The Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, is a four movement work for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was first published in 1801. The work is commonly known as the Spring Sonata, although the name “Spring” was apparently given to it after Beethoven’s death. The sonata was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.
“In 1984 I set William Soutar’s love poem The Tryst to music in the style of an old Scottish ballad. This I sang in folk clubs and bars around Scotland with my old folk group Broadstone. The composition and performances of this song made a lasting impression on me as it felt as if I had tapped into a deep reservoir of shared tradition as my setting was quite faithful to the old ballad style. Four years later I started developing this music into something else. In After The Tryst I elongated and ornamented the original melody into a virtuosic and highly expressive miniature for violin with piano accompaniment. The original harmonic outline is still adhered to and emphasized by the most simple series of arpeggiated chords on the piano. This work was the initial sketch for Búsqueda and Tryst.” — James MacMillan
Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 8, in C minor for violin, cello and piano is a very early chamber composition by Dmitri Shostakovich. Originally titled Poème, the work was composed in 1923 when the composer was sixteen and had been in the Leningrad Conservatory for three years. By the time the score was being prepared for publication six decades later, the last 22 bars of the piano part had been lost, which were completed by Shostakovich’s pupil, Boris Tishchenko. All of the work’s themes are derived from the opening chromatic motive. Its Romanticism is atypical of the composer’s mature work. In a letter to the trio’s dedicatee, his then girlfriend Tatiana Glivenko, Shostakovich wrote that the second subject had been salvaged from a partially lost Piano Sonata in B minor he had composed three years before. It was first performed privately by the composer and two of his friends, followed by an audition for Nikolai Myaskovsky at the Moscow Conservatory on April 8, 1924, but was not published until the 1980s.
A powerful opening characterized by darkness and mystery yields to a fast-paced musical journey as the Knights Templar prepare to vanquish their enemies in a battle during the Crusades. This is an excellent work to challenge the percussion section. A true musical adventure for performer and audience alike! Robert Sheldon’s music is performed around the world and appears on many international concert and contest lists. With over 3 million copies of his compositions and books sold, he produces numerous publications for concert band and orchestra each year.