Mozart: Violin Sonata in G, K. 379 (Schneider & Kirkpatrick, 1945)
Mozart: Sonata in G Major, K. 379
Alexander Schneider (violin)
Ralph Kirkpatrick (harpsichord)
Recorded on November 28, 1945, in New York City, on Columbia matrices XCO 35472 through XCO 35475. Issued in 1947 on Columbia 71864-D and 71865-D in Masterworks Set M-650, and in automatic sequence on Columbia 71866-D through 71869-D in Set MM-650. The same set has two other Mozart violin sonatas (K. 296, K. 378), which I have uploaded separately.
Mozart’s Sonata in G Major, K. 379, consists of three movements:
1. Adagio
2. Allegro (at 3:43)
3. Theme and Variations: Andantino cantabile (at 7:32)
The substitution of a harpsichord for the usual piano in this work was and is somewhat controversial, but seems to have been intended as a compromise, as fortepianos (the term that has come to be used for replicas of pianos of Mozart’s time) hadn’t come into general use by the 1940s. It didn’t work for contemporary music critic Irving Kolodin, who, in his “New Guide to Recorded Music” (1950), calls the harpsichord substitution “a mere excuse to conceal the obvious fact that Schneider and Kirkpatrick like to play together and have devoted themselves mainly to Bach, in which the harpsichord is, largely speaking, acceptable.”
To download a higher-quality audio file of this recording, please visit my blog, The Shellackophile – http://shellackophile.blogspot.com – where this and many other vintage recordings may be downloaded.
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