Great chamber music does not always emerge when great soloists meet, but these recordings of Brahms's violin sonatas saw both recording artists reaching new heights of musical expression which do full justice to the warm lyricism of Brahms's great sonatas.

WHAT THE CRITICS HAD TO SAY
“No violinist of today can boast a greater variety of tone colour, a more natural sense of phrasing or a deeper feeling for musical structure. The surprise (for me anyway) is Katchen so warm and soft is his tone and so responsive is he to every nuance of Suk ”Gramophone

Extract from the sleeve notes by Tully Potter, a regular contributor to The Strad magazine, and is also editor of International Classical Record Collector.

These Brahms recordings represent one of those series of sessions in which everything goes right. The tall, strong Suk with his big, songful tone made an ideal foil for the powerful Katchen, and the two men were stimulated to give of their best: although of the same generation, they came from such differing backgrounds that each had much to offer the other. The performances have not been surpassed and are unlikely to be bettered, although they may be equalled. The American pianist and the Bohemian violinist find all the necessary lyricism and tonal colour for the first two sonatas and they rise effortlessly to the challenges of the third. Even the mellow acoustic of the Kingsway Hall - now, alas, gone for ever - plays its part, lending a bloom to the tones of both instruments; and the team of producer Ray Minshull and engineer Kenneth Wilkinson ensured that every nuance was captured. Innumerable botched jobs testify to the difficulty of balancing a piano with a violin but here it all sounds perfect. Truly a Legend among violin sonata recordings.

DISC INFORMATION
Brahms
The Violin Sonatas
Suk / Katchen
Catalogue number: 466 393-2 -DM

1 mid-price CD
International release date: February 2000
Sleeve notes: English, French, German
Total timing: 67.51

Performers
Josef Suk, violin
Julius Katchen, piano

RECORDING INFORMATION
Recording Location
Kingsway Hall, London, UK, March 1967

Producers:
Ray Minshull

Recording engineers:
Kenneth Wilkinson

Remastered at 96kHz in 24-bit digital stereo from the original analogue mastertapes

Technical Specification
Mixing desk: Decca built MASPERE
Microphones: Neumann KM 83, KM 56
Recording (tape) machines: 2 x Ampex

MASPERE (anagram of AMPERES)
Built by Roy Wallace and Bob Goodman. The initials stand for Mono and Stereophonic Electronic Recording Equipment, consisting of 15 channels, with channels:
2,5,8,11,14 fully pannable L to R
1,4,7,10, 13 pannable L to C
3,6,9,12,15 pannable R to C
2 track (stereo) working only, Built c.1961