Beethoven’s seventh violin sonata of 1802 is is set in C minor, the darkly dramatic key he used most famously of all for his Fifth Symphony, and stormy angst is the tone from the start, the violin delivering its gasping theme over menacing low-register piano rumbles; although a more playful, march-like second subject provides brief respite. The two central movements are major-keyed, but minor tonality returns for the finale. Clara Schumann’s three violin romances were written in 1853—the lull before her personal storm of 1854, when Robert Schumann attempted suicide. No. 1 is a lyrical Andante molto. A hint of gypsy enters for the Allegretto, before No. 3 presents a long-breathed violin melody over rapturously rippling piano figures. Brahms’s D minor sonata then returns us to a darker emotional palette, with even its loving Adagio and feather-light Scherzo sounding troubled.