Although she was 68 when she wrote her second violin sonata, Tailleferre still had more than 20 years of composing ahead of her. Far from sounding like a work of old age, then, this sonata is particularly simple, fresh, and charming, the music of a composer experienced and confident enough to back away from complexity and harshness. For this reason, though, the sonata is definitely out of step with its time; by the mid-1950s, most leading composers were using more pungent harmonies—if they employed traditional harmony at all. The opening Allegro non troppo introduces a relaxed and carefree violin melody over a rocking piano rhythm, putting no more demands on the key of B flat major than would any composer a century earlier. The second subject is particularly broad and lyrical, and the melodies undergo development in a traditional sonata-allegro form movement utterly free of structural surprises. The Adagietto dips into D minor, achieving a poignancy safely removed from profundity. The piano plays gently throbbing material redolent of Poulenc, while the violin transforms it into a bittersweet melody in long, winding, songlike phrases. The entire movement arises from this music, contrast provided through harmonic shifts rather than significant changes in melody. Tailleferre employs two of her trademarks in this movement: a very long trill at the midpoint and a final section that sends the violin into its high range. The finale, Allegro, moves to F major for a light, playful treatment of a tune that sometimes stutters, sometimes jitters up and down the scale. A more soaring motif sometimes emerges from this, but again all the music remains closely tied to the busy primary melody.

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