Volume 23 Issue 9 - June / July / August 2018

STRINGS
ATTACHED
TERRY ROBBINS
There’s another outstanding set of the J.S.
Bach Sonatas & Partitas for Violin, this
time by the New York violinist Johnny
Gandelsman, a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk
Road Ensemble, on his own In a Circle
Records label (ICR010 johnnygandelsman.
com). No stranger to crossover styles,
Gandelsman cites Irish fiddle bowing and
Béla Fleck banjo left-hand chord shapes
as influences on his approach to the problems posed by these astonishing
works, and there’s certainly a freedom, vitality and a strong
sense of character that makes the performances immensely satisfying.
Gandelsman uses gut strings on a modern violin and a transitional
bow – YouTube footage of his concert performances shows him
holding it a few inches above the frog – and his bowing is effortlessly
smooth and controlled, dancing through the faster movements and
surmounting the multiple-stop issues with clarity and ease. He’s never
afraid to take the time to let phrases breathe, but never loses a fine sense
of melodic line or rhythmic pulse. Nothing ever sounds heavy or forced.
It’s simply brilliant playing, on a par with the very best in an
intensely competitive field.
The 2-CD set Mozart: Violin Sonatas Vol.5
is the final issue in the complete series of
Mozart’s sonatas for keyboard and violin
– including the 16 juvenile sonatas – by
the outstanding duo of violinist Alina
Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien
(Hyperion CDA68175 hyperion-records.
co.uk). This disc has the Sonatas in G major K11 and A Major K12, the
two Sonatas in E-flat Major K302 and K380, the Sonata in A Major
K526 and the Variations in G Major K359. An interesting addition is
the Sonata in B-flat Major K570, Mozart’s penultimate piano sonata
that appeared in print some five months after Mozart’s death with an
added anonymous violin accompaniment.
This is the first volume from this set that I’ve heard, and the
previous volumes garnered rave reviews. It’s easy to hear why: this
duo always works so well together, and can find depth and expression
in even the simplest movements. Judging by this beautifully recorded
final issue it’s a set that will bear comparison to any.
There’s another truly lovely set of the Brahms
Three Violin Sonatas, this time with the
outstanding English violinist Tasmin Little
and her regular partner Piers Lane (Chandos
CHAN 10977 chandos.net). There’s a beautifully
measured opening to the Sonata in G
Major Op.78 – always a good indicator of
what’s to come – with full, warm playing and
a finely judged pulse and tempo. There’s lyricism,
expression and passion when called for in all three sonatas.
The rich tone of Little’s 1757 Guadagnini violin is matched by Lane’s
Steinway Model D concert grand in as satisfying a set of these works as
you could wish to hear.
Four Strings Around the World is a quite stunning solo CD from
the Romanian-born violinist Irina Muresanu that features diverse
musical styles from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and both
North and South America (Sono Luminus DSL-92221 sonoluminus.
com). Muresanu introduced her Four Strings
Around the World project in 2013 after
her difficulty in learning Mark O’Connor’s
Cricket Dance led her to explore worldwide
non-traditional violin styles.
Enescu’s Airs in Romanian Folk Style
opens the disc, with works by Ireland’s Dave
Flynn, Iran’s Reza Vali, India’s Shirish Korde
and China’s Bright Sheng surrounding
Paganini’s 24th Caprice, Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo Op.6 and
a strongly melodic reading of the Bach D Minor Chaconne. Then
it’s Piazzolla’s Tango Étude No.3 and a work by Chickasaw Nation
composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate before the short Cricket
Dance that apparently gave Muresanu so much trouble.
Not that you would know it – complete with foot stomps, it’s a
simply dazzling end to one of the best solo CDs I’ve heard.
There are another two sets of the unaccompanied
Bach cello works: Bach Cello Suites
with Dariusz Skoraczewski, the principal
cellist of the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra (Analog Arts dskora.com);
and Johann Sebastian Bach The Six Cello
Suites Revisited with the Danish cellist
Toke Møldrup (Bridge 9503A/B bridgerecords.com).
Møldrup plays a David Tecchler cello (Rome 1697) and, for Suite VI
and the Suite I Revisited a mid-18th-century cello rebuilt as a fivestring
by Birger Kulmbach in 2016. Skoraczewski’s gorgeous tone is
from a 1702 Carlo Giuseppe Testore cello on loan from Marin Alsop.
Recording ambience is fine for both, with a touch more resonance
in the Skoraczewski. Individual movement and suite timings vary
– the bigger differences probably due to the handling of repeats – but
despite Møldrup being faster in 23 of the 36 tracks it’s Skoraczewski
who has the smoothest line and who really dances through the suites.
Møldrup, incidentally, produces a continuous percussive sound from
his left-hand fingers hitting the fingerboard.
The Møldrup comes with copious booklet
notes on the approach to the interpretation
(turning the score “into three separate layers
– melody, chordal structure and bass line”)
and an additional track in Viggo Mangor’s
Suite I Revisited, a reworking of the G-major
suite transposed to D major for two violins,
cello and chamber organ “to give an insight
into our working method.”
The Skoraczewski comes with virtually no notes at all, with all
aspects of the CD production – recording, engineering, editing,
graphics, photography – credited to him. In this particular case, less is
definitely more.
The Spanish academic-musician Guadalupe
López Íñiguez is the Baroque cello soloist in
Domenico Gabrielli & Alessandro Scarlatti
Complete Cello Works on an excellent Alba
Super Audio CD (ABCD 412 alba.fi). Baroque
cellist Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, Baroque
guitarist and archlutenist Olli Hyyrynen and
harpsichordist Lauri Honkavirta provide
varied continuo support where appropriate.
The Gabrielli works are the Sonatas for cello and basso continuo
in G major (two versions) and A major, the seven Ricercari for solo
cello and the Canon for two cellos. Scarlatti is represented by his
three Sonatas for cello and basso continuo in D minor, C minor and C
major respectively.
In her excellent booklet notes Iñiquez discusses her approach to
the early music genre as well as the issues of sources, pitch, temperament,
articulation, vibrato and scordatura, the latter employed in
the Gabrielli-major sonata (first version) and the Ricercari numbers
4, 6 and 7.
74 | June | July | August 2018 thewholenote.com