Mozart's violin sonatas? Yes, of course they are a major body of work. Beethoven's? Indeed, so are they, and are still better known and respected. But Schubert's? I suspect some collectors will be wondering now how they have failed to take account of works which must clearly be of central importance to the Viennese tradition, not least because the composer was something of a violinist himself.
Well, the truth is not so simple. Schubert composed the first three of these works in March–April 1816, when he was 19, and although he wrote his Fifth Symphony later in the same year they do not possess the stature of the Mozart and Beethoven works for the same medium which cover many years of a career. The first of them is also short playing here for some 12½ minutes, and all were published after Schubert's death under the title 'sonatinas'. Finally, although the Deutsch number of the other sonata in A major suggests a much later piece, this Duo, as it is often called (again after its published title) was written in 1817.
The lightweight, miniature character of the D major Sonata comes out at once, but it is well caught by Raphael Oleg and Theodore Paraskivesco, an effective duo who play sensitively but do not attempt to overload the music expressively. This is agreeable enough if hardly epoch-making, and they recognize that the A minor and G minor Sonatas (which are in four movements where the D major has just three) are more intense in feeling, and the G minor most of all. Though their recording, made in a German church, is clean and clear the sound here would benefit from a little more space and depth; still, this music is enjoyably done and tempos are well judged.
The A major Sonata is the longest piece among these four sonatas and has more substance, not least where the piano writing is concerned, as the unhurried opening at once tells us. Here, too, Oleg and Paraskivesco play sympathetically and respond to the music's frequently changing moods and textures, while the sound seems to have more body than hitherto. This is a well-played and well-filled disc—and worth getting to know, though once again I have to say that these youthful sonatas do not have the range and weight that we might expect.'