Presents
Richard Stöhr
Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op.27
"Stöhr's chamber music has both classical and romantic elements...his skill and highly developed gift of combination achieves impressive artistic effects, such as only a true master can produce."---The critic Rudolf Felber writing in Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music.
Richard Stöhr's first violin sonata is the first of 15 he was to compose between 1911 and 1950, most of which remain in manuscript unpublished. The opening movement, Allegro moderato, is graceful and relatively tranquill, full of flowing melody. The second movement, Andante religioso, begins with a theme from the Catholic Church. The mood is pastoral with a rustic dance-like middle sections. The themes of the finale, Allegro giusto, sound vaguely Slavic, perhaps Russian, in character.
Richard Stöhr (1874-1967) was born in Vienna. His father insisted that he study medicine and Stöhr only formally studied music after receiving an M.D. He entered the Vienna Academy of Music and studied composition with Robert Fuchs receiving a doctorate in 1903. He immediately obtained a teaching position at the Academy and was appointed a professor of composition in 1915, a position he held until 1938. Although Stöhr steadily composed throughout these years, he was better known as an expert on music theory, having written a well received text on the subject. In 1939, he was forced to flee Austria because of the Nazi takeover. He emigrated to the United States. There, he obtained a similar position at the Curtiss Institute of Music. Among his many students were Leonard Bernstein, Erich Leinsdorf, Herbert von Karajan, Erich Zeisl, and Samuel Barber. Most of his compositions, including this violin sonata, which were composed before emigrating to the United States, received publication. The rest have not, unfortunately, been.
This sonata is a fine addtion to the literature and deserves to be heard in concert..
Parts: $24.95
