Experimental Approach to the Performance of Brahms’s Violin Sonatas. Influence of Musical Analysis and Historical Evidence on Violinistic Practice

Recent research about late 19th century violin performance style brought my particular attention. Being a violin player focused on Brahms’s music, I have started to study the available resources which could help in a thorough understanding of his pieces. I attempt to find a way of applying the musicological research to the performance of Brahms’s violin sonatas. I try to create a comprehensive interpretation of these pieces by making concrete choices of interpretative factors such as dinamics, rubatos, agogics as well as technical violinistic details such as vibrato, portato and portamento usage, phrase conducting or bowing expression.My research is based on several musicological aspects. Firstly, Brahms's complex form and motivic unity is deeply analysed in order to obtain a formal structure of the interpretation which would be in a close relation to the composer’s conception. Secondly, the sources of Brahms's inspiration are examined together with the influence of his "secret programs" on the interpretation (mood, phrasing, tempo etc.). Last but not least, the late 19th century violin practice is studied, with a special attention given to the violin school of Joseph Joachim (1831 –1907), whose style was truly admired by Brahms. Other important elements such as 19th century musical notation and instruments construction are also included in my studies.