About the creation

The Sonata for Violin and Piano (completed September 1951 and revised for publication in March 1952) is typical of Tal's forcefully expressive style; in form it presents the interesting and novel experiment of shaping a three-movement-Sonata in the scheme of a scheme of a classical first-movement, with the opening Moderato representing the first-subject section and exposition, the Andantino corresponding to second-subject expression and development, and the final movement (Moderato) given to recapitulation and coda.

The first performance of the Sonata took place in Jerusalem in September 1951, when Eli Goren and Doreen Stanfield broadcast it over Kol Israel; the revised version was accepted for the ISCM Festival at Salzburg (June 1952).