top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureChoo Choo

P.U. Sostenuto


Why does everyone speed up in the piu sostenuto section of the G major Brahms violin sonata? Every single recording I've listened to, they piu the sostenuto for a couple bars and then when the triplets start they get themselves all in an inexplicable tizzy and all the king's horses and men couldn't rein 'em back after that.

So that happens, all the time, even fantastic violinists perpetuating this error, over and over until it's become common practice, instead of doing what's written: keep it sostenuto until several bars before the first theme, and then accel back into the recap. Makes so much more sense.

Not that anyone needed any more proof that Pam Frank is a goddess among mortals, but there you have it.

3 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Summertime Madness

Where does the time go? One minute I'm fretting about not having enough to do, the next I'm buried under a mountain of repertoire because I simply can't stop saying no to people. Someday I'll figure o

Super perfundo on the early eve of your day

Suddenly half a year has gone by. "You'll write more," you tell yourself, greeting every day with a promise that "Today will be the day I start on that story/essay/novel" and every day the same ending

Lethargy

In an early post from this blog, dated December 30, 2013 (almost nine years ago to the day), I wrote: "The week between Christmas and New Year's is one of my favorites. Nothing too pressing ever happe

bottom of page