The first Brahms sonata recorded by Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov on period instruments made a big impression: here are the other two wonderful sonatas, with companion pieces. We often hear Brahms’s Scherzo contribution to the FAE (“Frei aber einsam”) collaborative sonata: the first movement by Albert Dietrich is intense and impressive, but while Schumann’s Intermezzo is lovely, his ramshackle Finale lets the work down. Melnikov’s 1875 Bösendorfer piano sounds splendidly grainy, transparent and powerful, often overwhelming Faust’s gut-stringed violin in Brahms’s louder moments, but blending ideally in the elegiac slow movements. I thought Schumann’s Three Romances sounded oddly familiar, until I remembered accompanying them on the version for oboe; this is much better.
