The three movements of Sonata for violin and piano follow an evolution from separateness to unity in the instrumental writing.While the melodies played by each instrument are kept entirely distinct in the opening movement, the instruments begin to trade ideas in the second movement and in the third play the same melodies with unified purpose.

Material is recognizably shared between the movements, while its presentation ranges from initial haziness to final definiteness. The tempos proceed slow, faster, fastest.

At the end of the first movement, whose violin theme returns repeatedly to the open G, the lower boundary is pushed a semitone lower with a scordatura - a retuning of the string in the course of playing. The F# is maintained for the opening of the second movement, and the F#-G semitone becomes the sonority out of which the last movement springs.