The CD begins with one of Friedrich Cerha’s first surviving compositions, the Hindemith-like First Violin Sonata of 1947. Two later works, from almost half a century on, complete the stylistic trajectory. One of them, the Sechs Stücke für Violine Solo, was written for the violinist on this CD, Ernst Kovacic, a friend of the composer for many years. Cerha wrote the booklet notes, available in English and German.

REVIEW:

For those who wish to explore a cross-section of the violin music of what appears to be one of the most commanding voices among recent composers, not to mention violinist-composers, Toccata’s collection, with its brilliant and, seemingly, authoritative performances and lively recorded sound, should be a natural choice. In every way, it’s another winner from Toccata that can be very warmly recommended.

-- Fanfare

Two years after the highly acclaimed recording of Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli's Opus 4, Gunar Letzbor returns with the Antonio Pandolfi Mealli's Opus 3, published in Innsbruck in 1660 and dedicated to his compatriot, the reigning archduchess Anna De' Medici (featured on the front cover). Letzbor revives the strange work of murderer-composer with a full-blooded performance that succeeds in captivating US from beginning to end.

Composed in 1947-48 but unperformed until 1955, Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto is one of the great concertos of the twentieth century. The wide emotional range of it's four-movement structure encompasses an opening of brooding, elegiac melancholy, a manic scherzo, a harrowing and deeply felt passacaglia, and a brilliant, concluding burlesque. Wolfgang Rihm has been described as 'one of the most approachable, engaging and profound composers writing music today' (The Guardian). The solo violin in Gesungene Zeit (Time Chant) plays one long fine-spun melody, the work creating a maximum of expression with a minimum of means.

When listening to this new CD it is difficult to comprehend why the music world had a negative opinion of Robert Schumann’s works for violin and orchestra for so long. Baiba Skride now offers a performer’s perspective on Schumann’s violin oeuvre by recording not just the Violin Concerto in D Minor but also the Phantasy in C Major op. 131 and the Violin Concerto in A Minor op. 129. The last of these is an arrangement for violin of Schumann’s Cello Concerto that the composer made for Joachim.

Ondine proudly presents a release of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin with Sirkka-Liisa Kaakinen-Pilch. On the present disc Kaakinen-Pilch performs Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas on a violin from the 17th century. This collection of works for solo violin was the pinnacle and culmination of the violin’s 200-year history in its day.

Maximilian Schmitt has already been compared to many great models; in this new recording from OehmsClassics, he proves once again how ideally suited his voice is and how magnificently Franz Schubert can sound. At the piano is the vocal accompanist of our age, Gerold Huber.

Outstanding British-violinist Tamsin-Waley Cohen - described by the late Ruggiero Ricci following a masterclass as the 'most exceptionally gifted young violinist I have ever encountered' - performs a fittingly prodigious work by Felix Mendelssohn. The Violin Concerto in D minor was composed when Mendelssohn was just 13 and is paired with his Concerto for Violin and Piano. Waley-Cohen is joined by British pianist Huw Watkins alongside the Orchestra of the Swan conducted by David Curtis.

Thomas Albertus Irnberger and the Israel Chamber Orchestra – they are an ‘entente musicale’ of the highest standard, as evinced by the previously released Violin Concertos by Hans Gál, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Karl Goldmark. This new release, with conductor Martin Sieghart, features the rarely heard Violin Concerto in D minor op. 8 by the young Richard Strauss, followed by his Sonata for Violin and Piano in E flat major op. 18, completed only a few years later, in 1888. Mr. Irnberger’s accompanist on piano is Michael Korstick.

D. MATTHEWS Three Studies, op. 39. 15 Fugues . Winter Journey • Peter Sheppard Skærved (vn) • TOCCATA 0152 (60:48)


It would be hard to imagine a better way for those interested in David Matthews’s compositions for solo violin to immerse themselves in them. Peter Sheppard Skærved’s collection offers performances by the violinist for whom Matthews wrote the pieces, as well as extensive notes (to read booklet notes accompanying Toccata’s releases will in itself, for many, be to experience ultimate immersion) by both composer and performer.


As Matthews himself relates in the notes, Skærved’s program opens with the Three Studies he wrote as a test piece for the 1986 Carl Flesch Competition. Skærved considers this the most straightforward work he’s included. Playing the 1698 Joachim Stradivari, he soars in the high-tessitura passages of the first study; but in the second—more agitated, more dissonant, and less centered tonally—he sets foot in another expressive world. The third begins skittishly but settles into wandering passages that again rise up high in the instrument’s registers. But the journey is beset by strong, visceral interjections that rely on tremolos for the potency of their effect.


The 15 Fugues that follow form an integral set; and both the composer and the violinist note that all non-contrapuntal episodic material has been extruded. Although the composer considers the First Fugue’s style neo-Bachian, listeners may hear more of Béla Bartók’s Solo Violin Sonata in it than anything of Johann Sebastian Bach’s. (The theme itself comes from a four-note pattern in the fugal Finale of Mozart’s String Quartet, K 387.) The harmonies of the Second and Third fugues bear affinities to the shifting tonalities of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Solo Violin Sonatas. Matthews identifies the Third Fugue as pastoral, and the voices of both Bach and Ysaÿe emerge fleetingly from its passages. Each of the fugues bears a dedication to one of Matthews’s friends or associates, and the notes trace these connections, at times citing correspondence that gives the dedicatee’s reaction to the work dedicated. Matthews even constructed the theme of the Fifth Fugue from the letters of two friends’ first names, although nothing in either the theme or its working out seems in the least artificial. The Sixth Fugue, composed as a wedding gift ( Allegro festivo ) showcases Skærved’s strong rhetorical flair for this music; while the Seventh, played pizzicato throughout, recalls Ysaÿe’s statement of the Dies irae at the beginning of the third movement of his Second Solo Sonata, although this statement’s more rigorously polyphonic (Skærved notes that Matthews had heard him play only the Fourth of Ysaÿe’s sonatas). Matthews based the Seventh of the fugues on the song of a blackbird he heard at his mother’s house. The Eighth, more dissonant and more polyphonic at the same time, recalls again the most severe moments in Bartók’s Solo Sonata. The Ninth may sound violinistically ungrateful in its center, but it resolves into a conclusion laced with harmonics. Both Matthews and Skærved note that the 10th Fugue, the first in order of composition, started its life as a tentative response after the composer had heard the violinist play Bach’s First Solo Sonata. Skærved, having tried the first page of Matthews’s offering, encouraged the composer to complete it, then asked for more—thus the complete set. The 13th Fugue, tremolo, exploits a device that Bartók also used, though in a much more limited way, in the opening of the Finale of his Solo Sonata; it also features a second half that inverts the first—a trick that delighted Renaissance and Baroque composers and that 20th-century composers adopted with considerably greater rigor. Here, the effect hardly seems at all unnatural, perhaps due in large part to the ardor of Skærved’s advocacy. The 14th Fugue calls for the G-string to be tuned to F?, the dominant of the Fugue’s key of B minor. The last Fugue, dedicated to Matthews’s wife, concludes the set with a warmly glowing tribute.


Winter Journey , a work of substantial length (13 minutes) brings the program to a conclusion. According to Matthews, it’s autobiographical and bears traces of Schubert’s cycle Die Winterreise , although the composer also claims to have had the sound of Bach’s Chaconne in mind. At times mournfully improvisational, the work explores what some may consider a wider range of emotions than do the fugues, diverse as they may be. The force of Skærved’s musical personality (and the composer’s) may emerge perhaps fully in this multifaceted work, coherent and strongly narrative (at least emotionally) through all its slashing dissonance.


The engineers have provided the entire program with a most flattering showcase. But anyone who has the slightest interest in David Matthews’s work should find everything about the production illuminating, while violinists and more general listeners should find in Winter Journey a musical ocean in which they might swim virtually forever. Very strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in e. 1 Symphony No. 4 • Nicholas McGegan, cond; 1 Zsolt Kalló (vn); Capella Savaria • CENTAUR 3287 (56:03)


Before one chooses to skip this review, please note that these are different versions than usual of the thrice-familiar works presented here. The Violin Concerto is given in its original 1844 version, before the composer made several changes to the orchestration, and the “Italian” Symphony is performed here in the second version from 1834, in which the composer made numerous changes to the second, third, and fourth movements. The fact that he never got around to revising the first movement has convinced most orchestras, even to the present day, to play the original score, but Nicholas McGegan has here chosen to tack the original (untouched) first movement onto the revised remaining movements.


The ear picks up many, if not all, of the textural changes in the Violin Concerto: despite the use of a smallish orchestra playing period instruments, the sound is remarkably darker, almost ominous-sounding (against such a small orchestra, the timpani is particularly forward), although part of this impression is also conveyed by violinist Kalló’s method of inflection in his phrasing. It should be noted that he is not an imported soloist but, rather, the concertmaster of Capella Savaria, and a fine one he is, too. The liner notes by Katalin Tamás also make reference to differences in “the usage of the theme in various registers” as well as “in some unpredictable harmonic solutions.” But in the end, different edition or not, the final question is: is this performance convincing? And the answer is a resounding yes. McGegan is one of those very rare conductors, like Minkowski and Norrington, who know how to make a period orchestra “speak,” to give it nuance and expression, and in the end that is always more important than the specific medium (period instruments or whatever) being used. There is no question in my mind that this is one of the premier recordings of this warhorse. When the music shifts to the uptempo lilt of the third movement, Kalló is right there in mood, giving a lift to his bowing that practically spurt the notes out of his instrument; and here, in particular, the winds of Capella Savaria contribute most remarkably to the overall texture.


The “Italian” Symphony, likewise, gets off to a rousing start, the winds and strings joyously bouncing their way through the music. There is a noticeable accelerando at the end of this movement, driving the music home with panache. One of the first noticeable differences comes at the beginning of the second movement, where the “pilgrims’ march” is changed—subtly, but enough to make a difference in how the themes cohere. (Also, by using such a small orchestra, the clarinets sound so clear that they almost come across as recorders, a unique effect in my experience.) The third movement’s changes are largely in orchestration, too, but there is also a very surprising change from major to minor in the playing of the horns in their later reappearance that does not appear in the original version of the symphony. This harmonic change ties in to the brief minor theme of the full orchestra that is present in both versions.


The last movement Saltarello has a few changes, mostly in texture, but thanks to the incredible clarity and transparency of the orchestra and McGegan’s almost torrid pace, it sounds quite different from most versions. I did detect a few musical alterations here and there: little ones, but enough to make the movement sound more cohesive musically than it usually does (note particularly the swirling strings, a nice touch and a very original one). With such clear textures, even the string pizzicatos have more “bite” than they normally do, and the swirling string figures almost have the effect of a swarm of bees or hornets. I should also mention that these performances are given at A=430, a shade below modern pitch, for those who keep score on such things.


Overall, then, a most interesting and, I think, valuable addition to the Mendelssohn discography. Bravo to Kalló, McGegan, and the orchestra! And bravo, too, to engineer Miklós Csikós, who has kept everything forward and sharply etched in the soundspace so that no detail is lost.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Simply the best.

This release turned up just as James Ehnes’s superb two disc ‘Complete Works for Violin’ has been receiving massive plaudits. With this being the 60th anniversary of 1953 these coincidences are always likely, but unless SACD sound is a deciding factor when purchasing such releases this does put Vadim Gluzman and Angela Yoffe straight against stiff competition.

By any standards these are all terrific performances, recorded in stunning sound - up quite close and personal, but with plenty of space around the instruments, inviting us in rather than blowing us off our seats. The BIS balance puts the piano on a more equal footing than that with Chandos, where the violin is a little closer in feel, though not to the extent that it covers the piano. Ehnes has a fine parlando feel in the first movement of the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1, which heightens the emotion in a part of the piece which can sometimes sound a little static. Vadim Gluzman has this and greater eloquence, giving even passages of restraint an emotional weight which carries us forward into realms of ever increasing intensity. Ehnes is more abstract, which has its own strengths, but which keeps this first movement as more of a prelude rather than a powerful statement in its own right. The drier Chandos acoustic is less favourable to the chunky notes which throw us straight into the deep end of the Allegro brusco, played with greater on-the-edge string-grabbing heft by Gluzman. The theme at 1:07 becomes a dramatic moment here as if the entire piece has been building to this point, and Gluzman and Yoffe hold us in a grip of staggering intensity. For all its fine qualities, Ehnes and Armstrong’s performance is somewhat blown out of the water by Gluzman and Yoffe, whose Andante in this piece is meltingly beautiful, the muted violin having a nicer tone than Ehnes, Yoffe’s arabesques in the piano and the deeper sonority in the bass line phrases also having a greater expressive effect. The final Allegrissimo is hugely exciting in both performances, Ehnes and Armstong being swifter by an appreciable margin, but Gluzman/Yoffe able to muster massive sonorities and greater degrees of contrast for the more lyrical passages as a result.

For us flute players the popularity of the Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D Major Op. 94bis will always be something of a sore point, but it is such good music that, in the end, who cares what it’s played on. Once again it is Gluzman and Ehnes in competition, but the comments with regard to the first sonata are equally valid in this case. Ehnes and Armstrong are excellent, but Gluzman and Yoffe are just so much more beefy, more involving. Again it comes back to emotion against abstraction - Ehnes and Armstrong technically brilliant and musically sensitive, but Gluzman and Yoffe conjuring a considerable extra layer of poetry and empathetic impact. Little extra touches of weight on certain notes or harmonies, a little more detail in the articulation, a few degrees more breath and freedom in the music all adding up and making the big difference in the end. There are of course other competitors in this field, and that with Isabelle van Keulen and Ronald Brautigam on Challenge Classics comes from the same Sendesaal acoustic as this BIS recording. I’ve only been able to listen to this online and it does sound like an excellent release, also a Chandos-beater in these pieces but to my ears still not quite displaying the same degree of convincing musical depth and weight as Gluzman/Yoffe. Keulen and Brautigam tend to slightly swifter tempi which have their own excitement, but it is that sense of every note and phrase conveying its own message, like the sentences in an intimate letter, which makes this BIS recording a touch more special. Take the tender Andante of Op.94 bis, which both duos take at roughly similar, fairly swift and suitably unsentimental tempi. Keulen and Brautigam have fine phrasing and dynamics, but when compared to Gluzman and Yoffe appear almost just to be charging ahead and missing the points the latter find so precious. Without disturbing the flow of the music Gluzman holds onto notes a fraction longer here and there, Yoffe in perfect synchronization, introducing a sense of nostalgic yearning right from the start and delivering that sense of narrative which I always bang on about, but which I all too rarely find in actual fact. That second section is a bit like our characters have decided to go for a walk in the park on Challenge Classics, where at 1:05 our BIS artists manage to establish a magical change of mood, celestial and poetic - creating all kinds of flitting images in the mind rather than conjuring amused feet sweeping through autumn leaves.

The Three Pieces from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ open with ‘that music off of BBC’s The Apprentice’, Montagues and Capulets performed with maximum power and a sense or real orchestral thrust from pianist Angela Yoffe. Prokofiev wrote all too few works for violin and piano, and this arrangement by D. Grjunes is a fine addition to the repertoire, also including the Dance of the Girls with Lilies and Masks.

I’ve admired Vadim Gluzman’s playing before, and all of his recordings on the BIS label can safely be recommended. It’s tricky to be definitive, but of the more recent recordings of these sonatas I have heard this would be the one for me. There are others. Ilya Grubert and Matti Raekallio on Ondine is potent stuff, but Grubert is a bit shouty on some accents and there are too many unappealing moments to make this a real contender. You might come across Joseph Szigeti and Joseph Levine’s historical performance as a digital download from Past Classics, and while this is of great interest I can’t bear Szigeti’s wobbly vibrato, and the balance between violin and piano in the Second Sonata is terminally in favour of the violin, which sounds as if Szigeti is playing while sitting on your lap. So yes, with stunning SACD sound, everything in its favour and with musical qualities which make this a recording to relish for years to come, I’m going to stick my neck out and say Vadim Gluzman and Angela Yoffe are the best for these two Prokofiev masterpieces.

– Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

Tchaikovsky: Complete Music for Violin and Orchestra, Composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Artist Ilya Grubert violin, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Vassily Sinaisky conductor, Format 1 CD, One of the most widely performed works in the violinist's oeuvre, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto has been the subject of many a release over the years. Here, rather refreshingly, it is joined by a host of other orchestral works written for the instrument: the quiet S�r�nade m�lancolique, created for the esteemed Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer and composed soon after the Piano Concerto No.1 in B minor; the Valse-scherzo, a charming divertissement with a gypsy flavor and strong rhythmic pulse - not to be confused with the much more famous version for solo piano; and finally Souvenir d'un lieu cher, whose middle movement was originally intended as the slow movement of the Concerto and which was later re-orchestrated by Glazunov out of the lesser known version for violin and piano. Interpreting these works is internationally renowned Ilya Grubert, winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition back in 1978 and described as 'a musician of exceptional talent, a violinist in the tradition of the great Russian virtuosos, possessed of a clear unwavering tone and an extraordinary technique.' (New York Times). He is supported by an all-Russian cast: the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Vassily Sinaisky - now Conductor in Residence at the Bolshoi Theatre. Recorded in Moscow, 1997. This CD presents one of the most popular and widely performed concertos, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, logically coupled with the composer's other works for violin and orchestra, thus showing the two faces of the Russian master: the large scale, dramatic concerto form and the smaller scale genre pieces (Valse Scherzo, Souvenir d'un lieu cher), mildly melancholic and melodious, breathing the atmosphere of Russian aristocratic salons. Excellent performance by Ilya Grubert, prize winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky Competition, supported by the all Russian forces of the Moscow Philharmonic under Vassily Sinaisky.

This marks the CD premiere of the piano transcription of the Franck violin sonata by Alfred Cortot - with new pianistic textures giving a special sonority to the unique harmonies of the masterpiece - paired with the Prelude, fugue et variation transcribed for piano by Harold Bauer. Domenico Codispoti plays with a beautiful blend of grandeur and intimacy and a wonderful transparency.

Classical Music

Volume 17 of the Friedhelm Dohl Edition, one of the most substantial editions of a living German composer, presents some of his latest works for violin and cello. "Looking back after 75 years: my composing and my life are 'in ever-increasing circles', remember, start off, dismantle the past, change it into something new."