Volume 29 Issue 2 | October & November 2023

STRINGS
ATTACHED
TERRY ROBBINS
With the July release of her new CD
Eugène Ysaÿe Six Sonatas for Violin
Solo Op.27 violinist Hilary Hahn celebrates
the centenary of these remarkable
and challenging works, each
dedicated to a younger contemporary of
the aging Belgian composer (Deutsche
Grammophon 00028948641765
store.deutschegrammophon.com/
p51-i0028948641765/hilary-hahn/eugeneysa-e-six-sonatas-for-violin-solo-op-27/index.html).
The impetus for their composition was Ysaÿe’s experiencing a
performance of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas by the young Joseph
Szigeti in 1923. Like the Bach cycle, the Ysaÿe set starts with a G-Minor
work and ends with one in E Major. Szigeti is the dedicatee of the first;
Jacques Thibaud, George Enescu, Fritz Kreisler, Mathieu Crickboom
and Manuel Quiroga are the other five.
Hahn spent seven years studying at the Curtis Institute with Jascha
Brodsky, the last living student of Ysaÿe, so has a direct link with these
sonatas. As always, her playing is remarkably strong and quite brilliant,
anchored by flawless technique and a profound musicality.
The reasoning behind the digital-only
release from Leaf Music featuring Orchestre
Symphonique Laval principal violist Fédéric
Lambert and Orchestre Symphonique de
Montréal principal double bassist Ali Kian
Yazdanfar is that Iridescence – the variability
in an object’s colour when you
change the viewing angle – here refers to
our viewing the two instruments from a
different perspective (LM268 leaf-music.ca).
The duet works are Evan Chambers’ 1997 The Fisherstreet Duo,
Efraín Oscher’s 2008 Escenas del Sur and the 2000 three-movement
Duo for Viola and Double Bass by the Welsh composer Gareth Wood.
Each player has a solo piece, completely different in style and effect.
Lambert’s is the quiet, contemplative in manus tuas, a 2009 work by
Caroline Shaw based on a Thomas Tallis motet and originally written
for solo cello, but Yazdanfar steals the show with the dazzling Thème
Varié pour Contrebasse solo, a 1976 composition by Jean Françaix
with variations built on trills, sixteenth notes, double stops, pizzicato
and harmonics.
I’m not sure exactly what the reasoning
was behind the selection of works on
Mythes, the latest CD from violinist James
Ehnes and his regular pianist partner
Andrew Armstrong, but there’s no
doubting the quality of the recital of two
major works and a series of encore pieces
(ONYX4234 onyxclassics.com/release/
james-ehnes-andrew-armstrong-mythes).
When Szymanowski wrote his Mythes Op.30 in 1915 he felt that
he and the violinist Pavel Kochanski were developing a new mode of
expression for the instrument. Certainly the three sensuous pieces
are full of brilliantly coloured and nuanced violin effects, all superbly
captured by Ehnes.
The original keyboard part for Handel’s Sonata in D Major HWV371
exists only as a figured bass line, with Armstrong here using a version
that the duo has essentially adapted from various performing editions.
A varied selection of seven encores completes the CD: Kreisler’s
arrangements of a Tchaikovsky Chant sans paroles and Grainger’s
Molly on the Shore; Heifetz’s arrangements of Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Flight of the Bumblebee and Ponce’s Estrellita; James Newton
Howard’s brief 133...At Least; Josef Suk’s Burleska; and the Sicilienne
attributed to Maria Theresa von Paradis.
When pianist Kit Armstrong and violinist
Renaud Capuçon played all 16 of the mature
Mozart violin sonatas at the Mozart Week
festival in Salzburg in 2016 Capuçon says
that they “knew at once that we wanted to
record them.” The result is the outstanding
four CD box set of Mozart: Sonatas for
Piano & Violin, works that mark Mozart’s
development of the genre from keyboard
sonatas with violin accompaniment to the fully fledged violin sonatas
of the nineteenth century. The 12 Variations in G Major on “La bergère
Célimène K359 and the 6 Variations in G Minor on “Hélas! j’ai perdu
mon amant” K360 complete disc two (Deutsche Grammophon 486
4463 deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/mozartsonatas-for-piano-violin-capucon-armstrong-12981).
Armstrong’s booklet note perfectly describes their approach and the
result: “However, we did not historicize in our playing: on the
contrary, it was particularly rewarding to see beauties brought forth
by later techniques blossom in Mozart’s music. When I hear Renaud
render Mozart’s lyrical flights with all the sumptuousness and refinement
that modern violin playing can have, I am convinced: it is
beautiful, and that is what matters.”
Bach’s sonatas for violin and piano,
predating Mozart’s by some 60 years, are
essentially extensions of the Baroque trio
sonata. Probably dating from 1720-23
during his time at Cöthen, they were
reworked in later years but never published
in his lifetime. Several contemporary manuscripts
exist, but no autograph copy. They
are presented on a 2CD set by violinist
Ambroise Aubrun with Mireille Podeur on harpsichord on J.S.
BACH Sei suonate a Cembalo certato e Violino solo (Six Sonatas for
Obbligato Harpsichord and Violin BWV1014-1019) (Hortus 228-229
editionshortus.com).
The idiomatic performances are delicate and refined, perhaps a bit
lacking in warmth. An excellent booklet essay by Podeur with some
fascinating technical insight adds to a top-notch release.
On Spanish Light the violinist Franscisco
Fullana returns to his Andalusian roots in
an outstanding recital with the Spanish
pianist Alba Ventura (Orchid Classics
ORC100250 orchidclassics.com).
Turina’s Violin Sonata No.2 Op.82,
Sonata española from 1934 incorporates
Andalusian and gypsy melodies in a work
that also shows the influence of Turina’s
studies in Paris. Sarasate’s Romanza andaluza is from the second
volume of Spanish Dances Op.22, while his Zigeunerweisen Op.20,
originally for violin and orchestra is heard in the piano arrangement
made by the composer and recorded by him with one of the three
Catalan composers featured here, Joan Manén (1883-1971) in 1904.
Written for Jacques Thibaud, the single movement Granados Violin
Sonata H.127 is a real gem; of uncertain date, it wasn’t published until
1971. The two movements IV Oració al Maig and VI La font are from
the Seis sonetos of 1921-22 by Eduardo Toldrà (1895-1962). The Manén
56 | October & November 2023 thewholenote.com