Marie Cantagrill and Fumiyo Goshima in Brahms

When it comes to recordings of violin and piano music, I am rarely satisfied. So it gives me great pleasure to welcome an excellent recording of Brahms three sonatas for violin and piano where the recorded balance between violin and piano is exemplary. Congratulations to the recording engineers (for a change). The violinist is Marie Cantagrill, and the pianist Fumiyo Goshima. No complaint about the pianist, and my admiration for Ms.Cantagrill is readily apparent. I listened over my Sennheiser wireless headphones and was blissfully happy. As usual, Ms. Cantagrill's violin makes a lovely sound, particularly in the lower registers. Her double stopping is exhibition quality, and I love the way she varies the dynamics, from ff to pp.

Op 78.1st movement (vivace ma non troppo) is taken at a more deliberate tempo than is usually heard. The 2nd movement (adagio) is a true adagio. The 3rd movement (allegro molto moderato) sounds just the right tempo, to me.

Op 100. Is this Ms. Cantagrill's least favourite of the three Brahms violin and piano sonatas? It certainly is my least favourite; the music never really settles down and has no real peaks or troughs. The performance here is excellent, of course, but some enthusiasm is missing in the playing, methinks. But I cannot think of a better recorded performance than here. Probably all my fault that I always find this sonata a little unsatisfying.

Op 108. Nice performance. The usual attributes: superb recorded balance, top-class playing, excellent dynamics, well-chosen tempi. The adagio is a true adagio, the presto agitato a true presto agitato. The adagio provides an excellent spot to sample the wonderful sound and playing of Ms. Cantagrill. In this sonata, as throughout all three, the duo playing is excellent, with both musicians listening to, and responding to, each other.

To sum up: a really satisfying performance of the three Brahms sonatas for violin and piano. The performances reinforce my doubts about always going to highly promoted and lauded international musicians on international labels. Ms.Cantagrill is only really available via YouTube or Spotify, I gather. All praise to those media for giving us access to musicians we would not normally know about.