. Andante tranquillo (6:04)
6. III. Allegro grazioso (quasi Andante) (5:42)
Recorded in 1951 in New York City
First issued on Remington R-199-49
BRAHMS Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
7. I. Allegro (7:38)
8. II. Adagio (4:43)
9. III. Un poco presto e con sentiment (3:01)
10. IV. Presto agitato (5:47)
Recorded in 1951 in New York City
First issued on Remington R-199-49
Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Albert Spalding
Special thanks to Frank Forman, Richard A. Kaplan, Donald Manildi and the International Piano Archives at the University of Maryland (IPAM) for providing source material
Total duration: 67:21
Albert Spalding, violin
Ernö Dohnányi, piano
