In recent years, I have come to appreciate the chamber music of Brahms, especially his later works. These last works are wonderful because they are written by a self assured man, an individual who had conquered specific realms and now could relax and write music that was more for himself, and his own use, and less for the public at large.
So it is with these viola sonatas, which actually started life as clarinet sonatas. Interestingly, the clarinet was a particular favorite of Brahms though he seemed no less interested in the viola. And fortunately, with an advocate like Paul Doktor playing, the results are bound to be quite lovely and engaging.
Austrian by birth, Doktor was recognized by Adolf Busch while a very young man and gained an important mentor in this brilliant musician. In fact, Busch was so taken with Doktor that the younger man was engaged as the violist for the famed Busch Quartet, particularly during times of touring. Doktor's life, like many musicians, was disrupted by hostilities in Europe, but he was able to re-group and establish himself in the US, becoming a citizen in 1952. From that time to his death, Doktor preached the viola, concertized heavily throughout the country and taught a generation of violists who would occupy important seats in orchestras throughout North America. Doktor's musicianship is a combination of old and new world, taking the best from either side of the Atlantic and placing it at the disposal of this grand instrument.
Nadia Reisenberg is most noted today for her many Juilliard students and her landmark recordings of the piano music of Haydn made during the 1950's. A European transplant like Doktor, she embraced her new home in the United States and dedicated herself towards encouraging and teaching the methods of the great Russian pedagogue Nikolaev. Her consumate musicianship, combined with technique and taste, make her the ideal chamber music partner. So highly regarded are her talents that in 2004, former students and admirers began the Nadia Reisenberg/Clara Rockmore Foundation to honor, and remember, Reisenberg and her sister Clara, a renowned virtuoso of the theremin.
Again, I will say that I like these "sunset pieces" of Brahms. Some people may find them less than inspired, even quaint, but as I said earlier, this is music by a man with nothing else to prove. He was a master who was a champion in all forms of music for instruments and voice, with of course, the exception being opera. Beautiful listening, these recordings were originally released in 1954.
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