Brahms's Op 78 Violin Sonata, the first of his three, comes closer to a work of some wistfulness, the opening phrase taking on, with Nikolaj Znaider and Yefim Bronfman, a gentle melancholy that suits the music well. The hesitancy of this dotted phrase marks the whole of the sonata's invention, and is picked up with touching effect, as Clara Schumann was moved to find, when Brahms quotes an earlier song in the finale. This is all sensitively done.
So is the Second Sonata, with delightful touches: when the Andante gives way to a faster section, it is here played as gaily as a Brahms waltz, one that turns faintly spectral on its return with the pizzicato violin. Perhaps the finale, Presto agitato, deserves more extrovert agitation, but these are most thoughtful and sympathetic performances. There is also room on the disc for the lively scherzo which, as a young man, Brahms wrote for a composite sonata, with movements by Schumann and Albert Dietrich.

…these are most thoughtful and sympathetic performances.