Dutch Masters: Janine Jansen and Sir Antonio Pappano

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert

Sheer Romantic delight: a song-like sonata from Brahms, and Beethoven at his most exuberant.

Warm, lyrical and full of melodic charm, Brahms’s Second Violin Sonata is music at its most radiant and intimate. Written during a summer retreat in Switzerland, it incorporates two songs Brahms composed around the same time, including one inspired by his infatuation with the contralto Hermine Spies. It is a chance to hear a more light-hearted side of a composer better known for his darker, more autumnal works.

The subtitle ‘Spring’ was added to Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 5 after the composer’s death, but the work’s unmistakably ‘springlike’ qualities are hard to ignore. It was once described as ‘a warm breeze blowing through a window thrown wide.’

Violinist Janine Jansen brings her expressive talents to this warmly lyrical programme. She is joined at the piano by LSO’s Chief Conductor, Sir Antonio Pappano.

Programme: Johannes Brahms · Violin Sonata No 2 · Ludwig van Beethoven · Violin Sonata No 5 — Janine Jansen violin · Sir Antonio Pappano piano