Wanchi Huang performs some of the greatest literature for unaccompanied violin with great sensitivity and depth.

One of the least recorded of Paganini's 6 Violin Concertos.

After her triumphant Schumann recording, rising violin star Lena Neudauer returns to tackle the incredibly demanding violin works of Maurice Ravel. Accompanied by Paul Rivinius on piano and alongside guest cellist Julian Steckel, Neudauer presents rare and popular works alike, creating a true image of a master.

Classical Music

R. STRAUSS Violin Sonata, Op. 18. RESPIGHI Violin Sonata in b. Six Pieces: Melodia; Valse caressante; Serenata • Tasmin Little (vn); Piers Lane (pn) • CHANDOS 10749 (65:50)

Violinist Tasmin Little has amassed a very respectable discography on a number of different labels, though of late, she seems to have settled in as one of Chandos’s house artists. Her recent recording of Delius’s Violin Concerto received an urgent recommendation from me in 35:4, so I really looked forward to receiving her latest release of these two late romantic sonatas.


On the surface, Richard Strauss and Respighi may not seem to have a lot in common, but their respective violin sonatas have been paired on disc before, notably by Kyung-Wha Chung and Krystian Zimerman for Deutsche Grammophon and by Frank Almond and William Wolfram for Avie. Strauss composed his sonata in 1887 at the age of 23. It’s an inspired outpouring of youth hardly recognizable as music by the composer that Strauss would become. Respighi’s B-Minor Sonata—an earlier sonata in D Minor dates from the composer’s teens—was written in 1917, exactly 30 years later than Strauss’s sonata, by a more mature composer of 38.


Strauss’s sonata will no doubt be permanently associated with Heifetz, not because he championed it and twice recorded it, but because of his callous and stubborn determination to perform the piece in 1953 before an Israeli audience that still considered Strauss a Nazi collaborator and whose emotions were still raw from the Holocaust. That little stunt nearly cost Heifetz his career when an assailant attacked him outside his hotel, striking his right arm with an iron bar. While I don’t condone the death threats and violence against him, I understand the intensity of feelings that were aroused. Heifetz had no one to blame but himself for his own arrogance and intractable insensitivity. He canceled his last concert and departed Israel post haste, not to return there again until 1970.


The shame of it all is that Strauss’s sonata was written half a century before Hitler rose to power, and the piece is a passionate and deeply touching reflection of the late 19th-century German musical culture in which Strauss came of age. Unsurprisingly, Liszt and Wagner, both recently dead, appear as frequent ghosts throughout the sonata’s pages, but another guest one meets, less frequently perhaps but still very much alive when Strauss wrote the piece, is Brahms.


Respighi is not an easy composer to categorize. Some see him, as they see Strauss, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, and Sibelius as manifestations of a resistant strain of late romanticism that persisted well into the 20th century, while others have referred to Respighi as an Impressionist. I think one could support either view. There’s no question but that Respighi’s sonata is the more modern of the two works on the disc, at least in terms of its approach to harmony and tonality, but it remains an essentially romantic work in its gestural language—i.e., in its sweeping vistas and appeal to the emotions, both public and private.


The last time I reviewed a recording of Strauss’s violin sonata was in 32:3. That Atma CD also contained violin and piano works by Elgar and Ravel in performances by Jonathan Crow and Paul Stewart which I called “a desideratum of indescribably beautiful music matched by indescribably beautiful playing.” Pardon the pun, but Tasmin Little brings more than a little of Crow’s eloquent and elegant playing to the Strauss, but I would also have to say that in some of the sonata’s more technically taxing passages, she can sound ever so slightly flustered; and while the notes never actually get away from her, one senses she’s making an effort to stay on top of them. Next to Crow’s Strauss, another performance I’ve long liked is that by Dmitri Sitkovetsky on Virgin Classics. He has the technical chops to pull it off smoothly, but I don’t find him quite as emotionally engaged as either Crow or Little. Whatever the reason, Respighi’s sonata seems to suit Little a little better, both technically and temperamentally. Her performance of the piece is lithe and fully responsive to the score’s rapidly shifting moods and colors. In my opinion, it easily outclasses Tanja Becker-Bender on Hyperion, whose reading I find somewhat flighty and rudderless.


Overall, this has to be rated a very fine effort, and not just by Little, but also by Piers Lane who partners her most excellently on the piano, and by Chandos, which provides its usual deep and vivid sound. This may not be the absolute best Strauss out there, but it’s definitely among the very best of the Respighis, and the extra three encores from Respighi’s Six Pieces for Violin and Piano make for a most enriching program. Easily recommended.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

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Chandos have prided themselves on having a deep and long-term available back catalogue. Though distantly separated in time the present CD can be seen as an adjunct to two of the grand Chandos series of the 1980s and 1990s. The first was the Respighi orchestral music edition built around the Edward Downes BBCPO symphonies and concertos but supplemented by earlier discs conducted by Geoffrey Simon - still truly splendid - and later ones from Hickox and Noseda. The Downes and Simon discs would shine anew if issued in a box or boxes. The second comprised the half dozen discs they issued in the 1980s golden days of Järvi conducting the then SNO in the major orchestral works of Richard Strauss.

These two violin and piano works have previously appeared - although separately - on Chandos. There were in fact two CDs of the Strauss Sonata – one from Lydia Mordkovitch and the other from Sasha Rozhdestvensky. It comes as no surprise that the Respighi was also recorded by Mordkovitch. She contributed so much to the label that I have every reason to expect that, one of these days, there will be a complete Mordkovitch Chandos Edition. It’s certainly deserved – at least as much as a Takako Nishizaki edition for Naxos.

Little and Lane’s Strauss Sonata is flooded with melodic light and surges and muses with all the eruptive and serenading romance of the same composer’s Don Juan. Both Tasmin Little and Piers Lane are obviously up for it and flatter the 1887 Strauss with a most inward reading which makes it appear a greater work than perhaps it is. The stormy romance of the outer movements of the 1917 Respighi Sonata is emphasised by the utterly peaceful and romantically centred Sargasso calm of the Andante second movement. It stands head and shoulders above the other sonata movements on this disc, masterfully treading that febrile line between poetry and self-conscious sentimentality. Both Little and Lane have every right to be proud of their achievement here. Speaking of that mood we have three movements from the salon-destined and designed Sei Pezzi. I lament that the other three Kreislerian movements were not included – there was space. A puzzling and regretted omission.

With thanks to Chandos for commissioning a liner-note from the inspired Jessica Duchen. Such a fine writer and one whose Korngold book (Phaidon Press) has been unjustly eclipsed by the ‘major definitive biography’. The Duchen is much more than a valid alternative. Indeed, Korngold is a far from irrelevant comparison in the company of the two composers so nobly represented on this disc.

– Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

ROLLA Violin Concertos: in Bb; in D; in A • Paolo Ghidoni (vn, cond); O da Camera del Conservatorio di Mantova • DYNAMIC 714 (60:30)


Dynamic’s release of violin concertos by Alessandro Rolla makes available three of the 21 works in the genre written by the violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer. Those versed in the lore of Nicolò Paganini will remember Rolla as the teacher to whom Paganini’s father brought the young prodigy, who read one of Rolla’s concertos at sight while waiting for the master to appear. That anecdote alone (not cited in the booklet notes by Mariateresa Dellaborra) should lend these works a special interest for aficionados of the violin. The notes cite the sources from which Marco Pinotti transcribed each of the three concertos for performance. Listeners will notice from the outset that the winds (oboes and horns) that Rolla incorporated in his orchestral textures serve a more important function than merely fluffing up the blanket of orchestral sound. The solo part of the first movement of the Concerto in Bb-Major explores a range and variety of technical devices (though, surprisingly, not double-stops) far in advance of Giovanni Battista Viotti but hardly so daring as those of Paganini. Paolo Ghidoni serves as a bold and technically alert champion, playing the solo part of this concerto with a big-toned ardor, accompanied from some distance behind—despite the recorded sound’s clarity—by the orchestra, which, for its part, occasionally detours into a byway of contrasting affect. The first movement’s cadenza sounds brilliant without making onerous demands on the soloist. The slow movement opens with a theme of near-Mozartean purity, in both the orchestral and solo parts; Ghidoni embellishes it with sweet figuration, much of it in the violin’s higher registers, leading into the final movement, an elegantly lyrical “Rondò.”


The Second Concerto on the program, in D Major, falls into the same three movements, the first opening with an orchestral tutti that includes darker threads among the brighter ones. Once again, the solo part lies in a somewhat higher tessitura than those in Viotti’s and Pierre Rode’s concertos, although the passagework remains similar, at times uncannily reminiscent of particular figural turns in Viotti’s celebrated Concerto No. 22, though the interaction between solo and orchestra has grown more conversational in Rolla’s concertos. The slow movement enshrines passages of melting cantabile and leads to a “Rondò” that again recalls Viotti’s concertos. If the D-Major Concerto recalls Viotti, the final one on the program, in A Major, suggests Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, especially in the first movement’s orchestral thematic statements, although the violin part still bears traces of Viotti’s influence. Ghidoni sounds particularly rich in the few passages in the lower register that Rolla provides for the soloist in this movement. The simple and straightforward slow movement leads to a “Rondò polonaise,” recalling in its themes rondos by Viotti and Louis Spohr. These concertos should prove interesting in their own right for collectors who delight in exploring the violin literature’s byways but should also ingratiate themselves with general listeners—and they could provide a technical missing link between Viotti and Mozart for violin students. Warmly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Estonian violinist Kerem (b. 1981) is both a performer and composer, with over 100 works to his credit, 3 symphonies among them. (Toccata)

Ondine is pleased to announce the first release with Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid with a performance of Reger’s Violin Concerto and the Chaconne for Solo Violin. This release invites to listen to a captivating performance of Reger’s Violin Concerto, a hugely charming big romantic work with broad sentimental gestures.

On this wonderful recording of Flute Concertos are rare transcriptions for flute by C. Furstenau and F. Devienne. Flautist Mario Carbotta is a Viotti specialist and has recorded his full works for flute and piano.

Classical Music

This fabulous recording features lesser known violin repertoire played with a keen advocacy.

This fabulous recording features lesser known violin repertoire, played with a keen advocacy by soloist Henning Kraggerud and Dalasinfoniettan. Excepting the works of Ole Bull, the remaining pieces were composed between 1910 and 1930. However, none of this music embraces the radically dissonant sounds found in Austrian-Germanic music of this period. Anyone with a love of Holst and Vaughan Williams, Grieg and J.P.E. Hartmann will positively revel in this repertoire.

The CD opens with six modestly arranged Norwegian folksongs by Carl Olsen. The first movement begins with violin alone, played here with great sensitivity and refinement. Olsen ensure that even when the orchestra enters, the melody always stands out, keeping the harmonic writing fairly simple so that it compliments, rather than competes, with the melody. Throughout these songs, Kraggerud’s sound is burnished and rich, varying his vibrato to give greater shape and ardor to his phrasing, while the orchestra led by Bjarte Engeset, prove to be equally sensitive partners.

Atterberg’s Suite No. 3 was originally intended for a violin and viola soloist; this arrangement, for two violins, is its premiere recording. Both solo parts are played by Kraggerud, and while there is nothing to fault in his playing or in the engineer’s dubbing, I found myself resistant to this idea, as I would have liked to hear him interact with another player. Nevertheless, the playing is stunningly beautiful, the forlorn atmosphere of the first two movements gently dispelled by the final movement’s more uplifting waltz.

The Two Sentimental Romances very much reminded me of Vaughan Williams, in both their use of modes and constantly shifting textures. The first Romance, in A Major, is bright and inviting, a perfect evocation of a beautiful summer day, while the second F-minor Romance, marked Allegro patetico, brings greater intensity and a return to that forlorn atmosphere that many Nordic composers easily inhabit.

Ole Bull was considered the “Nordic Paganini”, well known not only for his great virtuosity but also his improvisational abilities. Memories of Havana was composed during Bull’s 1844 tour of Cuba. The score and solo part are lost, but a complete set of orchestral parts survives, so Kraggerud has reconstructed the solo part. The work’s structure is similar to Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsodies: several sections based on a national folk tune, connected by interlude material that is meant to give the listener (and performers) a break between moments of virtuosic writing. Mountain Vision features a tune by Bull that became incredibly popular in Norway, so much so that a text was written for the tune, called “The Herdgirl’s Sunday.” Similarly structured, the work includes not only includes Bull’s melody, but four other folk tunes. Both are performed with plenty of fire and beauty, without ever becoming over sentimentalized.

The final selections feature the music by the better known composers, Halvorsen, Sibelius and Sinding. Halvorsen’s Norwegian Dance No. 3, as the title suggests, is predominantly light-hearted and joyful in its outer sections, though the middle section features gentler, less rhythmic music that features a long-breathed, arching melody. Sibelius’s Six Humoresques express what the composer called “the sadness of living a life that was only occasionally illuminated by the sun”. These are performances of great sophistication and delicate beauty, more affecting that the rather heavy-handed treatment they receive in the Mutter/Staatskappelle/Previn 1996 DG recording.

Evening Mood clearly shows the influence of Sinding’s four years of study in Leipzig, featuring warmth of color that gently dispels the somewhat despondent mood of the previous Sibelius set, making for a satisfying hour plus of gorgeous music-making.

The recording itself is truly excellent, the soloist well integrated into the sound-picture. The engineers have fully captured the room’s warm ambience without any loss of clarity and there is a good front to back perspective. Notes are excellent and informative, but printed in a font size that might actually be in negative numbers. I look forward to more recordings from these performers.

David A. McConnell , MusicWeb International

Classical Music

For decades, Fritz Kreisler left the music world under the misapprehension that he had found compositions by Cartier, Couperin, Dittersdorf, Padre Martini, Porpora, Pugnani, Stamitz or Vivaldi in monasteries and castle archives and arranged these himself for violin and piano. He left questions as to the original sources unanswered. At sixty, he publicly and freely admitted that he had played a superb joke around thirty years before: he had concealed most of his own works behind the names of masters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Many of these initially controversial compositions have become staples for violinists today.

CORELLI 12 Violin Sonatas, op. 5 • Corelli Trio • BRIDGE 9371 (2 CDs: 125:34)

Here is an absolutely dazzling album that I reviewed, more or less, on a whim. Arcangelo Corelli, a fine composer who certainly introduced some innovations (those marvelous and unexpected string slides that take your breath away), wasn’t exactly a Buxtehude or a Bach, yet as this two-CD set amply proves, his music can certainly hold its own in interest and especially in charm with anyone from the Baroque era, even his fellow Italians Scarlatti and Vivaldi.

Of course, as in the case of virtually all music, the aural impact is highly dependent on the performer, and on this recording we have a truly inspired violinist in Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider. In the booklet she is quoted as saying that Corelli’s sonatas “are an invitation to explore the most sunny and expressive voices of the violin as well as having the fun of the dancing and wild abandon of ‘La Folia’ that closes the whole set of 12 sonatas.” Further on, she makes a distinction between the church sonatas on disc 1, which she feels explore “more profound and spiritual feelings” than the chamber sonatas on disc 2, but even in those first six sonatas Schneider’s playing is sunny, singing, and full of vitality. I think that she just can’t help herself from feeling good while playing this music; I certainly couldn’t help smiling or feeling good all through the sonatas on the first disc. Schneider’s playing has that same rare combination of sweetness, elegance, charm, and sheer sunniness that one heard in the playing of Yehudi Menuhin. Also, different from most historically informed violinists, she is not averse to playing a few notes with a light vibrato, which adds piquancy and charm to her interpretations.

Moving from disc 1 to disc 2, the secular sonatas, one notices very little difference in general layout, tempos, or indeed inflection. I find Schneider’s playing no lighter, more buoyant, or infectious than on CD 1, but then again, there’s no drop-off in quality, either. She’s just plain good.

An interesting observation: All of the church sonatas are in major keys, but half of the secular sonatas are in minor, including, of course, “La Folia.” In the latter, Schneider pulls out all the stops—literally, including double-stops!—and her performance is indeed lively.

Like so many trio sonatas of this era, the accompanying instruments are just that—background to the soloist. As a result, despite the fact that they are well-trained musicians who play well, there’s really not a lot one can say about Viggo Mangor on archlute and theorbo or Ulrik Spang-Hanssen on continuo organ except that they are there, they give good support, and they keep the rhythm light.

In the booklet, it says that Corelli was a quiet man who “never devoted much time to self-promotion” and “didn’t nurse his reputation publicly in his later years.” Apparently, much the same can be said of the Corelli Trio, for although there are bios of all three musicians, there’s not a single word as to how or why they formed or call themselves “Corelli Trio”! But you certainly won’t keep their presence much of a secret once you hear this album.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & PIANO