As I grew up playing the violin, I always thought that I can play any piece without greater effort that has technique inside my range. If something was too technically difficult, then it was of course not possible to play the piece, but if something was sort of achievable, then I would not have to practice much in order to learn the piece. As a great fan of Sarasate, I felt that all my limits where only in my technique.

After a 7 years break when I retook the violin and focused only on etudes, I kept this mentality. I felt like a super hero for learning so many etudes in one year (the first year), and thought that soon, I will be able to learn almost anything… I was so confident about technique and tone.

So came the day,when I met my pianist, and we decided to play Brahms d minor sonata. I tried it. I learnt the notes. It still sounded bad. I continued learn. It still sounded really bad. "This piece is not for me!" I said, and we performed only the last movement. As I fell in love with the Brahms A major sonata, where the sheets looked quite easy, we decided to learn it as well. How difficult could it be, considering it seemed pretty easy on sheets, sounded easy when Anne Sophie Mutter plays, and I really loved it?

The first month, I got totally depressed. I wanted to give up. It sounded dreadful every time I tried to play it. Where was the beautiful tone I was convinced that I had? Where was the technique that I should have built up with all those etudes? Not only I learnt that just because it looks technically easy, it still can be a nightmare to have such octaves and shifts. It was difficult, really difficult. Second month, I still wanted to give up, but now finally forced myself to work on the problematic places in the first movement (everywhere). Suddenly, came to my mind that PHRASING was important. Every day I played it through, and realized that Brahms had to be solved as one puts a puzzle, where the phrases, dynamics, rubatoes where the pieces one had to put. And it took long time, 5 months before we performed the complete.

This experience, made me realize, how actually much I have to learn, and how much one has to work on one piece before performing. From that day, I never again believed that I can do any piece, even the little Gluck melodie, without investing months into it.

I also saw a few times the last years, several very confident and very talented amateur violinists with lovely tone and great technique going up on stage, and crashing romantic sonatas, and as a result refused to go up again playing chamber music (which is very sad, when it would be worth giving it a second try instead!)

This makes me think: can playing romantic sonatas make you humble and teach you the essence of hard work? is it something in the way we are taught to play the violin (or teach ourselves) that does not include handling the difficulties of chamber music? can it be that if one relies too much on the tone and technique, one will have difficulties handling a Brahms sonata?