WARNING: I'm sorry to report that the violin-playing on this release sounds distinctly sub-par:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9772527--ignaz-brull-violin-sonata-no-2-violin-sonata-no-3-suite-for-violin-and-piano
A real shame.
Oh. that's a pity. Alan. At a quick glance I can't see any other available recordings.
Quite so. But this release won't cut it, IMHO.
I wonder if it's his instrument? I am reminded of a local faculty member who I thought had good technique but whose tone was thin, like we hear in the audio samples here. This always perplexed me, and I surmised that it might be a case of a musician being faithful to a certain instrument but not realizing how it actually sounds at a distance as opposed to tucked under one's chin.
I think his intonation is sometimes suspect too...
Do the notes mention anything about an early violin sonata by Brüll that he performed in Vienna in 1862? (His earliest published violin sonata wasn't published until 1884, though the violin sonata "from manuscript" listed in the 1862 Vienna Konzertverein program could of course -be- one of his later-published sonatas.)
The Blätter für Musik, Theater und Kunst, 14 March 1862, has a review of:
a sonata for violin and piano, composed by the talented boy Brüll and performed effectively by him and Herr Hellmesberger, that showed lively and distinct invention and considerable formal facility. The rather rhapsodic structure of the content may be allowed to pass for the composer as it inspired him to create many an interesting passage and even some truly inspired ideas, e.g. at the end of the Finale, where the themes of all four movements are combined.
The reviewer then goes on to say that the composer should be encouraged as he is undoubtedly very talented. The only gripe the reviewer has, is the sombre mood of this sonata, not in principle but with regard to the composer's young age. He argues that one would except something more friendly and cheerful from a boy with fresh rosy cheeks and adds that melancholy will come soon enough, and to stay.
Hrm. The first violin sonata has only 3 movements as published (in fact only the 2nd of the 4 sonatas has 4)...