Volume 29 Issue 1 | September 2023

STRINGS
ATTACHED
TERRY ROBBINS
Violinist Tianwa Yang and pianist Nicholas
Rimmer are absolutely superb on the
incredibly challenging George Antheil
Violin Sonatas Nos.1-4, a recital of remarkable
music by the New Jersey-born
pianist/composer who left America for
Europe as a 21-year-old in 1922 intent on
becoming “noted and notorious” – and
succeeded (Naxos 8.559937 naxos.com/
CatalogueDetail/?id=8.559937).
Antheil met Stravinsky in Berlin and in 1923 followed him to Paris,
where the first three sonatas were written, commissioned by Ezra
Pound for his mistress, the American violinist Olga Rudge. Sonata
No.1 shows the unmistakable influence of Stravinsky’s Les Noces
(premiered the night Antheil arrived in Paris) and the earlier Rite
of Spring. The single-movement Sonata No.2 is a dazzling collage
of ragtime, popular melodies and folk songs. Stravinsky’s influence
is back, albeit with a more melodic feel, in Sonata No.3, also a
single movement.
Sonata No.4 is from 1947, long after Antheil had moved back to the
United States. Although built on Baroque and classical forms the
rhythmic, mechanistic style of his Parisian sonatas is still discernible.
In 2021/22 the American violinist Maria
Ioudenitch won first prize at the Ysaÿe
International Music Competition and
both the Tibor Varga and Joseph Joachim
International Violin Competitions, the
latter also landing her the Warner Classics
Prize that led to her debut Songbird CD
with pianist Kenny Broberg (Warner
Classics 5419737407 mariaioudenitch.
com/listen).
Her “journey through song” is a selection of short works by Robert
and Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Nadia Boulanger, Amy
Beach, Tchaikovsky, Medtner, Rachmaninoff, Glinka and Richard
Strauss. The one substantial work is Schubert’s four-movement
Fantasie in C Major D934. Theresa Pilsl is the soprano on the Strauss
song Morgen.
Technically flawless, Ioudenitch draws a huge tone from the 1691
Pietro Guarneri of Mantua violin, her sweeping phrasing imbued with
deep musicality and subtle nuances.
On All Roads, the Shea-Kim Duo of violinist
Brendan Shea and pianist Yerin Kim explore
music by composers connected to the city of
Vienna “in increasingly distant ways” (Blue
Griffin Recording BGR643 shea-kimduo.
com/shop-1).
Beethoven moved there from Bonn;
a beautifully expressive performance of
his Sonata for Piano and Violin No.3 in
E-flat Major Op.12 opens the disc. Robert
Schumann is represented by his Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in A
Minor Op.105.
Alfred Schnittke also lived in Germany but studied in Vienna;
included here is his Suite in the Old Style. The final work is the
Romance Op.23 by the American Amy Beach, whose tenuous link to
Vienna is that she apparently “visited once.”
Warm, stylish playing, fine ensemble and a lovely recording quality
make for a highly enjoyable disc.
On The Living American the excellent
violinist Timothy Schwarz continues to
champion American music with a diverse
collection of works by seven of today’s
leading American composers, including five
recording premieres; the pianist is Charles
Abramovic (Albany Records TROY1930
albanyrecords.com).
There are three solo violin works:
Fantasia on Lama badaa yatasana by
Steven Sametz; Jessie Montgomery’s Rhapsody No.2; and Reena
Esmail’s Raag Charukeshi from Drashan, a blend of Indian and
Western classical music that explores grief in various forms.
The third movement of Jennifer Higdon’s String Poetic is here, as is
Avner Dorman’s wide-ranging single movement, Sonata No.1. The
three entertaining pieces by musical theatre composer/pianist Joseph
Goodrich were written for and premiered by Schwarz, as was the
Sametz work and the final work on the CD, Denis DiBlasio’s
Australian Sketches, in which the duo is joined by bassist Douglas
Mapp and drummer Doug Hirlinger.
Cellist John-Henry Crawford and pianist
Victor Santiago Asuncion celebrate the
composer’s 150th anniversary on Voice of
Rachmaninoff, an album that explores the
vocal nature of his music through original
works and transcriptions (Orchid Classics
ORC100241 orchidclassics.com).
The Cello Sonata in G Minor Op.19
anchors a recital that includes transcriptions
of the Vocalise Op.34 No.14, two songs,
a piano Prelude, the 19th variation from the Rhapsody on a Theme of
Paganini and Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of the theme from the slow
movement of the Piano Concerto No.2.
Crawford’s warm cello sound is perfectly suited to Rachmaninoff’s
expansive, long-breathed melodies, ably supported by Asuncion in the
often extremely difficult piano parts.
What we're listening to this month:
Variation
David Rogosin
New Brunswick pianist
David Rogosin explores the
ways a musical theme can
be transformed, tracing an
arc spanning 400 years of
composition.
Around Baermann
Maryse Legault & Gili Loftus
Around Baermann is Montreal
clarinetist Maryse Legault’s love
letter to one of the most formative
players and developers of early
clarinet technique and repertoire.
38 | September 2023 thewholenote.com