Help
Skip to main content

US TARIFFS UPDATE | August 2025 | No impact expected on your Presto orders | Read full details

Brahms: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3

Leonidas Kavakos (violin) & Yuja Wang (piano)

Brahms: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3

Awards:

Kavakos opts for a subtle use of vibrato and a relatively limited dynamic range. His sweet tone is matched by Wang...these performances may seem restrained and almost Classical in outlook. Yet...

Brahms: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3

Leonidas Kavakos (violin) & Yuja Wang (piano)

Purchase product

96 kHz, 24 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

$17.50

44.1 kHz, 16 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

$15.00

320 kbps, MP3

$10.00

This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now Hi-RES 96 kHz, 24 bit

Awards:

Kavakos opts for a subtle use of vibrato and a relatively limited dynamic range. His sweet tone is matched by Wang...these performances may seem restrained and almost Classical in outlook. Yet...

About

Leonidas Kavakos, the “exceptional violinist” (Daily Mail) follows his spectacular Brahms Violin Concerto recording by teaming up with star pianist Yuja Wang – “a prodigious talent, with an astonishing technique” (The Guardian) for the great Brahms Violin Sonatas

Leonidas Kavakos’s third release for Decca makes a perfect supplement to his acclaimed Brahms Violin Concerto disc with Chailly.

‘It’s a long time since there was a new version of this concerto as good as this.’ Andrew Clements, The Guardian (October 2013).

‘There is a rapier-like cut-and-thrust about this performance that recalls the surging adrenaline-charge of Isaac Stern in full flight, with Kavakos emerging as the swashbuckling hero of the hour, taking all technical obstacles in his stride with soaring abandonment.‘ Julian Haylock, Sinfini (October 2013).

For the three sonatas Kavakos – an exclusive Decca artist – teams up with Wang, a former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year.

Their partnership at the 2013 Verbier Festival was much talked about (and broadcast on Medici) and they will be touring these works in April to major European cities.

The F-A-E Scherzo which Brahms contributed to a composite sonata (along with his friends Schumann and Dietrich) will be added as a bonus.

The three violin sonatas were written for Brahms’s muse in all matters violin, Joseph Joachim, who also gave the premiere of the Violin Concerto and contributed its cadenzas.

Contents and tracklist

I. Vivace ma non troppo
Track length11:11
II. Adagio
Track length7:56
III. Allegro molto moderato
Track length8:33
I. Allegro amabile
Track length8:28
II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace - Andante - Vivace di più - Andante vivace
Track length6:05
III. Allegretto grazioso. Quasi andante
Track length5:24
I. Allegro
Track length8:12
II. Adagio
Track length4:43
III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
Track length2:53
IV. Presto agitato
Track length5:53

Awards and reviews

June 2014

Kavakos opts for a subtle use of vibrato and a relatively limited dynamic range. His sweet tone is matched by Wang...these performances may seem restrained and almost Classical in outlook. Yet this reticence serves to give greater intensity to those few passages...where both players become more expansive in expression.

July 2014

Wang and Kavakos give consistently outstanding performances. Wang has a way of making even the most complex passages beautifully clear. Without over-emphasising turning points in the harmony, she's able to point the music's direction of travel...Kavakos similarly delights in finding an ideal expression for each phrase.
View download progress