Right at the end of my conversation with Alexandre Kantorow, I happen to ask him what else he is putting on his recording with Brahms’s Sonata No 2 in F sharp minor. Just as well, because his answer illustrates perfectly his concept of the work. He sees it as a rhapsody. ‘The idea was to do three recordings, each with one of the three Brahms sonatas. Each sonata would go with something. With No 2, I have put Bartók’s Rhapsody, Op 1 (a fantastic work written by a young composer, as Brahms was when he wrote his Op 2), Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 11 and Brahms’s Rhapsody, Op 79 No 1 – because ...
