A Brahms Special

Tonight, I went to a concert for a solo violist, Robert Diaz.  I had no idea what his program would be but before I went I said to Jbird “Wouldn’t it be neat if he played the Brahms Sonata I used to play? I’ve never heard it live.”  Well.  It was a Brahms Sonata concert!  What a lovely surprise.  He played both viola sonatas and a violin one (transcribed for viola).  A sonata is really a conversation between the pianist and instrumentalist.  Now that I have a special interest in piano music, I can appreciate this more.  When I was 18, learning the piece, it was hard for me to hear the conversation as I was concentrating so hard on the notes and then on counting the rests.  Brahms wrote some doozies, these were originally written for the clarinet.  They’re incredibly lyrical and beautiful and they only get better the more you know them.  Look ‘em up!