In Alfred Schnittke's Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano, the composer casts aside his usual references to diverse compositional styles and his sardonic humor. In their stead, he has written a terse yet passionate work. This sonata is cast in four movements which together do not last longer than a quarter hour, and which follow closely on each other. Although it is called a Sonata for Violin and Piano, the piano part here serves mainly as punctuation for the sustained notes and figurations of the violin. The first movement, an Andante, gives the impression of beginning at the middle of some one-sided dialogue, voiced by the violin with very occasional piano commentary; the movement's tone goes from argumentative to supplicatory over its brief span. The second movement, marked Allegro (molto), allots the piano its largest share of the music, but still keeps the violin in charge with frequent extended solo passages. Its melody and chords are spiky, and the movement gains a good deal of momentum as it progresses. It leads naturally into an Adagio which, with its sustained, hushed melodic lines, occupies a more private emotional world than its predecessors. The fourth movement, marked Senza tempo, begins with an explosive chord on the violin and piano, and continues to contrast quiet, anguished melody on the unaccompanied violin with sudden, loud outbursts from both instruments. The movement climaxes with a series of loud ascending and descending runs on the violin and piano before ending with one last fragment of melody from the violin and a jarring chord from the piano. Many listeners find Schnittke's music uncomfortably ironic, but this piece shows his ability to make deeply personal statements in his music.



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