For the biographer Karl Holl chamber music was "Friedrich Gernsheim's very special artistic domain." The composer again and again returned to this field during the course of his life, from his beginnings in Leipzig and Paris to his later Berlin years. The violin sonatas in particular stand out in this group within his oeuvre because they, more than any other genre, document his compositional development. Things began with the fourteen-year-old's Sonata in E minor, composed for exercise purposes in Leipzig and heard here for the first time on album, and continued by way of his op. 4, his first full-fledged contribution to this genre, to the mature opp. 50, 64, and 85, with thirteen to fourteen years separating the composition of each of these works. The fourth sonata, a work dedicated to Henri Marteau, may be regarded as the high point of Gernsheim's duo oeuvre: here his contrapuntal line of thought, something that he had always cultivated, extends over the entire composition.

Tracklist:

Violin Violin Sonata No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 4: I. Andante Con Moto
Violin Violin Sonata No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 4: II. Allegretto Scherzando
Violin Violin Sonata No. 1 In C Minor, Op. 4: III. Allegro
Violin Violin Sonata In E Minor: I. Allegro Con Fuoco
Violin Violin Sonata In E Minor: II. Adagio Ma Non Troppo
Violin Violin Sonata In E Minor: III. Scherzo. Allegro Assai
Violin Violin Sonata In E Minor: IV. Finale. Molto Allegro E Vivace
Violin Sonata No. 3 In F Major, Op. 64: I. Allegro Con Brio
Violin Sonata No. 3 In F Major, Op. 64: II. Allegro Agitato
Violin Sonata No. 3 In F Major, Op. 64: III. Andante Molto Espressivo
Violin Sonata No. 3 In F Major, Op. 64: IV. Moderato E Sempre Cantabile
Violin Sonata No. 4 In G Major, Op. 85: I. Allegro Moderato Assai
Violin Sonata No. 4 In G Major, Op. 85: II. Andantino Appassionato
Violin Sonata No. 4 In G Major, Op. 85: III. Allegro Con Brio
Introduction & Allegro Appassionato For Violin & Piano, Op. 38: I. Introduction
Introduction & Allegro Appassionato For Violin & Piano, Op. 38: II. Allegro Appassionato
Andante For Violin & Piano In F Major
Violin Sonata No. 2 In C Major, Op. 50: I. Allegro Moderato
Violin Sonata No. 2 In C Major, Op. 50: II. Andante Sostenuto
Violin Sonata No. 2 In C Major, Op. 50: III. Allegro Energico

UPC: 761203533022
Label: Cpo Records
Release Date: 2.5.21
Format: CD

Gernsheim / Schickedanz / Breidenbach - Complete Violin Sonatas (2 CD)