Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

The lyrics to Paul Simon’s song, “Train in the Distance”, include the observation: “Negotiations and love songs / Are often mistaken for one and the same”. Or, as they say, can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.

With its close interplay between two disparate voices, the violin-piano sonata form naturally conveys a sense of intimacy and interchange. Of necessity, the two voices engage in a back-and-forth musical dialogue, each player in turn taking and ceding the foreground. While this occurs in other chamber forms as well, it is most easily heard here.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s sonatas for violin and piano (list of recordings):

• No. 1 in D Major, Op. 12, No. 1 (1798) (approx. 19-25’)
• No. 2 in A Major, Op. 12, No. 2 (1798) (approx. 16-20’)
• No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 12, No. 3 (1798) (approx. 17-22’)
• No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23 (1801) (approx. 18-26’)
• No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 (“Spring”) (1801) (approx. 25-28’)
• No. 6 in A Major, Op. 30, No. 1 (1802) (approx. 21-23’)
• No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2, “Eroica” (1802) (approx. 25-29’)
• No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30, No. 3 (1802) (approx. 20-21’)
• No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer” (1803) (approx. 34-46’)
• No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 (1812) (approx. 28-31’)

Robert Schumann’s three violin sonatas:

• Sonata No. 1 in A minor, Op. 105 (1851) (approx. 17-24’)
• Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121 (1851) (approx. 27-33’)
• Sonata No. 3 in A minor, WoO 27 (1853) (approx. 21-22’

Other violin sonatas:

• Francis Poulenc, Violin Sonata, FP 119 (1943) (approx. 18-20’)
• Maurice Ravel, Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Minor, M 12 (1897) (approx. 15-21’)
• Camille Saint-Saëns, Violin Sonatas: No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75, R. 123 (1885) (approx. 22-24’); and No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 201, R. 130 (1896) (approx. 23-24’)
• Zygmunt Stojowski, Violin Sonatas: No. 1 in G Major, Op. 13 (1893) (approx. 22-29’); and No. 2 in E minor, Op. 37 (1911) (approx. 27’)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos, Violin Sonata No. 3, W 171 (1920) (approx. 21-22’)
• Amy Beach, Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 34 (1896) (approx. 30-34’)

Many chamber works by Bohuslav Martinů display a character of interaction that evokes this subject of human interaction as negotiation:

• 5 Madrigal Stanzas for Violin & Piano, H 297 (1943) (approx. 11’)
• 5 Short Pieces for Violin and Piano, H 184 (1930) (approx. 11’)
• 7 Arabesques, H 201 (1931) (arr. for violin & piano) (approx. 15’)
• Concerto for Violin & Piano, H 13 (1910) (approx. 27’)
• Czech Rhapsody for Violin and Piano, H 307 (1945) (approx. 10’)
• Elegy for Violin and Piano (1909) (approx. 11’)
• Impromptu for Violin and Piano, H 166 (1927) (approx. 11’)
• Intermezzo, H 261 (1937) (approx. 10’)
• Sonatina in G Major, H 262 (1937) (approx. 10’)
• Duo for Violin and Cello No. 1, H 157 (1927) (approx. 13’)
• Duo for Violin and Cello No. 2, H 371 (1958) (approx. 10’)
• Violin Sonata No. 1, H 182 (1929) (approx. 20’)
• Violin Sonata No. 2, H 208 (1931) (approx. 13’)
• Violin Sonata No. 3, H 303 (1944) (approx. 26-27’)
• Violin Sonata in C Major, H 120 (1919) (approx. 32’)

Mauricio Kagel’s piano trios are dark, often brooding works, evoking troubled interactions between and among the players.

• Piano Trio No. 1 (1985) (approx. 17’)
• Piano Trio No. 2 (2001) (approx. 19’)
• Piano Trio No. 3 (2006) (approx. 28’)

Other compositions:

• Witold Lutosławski, Symphony No. 1 (1947) (approx. 25’): “Ebullient energy characterises all rapid fragments and the intricate metro-rhythmic changes highlight the impetus of the music. The source of these outstanding rhythmic effects which intensify the spontaneity are either added or subtracted rhythmic values and irregular accents.”
• Raga Pahadi Jhinjoti (Pahari Jhinjoti) a Hindustani classical raag. Performances are by Ali Akbar Khan, Nikhil Banerjee and Buddhaditya Mukherjee.
• Arthur Bliss, Conversations for Wind & Strings, F. 16 (1920) (approx. 16’)
• Similarly, though it is written for a single instrument, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14, No. 2 (1799) (approx. 15-17’), suggests an interaction between two lovers.
• Gustav Holst, Double Concerto for two violins & small orchestra, Op. 49 (1930) (approx. 15’)
• Heinrich von Herzogenberg, three string quartets: String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 42, No. 1 (1884) (approx. 33-37’); String Quartet No. 2 in D minor, Op. 42, No. 2 (1884) (approx. 36’); String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, Op. 42, No. 3 (1884) (approx. 24’)
• York Bowen, Piano Trio in E Minor, Op. 118 (1945) (approx. 24’); Phantasy Quintet, Op. 93 (1932) (approx. 13-15’)
• Louis Théodore Gouvy, String Quartet No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 68 (1874) (approx. 32’)
• Henryk Górecki, Old Polish Music (Muzyka Staropolska), Op. 24 (1969) (approx. 24-27’): trumpets and strings, with widely divergent perspectives
• Aleksandr Glazunov, String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 10 (1884) (approx. 30’)
• Glazunov, String Quartet No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 64 (1894) (approx. 33-34’)
• Wilhelm Furtwängler, Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor (1935) (approx. 556’): “A very fine large-scale violin sonata in constant song and imaginative soulful turmoil.”
• Furtwängler, Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major (1938) (approx. 43-46’): “The Second Sonata bursts with symphonic intent. It is a passionate work deep in the romantic melos and turbulent in the two outer movements (there are three in total).”
• Fred Lehrdahl, Give and Take (2014) (approx. 15’): “The title . . . evokes the responsive and varied interaction of the violin and cello throughout the piece. They are in an intense conversation, sometimes echoing and elaborating one another, other times each going its own way in its own tempo, still other times one breaking off with a change in direction that is soon followed by the other.” [the composer]

Albums:

• Alvin Ayler, “Live on the Riviera” (2005) (57’)
• Derek Bailey & Evan Parker, “Arch Duo” (1999) (70’) “is a rather lengthy continuous improvisation from two of the most well-known and skilled British free improvisers. It's always interesting to hear Evan Parker before he began to perform circular breathing techniques as his primary mode.”
• Arthur Gottschalk, “Art for Two” (2018) (52’)

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Paul Simon, “Train in the Distance” (lyrics)
• Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream” (lyrics)
• Avil Lavigne, “Complicated” (lyrics)
• Whitney Houston, “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay” (lyrics)
• Dream, “He Loves U Not” (lyrics)

Visual Arts

• Konstantin Makovsky, Difficult Negotiations (1883)

Film and Stage

• Sunday, Bloody Sunday: a “love-triangle” film that “examines the choices individuals must make when confronted with a romantic relationship which is rewarding but does not offer them everything they want”