Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Sonata in F minor, Op. 4

- Composer: Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 -- 4 November 1847) - Performers: Shlomo Mintz (violin), Paul Ostrovsky (piano) - Year of recording: 1986 Sonata for Violin & Piano in F minor, Op. 4, written in 1823. 00:00 - I. Adagio - Allegro moderato 10:25 - II. Poco adagio 19:10 - III. Allegro agitato For many decades Felix Mendelssohn was thought to have authored only one violin sonata: the Sonata for violin and piano in F minor, Op. 4. And, although two further sonatas for violin-piano duo came to light during the latter half of the twentieth century, neither of them has been able to steal the limelight from Opus 4 as his most popular work in the genre, even if some Mendelssohn-lovers feel that one of the other two, the 1838 F major Sonata, is more deserving of that distinction. Mendelssohn composed the Opus 4 sonata in 1823, when he was in his mid-teens. It is a solidly built three-movement piece with more than a hint of Beethovenian minor-mode storminess to it; yet the p