One of the great challenges of Beach in general - her Browning Songs are so incredible but the vocalist has to push so far and the pianist must be very careful to not overpower everything.
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I've played this violin sonata with two different violinists and both times, as the performance approached, all other issues of pianistic difficulty took a backseat to "can I play this quietly enough not to blast my violinist off the stage while still doing the stuff I want to do musically?"
I love those Browning songs and frequently teach them. Are there any recordings you really like? I'm not sure I've landed on the one that really does it for me. I guess my choice would be Mason/Polk, although they unfortunately only do two of the three.
I've not found a recording that completely does it for me, I saw them once in a live performance that knocked my socks off and nothing has ever hit quite the same since (outside of actually playing them)!
I was too negative—Mason/Polk are excellent, especially in "Ah love but a day," but basically I wish Anne Sofie von Otter would record this set along with my other 20 favorite Beach songs. I don't even know if she ever sings in English but still 😂
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